The New Job

So on Monday 1/28 I started my new job as a Merchandise Analyst Teammate. The teammate is my designation until I complete my 16 weeks of training. A merchandise analyst is primarily responsible for an area of the business and making responsible for the inventory in that area for the whole company. Do you want to know what area I was put into? Can you take a guess? I'll give you a hint:

That's right, you guessed it! I was placed into the division of the company that sells intimates. You know, bras, undies, tanks, camis, perfume... that sort of thing.

I know what you're thinking: "what the hell does Dustin know about bras and undies?"

Pretty much nothing actually. BUT, that's not too important because I will mostly deal with the numbers side of things, and numbers don't care if you're a shelf tank or pair of denim. So neither do I.

Actually, this is a really good opportunity for me. The team that I'm with chose me out of five others. It's the fastest growing part of the business, the most short-handed, and probably has the most potential for growth. I'm pretty excited to work there! Who doesn't want to work for a rapidly growing and popular business? The people I'll be working with are super nice and so far I really like it. I know it's early in the job, so you'll have to check back and see how I feel about it after I work a week of 12 hour days. But for now... yea!!

National Lampoons

Vacation! I had some "use 'em or lose 'em" days, and Dustin will soon be entering the working world again, so we decided to go for some much needed R&R.

First Stop: Cincinnati

(matching shirts=optional)

Our good friend Parsons wrote about some of the highlights already, but I'll throw in my two cents (especially for those of you who don't have super secret access to that blog)

By far the best part of this trip was spending time with our friends, many of whom we haven't seen since the move. We had a great few days catching up with everyone. It went by too quickly, but we made some great memories, and hopefully convinced some people to come visit our neck of the woods soon.

Other Cin-city favs:

• Eating at Deweys. As delicious as ever. (Plus we got another birthday glass to add to our collection!)
• Holding the Riel's beautiful baby. Made me want one. Almost.
• Bridesmaid dress shopping with the blushing bride Christina. I'm still holding out for this one.

All Aboard: Westerville (and no...I don't know why I decided we're on a train all of a sudden)

My whole family got together for some food and fun. We had a blast, dinner was delicious, and there was "Cheesecake Factory" recipe dessert. mmmmmm!
Favorite gift: Three copies of Emmitt Otter's Jug Band Christmas. That's a gift that keeps on giving.

Final Stop: Pittsburgh

Now, I'm going to sound like jerk, but I have to admit this may have been the best leg of the vacation. Not because I don't love all of you, (I DO!). But because it was fantastic to spend some time with Dustin, in our house, doing just about nothing. We have a lot of time together, but so much of it is spent working, cleaning, driving, etc, that it was great to not do anything for a while. If you get a chance to go on vacation, and not actually go anywhere. I recommend it. (unless you were thinking about coming to visit us...then you should totally make the trip, totally worth it!)

Favorite "nothings" of our days here:

• Guitar hero party- video games and sangria. A match made in heaven.
• House Hunting v2.o- Ok, actually my least favorite part...but I do understand closing costs now. And please, ask me what PMI stands for. I am a wealth of knowledge. (p.s. no we didn't buy anything. or even like anything for that matter.)
• Massages. Someday I will be rich, and this will be a weekly occurrence. Someday.
• Livingroom Lazyfest. This too needs to be a regular event. Want to be a part of the club?Blow up your air mattress, drag it in front of the tv, watch as many movies as you can before falling asleep. Then lay around some more (insert junk food snacking as necessary). You're a pro.

So, all in all, it was an amazing nine days. And now I'm refreshed, recharged and ready for work again. Well...almost.

Question of the week:

In honor of my birthday...

What was the highlight of your 24th year? Some of you have just made it to that milestone, and some of you are going to have to dig deep in the memory banks for that, but I'd love to hear them! If you've already shared yours with me, feel free to elaborate for the group....

Hope your weekend rocked!

日本の虫は戦う!

If you don't read Japanese, the title of this post reads:

JAPANESE BUG FIGHTS!

That's right people... my love for fighting has taken me to a whole new level. There are three rules to JBF.

