Traffic for 2004 June

I haven't been able to update because I no longer have a computer. I've been training my replacement at work, meaning that by this point (three more days!) I just sit there and read books. Man is it boring, yet refreshing getting paid to do nothing. Now I know how all my supervisors feel...

But seriously, handing over my job's been easier than I thought. Stephanie, my replacement, does a lot of it wrong, which should worry me, considering no one else in the entire building has ever learned how to do my job. Not that it's her fault, because financials are hard to understand in our outdated database. But I really am just washing my hands of it; sort of a "shoot em all and let God sort it out" mentality. After enough irate customers wanting refunds call, maybe a supervisor or two will try and learn the gist of it all. Apparently my true loyalties do remain elsewhere.

Though I'll probably have to sort it all out come September. Oh well, Ernst & Young here I come.

Nordstrom, where you get what you pay for (except for exorbitant, ugly Tommy Bahama junk, but I digress already). I bought a new light green (White Sand) dress shirt there like a month ago. Anyway, I washed it last night but I think somebody in our compelx had left some bleach behind in the washer because the collar lost its color. Well, we don't have the receipt anymore, but Nordstrom took it back and gave me a new one. They said if it happens again I am welcome to just get store credit and/or cash back. It's because of this type of policy that I love Nordstrom. You pay the big bucks, but are comforted in knowing that even if you mess up, they'll fix it with a smile.

I cannot believe Aaron's family has had so little death in it. Between Susie's and my family, our children will have little ancestry to gleam off. I only have one grandparent left who is almost 90 as it is, my father is terminally/chronically ill, and I have lost two uncles. That's without mentioning all Susie's losses. Cie la vie I suppose.

I am here in Cal safe and sound. It is nice to constantly have an ocean breeze, as it was so hot driving here. I wore sunscreen the whole trip and felt disgustingly sticky by the end. Tomorrow and Tuesday I have to drive to LA (mer) but after that I can start working the local office (thank goodness).

To keep me busy until then I have been reading The Catcher in the Rye. I find it slow and tedious, though sporadically interesting. I don't on the whole find Holden to be a character I can relate to, like Mr. Cliffsnotes said I would. I find him childish, irresponsible, ungrateful, and idle (a quality I altogether abhore). I do like his little sister though. I hope I can finish it eventually.

The world of public accounting certainly is a busy one. I have had so much to do, but mostly because I had to drive to LA for two days and spend half of my life sitting in a car on the 5, but then I come home and Tyler (the two-year old) won't let me do anything that doesn't involve him. When I get home, he talks to me for like ten minutes, laughing after half of what he says. The sad part is, I have NO idea what he is saying. But he seems to feel we are having a real conversation.

I got my cubicle today, voice mail, and laptop. I also have all of these security measures like a name badge, SecurID that changes passwords every sixty seconds to log in from home on, etc. I have so much to do that I am glad Susie isn't here so I can really get my feet wet and not feel bad. Then when she is here next year, we'll adjust accordingly. Well, gotta go pack for Florida!

Everyone keeps telling me how humid it is here, and it is, but it doesn't bother me really. Maybe that is because my skin adapted after two years in the Kong? I'm really not sure.

So far the training has been well. One of my tax professors at BYU is here teaching, so it feels like class (except I am getting paid)! And I even get paid for my flying time here and back.

Today I went swimming for an hour and to a local baseball game. Now I am ready for bed. Although I haven't really felt jet lag too bad, I am pretty sleepy.

I am ready to go home. I am sitting in my last meeting watching the seconds tick down. But it's been a fun week: I got over 20 hours of overtime, free food, and to go swimming in Florida!

Last night they had a party with free drinks and boy, some people sure did get plastered. It was a new culture for me, esp. explaining that I don't drink. But most people here are pretty professional and keep the drinking to a social level, wherein they are still coherent. Boy I sure do hope my flights home don't get delayed....

Well the last two days I have done a lot of client billing. I have also been working on a project extrapolating information from 10-K's to put together information on potential channel 2 (tax only) clients in the Denver area. The client stuff I am probably not at liberty to discuss.

But I always get here before everyone else, so I just sit here until they get here to give me stuff. I begged one of them to give me work yesterday before she left so I'd have something to do this morning, but to no avail. They are all so busy--I wish I was.

Last night I went to the Angel's game. They beat Oakland 6-1, taking first position in the League. It was fun, but the traffic was horrendous. Some days, I feel like my life is just passing me by in a car on the 5....

Hey mom, can I come visit you for the 4th weekend? I'll probably come Saturday or Sunday, and stay until Monday afternoon.

When are you coming to visit me in OC?

Well, I was one on Saturday. First I became my sister's hero by babysitting her kids so she and her husband could go to the San Diego temple. I was going to go as well, but their babysitter fell through. Then while there my brother-in-law David (who I just found out hates to be called Dave, though my whole family calls him that) called to say his niece was stranded at the OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. So I went and rescued them, including moving their two kids and tons of junk into the suburban. Luckily Tyler was cooperating like a good boy for me.

Well, we followed the tow truck to the dealership and it fell off of its hitch. What a smoky mess that caused. Their poor wheels. Well, four hours later I had dropped them off in Yorba Linda (by braving the 55 and the 91) and made it to the toll road and even picked up pizza on the way home for the kids. What a day!

PS--Justin is having me over to his place Wednesday night.

Gotta love it.

I just sifted through over 70,000 line items in Excel for a client. The file was so big it wouldn't let me fully expand it. I filtered and then filtered my filter, etc, and found over $40 million worth of errors to their billing. It was not fun, but at least I finally did a project on my own that adds client value.

Tomorrow is year end, so I also get to leave an hour and a half early! The accounting gods are smiling down on me.