Oh, to be a kid again...

So we're watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony and there was a little girl flying a kite across the "Bird's Nest" (stadium where it's hosted). Of course, she was suspended by cables to appear as if she was flying above the other performers.

Matthew was completely amazed.

1. He loves kites.
2. She was flying.

Oh, to be that innocent again!

LOL!

SYTYCD - Live!! (Top 14)

Okay, so normally I follow along with Karen's live blog, but as she said, the SYTYCD gods do not want her to live blog and she's working... SO...

They're all doing 2 routines tonight!

Round 1:

Jessica/Will (Jive)
They look good, but I wish there was more of a connection between them. Jessica ALWAYS seems to be facing straight out to the audience and rarely makes eye contact with Will.

Comfort/Thayne (Broadway)
I like this new pairing! And Comfort is flexible! It was a good performance, but nothing I was blown away with. They DEFINITELY have more of a connection (flirtation) than Jessica & Will.

Kourtni/Matt (Smooth Hip-Hop)
I'm bored. And they're not always in sync.

Chelsie/Mark (Jazz)
LOVE it! It's fast, they've got a chemistry, and so flirty!

Kherington/Twitch (Paso Doble)
Oh... I likey! Goose bumps, even! I loved BOTH of their costumes, and I still love Twitchington! (Will they be on Mary's "Train"?)

Katee/Joshua (Contemporary)
Definitely a powerful performance. I thought there were a couple times they seemed to not be in perfect sync, but maybe I just need to put my glasses on, because none of the judges mentioned it. It was just a bit at the beginning though. I absolutely loved the "assisted run" too. I had to rewind to see it! I want to know what they used to hold Katie's hair up - it NEVER moved!

Courtney/Gev (Hip-Hop)
Okay, so I am SO not a fan of hip-hop and I loved that! Courtney really surprised me! I have to say I agree with Mary that my eyes kept going to Courtney instead of Gev killing it.

Round 2

Jessica/Will (Lyrical Jazz)
I totally want to go find a big comfy shirt after watching that! They definitely found a connection this time around! Will is totally outshining Jessica. I liked her better in Round 2, but I'm still just not feeling her this week!

(Can Mary PLEASE quit SCREAMING!?!?!?!?!)

Comfort/Thayne (Smooth Waltz)
Okay, so far I'm bored except for watching Comfort's dress when she twirls. I think they probably performed it well, but I was BORED. I guess I'm not a waltzy kind of person. Okay, the judges all liked it. Go figure!

Kourtni/Matt (Mambo)
Fun! I like the little steps along with the drum! And damn, she's got some legs! They're both super tall, so those lifts can NOT be easy. I wanted more heat from them! It was more like friends horsing around vs. Mary's hot tamales!

Chelsie/Mark (Foxtrot)
So far.... I think Mark's getting lost in Chelsie's dress. Okay, I liked it though! Mark doesn't seem to bat an eye at flipping Chelsie around through the air week after week.

Oooooh! Nigel called Mary out on the screaming - I wonder if she knows just how very serious he probably is? LOL

Oops... I just realized that if I'm doing this "live", I need to "publish" instead of just "save" as I add my thoughts... DOH!

Kherington/Twitch (Contemporary)
Wow. Twitch in jams. I LOVE the fire between them. I was hoping Kherington wouldn't bounce right off the bed and not get back up! The look between them toward the end was phenomenal.

LOL - Nigel is cracking me up! I think he has a crush on Twitch, too!!

Katee/Joshua (West Coast Swing)
These two are always having so much fun! Very entertaining! I can't believe he flew through the air like that at the end! ha! I was a little irked at her for almost not making it through Vegas, but I'm really starting to warm up to her!

Courtney/Gev (Broadway)
It's funny to see Gev as "nerd" from his hip-hop! They really did make you believe they were sight-seeing in NY!

My Bottom Three:
Comfort & Thayne, Jessica & Will, and probably Courtney & Gev.

See you next week! (I hope I did okay, Karen!)

