I'm currently in limbo. I have a job, but am waiting on the results of the drug test and background check. Originally, US Airways said I'd be starting this week, but apparently its taking longer than expected. I hope I start by Monday then!
For now, I'm living the easy life. Although I have been working on unpacking boxes (especially my precious clothes!) and organizing what's left of the rooms. If I had paint here, I'd start painting the Smith house. I cleaned the bathroom almost top to bottom today. I've also been running errands the past few days, trying to fit in things that won't be as easy once I'm back to full time office life.
I took the dogs to the vet yesterday to have their anal glands "expressed." Their breed has to have that done regularly or they get real uncomfortable and the glands can explode. I don't want to know what happens in that case. Anyways, it ended up costing over a hundred dollars because they charged me for two office visits since the dogs had never been seen. Izzy also got eye drops because her eyes have been very red and dischargy lately. They think she might be allergic to cats, or the heat just bothers her. I hope its the heat! And I saw the first tick I've ever seen on a dog, on Izzy yesterday! Needless to say, I ran home and put fresh Frontline on the dogs. Now I just need to shave them down so they aren't wearing a winter coat in the Arizona heat.
We are heading back to the midwest in two weekends for a wedding of one of Todd's Sioux City friends. The wedding will be in Lincoln, NE. I will be meeting Todd's parents and his sister's family also. Will be an interesting weekend. Todd also has a chance to (possibly) go to Seattle for work the end of August. If that happens, he will stay till the weekend, and I'll fly out on my flight benefits for a weekend getaway.
For now, I think I'll go finish out the rest of one of my last "free" days by the pool!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
One Exciting Week
So... my first real week in Phoenix was not spent laying by the pool like I thought it would. I got up every morning the same time Todd got up to go to work. Then I would send out a few resumes and search for jobs. Tuesday I met with Robert Half and had the similar feelings I did with every recruiter - nice and promising, but not sure if they are on the ball with anything. Tuesday evening I got a call from Ajilon Finance, asking me to come in Wednesday morning. Once again, another recruiter. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt, so I agreed to meet them Wed morning. The guy I met with, Dave, was great. He was very upbeat even though he personally had no open positions in his recruiting queue. I was there talking with him about my career history and goals for over an hour. Then he wanted me to meet with his partner recruiter, Jessica. She came in and chatted and then said she knew of a position open at US Airways. Well, I had seen jobs with US Airways a few months before, but nothing came of sending in my resume. And then the jobs were gone, so I assumed they were full. Well apparently a finance position was still open, so of course I was interested. She said she would try to get me an interview.
I went shopping the rest of the afternoon at the Scottsdale Fashion Square. I wanted a mall with a Limited or Express, as I know their suits fit me best. Todd was a little nervous to send me to that mall because they carry stores like Gucci, Guess, Coach, Armani, and Tiffany's. Well, I ended up finding a great deal on a new suit jacket for $12! I am a darn good shopper! :)
So, on my way home from the mall, I gave Jessica a call back to see if anything had happened. She said she was just waiting to hear back, and I might have an interview the next day. I don't often take things to heart, especially when there is a lot of unknowns involved. Nonetheless, she called me about 4pm and said I had an interview and wanted to prep me a bit. We went through some common US Airways interview finance questions, things they like me to bring up in the interview, and she did a mock interview as well.
I only get nervous about something when it means a lot to me. I find when I don't care about something, I do a better job. This job was one I really wanted, and it was my first interview in 3 years! My nerves were fried.
Todd has some friends that work at US Airways, so he wanted to know the names of all the people I was going to be interviewing with. I was reading them off to him, and one of the names he had a surprised reaction. It turns out it was actually his 2nd cousin from Keswick, IA! Very strange. He wanted me to bring up this little fact in the interview - it couldn't hurt!
The interview I felt went very well. I met with the two finance directors (one being Todd's cousin), and the controller of the group. They asked me some accounting questions. One I struggled with because I had never dealt with the topic directly at work. The other ones I aced though. I left there with an overall positive feeling. Jessica had told me to call the other recruiter, Eric, after my interview to give my feedback. She was actually traveling to NY, so she wasn't going to be available. I couldn't get ahold of Eric, so I left him a message.
I went back to Todd's hotel and we had lunch together. Although I had to bring lunch back because he couldn't leave the hotel as he was working the desk that day. Right before I was about the leave the hotel, the closing company for my house called and needed me to sign one more thing. Luckily, I was still there to use the hotel fax. After that was finished, I left for home and called Eric on my way. He asked for my feedback and then proceeded to tell me that they all really liked me, and I must have knocked their socks off, because they wanted to offer me the position! I was in shock only because everything was happening so fast!
