18 posts tagged “tadd”

Hope everyone had a happy New Year!  We went to Betsy & Richards for their 3rd annual party and had a great time, as always.  Looking forward to good things in 2009, although I have had bad luck with the odd-numbered years in the past.  Both 2005 and 2007 left a lot to be desired, while 2004, 2006, and 2008 were all great years for us.  I plan on breaking that pattern this year. 

I was pleased when Richard got the fire pit going and they passed out pieces of paper for people to write down the things they wanted to leave behind in 2008 and throw into the fire, and I really couldn't think of anything non-political to write.  Last year was a completely different story.  I had fun tossing a "Screw You AAA!" message into the fire.  But this year, Tadd and I have both had decent jobs and things have been good.

Plans coming up...Our office is closed tomorrow, so I am enjoying a four day weekend.  Tadd has to work tomorrow, so after vacuuming up the living room in the aftermath of removing the Christmas decorations, and writing out Christmas thank you cards, I may go to the movies by myself.  Not sure yet.  Saturday night, my cousin Brianna is spending the night at our place, and then  Sunday, Tadd and I are taking her to Epcot.  It's our one last hurrah before she goes back to Massachusetts and we go back to work post-holidays.  I believe Sunday is also the last day that Disney has their holiday celebrations going on, so we'll get to see Illuminations with the extra Holiday fireworks!  I'm excited for Brianna to see that, because they really are spectacular and we haven't gotten a chance to see them so far this year.

Next Friday, we are meeting a bunch of friends at Rising Star at Universal Citywalk for Tadd's 28th birthday.  That's the kareoke place where they have a live band and backup singers.  SOOOO much fun!  Even though I refuse to actually participate...I just like to watch everyone else make fools out of themselves!  It will be even more fun when it is Tadd and all of our friends doing the singing.

This morning it was actually cool enough outside to warrant grabbing a sweater on my way out the door!  I can't believe it!  Of course, it will be in the mid-eighties by this afternoon, but the noticeable lack of humidity makes me SO happy.  Last Sunday, when Tadd and I were running around town doing some shopping, it was sweltering and I was thinking Fall would NEVER get here.  Woo hoo!  I always love that first whisp of cooler weather after a long, hot summer.

I'm starting to dread Tadd being gone for a whole week next week.  I'm going to miss him and it will be weird being on my own for so long.  This is the first job he's had that has required him to travel a bit, so I'm not used to it yet.  One thing I am happy about is that I will have full reign over the TV without any guilt so I can watch my political-geek shows all night.  Tadd isn't really into politics much, so he always either grumbles or goes into the other room when I turn on MSNBC or CNN.  And right now I feel like it's really important to stay tuned to see what happens with this economic crisis. 

I was completely GLUED to the TV last night, but Tadd decided to start to completely reorganize and rearrange his den and watch his Sin City DVD instead.  I felt bad that he was so uninterested in what I was watching in the living room, but I just could not look away.  This is why I feel like him having his own "Man Den" has done wonders for our marriage.  When necessary, he can do his thing in his own space and I can do mine and we are both happy.

Definitely time for some updating around here...

I am still alive and well.  Very happy that summer is over and embracing the start of my favorite time of year...FALL!  I actually pulled out all my Autumn/Halloween decorations over this past weekend and our place is looking quite festive.  And smelling festive too!  Lots of pumpkin/apple/cinnamon/spice-scented candles and wax tarts scattered around.  Not that we really have many people over to show it off, but I decorate mostly for myself anyways.  It makes me happy.  This past weekend I also baked some pumpkin sugar cookies and we had friends over for a somewhat impromptu autumn seasonal beer tasting.  We tried some Pumpkin Jack Ale, Oktoberfest, and Harvest Moon.  Ryan had to be the weird one who brought blueberry beer, but it was yummy, so I forgave him.

Last week, we got to see the Red Sox beat the tar out of the Rays.  We went with Betsy, Richard, and Ryan.  Richard's coworker worked out a deal with a rock star tour bus, so for a grand total of $60/person, we got to ride over to Tampa in total luxury and see the game at Tropicana Field.  It was SO much fun!  The bus was huge...two living rooms each with stereos and flat-panel TVs, a bar, kitchen, sleeping quarters for (I think) 12 (and each bed has its own flat screen TV!), etc, etc, etc.  It was SO nice!  We also got unlimited food & drinks on the bus.  The game was great too...6 homeruns, one of which landed about 6 seats away from us.  The final score was 13-5!  Of course, they lost the next two games in the series, which led to the operations director at work teasing me that we were lucky we picked Monday night's game instead of the others.

