Relief

I'm actually glad the owner is back today because the two previous days were very busy and a little hectic and i was ready for a break! But it was a good stretch for me and is helping me to multitask, which is an understatement, cause by multitasking I basically mean running the place. lol I'm being stretched in other ways in my personal life, trying to balance things in my life right now. I've been getting a bit slack with school recently, mainly because something (or someone) has occupied my time lately.=) I realize that I need to keep my priorities in order though and keep things balanced, so it's been a bit of a challenge lately. I will say that it's been a real blessing and everything seems to be going very smoothly, which is nice.

Well after work I'm supposed to meet Stacie for dinner along with her friend who also just met someone recently, so that will be interesting. I'm somewhat acquainted with her friend from years back when she was actually engaged to someone, but sadly didn't work out at that time. I'm not sure if she remembers me though. Funny how people come round about right back into your life again. Crazy I tell ya. But when you're part of a church for so long it's bound to happen sooner or later, running back into people you once knew long ago. =)

Holdin' down the fort...again

I didn't realize I would be alone again so soon taking care of the shop. Patty went on a small vacation to the lake, just until Wednesday. But it is a blessing knowing she trusts me enough to watch over things and put them into my hands. Today did start a little stressful ordering some materials that were going to have to be shipped from other states, which Patty wasn't happy with. But luckily I resolved that by using another vendor and got the materials here today! Whew! Cause we have an order due tomorrow so that takes some of the stress off of tomorrow.

For the first time this weekend I was actually cold when a friend and I went down to Newport! Man I wish I lived down there...so much cooler compared to up here. blah. And here in Riverside it's about 5 degrees hotter than Chino! Yes, the summer is not really a season I enjoy much. Although this summer seems more humid than others in the past. Can't wait til it gets cooler.=)

Post-mortem Evaluition

"Was on the moby at my gaff with ole moggy sitting by when I got the call. Sounded a bit wellied to me." ~Geordieland

Tonight was our first class of Principles of Mgmt and Supervisor class. It went well and we had plenty of interaction tonight, more so than even my Interpersonal Comm class and just in one night! I was a little dissapointed by that class cause of the lack of activities actually in communicating. Alot of it was more theory than application. But tonight was full of activities. We got into groups twice to answer questions together in our reading, then did a one-on-one activity with a partner discussing how we were both effective and efficient in the workplace, a focus of chapter 1. If it continues like this I think this class is really going to be both fun and educating for me, since I need that kind of skill and experience. Not that I don't get that at work! I spend a good amount of time answering phones and talking to clients both on the phone and in the shop where I work, so I get plenty of experience where I am. I'm hoping to improve my communication though, cause there are times when I can feel...well, boring. Sometimes I just lack spunk, and I don't know why that is. The last thing I want to sound is monotonous and too serious to a customer looking for business. I want to get them excited about things, not bored out of their minds. So that's one thing I can easily work on here, thank God.

I'm very glad it's Friday tomorrow! What's nice about Fridays is that it's not just a countdown to another night and day, but a countdown to the weekend. In my case it's a countdown to going home and doing homework and reading all night long! lol But hey, at least it's not at work yo! lol
Speaking of work, omg I barely made it this morning cause I didn't even hear my alarm going off! I woke up with literally 5 minutes to get ready! I was like "what happened??" So I moved my alarm clock closer to me, since it was a little far actually. But that's never happened before with this job and I'm shocked that that happened. I was just a little peeved too cause I didn't even have time to get coffee this morning. But alas...I survived. Barely.

I'm hoping to see a few movies soon. Should make it a matinee to cut liability costs and raise my equity and cash value. lol Movies and popcorn: affects both cash and equity; a decrease in cash; the right-hand entry goes under Cash as a decrease in cash, the left-hand entry goes under Equity under 'Entertainment' for $15.00. If that confused you...good! Then you can share in my frustration of doing this for 4 hrs and being totally confused from trying to learn Accounting! hehe Okay it actually did work out fine in the end though. As you can see I DID learn something so, I can't complain. But anyways, aside from that, I'm hoping to catch both Herbie and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There was another movie but it escapes my mind at the moment. Hmmm...well, I shouldn't push it I suppose. With finances, that is. I'm planning to save in an IRA very soon here and finally get that started again. I really need to. Time is moving along here and I need to take action. Why can't we live like 500 yrs like they did in the OT times? We'd have sooo much time then. Man...can you imagine how much a person could save if he lived that long??? Like, what would an investment of $10,000 be in say 400 yrs at 10% interest?? I'm guessing....ALOT!!! I mean not only would that person be set, the next like 5 generations would be set!! lol

