My Turn

So apparently I've been a little slacking in the posting department, as Vicki has been doing most of that lately. But she has done a pretty good job of keeping everyone up to date with what's been going on.

One thing she did fail to mention was an Arizona Diamondbacks game we went to a few weeks back. On Monday of Vicki's second week at work, one of the guys she interviewed with (who is a friend of some friends of mine at US Airways) offered her the US Airways tickets to the game. She asked me if i wanted to go to the game, and of course i said yes. I've been in the US Airways suite at center court of a Phoenix Suns game and their corporate tent at the FBR Open, so i assumed the US Airways tickets to the Dbacks game were pretty good.

And clearly i was correct. We were sitting behind home plate, down the third base line just a bit, in the 8th row. In the picture below, the head you see in the bottom right corner in the white shirt is Derrick Hall, Dbacks President and CEO. His seats were just six rows in front of ours...

Stephen Drew at the plate.

The Dbacks won the game, 7-4, over the New York Mets. It was an entertaining game, as the Dbacks jumped out to early lead, and the Mets tried to climb back into the game. Below are some more pics from the game.

Doug Davis at 2nd base.

Mark Reynolds at the plate.

The Dbacks TV broadcast booth, Mark Grace and Daron Sutton.

Vicki and I had a lot of fun at the game, and are hoping to get the US Airways tickets again. After sitting in the 8th row, nothing else seems quite as nice... =)

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As Vicki mentioned, we're heading up to Denver next weekend (Labor Day) to take advantage of her flight benefits for the first time. I found a really cheap hotel rooms in downtown Denver fr the weekend, and the Dbacks are there to play the Rockies. So in addition to watching the first Iowa football game of the season, we're planning on going to a baseball game as well. And we'll be seeing some friends of Vicki's from college, as well as my friends the Longstreth's, whose wedding we just attended in Lincoln, NE.

Everything else just keeps moving along here in Phoenix. I keep hoping at some point the temperatures will break, but it's still hitting 110+ here and there. One of these days, one of these days...

Getting ready for football season

This is a pic of Todd and I, sporting our Iowa gear. We were actually just out for a night with some friends. Little would you know that we had spent 3 hours before this at the Arrowhead Mall. We went there to get our phones on one plan to save money. I was wearing a white skirt, and somehow Todd noticed that there a weird looking stain on the back side of my skirt. I did not feel comfortable meeting our friends out in my embarrassing skirt, so I went on a rampage to find something good to wear. We were too far from home to go back and change. Of course, life is ironic, and whenever you need to find something specific, you never can! So I dragged Todd around to find something. He dealt with it well and was a good sport! We preceded to meet our friends out for dinner.

We are going to start taking advantage of my flight benefits soon. We just booked a trip to Denver, CO over Labor Day. We have no specific plans yet, except to see a few of our friends that live in Denver, and go to the Sports Column (Iowa Bar) in downtown Denver for the opening day Iowa Football game.

Oh, and next weekend marks the beginning of NFL and fantasy football season. The guys are planning a big party at the house for the fantasy draft. I've never been involved in the draft process-this may be interesting to witness. I suppose I'll survive - if Todd can survive going to every female store in a mall, I should be able to make it through ;)

Work Update

So, work has been slowly getting better. I'm starting to catch on to the world of Finance. Once this budget season is over, I should be able to get a better grasp on things. Last Friday was a birthday of one of my co-workers. Here's a pic of some of the girls in my department.

Me, Seidi, Cherame, Laura, Saidah

Everyone is pretty fun that I work with, I just haven't had too much time to get to know them yet because its so busy. It was Cherame's birthday, and we all went to Ra Sushi after work for happy hour and sushi. I work right off of Mill Street in Tempe. Mill Street is an area that reminds me of the Iowa City Ped Mall-lots of bars, restaurants, and unique shops. Of course, its right on the ASU campus. Todd came and joined us and got to meet a lot of my co-workers. Todd and I actually only work a couple miles from each other in Tempe.

