Welcome back refs!

It started on Thursday night with a friendly text exchange with my longtime Seattle sports buddy, Tom:

Tom: Ruh Roh!  Its time for the Seahawks whupping the Rams week  :)
Me:  No way!!  My boys got it at home & we have real refs.  No cheating this week!!  :)

Tom and I have been friends for years and he's even visited in the past when the Seahawks play the Rams in St. Louis.  Sure most of the games have been in the 'Hawks favor and overall they lead the series in number of games won but we had that home win in 2010 and I'm expecting them to show the same spunk they did in that game.
You can bet I'll be catching all of the game and most like yelling at the TV during every play.  I'm hoping to prove to my friend that my Rams can put up a fight this week and that they are possible of touchdowns with no question of who is in possession of the ball in the endzone.

Most of all, I'm super excited the regular refs are back for all of this weeks' games.  The past 3 weeks have played havoc with my picks in our football pool!!

Source: Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images

More Game Info: NFL Capsule: Seahawks at Rams

UPDATE:
See this pic....

Source

It's the picture of my Rams (Eugene Sims to be exact) illustrating to the Seahawks just what they are this afternoon.  LOSERS!
Oh the texts were flying this afternoon, but my team rose to the challenge and took down the Seahawks 19-13!  Such an amazingly exciting game!  I keep telling everyone this team is different than the Rams of the last few years and at home they've played stellar, if they work on their on the road game, they will be unstoppable. 
And mad props to our rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein who broke the Rams record twice today with his field goal kicks -- a 58 yarder and then a 60 yard field goal!  I made the joke earlier this afternoon, Zuerlein must be a rockstar at lunges and squats in the gym.  (Yes, my joke was met with eyerolls too!)

Alright, I'm going back to enjoying this afternoon's win.  :)

Only my parents...

Usually I check in with my parents a few times during the week and over the weekend.  Saturday ended up being a fairly busy day of errands and chores and by the time I realized what time it was, I didn't end up calling or visiting either one of them.
I figured on Sunday, I would call and see how they were doing and update them on all of my happenings.  It was mid-afternoon when my phone rang the first time and not even an hour later it rang again.  Both parents had called to see how I was doing after the last few days of the work week and how my weekend was going.  I gave them the rundown and talked about the week ahead, normal conversation with my parents.

Perhaps the funniest thing is that both parents reminded me that had they remained married and not divorced in 1994, Sunday would have been their 35th wedding anniversary.  This year they have now been divorced longer than they were married, yet each one still remembered the day and made a remark about it.  What really made me laugh was the fact that each parent talked about wanting to call the other and wish them a "Happy Non-Anniversary."  However, both refrained from such silliness.

It's also crazy for me being a child of the 80s to realize the 1970s were over 30 years ago.  Geez, where is the time going?!?

Queue the highlights reel

7 years and 8 days after starting this blog, I've made it to my 400th post and I can proudly say this blog has kept to its name, it truly has been random thoughts from the very first entry.
I decided to go back and read some of the entries and especially making sure I read the other milestone posts.
My very first entry: September 18, 2005 - short and sweet.  (Gosh I was a dork!)
Post #100: July 19, 2008 - celebrating my 3 year anniversary in the trucking world.  (Yep, still a dork!)
Post #200: July 30, 2010 - Chicago girls' weekend & Bon Jovi awesomeness (Losing a small amount of the dorkiness....possibly)
Post #300: August 28, 2011 - Mantras for a happy life (This was the start to the craziness of the next year of my life.  I didn't know how dramatically everything would change after this post...too bad I couldn't remember these mantras thru some of the madness!)

And now post 400!
What can I say, my life has been a roller coaster over the years.

As of today's post, I've officially made it to my 6 month anniversary in my sales accounting position at my new place, which is more than what can be said for my last position.  For the record, I quit 3 days before hitting my 6 month mark because I couldn't take the stupidity and stress.  I'm so glad I took a risk and made this leap.  I'm enjoying the environment, being able to work with great people, and overall my ability to grasp my job and the industry.  Most of all, I feel like I'm able to contribute and make a difference in my department.

In my personal life, I went from being attached and madly in love with the one person who understood me, cared for me and ultimately made me feel normal to now being single.  Over the past 11 months, I've learned a lot about who I really am and I'm more confident and accepting of myself and I've also learned what I am willing to accept in a date or potential boyfriend and what I am not.  (Yeah, my list for potential suitors is pretty much unachievable, you are being compared to Broccoli after all, but I'm content with that.)

