School Update

I am working on getting my real estate license for my new job.  Due to work and family obligations, I am unable to attend live classes, so I am taking them virtually.  At first I thought that this would be very difficult, because I am not the most disciplined person on the planet, however it has been great!  The classes are available 24 hours a day, so I can log on anytime that works for me. 

 The most amazing part of all of this is how AWESOME God has been during this time.  I am completely amazed at how He has allowed me to retain the information in these classes.  I have taken 3 quizzes, a midterm exam and 2 final exams and I have not scored less than an 87% on any of them.

Please continue to pray that I will be able to retain all of the info through the state exam.  Also, please pray that I can stay awake in the evening in order to get through the classes.

Best Friend?

Is this the person that you can tell anything without the fear of being judged or ridiculed?  Is this the friend that you can tell anything, but will tell you when you are out of line in a non-judgemental and loving way?  Is this the friend that will take care of your kids at a moments notice?  Is this the friend that knows you are not fine, even when you insist that you are?  Is this the friend who gets your jokes and laughs with you?  Is this the friend that never gets your jokes and laughs at you?  Is this the friend that sits at the hospital with you when someone you love is not well?  Is this the friend who comes and sits with you when you are not well?  Is this the friend that brings you and your family a meal when you have had surgery?  Is this the friend that will shop with you for the perfect outfit for that special night?  Is this the friend that will come whenever you call for whatever reason?  Is this the friend that you know will pick up your kids from school when you can’t because you are working late?  Is this the friend that will help you hide your ex-husband’s car when you need it for leverage with him?  Is this the friend that will serve your daycare provider a summons for court?  Is this the friend that will sit and cry with you when you have been laid off?  Is this the friend that lets your dog live with her while you are in transit from one state to another?  Is this the friend that allows you to use her house as the base of operation when you come back to visit, so you can see all of your friends?  Is this the friend that picks up your kids and takes them to the Harvest Festival because you are out of town with your husband on a business trip?  Is this the friend that listens to your issues with work and gives great advice?  Is this the friend that listens to your issues with work and knows when not to give advice? 

What if this is more than one friend?

Is it possible to be replaced AND outsourced?

Until recently, I managed real estate for a national retailer.  I spent 3 of the last 4 years working at least 50 hours a week and occasionally working on the weekends.  I have taken on projects and in general have given more than was required of me.  For this I received no merit increases.  The annual increases that I did receive were generally less than a cost of living adjustment.  I did have a FABULOUS discount at the retail stores and took full advantage of it. 

A year ago, my company decided to change direction, which caused a fairly large increase in the workload for my department.  In March I asked for an increase in headcount however, I was told that my department would not be getting any additional headcount anytime soon.  For this reason, I have worked 55-60 hours since the change in direction.

I made the decision to pursue other opportunities and gave notice a few weeks ago.  It seems that the powers that be have determined that the best way to handle my departure would be to give my region to a new property manager, transfer some of the workload to a paralegal in the office, outsource a huge chunk of work to an attorney AND add one additional person to the group (read headcount)!  Seriously?!?!

A friend in another department told me that if I kept doing what it took to get the work done, that they would continue to expect me to do what it took to get the work done.  Based on what the plan is going forward, it seems that friend was absolutely right!

The Little Red Flashing Light

Last Thursday I left work, just like any other day, except this time when I started my BAV (Big A__ Vehicle), this little red light flashed at me all the way home.  When I arrived home, I sat in my driveway and took a look at the owner’s manual to see just what this little red flashing light meant.  Looking back, I think it said something like this, “Do not pass go, go directly to the dealer where you purchased the vehicle and pay them a lot of money.”  Okay, so maybe it didn’t quite say that, but the part about going to the dealer is accurate.

Friday morning arrives.  I get in the BAV, hoping that the little red light miraculously stopped flashing and I wouldn’t have to make the trip to the dealer.  This of course was a pipe dream.  Fortunately, there is a dealer near my office.  On the way to the office I called the service department.  The very nice service writer told me that it was imperative that I immediately bring my BAV to them.  You see, the little red flashing light was related to the secondary airbag system.  The little red flashing light indicated that there was a problem with the secondary airbag system and until a diagnostic could be run on the system, it was possible that the secondary airbags could deploy indiscriminately. 

Now the good news was that because the problem was with the secondary airbag system and not the primary airbag system, there was no danger that the airbag in my steering wheel or in the dash would go off indiscriminately, just all of the other ones in the car.  You know, like the one next to my head, otherwise known as the side-curtain airbag.  The very nice service writer also mentioned that if this occurred, not only might it scare me enough to cause an accident, it might also cause me to have an accident in my pants.   I, of course immediately drove to the dealer.

The very nice service writer informed me that there would be a $115.00 diagnostic charge that, if I chose to have them make the needed repair determined by the diagnostic, the $115.00 would be waived.  Really, how much can the repair of a little red flashing light cost?  Well, about 2 hours later, I received a call from the very nice service writer, who informed me that not only did I need a $490.00 repair kit to take care of the little red flashing light, but I really had a total of about $1700.00 in needed repairs.  What?  It was a little red flashing light…Are you kidding me?  It seems that every system in my car was leaking like a sieve.  Did I mention that there are no telltale signs of any leaks in my driveway?  When I mentioned this, the very nice service writer informed me that these weren’t those kinds of leaks.  Huh? 

Okay, back to the secondary airbag system.  I asked the very nice service writer if the problem that caused the little red light to flash would allow the secondary airbags to go off indiscriminately?  He stated that this would not happen.  I paused for a moment to consider if I was going to have any of the repairs made.  I mean, since I wasn’t certain any of the mystery leaks really existed, and knew My Hubby would kill me for having any of them repaired before he could take a look at them, I was not going to have them fixed.  This just left the secondary airbag repair.  I considered how often anyone else was in the car with me.  I considered what the odds of having an accident that would require the side-curtain airbags to deploy.  What were the odds of me rolling the BAV in stop and go traffic?  I was reminded of all of the years that I drove a car in which I was the only airbag in the car.   Then I realized that if I did not have the secondary airbag system repaired, I would have a carload of other people’s children and would have a horrible accident, in which I would be the only survivor and would have to live the rest of my days thinking, “…if I had only had the secondary airbag system repaired…”  Just about the time the very nice service writer thought we had gotten disconnected, I told him to ONLY repair the secondary airbag system.

My Hubby, upon reading the list of leaking items, determined that we need a second opinion.  Maybe I will take the BAV to see Stephanie’s Hubby…He is an honest guy and will tell me the truth.

New Job and School

I have accepted an offer from the company that I have been talking to for a few weeks.   My first day will be November 19th.  I will have 90 days from that date to get the state license required by this new position.

I have enrolled and started school.  I have gotten through three sessions.  It has not been as bad as I thought it would be.  Of course I have to have 168 hours of classroom instruction and I have only had 9 hours so far!   If I stay on track, I will be finished with the classroom portion before Christmas.  Please pray that I will be able to remain focused on the task in order to make this date.  I will then have 4 classes of exam prep and hopefully will be able to take the state exam in mid-January. 

Thank you for all of the encouraging words when I shared with you how nervous I was about school!