I spent the rest of the evening getting my references together for the recruiter, and relaxing in the pool. I couldn't believe I had an offer only hours after my interview! And I had just heard about the job the day before! All I can say is that something seems to be meant to be.... my house sold in 5 days, I got a job in 4 days. :)
I go in Monday morning for the drug test and meeting with HR for filling out the admin forms. My title will be Senior Financial Analyst. It will be some Accounting close every month, but mostly financial analysis. I've wanted to cross over into Finance for awhile, as I am getting burnt out on Accounting. Accounting alone is typically boring and monotonous. The great thing about accounting is that there are usually quite a few jobs out there because every company has an accounting dept. So finally my background is getting me somewhere worthwhile. And I'm totally excited about this job! Not to mention that US Airways has great flight and travel benefits for employees. Now I will be able to fly home to Iowa easier!
I went shopping the rest of the afternoon at the Scottsdale Fashion Square. I wanted a mall with a Limited or Express, as I know their suits fit me best. Todd was a little nervous to send me to that mall because they carry stores like Gucci, Guess, Coach, Armani, and Tiffany's. Well, I ended up finding a great deal on a new suit jacket for $12! I am a darn good shopper! :)
So, on my way home from the mall, I gave Jessica a call back to see if anything had happened. She said she was just waiting to hear back, and I might have an interview the next day. I don't often take things to heart, especially when there is a lot of unknowns involved. Nonetheless, she called me about 4pm and said I had an interview and wanted to prep me a bit. We went through some common US Airways interview finance questions, things they like me to bring up in the interview, and she did a mock interview as well.
I only get nervous about something when it means a lot to me. I find when I don't care about something, I do a better job. This job was one I really wanted, and it was my first interview in 3 years! My nerves were fried.
Todd has some friends that work at US Airways, so he wanted to know the names of all the people I was going to be interviewing with. I was reading them off to him, and one of the names he had a surprised reaction. It turns out it was actually his 2nd cousin from Keswick, IA! Very strange. He wanted me to bring up this little fact in the interview - it couldn't hurt!
The interview I felt went very well. I met with the two finance directors (one being Todd's cousin), and the controller of the group. They asked me some accounting questions. One I struggled with because I had never dealt with the topic directly at work. The other ones I aced though. I left there with an overall positive feeling. Jessica had told me to call the other recruiter, Eric, after my interview to give my feedback. She was actually traveling to NY, so she wasn't going to be available. I couldn't get ahold of Eric, so I left him a message.
I went back to Todd's hotel and we had lunch together. Although I had to bring lunch back because he couldn't leave the hotel as he was working the desk that day. Right before I was about the leave the hotel, the closing company for my house called and needed me to sign one more thing. Luckily, I was still there to use the hotel fax. After that was finished, I left for home and called Eric on my way. He asked for my feedback and then proceeded to tell me that they all really liked me, and I must have knocked their socks off, because they wanted to offer me the position! I was in shock only because everything was happening so fast!
I spent the rest of the evening getting my references together for the recruiter, and relaxing in the pool. I couldn't believe I had an offer only hours after my interview! And I had just heard about the job the day before! All I can say is that something seems to be meant to be.... my house sold in 5 days, I got a job in 4 days. :)
I go in Monday morning for the drug test and meeting with HR for filling out the admin forms. My title will be Senior Financial Analyst. It will be some Accounting close every month, but mostly financial analysis. I've wanted to cross over into Finance for awhile, as I am getting burnt out on Accounting. Accounting alone is typically boring and monotonous. The great thing about accounting is that there are usually quite a few jobs out there because every company has an accounting dept. So finally my background is getting me somewhere worthwhile. And I'm totally excited about this job! Not to mention that US Airways has great flight and travel benefits for employees. Now I will be able to fly home to Iowa easier!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Life in Phoenix so far
So the 20+ hour car ride down here wasn't so bad. Of course being stuck in a car for almost a whole calendar day sucks. But it went by surprisingly fast. I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time on the portable DVD players. That was a totally weird movie. And had Todd not been explaining the whole thing to me, I would have been completely lost. He says that its not a girl movie, but one every girl should watch just to say they've seen it. Apparently its a movie that people commonly quote. We also watched the first season of the Office. I didn't see very much of it though, as I was fading in and out of sleep at this time.