I've also learned who you can count on and remain friends with and who will not fight for your friendship when life doesn't go nearly as perfectly as expected.  Again, I'm ok and accepting of these changes also.  I think some of the fall outs were eventually inevitable and most likely necessary so I could grow and actually figure out who I really am.  I am truly grateful for my friends who have remained loyal and true friends through thick and thin.

Most of all through the 400 entries and 7+ years of posting, I've learned that I can step out of my so-called comfort zone and find what it takes to be happy, healthy and successful in my life.  Hopefully I've been able to portray that through all of my randomness.

Not your average Tuesday

I thought field trips were a thing of the past but today I got a chance to get out of the office and visit one of the terminals we use to get our product to our customers.  Outfitted with steel toed boots borrowed by MW's wife, we got to tour the facility and grounds across the river.  I saw material from one of my companies and I got a better understanding of what it takes so that I can do my job here in the office.  On top of that, we got to have lunch at a great BBQ place close by.  (Love me some good pulled pork and cole slaw!)  Getting out of the office gave me a greater appreciation and much better understanding of my position in the sales department and the company in general.

 

Besides claiming victory in my understanding of my job (ok, maybe just a small part of my job), I also notched a mini win against the property management company of my former apartment.  Seems as though they thought it would be fair to charge me for 1/2 month rent for September even though my lease was up on August 31st.  Somehow the keys I returned were "misplaced" and they thought I was staying for a bit.  Umm, hello....I moved out earlier than my lease stated just to get the heck out of there.  I made it clear in my 60 day notice, I would be out on or before (stressing the before) August 31st.  Also, how is it possible to charge me for 4 months of utilities when I was paid up through June as of the end of July?  Someone's math is way off.  In any case, they are looking into it and will get back to me on the final figures.  All I can say is that I best be getting at least part of my security deposit back.

 

Overall, I'd say today was a success.

 

Now I'm headed for some rest and relaxation because the former apartment drama kept me awake and irritated most of last night.

Why my co-workers are so awesome, reason #512

At month-end JP gave all of the Sales Accountants a ranking as to where they stood on his list of favorite co-workers.  Granted there are only 3 of us, but the ranking went like this:
#1 - me
#2 - KP
#3 - B. Dilly

At first he gave us the rank based on how much extra work we had for him as Contract Admin when he came back from vacation the week of month-end.  Luckily, I had 1 small issue I needed fixed in our system so that I could get my companies closed with no problems.  My list continued to stay that small as each day before the 31st came around.  KP's and B. Dilly's list continued to grow, not because of anyone's fault, it was just due to the nature of their sales, but we've continued to make a joke about it every day since.  Somehow with the comments and things B. Dilly does in the office she's moved to 4th, 5th and sometimes 10th place and if she doesn't finish her DMX song for JP by Christmas, well she can just kiss herself off of the list completely.
Last week I officially cemented my position in the top spot as I told JP about one of my favorite side dishes.  We were all talking about veggies at lunch and the best way to cook them and what certain veggies taste like.  JP loves brussel sprouts as much as I do and we were trying to convince KP to buy them and test them out.  She asked about the best way to cook them and I mentioned roasting them with a bit of sea salt and parmesan cheese.  Matter of factly, JP says, "Lindsay, you are by far my #1 favorite, I've never had them cooked like that but I'm so trying it."
And because our group tends to say inappropriate, yet funny things when its just us, we came to the consensus, you just can't go wrong with cheesy, salty balls.

Source

The Fisher 'Stache

Another great, yet packed weekend and another fantastic Sunday filled with football.  It's even better when your team puts on a show for the home opener and takes down the 'Skins.
Did ya see it? 

Source: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Source: AP Photo/Seth Perlman

Rams rally in 2nd half, beat Redskins 31-28

What was even cooler is that I picked them to win today's game!  Makes up for the stupid Chicago loss on Thursday night, I guess and still keeps me in the mix in the football pool.  And you can bet I will be picking my boys in blue and gold in their game against Chicago next Sunday!

Oh and in case you weren't aware, today was a special game.  It was Fisher 'Stache day at the game as each fan got a fake mustache to wear today.  Unfortunately, I was not in attendance, but what better way to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records than by wearing a fake mustache?!?

