Our night

So hubby got this Casino computer game, and he's been learning how to play all the different games... he's won 13,000 fake dollars so far. This does not help his potential to be a gambling addict, as his face always lights up anytime we walk into a real one. (kidding) About 7:00 tonight we decided to make a break for Wendover. We tried to get some people to go with us, and couldn't. (we need FRIENDS!!!) So we decided to just not go, since we'd just end up being rushed anyway. Geoff wants me to play his computer game and learn how to play some games so I don't just follow him around and be bored the whole time before we go. I suppose the gambling just doesn't do it for me quite like it does him, but, perhaps I'll try it.

Anyway, we were stuck with nothing to do and no one to hang out with. After my request to get wasted was rebuffed, we ended up at an all you can eat Sushi bar, where I felt like a moron because I didn't know how to use chopsticks. I also ordered a non-sushi dish (I did get a little flack from the employees but it was all good). Alas, I struggled through the meal with those dumb chopsticks until the food was gone. And Geoff got the sushi bar. I tried some of his eel, and actually it wasn't too bad. Next time I'll get the sushi bar.

After my request to get wasted was rebuffed again, ("well SOMEone has to get us into heaven") we ended up at FYE. I bought the B-52's and Beastie Boys greatest hits. Now hubby is in the front room watching his movie and I am back here blogging, chillin to my Beastie Boys cd, which I gotta say ROCKS! YEAOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! UH!

Oh yes lest we not forget the super awesome easter at my parent's house. My mom made a delicious dinner and bunny-shaped cake. Once Al & her BF got to the house, mom passed out easter baskets that we've had since kindergarten and sent us on an easter egg hunt in the backyard! I admit it was quite the thrill to go on an easter egg hunt while in my 20's, although it was more like WWF with all of us big kids trying to beat each other out. Once inside we opened the eggs to find little minute and random things such as rings, coins, baby pictures, etc. (One egg had old dog poop in it at little brother's suggestion and I can't believe they acutally did it... gross). It was totally random. To Geoff and I it was a revelation of just how grand-baby hungry my parents are. But we got a kick out of it - good fun.

My parents also have these awesome new bicycles and Geoff and I went for a bike ride with them. We got to the Jr High then thought what the heck, and went all the way down to the highschool then back up the hill. It was fun, we've decided we'd love to get bicycles of our own.

Well, he admitted it. He didn't do it the first time, but he DID do it the second time. So. This is a combination of him being a great actor and me being extremely gullible. (He thinks he's so funny) And now the pinky swear has lost it's sacredness. Good-bye pinky swear.

Also, look out real-estate cuz Geoff and Cali are on the prowl! IF we find a place and IF we go through with it, we will then be looking for good renters for our current place.

And at work today we are really slamming the information into my brain. She's explaining end of year stuff to me and I have to keep asking her to go slower. I think I might be wearing her patience thin, although she is still very sweet, but I just have to ask questions. Don't want to be stuck making the one-million dollar mistake in 8 months.

Anyhow that's it for now. Tria Mera! ---evil grin---

What do you think?

Okay get this - Saturday night we watched White Noise 2. The first was a little scary but the ending was stupid which dispelled the scariness, so, we decided to watch the second one for no other reason than it was on our MVP plan at the video store. And of course we enjoy a good scary movie now and then. If you've seen the movie you know that the numbers 666, and the number 3, have a central role to the movie. HERE's the freaky part - today as we were leaving my parent's house, Geoff flipped his phone open to check for missed calls, and the number 666-3333 was displayed on his phone. Weird, although we figured it was coincidence. Cuz sometimes you can accidentally push buttons while the phone is in your pocket, you know. WELL, just a few minutes ago as he went to set the alarm on his phone, he flipped it open and what do you know, 666-3333 was AGAIN displayed on the screen. So that is very freaky, and he PINKY SWEARS he didn't type it in there. (He takes the pinky swear very seriously). Is he playing a joke on me cuz that's quite the coincidence.

Give me chocolate and put me to bed

I'm not trying to complain, however I am so exhausted. Work is currently undergoing a software change... something they haven't tried in about 10 years. (If I heard correctly, they have tried this once before and then went back to the original because it was causing too many problems or something). So, we are undergoing 5 months of intense training before we go live in June. We have started with just presentations, now we are converting information over and getting everything set up. In a couple more weeks we'll be running double on everything. Everything we do in the old software, we also have to do in the new software, to catch all the flukes and make sure everything goes smoothly and comfortably. For me, this means learning a new job AND learning new software, even though I'm fuzzy on the processes and stuff. Today I cross-trained with one of the other accounting ladies. She is nice and we get along, but she was really pushing me to go faster, we've got a lot to get done today. Which is understandable because we only had a half day today due to an hours-long meeting (for the new software)... anyway, I feel like my head is swimming. I skipped class last night because I just didn't have the energy, and tonight I think I might too. Although I really shouldn't. A movie and bed just sounds so nice.