The dogs did surprisingly well. They slept most of the time, as is their normal day to day life. Izzy did a bit of whining. I think she just wanted to be out of the car. Our last stop was in Flagstaff at about 5 am. It was freezing cold there! Strange how weather 2 hours away from each other in AZ can be so different. We finally got into Phoenix about 7am.
The dogs made themselves at home almost instantaneously. Neither had any "potty" issues in the land of no grass. Izzy is as scared of the stairs of course. It is a long way up those in this house! The cats of the house have not really been around the dogs much yet. Although Gordan and Izzy are very curious about these cats. They try to get close to them, but the cats don't want anything to do with them yet. The dogs also started eating and drinking normally right away. That part is strange because they normally won't eat for awhile in a new place; so they must feel at home here.
They haven't really experienced the pool yet. They walk up to the side and looked in. I wonder what they think it is. I tried to put Gordan on the raft. He didn't know what to do.
We slept a lot that first day. Then it was off to Tucson for some friends' wedding. We ate at Quinton's sister bar (Bison Witches) for a late lunch on Friday when we got to Tucson. Quinton's is a bar well-known in downtown Iowa City. They are known for their colossal sized baked potatoes, and their breadbowl soups.-YUM! I used to frequent Quinton's on Monday's in IC for Martini Mondays.
We stayed at the Marriott on the University of Arizona Campus in Tucson. We were on the eight floor and had a nice view of the city.
The dogs did surprisingly well. They slept most of the time, as is their normal day to day life. Izzy did a bit of whining. I think she just wanted to be out of the car. Our last stop was in Flagstaff at about 5 am. It was freezing cold there! Strange how weather 2 hours away from each other in AZ can be so different. We finally got into Phoenix about 7am.
The dogs made themselves at home almost instantaneously. Neither had any "potty" issues in the land of no grass. Izzy is as scared of the stairs of course. It is a long way up those in this house! The cats of the house have not really been around the dogs much yet. Although Gordan and Izzy are very curious about these cats. They try to get close to them, but the cats don't want anything to do with them yet. The dogs also started eating and drinking normally right away. That part is strange because they normally won't eat for awhile in a new place; so they must feel at home here.
They haven't really experienced the pool yet. They walk up to the side and looked in. I wonder what they think it is. I tried to put Gordan on the raft. He didn't know what to do.
We slept a lot that first day. Then it was off to Tucson for some friends' wedding. We ate at Quinton's sister bar (Bison Witches) for a late lunch on Friday when we got to Tucson. Quinton's is a bar well-known in downtown Iowa City. They are known for their colossal sized baked potatoes, and their breadbowl soups.-YUM! I used to frequent Quinton's on Monday's in IC for Martini Mondays.
We stayed at the Marriott on the University of Arizona Campus in Tucson. We were on the eight floor and had a nice view of the city.
Then it was off to the wedding that took place at the "Z Mansion." Its just a big house that hosts weddings, and has a beautiful backyard. It started pouring rain when we first got there, so the wedding got postponed for a bit. I'm told that rain in AZ is uncommon. Once the rain let up, the wedding was back on and it actually cooled down the weather a lot. The food was some type of Mexican cuisine - yummy! Here are a few pictures from the wedding.
This morning (Saturday) we ate lunch at Jimmy John's in Tucson, also on the U of A campus. I'm used to eating at Jimmy John's for lunch at my old job at Gentiva in Overland Park. Todd hasn't eaten JJ's for years because they aren't in Phoenix. So we had to be reminiscent of old times and eat there while we had a chance in Tucson. JJ's was right on campus, in an area that totally reminded me of the Ped Mall and campus area in Iowa City. It almost felt like home. At Jimmy John's, a guy approached us asking about Iowa, because we were both sporting Iowa hats. He was from Waterloo. Iowan's are always so friendly! I love being able to say I'm from Iowa! There really is just something about Iowa Folk. :)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Will the (Accounting) work ever end?!
Tomorrow is my last day at Gentiva. I have mixed emotions about this fact. I love my job, especially the people I work with everyday! But the fact that I'm leaving during quarter close in the Accounting world has been very stressful. I'm ready to put some of the things I deal with at work behind me so I can focus on moving and future job searching. But I hate leaving any job or project unfinished. I'm starting to wonder if I'll even have time to clean out my desk tomorrow!
The piles just will not disappear. They keep getting deeper. I'm going to have to leave quite a few things unfinished.
The piles just will not disappear. They keep getting deeper. I'm going to have to leave quite a few things unfinished.