The next few weeks are going to be kind of crazy, especially for Tadd.  He leaves for a week in Memphis for work next Sunday, then the weekend after he returns, his mom, brother, & uncles come to stay with us for a week, then the week after that, they may be sending him to Virginia for another week.  I'm not looking forward to spending so much time away from him, but it's for the best.  Things at his job are going very well, so I won't complain...too much.

My job is going pretty well too.  I'm SO much more at ease than I was when I first got promoted back in June.  They just did a little reorganizing, which means a few things are being taken off of my plate as of October 1, but for the most part my responsibilities will be staying the same.  I'm happy about that because when they announced all the changes, I was worried that now that I am finally into a good groove in this position, they were going to change everything around on me and I would be stressed out all over again.  Luckily that will not be happening.  For now at least...  

Thanks to anyone who did a no-rain dance for us last night.  It worked!  We weren't completely dry...we got a few drizzles here and there, but it really wasn't bad at all.  I never even had to open my umbrella once.  We had a fantastic time!  Rick hadn't been to MK in almost a decade, so it was fun showing him all the things that had changed.  The place was nearly deserted.  We literally had the place to ourselves almost all night!  The longest we had to wait was 5 minutes for Space Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight. 

And, just like last year, the fireworks display was worth the price of admission itself.  I swear, I could watch that show again and again and again.  The thing I like best about it are the theatrics.  They actually crafted a storyline that the pirates, led by Captain Hook & Captain Jack Sparrow, are trying to take over the castle, but King Triton (Ariel's father in The Little Mermaid) steps in to defend it.  They actually stage a pirate ship battle off of the castle.  The only mediums they use to convey the story are light effects projected on the castle, audio, and pyrotechnics...complete with very realistic-looking cannonball blasts off of the sides of the castle.  It might sound strange, but you just have to see it to believe it.  It's just incredible!  Rick got some video of the show with his cell phone, so I'll see if he will send it to me so I can post it here.

It has been a decent weekend.  We haven't done a whole lot though.  Bet and Ryan came over Friday night to help us finish off the 8 zillion beers left over from Tadd's birthday.  Surprisingly enough, they are almost gone.  Bet spent the night and continued to sleep on our couch while Tadd and I went to get breakfast at Perkins Saturday morning.  Later on the in the day, the three of us went to the movies to see Enchanted.  Then we walked across to the mall for a bit.  I needed shampoo & conditioner from Bath & Body Works (and they were on sale for $3 each!), and Bet needed to buy shoes.  Bet left after we got back to our place, and Tadd and I got a pizza from Red Brick.  We ate pizza, finished off the last few beers, and watched Sicko.  I got misty-eyed at the end again.  Pretty soon after, we went to bed.  It wasn't even 11pm yet, and I was out cold.  Which is probably why I got up at 7 this morning, fully rested and unable to go back to sleep.  I think the plan today is to go over to my parents' house so Tadd can change the oil in our cars. 

We were going to go to Disney yesterday, but it was misty and foggy and overcast all day.  Then, around 7pm, it started pouring and storming like it usually does around here on August afternoons.  I thought a couple of trees behind our building were going to topple with the crazy wind we were having.  At that point, we were glad we canceled our plans.  Besides, I checked the crowd index on touringplans.com, and they said the theme park crowds were going to be a 6 (out of 10) due to the long weekend.  I prefer when it's a 4, which is what the index forecasts for next weekend.  So next weekend it is!  The crowd calendar suggests either Epcot on Saturday or Animal Kingdom on Sunday.  There's also a Pirate & Princess Party Saturday night.  So I'm not sure what we'll do, but we will definitely be going to Disney next weekend.  I'm excited because Bet is going to be getting season passes soon too!  So we'll have another buddy to go with us to the parks some of the time.

Tomorrow is Tadd's first day of his new job!  I'm excited for him.  I think he's actually excited too.  We were talking yesterday at breakfast about how nice it is to be able to breathe a sigh of relief after all we have been through over the past couple of months.  We actually can spend money freely again!  We're talking about reviving our cruise plans for October, and/or possibly going up to Tennessee to visit his family.  I'm not sure exactly what our travel plans will hold in 2008, but I told Tadd that I definitely want to take a vacation this year, even if we don't do the cruise.  And we can start thinking about making plans for the future again, which is exciting.   I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves yet though...thanks to our 2007 roller-coaster ride, I know how quickly things can change.  But it is so nice to feel secure and happy again.