Oregonia

To answer some questions... yes that was a song by Edwin M. (and a good one too!), and Geoff is from Umatilla, OR. It's a little town about 5 minutes from the Washington border in the upper-right corner of OR. Speaking of, I really wanted to post about our trip.

Thursday night after we got there, we had dinner at his mom's house, and she made us some DELICIOUS steak. I want to try and make it myself, it didn't look very hard. (Of course I say that now but we all know I can't make frosting). Saturday we spent the day in Tri-cities with Geoff's dad. It was so much fun! He took us to eat at this delicious little mexican restaurant, then we "toured" a winery. We didn't get an official tour because it's not the right season, but we did look around.

Those are the fields behind us. After the winery, we went to THE chocolate store. It is the chocolate store to end all chocolate stores. We sat there and gabbed for awhile. On our way back to OR we stopped at the McNary dam because I wanted to tour it. I think the dam is a little boring for the people who live there but I thought it was neat. It's one of 10 dams along the Columbia River, and the largest I believe.

Geoff and Mike at the dam. (Hope you don't mind that I put a pic of you in there Mike!) It was really windy. This is just a small portion of the outside. We also got to see the pumps inside but they didn't allow cameras!

I also got to see Geoff's old high school. We walked to the gym, the basketball arena or whatever it's called, and looked across to the other side, and "Viking Club" was painted all over the bleachers. The Viking Club was a club that he and another kid started, like a group that goes to all the games and cheers, they even made T-shirts and got quite a group involved I guess. Anyway he was pretty surprised to see it was still there, and had a designated cheering section no less. I tried to take pics but they didn't work out. Anyway we had a really good time hanging out with Mike that day.

We also visited grandma. She was so cute, she made brownies for us. We watched a compilation of home videos that his mom put together (I have seen them already, so I actually fell asleep while they were on, woops!). She kept farting and saying "woops" really quietly, it was so funny. She is getting really old and I guess Geoff figured this might be the last time he saw her. Ever since her husband died you can tell she's just not as.... well how do you say it? I guess think how you would feel if you were in your old age and your spouse that you had been with since your 20's passed away. You can tell she was feeling that way. She is such a sweet lady though. On my birthday last August she called and left me the cutest message; I still have it in my phone. Here she is.

Some other things we did were have dinner with an old buddy, breakfast with mom, and more visiting, which was good. Our hotel was pretty awesome. The room itself wasn't as nice as the one we stayed in at Park City, but they give you two free drinks every night between specific hours, and a free breakfast buffet every morning. (And it was a pretty decent buffet too, not like those dumb complimentary 'breakfasts' some places do). We also went to the swimming pool and jacuzzi, and gift shop. Sadly, we did not use the gym on this one. (wahhhh?) I do enjoy staying with family, but it was also really nice to have our own space to unwind at the end of the day.... you know... you don't have to worry about leaving your underwear lying around and whatever.

AAAAaaannnnnddddd I love my husband so much! Nicely we did not get sick of each other on this trip, in fact we had a lot of fun. I love road trips with him. Here's a few more pics, for kicks and giggles!

Geoff being goofy.

Driving over the columbia river. The picture really doesn't do it justice it was really beautiful.

Three whole years!

Happy Third Anniversary!!

Three years today woo hoo! I love you baby.

Pictures and details from the trip forthcoming...

Ghosts of Jackson Square

Well it's after midnight, I'm extremely tired, and I'm finally finished with all my exams and assignments for the week. Had to finish before spring break because who wants to do homework when they're on vacation! We are heading up to Oregon tomorrow morning at 5-freakin a.m. (Geoff's idea). Good thing I get to sleep in the car. Anyhoo, we've got someone taking care of the cat and the house so don't even think about breaking in and stealing our stuff (not that you'd want it anyway, once you saw it). Plus we are taking all of the electronics with us - Geoff got a car-converter for his Ipod and Dad was kind enough to offer up his portable DVD player in honor of our 10-hour drive, and we are taking the digital camera and the video camera and the laptop, so that about leaves.... a TV with a missing power button. And a bed. A creaky squeaky one. So. Unless you need a TV with a missing power button and a creaky squeaky bed, just stay the hell away. Capiche? Good. See you next week!