1. Two Bugs to a fight
2. Bug fights go on as long as they have to
3. No outside weapons in Bug Fights

Here's just one of the fights!

If you would like to watch all of the insane action, then go here!

Toys, toys, toys!! - DB

So... I'm struggling right now with 2 different sides of my personality.

In the blue corner: Practicality

and in the red corner: DESIRE

There are 2 bouts on the card....
1: Cell Phone

Next week I am eligible for my "new every 2" discounted phone from Verizon with a new 2 year agreement. The nerdy technology loving side of my brain wants the Blackberry Pearl:


Isn't it beautiful? It can surf the web, check email, get directions, whisper sweet nothing into my ear...

The Pearl's competition... any other phone that Verizon will give me that I can stand using for 2 years.

You see, as you all know, the problem isn't the phone... it's the service. There's a $40 difference in the price of the plans. Multiply that by 24 and you get an overall difference of $960. My practical side says "Are you out of your mind?!" The other side of me says, "But it's SOOOOO sweet... and it has internet and..."

So of course I'm going to get the practical phone. I have to. But I figured I'd write about my inner struggle to relate to you readers.

Bout #2 is:
2. Bike

I'm on a bike riding kick. I want to start riding a bike to and from work when the weather warms up a little bit. It's only about 5 miles to work. I figure I save money on gas AND get cardio. Plus, I think it'll elevate me to "Bad Ass" status.

However, you can't be a BA if you ride a crappy bike. I don't have as much research about this fight as I do with the cell phone. All I know is that I could spend thousands of dollars on a bike, or a $38 for a bike from Walmart. I DO know that I like this one:

It's a bike made by Puma and it folds up so it would fit in my cubicle and it's WAY expensive and totally BA.

I'll have to accept it that I won't get this either. But it's fun to look and dream about a day when I can buy stuff.

So, to inspire you to comment... what do you struggle with? What item or items do you really want but you know are out of your price range? Will you get them or pass them by?

The New Era - DB

I'm sort of notorious for becoming obsessed with things and talking about them all the time. If you've follwed my comments on Parsons blog, you'll recall that I've been obsessed (for a short amount of time) with working out and the show My Boys.



With that preface... my slogan is "There's a new Dustin in 2008."



And it's true. Today was my last day as a lab associate. No more folding shirts and jeans (except for my own laundry)! On Jan. 28 I start my new job as a Merchandise Analyst. I'm super excited but also a little nervous. I've never worked in an office environment before so I'm watching The Office as much as possible to learn ropes. Dwight Schrute is my hero! I've adopted this quote from him as my office mantra:

Dwight Schrute: In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead.

Anyway, that's change number 1. It's a significant change as it's a totally new career for me. I've done nothing but be a student or teacher since I was 6; and the last 5 years of my "professional" career have been all teaching. A Merchandise Analyst studies data and trends of projected sales and tries to match inventory to those projected sales in order to maximize profit. (or something like that)

Change number 2... Working Out! (Hence the preface) I've teamed up with Sean, the guy with whom I lead Young Life. We've been going for 2 weeks and I love it! I've also committed myself to healthier eating, and I feel like after 2 weeks I am already seeing results. I have designs to bike to work when the weather warms, and possibly compete in a triathlon with Parsons. Hopefully this work out kick will last a long time! I'll keep you posted!

This is what I hope my new office is like!

G-E-L-L-O

I was very resistant to getting on board the "gmail train". Or I wasn't cool enough to get invited. One of the two....

But now I'm one of the masses with the formerly exclusive email addresses. And let me just say, that I love gmail. I like how it organizes stuff, remembers my friends names, and has silly branded monikers like "gchat". It's like this cool friend that handles all your business, and makes you smile. But recently I get the feeling that gmail is getting a little to personal with me.

Have you noticed the little ads at the top of your inbox? Little suggestions of places you might want to check out? I like to feel like Gmail knows me. He just wants to share his wealth of knowledge with me. But sometimes his suggestions are eerily similar to messages I've sent. Makes me wonder if I can trust Gmail. Is he snooping through my things? What else don't I know about?