So I Think I'm Addicted....

... to So You Think You Can Dance!

It's Karen's fault. She did live blogging for American Idol, so we'd all watch, and leave our own critiques as comments on her blog. Then David Cook became the 2008 American Idol and the next round of reality began... SYTYCD!

I wasn't sure through the auditions if I'd be hooked or not, but yeah, I am!

Last night was good - out of the remaining 8 couples, I think it's going to be easier to pick a bottom 2 rather than 3. Of course I loved Twitch and Kherington (still hate the spelling of that one, so I'll just go with Twitchington) and Chelsie H & Mark.

I think as for the bottom group... I'm going to go with Comfort & Chris, Chelsea T & Thayne, and.... Courtney & Gev. Of course, I think when they dance for their lives, Comfort will pull herself back to safety. I'm not sure which I'd rather see go though - Chris or Matt - but I'd like to see Gev stay!

Interesting!

So I sat with a couple reps in the SOS team I applied for today to get a feel for the position and ask some questions. Now I'm REALLY excited to get the position!

It seems like it will be a combination of problem-solver, detective, and teacher that I've been looking for!

I had to cut my time with them short because I had a meeting to go to (which in itself was cool because our director & her boss were in there to give us kudos for all our work on this temp assignment, but then also we each got a letter from the guy who falls right below Chuck -as in "Talk to Chuck" Schwab- in the food chain), BUT... I'm going back over there tomorrow to sit with a couple different reps for some more exposure and questions!

Yea!

A needed change?

So I'm sitting here at work, trying to get motivated to actually DO something, and then it dawns on me that I don't really HAVE anything to "do". Now, don't get me wrong... I was taking inbound calls all day long, with my phone stats being tracked and my performance based (mostly) on all those stats, so this "indefinite temporary" assignment where I'm making outbound calls (and taking a few inbounds during the afternoon) on what is basically our complaint team, is a nice change, but....

Dealing with the complaints isn't easy. The subject matter is a disaster that happened with one of our mutual funds, primarily because of the subprime mortgage crisis over the past several months. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I do not like conflict, I suck at debates, and that while I've managed to procure my licenses to become a stockbroker, I'm NOT well versed in the financial industry. I am, however, very good with relating to people, which is why I think I was chosen to be a part of the team.

So now, after knowing I was going to be off for 3 weeks and passing off all the issues I was working on before I left, I'm at the mercy of the incoming, new issues for anything to work on. Today is the beginning of my second week back, and I have 3 issues to work on and I'm at a standstill on all of them, either waiting for a client or a financial consultant to call me back.

So what does that mean really? It means....

I'M BORED.

There's a position open in another department that may be more suited to me. It's the SOS team. They're the ones we go to internally when there's just something we can't quite figure out or need special handling to get something accomplished for the clients. It's minimal contact with the external clients, and it's solving problems. While I know I'm quite capable of placing trades for clients as a broker, the market analysis part of the job is completely lost on me.

Will that be enough of a change for me? I really hope so, and I hope I get the position, because I don't know if call center life is really something I can continue indefinitely. I still miss the engineering world, the trade shows, the graphics, the not-wearing-a-headset, and interaction with coworkers besides transferring calls.

It all starts somewhere, right?

So I've been thinking for a while I was going to start blogging. I created my page a while ago, seems I have trouble getting the voices OUT of my head and onto paper/screen. There's plenty to say though, it's just hard to sort them all out at times.

My life right now consists of work, home life, my fledgling side business of cake decorating, finding time to spend with my family and friends, and trying to be happy with myself.

Work is an interesting situation. I 'lucked' into it by having a drink with my then-roommate and one of her friends. I was unemployed (laid off) and had been for a few months. He suggested I send him my resume. Yes, it was a marketing degree in the world of finance, but they trained me and I got my license. The pay is better than what I was getting. But I'm not sure I really like it. There are opportunities to move around in the organization into better fits for ME and my skills, but it takes time. And in the meantime, I'm pussy-footing around conversations that I'm not comfortable having with clients because I really don't understand (or WANT to understand) the financial markets and current events the way a stockbroker should!