The girls did come over last night as a "farewell." They gave me a photo album book that they put together, wrote, and ordered off of Shutterfly. It's been cracking me up! I need some humor after these crazy work days lately!
Rachel, Becky, Me, Abby
The girls I am closest to in KC.
My favorite line from the book: "True friendship isn't about being inseparable; its about being separated and nothing changes."
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Pictures From Vicki's Bday Weekend In Phoenix
Just a few pictures of Vicki's birthday weekend while she was in Phoenix. We met some friends out for dinner, then went out for drinks and dancing (of course!) afterwards.
After doing some dancing.
I love this picture...
Sitting in the booth.
Before we went out that night.
All in all we had a pretty fun night...
T Minus 1 Week And Counting!
Wow, getting close huh? Sometimes i'm still in shock we actually got all this done and thrown together so quickly! One week from today i will fly back to KC, hop in a car with Vicki and we'll make our way back down to Phoenix. And then, almost as soon as we get here, it's off to Tucson for a wedding.
Vicki is working hard every day to get boxes packed in preparation for the move. She's up to 30 or so, and at least according to her is making pretty good progress. I moved with my brother and his wife into a new house just about a month ago, so i know how much packing boxes sucks. It must be even worse doing an entire house by yourself though. Sorry i'm not there to help Vicki!!
I am looking forward to having Vicki here with me, it will be great to be able to see her every day instead of one weekend a month. And of course we're both looking forward to having all of this moving stuff be over and done with! Just one more week and we're homefree...
Friday, July 3, 2009
Packing underway
So I have been packing a little bit each night after work. Now that the news has traveled throughout my office, people everywhere are bringing me boxes. I came home with a car full of boxes 3 days in a row this week. I utilitzed the Overland Park recycling center to take advantage of free newspapers for packing materials. What can I say, I'm usually pretty innovative. :)
Packing has been going ok, except for the fact that I'm completely anal about making every box uniformly packed to the brim. Therefore the process involves me working on about 8 boxes at once, and scouring rooms to find something the perfect size to fit in the perfect spot in every box. It was very overwhelming the last 3 days. But I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. My rooms are getting thinned out. And almost all the art is off the walls. I realized I have a lot of decorations - go figure! And I also have one full box of spices. I'm afraid to start packing my clothes!
Last night Becky came over with wine to help me pack. We didn't get much done! She didn't come over until after 9, so I didn't really lose much time. I had already packed for 5 hours. Nonetheless, I really needed that girl time! I'm definitely going to miss my girls here! I think of us as having "Sex and the City" friendships, and that is hard to find....
Packing has been going ok, except for the fact that I'm completely anal about making every box uniformly packed to the brim. Therefore the process involves me working on about 8 boxes at once, and scouring rooms to find something the perfect size to fit in the perfect spot in every box. It was very overwhelming the last 3 days. But I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. My rooms are getting thinned out. And almost all the art is off the walls. I realized I have a lot of decorations - go figure! And I also have one full box of spices. I'm afraid to start packing my clothes!
Last night Becky came over with wine to help me pack. We didn't get much done! She didn't come over until after 9, so I didn't really lose much time. I had already packed for 5 hours. Nonetheless, I really needed that girl time! I'm definitely going to miss my girls here! I think of us as having "Sex and the City" friendships, and that is hard to find....
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Moving: Do Not Want
So, this whole moving thing has turned into a gigantic ordeal, much more so than i was hoping it would be. Not that i thought it was going to be easy, but i jumped in the fray late last week to try to help Vicki find a decent moving company at a decent price, and was relatively taken aback at what i found...
First of all, i got absolutely inundated with phone calls and emails. I haven't made an official count, but i'd guess i got somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 emails over the course of a couple of days. So much so that it became overwhelming and i couldn't keep up. After doing some very arbitrary trimming down to a few companies, i found one guy i really liked, talked with him a few times, and had Vicki get a hold of him.
Everything seemed good, until she did her homework and researched the company a bit, and it started to look like that at best the company wasn't very good, and at worst it was a scam. So we scrapped them, and went with a more reliable, more well-known company. Vicki set it all up, and it looks like everything is a go!
I'm flying back to KC on Tuesday, July 14th (less than two weeks!) to help Vicki drive down in her car with the dogs, and the movers will load her things the same day. Then it's off to Phoenix!
Meanwhile, Vicki does all the hard work and packs boxes, while i sit in Phoenix and wait. I feel completely worthless not being able to help...
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