Well, today after sending an innocent note to a friend, I get this:

That's right: A link to http://www.twistnshot.com/

Don't judge me Gmail! I didn't even mention drinking! And besides, that jello shot party was over a year ago, and it was for the CHILDREN! (wait...not like that, it was charity...oh nevermind).

I don't know who Gmail thinks he is. We are SO on a break.

Little Miss Sunshine

One of the great benefits of my job, is that checking out blogs for inspiration is actually part of my responsibilities. I rarely have time to do so, but I really enjoy those Friday afternoons that I get to spend browsing online. This past Friday I stumbled upon this photo on one of my favorite sites: Black*Eiffel.

It's a beautiful photo, but most of all I love the little girl's innocence and excitement. Last week was long and tiring, so it was the perfect way to end the week on a high note. I want to print this out and hang it in my cube, as a reminder to not take everything so seriously. Hope it brightens your Monday morning!

House Hunters

Dustin and I have been talking recently about buying a home. (I know...so grown-up-like!) Though our lease on our apartment isn't up until July, we've been casually looking around, to get familiar with what's out there. Neither of us take it very seriously, but it's fun to look around, and get an idea of what it would be like to own something more expensive than a couch from Sofa Express. 

We got a call from a realtor about a showing yesterday so we thought it couldn't hurt to look. The house is in a nice neighborhood, and is in good condition. So naturally it is out of our price range.  But we went anyway, and did like it. We didn't fall in love, but it was an interesting glimpse into the future. Standing in the 3rd floor bedroom, I could picture our family there, our future daughters having sleepovers in the loft. But jut a quickly as the daydreaming began, it was over, and we were back into our comfortable, mortgage free (not to mention daughter free) life. 

Then today, we somehow got sucked back into the market. I was enjoying my weekend routine (sleep 'till noon, catch an online episode of The Real World...) when Dustin informed me there was an open house at a property he saw online. So we quickly pushed the hangovers aside, threw on a baseball cap and headed out into suburbia. Little did we realize, Sunday is national open house day. We ended up going to see 4 houses in the area. By the last one, I was so hungry and tired, I had lost all interest in real estate. Next time, I think I'll bring a sandwich.

One of the funniest things to notice was how much our HGTV watching has affected our view of home ownership and remodeling. As we walked through the houses, we talked about adding bathrooms, building garages, and breaking down walls. A few hours of "flip that house" and we think we're construction experts. Hopefully we don't bite off more than we can chew. I have visions of backyard showers with a hose, while we redo the master bath. Not an appealing thought.

So, all in all it was a fun weekend, and gave us some ideas for the future. But for now, I'm going to curl up on my sofa, and revel in the fact that if it snows tomorrow...someone else is going to be out there shoveling for me.

63382 - DB

63382... That was my candidate number for the Actuary exam that I took in November 2007. On the SOA (Society of Actuaries) web site you can look at the list of passing candidate numbers from my exam today. So I checked it out.

63379
63381
63387

No 63382.

So, I officially failed my first Actuary exam. I don't like failing, but I'm not completely heart broken over this. I kind of knew going into the exam that I was not 100% prepared for it, and given the difficulty level I sort of figured I wouldn't pass. There is just so much information on the exam, and I tried to learn it all in less that 3 months. I guess I just wasn't ready.

For my own entertainment I am putting a question from a previous exam below. Just to give you a taste of the level of difficulty:

A ten-year 100 par value bond pays 8% coupons semiannually. The bond is priced at
118.20 to yield an annual nominal rate of 6% convertible semiannually.
Calculate the redemption value of the bond.
(A) 97
(B) 100
(C) 103
(D) 106
(E) 109

Sadly, this is probably one of the easiest questions on the exam. If you can legitimately answer it, then post it in the comments.

Fortunately, God provided me a job at AE which starts on Jan. 28. I am super pumped about it, but also a little nervous. I may try to take the exam again in May, just to keep my options open and gain a sense of accomplishment. I know what I need to study and learn, so if I do decide to go after it, I won't fail again. (famous last words?)