The sushi Todd and I had at Ra.

Longstreth Wedding Weekend in Nebraska

I had one of the best weekends ever last weekend when we went to Lincoln, NE for a wedding. The wedding was for a good friend of Todd's from Sioux City that he's known since elementary school. We flew out from PHX on Friday morning at 8am and flew into Omaha. We were picked up at the Omaha airport by Jennica; the girlfriend (and fiance) of one of Todd's Sioux City friends, Ayron. Jennica and I hit it off right away. When she picked us up, she was painting her nails in the car while she waited for us. That's my kind of girl ;)

I met and we hung out with a whole bunch of Sioux City folk Friday afternoon. Then they all went to the rehearsal dinner, and Todd and I went to dinner with his family. It was the first time I had ever met them. I really enjoyed meeting his family; it was his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their kids. We went to dinner at Misty's, a nice steak house in Lincoln. We also went to breakfast with them the next morning at the pancake house in front of our hotel. Todd's mom brought pictures of the patio home they recently purchased in Phoenix. They want my input and "advice" to decorate it. I love doing that stuff, so I am excited about that as well.

The rest of the weekend we spent hanging out with everyone from Sioux City, and the wedding of course. I luckily had Jennica to hang out with as another girl; although I had fun with everyone! And our room somehow turned into the "party" room all weekend. I think I laughed enough that weekend for a whole year!

Todd with his niece and nephew.

Jennica and I at Walmart - We found these dresses hilarious!

Todd and I

Todd with four of his friends he's known since elementary school.

Jennica and Ayron

Josh and I dancing

Todd and I dancing

Vicki, Todd, Josh

Jennica and I

Todd and I

Jennica and I before leaving Omaha.

Day One

Today was my first day at US Airways. One word sums up my day: Overwhelming. I expected my first day to be a little crazy, but I felt like I was spinning circles trying to figure out all the new systems. They use a European General Ledger program, so the language is a little different from traditionally US Accounting. I honestly felt like crying after the morning and I went to lunch. But, I always get that way when I'm stressed. The afternoon went a little better, as I learned the close process of the division for which I'll be in charge. I'll be working on HR admin, which means I'll be calculating, booking, and analyzing HR functions such as medical benefits, pensions and retirement plans. I think once I start understanding things, it will get very interesting. I also will be working on the budget and forecasting of these functions; the part I am most excited about, although that part will take me many hours. I will be very busy for the first few months.

There are a lot of people that I liked whom I met today in the finance department though. Also, the group is very diverse. I hope I can learn my job and be able to start socializing :) Day number two is tomorrow......ugh.

Settling In

So it's been about two and a half weeks since Vicki and I made the drive to phoenix, and we're both settling in to our routines and our lives together. As stated below, Vicki made quick work of finding a job, which came as a relief to both of us i think. Although we were prepared for her job search to take a while, it was nice to find something so quickly. Especially something at US Airways, with all the flight benefits that comes with it. Between her with cheap flights and me with cheap hotels, there is a good chance we will be travelling fairly frequently...

Vicki's things arrived last Sunday, and as she said we kinda of put things wherever they would fit in order to get them in the house. We are living with my brother and his wife, and while they have a large house, we're still taking up some space. She has been slowly unpacking and organizing what she can as we go along, and eventually we'll get it all to a place it can stay for a while.

This weekend we are off to Lincoln, NE for a wedding of a good friend of mine from back home in Sioux City. He and I, along with a couple of other guys that will be there this weekend, have all known each other since kindergarten and have managed to stay friends for more than two decades. That always amazes me when i think about it. We are flying standby, but we're hoping to get out of Phoenix early on Friday, and back late Sunday.

If everything works out well with flights, we are planning on meeting pretty much my entire family in Omaha on Sunday for lunch. My parents, my sister, her husband, and their two kids, and my grandma. Should be interesting, they can get a little crazy when they're all together!

Anyway, like i said, Vicki and I are settling in to life here in Phoenix... =)