I couldn't resist

Which Office Character Are You?
	You are part Jim. You are personable, easy-going, and always socially aware. Your great sense of humor and impishness soften the blow of what might otherwise be a dark, cutting cynicism.
	You are part Pam. You are sweet and likable, but your shyness makes it hard for you to express yourself sometimes. Regardless, you are always there for your friends and will usually come out of your shell to help anyone.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Shoes and ships and ceiling wax...

Here's an excerpt from my dream last night: (Yes, the dream was narrated)

"My best friend in the world was getting married. It wasn't until he started talking about tiling the bathroom floor of their new house that it actually hit home to me. I then began to realize what a HUGE mistake I'd made..."

About that point in the dream I actually woke up, sat up, peered at the clock which said 5:15. (Lately I've been waking up before the alarm goes off, which was a good thing today because last night I was so tired I forgot to set it). And who was the person in my dream, the "best friend in the world"? It was none other than Geoffery Stanley. I got up, set the alarm for 6:30, climbed back into bed, and snuggled in happily next to my hubby, my best friend in the world.

Oh I wish I was an

Today I saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile pull into our little subdivision. How's that in randomness for the day? Not everyone can say they saw the actual Weinermobile, much less by their house. Yayyy.

I was thinking today... perhaps it was just the warm spring air or the chilled Squirt in my hand as I drove down the road, but I was reminded of summers past. Part-time job at the local swimming pool, tanning in the backyard, junky car, totally carefree except for the hope I would see that boy this weekend and whether or not I could afford to buy another shirt. Those were the days huh.

Today at work I reconciled part of a giant bank statement... and work bought us lunch again... I am getting fat. Got homework.

Twice as Hard

--Song title of the Black Crowes and is playing right now... has nothing to do with blog.

Today was my second day! (That meeting was nothing - someone else in the payroll department is quitting, so with all the upheaval they just wanted me to know they may need me to help them out in the next couple of weeks until they hire another person).

It's going well so far. I really enjoy working with Camille. Besides being so nice, she has such a steady, calm voice, and she never gets flustered at anything, I would love to be like that. For example today the boss (I will refer to the controller as "boss" now since he's my manager now) and our tax accountant starting asking her some questions. We are going through an audit right now, and the auditor asked about some weird tax that we were supposed to pay to the state of New Jersey and it didn't show that we had paid anything. Since she's the one who pays the taxes, they turned to her and she didn't know anything. But, she did some research and figured it out and kept her cool the whole time. (It turned out they had just reached their tax limits earlier in the year and we didn't owe anything) But if it were me, I would've probably freaked out thinking I had done something wrong. I guess my biggest challenge with this job will be to stay on top of all the state taxes in each state, with their different schedules and methods, etc. As of right now I know nothing, but we are going to start in on it tomorrow.

The other challenge I'm going to face is becoming un-intimidated by my boss. In payroll he is regarded as the one to be afraid of owning up to. In fact I think they have used him as intimidation to get us to do what they want. From day one, it was, "don't mess up, you don't want to have to go in HIS office!" (Yes I heard that several times from my trainers and managers). I now need to regard him as someone I can go to with questions, and be confident about it. I'm pretty sure that having someone be too shy, too quiet, and too afraid of you all the time would get old pretty quick. He's just so quiet and reserved, usually when you see him he is very straight-faced, and he doesn't show emotion, so it's really hard to know what he's thinking. I think he may be trying to break that perception of himself though. He invited me, Camille, the two other accounting girls, and the adminstrative assitant out to lunch for tomorrow at Wallaby's. (I'm trying not to use everyone's names if you can't tell.) I've never seen him or any of the other girls outside of a business setting - and even company parties are business settings - so it will be weird. But good, it's also really good. I will say it's been really nice to break out of the routine. Even after just two days, I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to go back to payroll.

With learning all this new stuff and school, I'm pretty wiped out by the end of the day, hence not as much blogging. But last night Geoff and I went to the BYU game, and that was pretty fun. Saw littlest sis there working concessions. This weekend we're going to try and go to the circus, which will be just across the street at the McKay center.

Spring break is right around the corner. All in all I have to say life is so wonderful!

PS- I bought a new purse today, it's mauvy-pink and big and shiny! woo hoo!

Well today I cleaned everything out of my desk... all personal stuff. And cleaned out all my computer files too. I let most of my clients know that they're getting a new payroll processor. Starting tomorrow, I'm officially homeless; not even my own computer. I'll be floating around for a couple of months until Camille leaves. However today right before I left work, my department manager said she and the controller want to meet with me in her office at 9 tomorrow morning. I can't imagine what they have to say that they would both need to be there for, so naturally I'm worried I've done something wrong. Or that they're going to tell me I can't do the new job after all or there's a change in plans or something. Uhhhh why did she have to tell me that right before I left to go home now I'm so on edge.