Home life - now there's an ever-challenging situation. We're in a house that I absolutely hate. It's a small, run-down house in a small neighborhood in a not-so-nice part of town. I hate, hate, hate that house. There's not even enough room for a kitchen table. Not even a SMALL one. Now throw in that for the most part, it's been a bachelor pad, at least while Chris has been there. Before that, it was filled with chain-smokers. The yard sucks. One huge tree in the front refuses to let the grass grow. The backyard is so full of trees and their roots, that even if someone DID try to mow, it's be near-impossible.

We only have Matthew on the weekends, so it's hard to really be a FAMILY when we do have him. I don't think he's taking naps at mommy's house anymore, so the evening we get him, he falls asleep early (sometimes before or during dinner!). Then of course, we have to listen to him accidentally call Chris his mommy's live-in's name instead of "Daddy". I think he should be a lot farther along knowing his alphabet, numbers, and colors, but with the short time we have him, and no idea of what help he gets at home, working with him on these things is near impossible.

And when will our weekend family actually become a REAL family? That's a good question, and one that's one of the loudest voices in my head. I'm sure there'll be more on that later...

As far as keeping the house up... ugh! I work stupid hours, and Chris works long (though regular 8-5 hours). Combine that with trying to catch up on chores with keeping up with Matthew on the weekends... *sigh* laundry and dishes and organizing just seem to take more time thant here is. Oh, and did I mention that "the boys" that have lived in the house for the past few years managed to destroy the garbage disposal and dishwasher, so I don't even have THOSE to help out?

Out of that pitiful, cramped kitchen though, I've managed to lose myself in some cake decorating. Yes, it's hard. If my parents hadn't remodeled their kitchen and brought over a couple sections of their old cabinets, I wouldn't have enough countertop to even cook dinner, let alone decorate cakes! I love my cakes! I wish I had more time for them though! My work schedule up until last week was great for it. I worked Sunday through Wednesday, which gave me Thursday and Friday to make cakes for the weekend. Now though, I'm Tuesday through Friday, so someone wanting a cake for Saturday is a bit of a problem. I'll make it work, but it's going to be hard! Oh yeah, and the lack of a dishwasher kind of throws a wrench in the clean-up process! Yikes! Hopefully there will come a day when I can have room (and time!) for all the cakes I want to make!

After all that (see above), there's not a lot of time for the family and friends. Of course, I don't spend enough time with any of them. Family isn't far, but they're still almost 45 minutes away, and between my schedule and theirs, it just doesn't work out well for quality time. The most I've really spent with family lately is while making cakes for my sister's friends, so I go to her house to make the cake (less travel time with a decorated cake, bigger/better kitchen, and the company)! My friends probably have the same problem I do. Several of us are friends because at some point in our lives, we worked or went to school together. Well, now we DON'T work together anymore, and thank goodness we're all out of school! Unfortunately that means different schedules, some getting married and having kids, others traveling for work. It just makes it hard.

As far as me personally. Well, I went through a lot to get healthy and lose over 100 pounds a couple years ago. Now I'm struggling to keep on that track. My work schedule kept me from some very supportive functions (walks/rides, group meetings, etc.). Then my knee (tore my ACL snow skiing a couple years ago) decided it had enough, and that stopped me from exercising as much as I had been. Now it's almost back to normal, and with everything else that has snuck up on me, I'm struggling to get back into that physical routine. Any thoughts on how to turn that around would be greatly appreciated! And I'm desperately waiting for insurance to update some information in their system (in the next 24 hours!) that will allow me to schedule my breast reduction & tummy tuck to get rid of the excess skin from losing all that weight! Physically, it should help my back pain. Emotionally, well.. we'll see, but since I dread finding clothes that actually fit and don't look like potato sacks every morning, I think it'll help!

So as you can, there are LOTS of voices in my head - all with something different things to discuss. Hopefully this will be a place I can get some of the sorted out!