Heading back in time

I never thought I'd be excited I paid attention in Algebra class all those years ago (let's see, 7th grade Algebra, 8th grade Advanced Algebra, some year in high school, and finally College Algebra) but it's finally paying off.  The few days I've been working on costs analyses for my facilities/companies at work and while I have final numbers on multiple sales and cost reports, the numbers are pulling from different spots in our system.  After an in-depth meeting with my bosses last week (each Sales Accountant got a personalized meeting based on our specific customers and locations, which was super helpful for someone with only 5 months of Sales Accounting under her belt!), ultimately we need to know what report is using what calculation. 
Enter those wonderful handy dandy math skills that I thought would be useless once I hit the real world.  After 2 days, I have most of the reports decoded.  I'm not entirely sure each report is illustrating exactly what we want it to, but at least I have answers for my boss when she asks how we came up with a certain customer cost, sales price or adjustment.  I even went old school when completing my calculations, pulling out the pencil (ok, it was black pen) and paper solving my equations by hand.

I'll leave the hard part making sure the figures are reported in the right spot up to management and our system programmer.  For now I'll just be happy that I retained something besides boy band lyrics from my teenage years.

An ideal weekend

I have to say after dealing with month-end on Tuesday and all of the craziness that ensues the few days after, this weekend has been highly enjoyable and mostly low-key.  It started off somewhat rocky with the torrential thunderstorms I encountered on my way home Friday night (it was so bad, I had to pull over for a good 15 minutes because my wipers wouldn't work fast enough and I was super afraid of hydroplaning) but from then on, it's been a picture perfect almost fall weekend here.
Completed the first half of my weekend warrior workout yesterday morning, shopped for new fall work clothes through the afternoon and then came home to do laundry and enjoy my Saturday night watching the last race before the Chase (or what could have been called the race that didn't want to start and then took hours to end). 
Today, I finished the second half of my weekend warrior workout, prepped lunches and dinners and ironed clothes for the week ahead and most importantly I'm spending my afternoon watching football.  While my Rams just lost to Detroit, they actually held their own most of the game.  I'm pretty proud of how they've looked so far and I'm excited to see what successes the team will have with Jeff Fischer leading them.
I am also super pumped for my NFL boyfriend's (in my head, that is) return to football after a year out of the game.  Yep, I'm rooting for the Broncos tonight!

Source

With the return of football season, my Sundays all around are so much better.  Now, if I can just win a week of football picks against the boys!

Unofficial end of summer

Exciting Labor Day weekend....

No, that's not my ring nor is that even my hand, but my good friend KP texted the work fam last night with this pic and informed us she got engaged yesterday.  We are all so happy for her and her fiance and we're so excited to hear the details when we get back to work on Tuesday.

While it has been an eventful weekend for KP, pretty much for me this weekend (and really the last 4 days in general) has been a bust.  After feeling absolutely horrible on Thursday and Friday and plugging through work so that month-end goes smooth on Tuesday, I came home Friday night and vowed I wasn't doing anything until I felt at least halfway normal again.  I tossed and turned all of Friday night and I was getting a bit stir crazy, so I got dressed and headed to the gym thinking I would sweat out whatever was making me feel like crap.  No such luck though since the doors are computerized and the power had gone out during the night.  That was my cue to come home, put my pjs on and spend the day on the couch.
The work fam kept me entertained all day as we group texted back and forth.  Really, I think that is the only reason why I didn't try to get up and tackle my list of many projects I had in my head for the long weekend.

Somehow I managed to sleep decently last night and while not feeling 100%, today I'm at least able to function and get some things done like laundry, apartment cleaning and making lunches and dinners for the week ahead.  I still haven't pushed myself full force because if this sinus/allergy/cold BS comes back and I have to suffer through a 12 hour month-end close on Tuesday feeling like I did on Friday, I will have the worst close ever.  (And right now, that's the last thing I need!)

Hurricane Issac has made this a less than perfect holiday weekend in the STL also as we've had showers and storms pop up pretty much the entire last two and a half days.  We've needed the rain, so I'm not complaining and it is still warm (and humid!) but the sun and rain has come and gone in a weird untimely pattern.  I guess it's nice that I didn't have grand plans for Labor Day weekend...less chance of them getting rearranged because of Mother Nature.