But seriously, a married couple have alot more power to save in an IRA and use it to their advantage than one person would. I've even toyed with the notion of 'partnering' with a few brothers and sisters to save in a single IRA. As you know, the money in there is compounded, so the more there is, the more will multiply over time. But I wonder what the restriction would
be for something like that, cause I know that some companies have a contribution limit per year. Well if anything, I need to start. I also thought, well I have but about 33 yrs to save here, which isn't much time. But, let's say I start putting something, even if it's a small amount, away for Isaiah NOW. Now he's only 3 yrs old. Can you imagine though what his account would look like already when he's only 18 yrs old? If anything, I could give him an excellent start. Again I would need to research that. It would be well worth doing now though than later. I'm learning to look more towards the future in what I do than just the here and now. Age will do that. =)

Trying to stay sane

Today was nice...one setback after another trying to print a simple job out. First it started with looking for a roll of scrim banner material to print this huge job, then after we finally loaded the printer and tried printing it, it said ALL our inks were out! So I had to call tech support and got that cleared up. Then we ran into another problem when the ink was being laid down way too thick, so I had to call tech support again. I thought I got it cleared up for sure, but as it was printing this time it just stopped halfway through! At this point I thought 'it's just going to be one of those days..geeez.' So....I finally came up with a little creative solution to just print on the original banner material that was too small and print the image in 2 pieces, then just seam them together. My boss went for it, and THIS time it worked like a snap! But man...I just have to laugh sometimes though when NOTHING is working right. And especially when both my boss and me are new to this stuff. At one point I was thinking 'I really wish I was working for someone who knew ALL this stuff, someone who's been doing it for yrs cause it gets frustrating.'
But alas...we got through it thank God. =)

In a way though all these problems can be a good thing because it helps me to take action, something I never had to do in the past because there was always someone there to take care of it already so...I am growing here so I shouldn't complain. Still, it can be stressful. And my Mgmt class is starting this Thursday too. I got a little behind since i couldn't afford the books, but I should be okay...if I actually sit and read, that is. This class will be a challenge for me because of the lack of discipline I have reading, but I think I'm becoming more diligent with each class and reading hasn't been so much of a burden, so I think I'm going to do well.=) Before I honestly would wait til the last minute to read like 30 pgs of text! And of course there's no way I'm going to read that much the night before, especially since I'm the type who likes to soak up what I read and highlight along of the way, so I've learned my lesson...the hard way. But things are good now, and alot less stressful! =)

Entering the Age of Weirdness

Okay I've seen some pretty cool special effects in my life but I think this one just made the top of the list! lol If you love poodles and want to see them in a different light then click the link below and go to 'Planet of the Poodles?' post. It's the second post down, and click on the image to watch the video. Trippy I tell you but very amusing. =)

http://www.lactoso.com/blog/archive/2005_01_01_lactoso_archive.html

Stretch Time

Well this week should be interesting at work. My boss is on vacation so I'll be running things here all by myself! Yikes! I'm pretty confident yet a little nervous about it. At least if I have any major problems or questions she can be reached by cell. Still it'll be a little lonely without anyone here so hopefully I'll see a few customers here and there.=) It will be a challenge though running not just the designing aspect, but also the phones, walk-ins and quotes and invoices. Man...but I know by the end of the week I'll be more confident having gone through it.

I had to get up earlier this morning to take a job I just finished to Moe in Corona. Thank God it was on the way cause I'm not a morning person! And thank God I finally got paid too cause I was getting just a little low on gas...just a little. lol But I'm so relieved now of that. It seemed like all my plans this weekend concerning that job never went the way I wanted either! I ended up getting a little stressed yesterday...on a holiday! I was like 'I don't need stress on a holiday here!' But things actually got better as the day progressed. It ended very nicely going to the Angel's game with Anthony and seeing the fireworks afterwards...very cool! =)

The Faithfulness of God

It's pretty amazing when God answers specific prayers in my life or anyone's life. I was recently asking the Lord for some extra work on the side to help catch up on my phone bill, and not more than a day or two later He provided it for me! I thought, whoa! Thank you Lord! That was cool. So I have a pool/landscape design that I'm going to do and finish this weekend. On top of that, today I also got a logo project presented to me from Albert, a web designer who I work with from time to time. So that was pretty awesome too. Wow...so I'm pretty stoked right now. It's perfect timing too because I have an extra week between classes to fit these into my schedule. Then afterwards I'll finally have the extra money that I see on my budget plan! lol I've been playing catchup for a few months due to a series of unfortunate events.

This week at work has been very, very busy. Today I feel like I can breathe a little better cause the bulk of that work is done now. Plus my boss is letting me go a 1/2 early today for staying late on Wednesday to finish a vehicle install so that's cool! I know 1/2 hr isn't much to get excited about but hey, after a hectic week like that it's just enough to get excited about, especially when followed by a 3 day weekend! =)