The new year is definitely starting out well for us.  Tadd was offered a graphic designer job with a print services company earlier today and he accepted!  Not only will he be back on track with his graphics career, and working a Monday-Friday schedule once again, but he negotiated a salary $5k over what his new boss originally offered.  Nice!  So now we're both in new jobs, and actually making more than we were before all the crap happened before the holidays!

He's going to see if he can get laid off from CompUSA in the next round, so he can start the new job ASAP and get the severance package as well.  By doing that, it also saves someone else's job for awhile.

Not sure how many of you have kept up with the CompUSA drama, but it looks like the store is going to get bought by Tiger Direct, another electronics retailer.  But before the changeover, they still plan on slowly letting everyone on the staff go before making the people who are still interested in working there go through the rehire process with the new owners.  They are just waiting for the formal announcement.  Of course, now that Tadd got an offer with another company none of this affects him anymore, but it's all very interesting how it's playing out. 

My weekend was nice, but busy.  Saturday, I shopped for the party with my mom and then came home and cleaned.  Tadd got home early and helped with the finishing touches.  We had seven guests almost immediately, which was strange because we're used to most people being fashionably late.  Almost everyone arrived on time.  We had a lot of last-minute cancellations, but ended up with a total of 14 people.  By the end of the night, we had a fridge FULL of beer.  Seriously, I think we had around 50 bottles left over. 

Rick and Ryan stayed much later than everyone else, trying out that videogame I got Tadd (Dead Rising).  It seemed to be quite a hit.  I find it pretty disgusting.  It's all about killing zombies in a shopping mall and pretty much ANYTHING in the mall can be used as a weapon.  Very bloody, very gross, but actually kind of funny. 

I like how the main character can change clothes and hats in the different stores in the mall.  We laughed hysterically when he changed into way too small children's clothes in a kids clothing store.  It's especially funny because he stays in that getup during the cut-scenes, so other characters are interacting with him in a serious way when he's running around dressed like a complete buffoon.  He was also wearing a Legoman helmet, and killing zombies with everything from a nerf gun to a cash register to a park bench.   Good times!

Sunday, we celebrated a second time at my parents' house.  It was also my grandmother's 75th birthday, so we were celebrating both.  My dad grilled steak tips, hot dogs, and chicken and my mom made a chocolate cake from scratch with her brand new Kitchen-Aid mixer.  We pretty much just watched football and sat around and ate.  My parents gave Tadd some very comfortable black corduroy slippers as a gift.  He LOVES them and has been wearing them almost constantly since the moment he opened them (well, whenever he's not out and about).  He's wearing them right this minute, as a matter of fact.

Back to work today, and things actually weren't that bad.  I'm mostly trained at this point, so no more down time.  I actually worked nonstop the whole day and was quite busy.  And I think it's actually starting to all sink in now, so I'm starting to get more comfortable in my new position.  My boss and I had a good conversation about my progress, and he reassured me that mistakes are part of the learning curve, so not to worry if I mess up sometimes.  That made me feel a whole lot better.  There are so many little things I have to actively remind myself about and I'm always scared I'm forgetting something.  And someone had their first day in customer service today, so I officially handed over the title of "new girl" in record time!  Yay for that!

Finally, here are the pics form day 2 of our weekend.  We met up with Bet and his friend Brian at our hotel, and then met up with my brother Ryan and his friend Justin at the park.

Tadd surprised me last night by bringing home a new laptop!  I'm all giddy about it because it's all mine!  He and I have shared my old desktop for years and YEARS, and we've been talking a lot recently about getting a secondary computer or seriously upgrading the one we have for forever.  Now I think we'll be able to do both!

I guess it turns out that he helped a coworker fix something on his car that ended up saving him a lot of money in repairs.  This guy had just gotten a new iMac and no longer needed his IBM Thinkpad, so he offered it to Tadd for $50 since Tadd was so nice to help him fix his car.  It's a year or two old, but according to Tadd, this guy had just put about $100 in upgrades in it.  It's actually a lot more powerful than our desktop computer in almost all categories.  So there was no way Tadd could pass up this deal for $50.

I knew something was up when he walked in the door with this big silly grin on his face like he had just done something REALLY good.  He told me he bought me a present and handed me a bag with the wireless internet card, so of course, I looked at him like he was crazy and asked what I was supposed to do with that.  He plopped the laptop next to me and said triumphantly, "You use it with THIS!"  Of course, I didn't understand at first, but then he explained how he got it.  Hee!  He's so cute.

Of course, now I want a cute laptop case to go with it.