The staff of one of the brands we’re a dealer for is made up of a bunch of hilarious SOBs. Most of the time I hate dealing with brands and suppliers because they are a huge pain in my ass, but these guys are awesome. They actually follow through with things, and they’re über-friendly (and English-speaking), and one of them is about my age and the two of us ganged up on the older guy one day and made him get a MySpace.

So anyway, I like these guys. And I just had to order a bunch of parts, so I called and the younger guy took my order and told me no, I couldn’t have any of the things I wanted, and then read it back to me with the opposite of everything I actually wanted… which means I’ll get them in a timely fashion exactly as requested.

Just now, I got the UPS shipment notification for this order, which has a list of everything included. It reads:

LV Windshield, Luggage Rack, Rear Fender, R Rocker, Vin Cover, Veteran’s Pendant of Conquest

I just about horked a mouthful of water all over BOTH my laptop and the work computer. Made. My. Day.

Do not have your kid call a business and then stand in the background and feed lines to the kid because they didn’t actually know what to say.

Me: “Good afternoon, Place Where I Work, this is Laurel”
Kid: “……Uhh…… I was wondering if you have any cheap scooters.”
[NOTE: Normally, when kids that sound obviously too young to have a license call, ESPECIALLY when they ask for cheap scooters, they're calling about stand-up scooters, which we don't carry. Hence my next question.]
Me: “Well… what kind of scooter, and what kind of cheap?”
Kid: “Um…”
Dad (in background): “Ask them if they’re open tomorrow.”
Kid: “Are you open tomorrow?”
Me: “Yep, 10 to 6.”
Dad (in background): “And what about Saturday?”
Kid: “Are you open Saturday?”
Me: “Yep, 10 to 6 on Saturday too.”
Kid: “Bye.” *click*

Dude… you were gonna have to stand there and tell your kid what to say, anyway, so why didn’t you just MAKE THE CALL YOURSELF?

This is not cute. It does not save anybody any time. It is annoying.

/Public Service Announcement

I’ve answered like four calls today from a customer who refuses to believe I can answer his questions. He wants me to put him in touch with the (male) owner of the shop. Or the (male) owner of the bike he’s inquiring about. While I was out running errands, he called and talked to one of the (male) mechanics, and said he’d already called today but had talked to “that little secretary you’ve got there.” 

*blink*

MY JOB TITLE IS NOT “LITTLE SECRETARY.” In fact, my job title is not secretary at all. The guy’s data points for this conclusion pretty much consist of: 1) female and 2) answered a phone. 

The mechanic tried to placate me by saying “I told him you’re not the secretary – besides, I usually refer to you as ‘the pretty girl behind the counter!’” 

*headdesk* 

He at least gets an A for effort.

This was all after an affiliate called and chewed me out as if I had failed at my job as his personal secretary. Except a) I have gone above and beyond to help this guy in any way I can, even when it’s not my job at all, and b) I’m sure as hell not his personal secretary. 

Wimmenfolk: HAVING JOBS OTHER THAN SECRETARY FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW, KTHX.

I’m alive!

So, here’s the work sitch: I decided to take an as-of-yet-undetermined time away from college. This will most likely be a many-year break; if I finish my degree at some point in the future, it will most likely not be at the University of Idaho. This is the end result of many years of feeling as if I was doing the wrong thing with my life and finally getting up the nerve to walk away from it. So far, I’m very glad I did.

It’s kind of funny, actually – we were out at dinner last night for a friend’s birthday, and another guest was mentioning how much he thinks the “real world” sucks. He has a degree in communication studies from UI and is working here in Moscow. He was going on and on about how much he’d rather be in school and plans on going back in the spring to work on another degree, because he just can’t handle the working life.

I find that bizarre. I find working vastly superior to being in college. I actually enjoy my current job, and even when I don’t, at least I know I’m making money – and pretty damn good money, at that. I do not miss school one iota, nor feel like I made a poor choice.

Anyway, the short-term plan is to work at, well, whatever, and in my “spare time” (which I’m still trying to locate) work on my writing. When we have kids, I’m planning on staying home with them until they’re in school (*feminists everywhere reel back in horror*), so by that point I’d like to be a fairly avid writer and continue doing that from home. Once we’re through the stay-at-home mom phase, I’m going to reevaluate and determine whether I want to continue on without a college degree. If I’ve found a good reason to have one, by then, I’ll finish up my degree. Otherwise, I’ll keep on keepin’ on.

So, the big reveal: The current job is operations manager of the local ice rink. It’s a non-profit, and I’m quickly discovering the joys of working with that system. All-in-all, though, I actually really enjoy it, and the paychecks are great.

Oh yeah – and I get to drive the Zamboni!

Anyway, that’s the whole story in a rather large nutshell. I’m also kicking around the idea of doing EMT training this spring, but I need to triple-check whether the certifications would carry over to Virginia (and other states) without too much hassle.

I believe your calendar ate my Wednesday.

Verily, yesterday was Tuesday, and suddenly it is Thursday.

I’m also afraid I can’t really recall the occurrence of Monday prior.

Please cease your shenanigans immediately.

No love,
Me

Alright, let me tell you all a little tale. Buckle in kids, this one’s a doozy.

My day begins when my boss calls me at 6:30 a.m. for no particular reason. I am not a morning person… And I wasn’t planning on getting up until 7:00 at the earliest. After the phone rang, however, I was awake with no hope of falling back asleep. I went ahead and laid there for a half hour, discovering that the longer I was awake, the more nauseous I was becoming. Hrm.

I finally get out of bed, only to find that moving around makes me even more nauseous. This is great, since I have, you know, things to do before I go to school. I manage to whimper my way through a shower, can’t eat any breakfast between the time I’m wasting and how sick I feel, and rush out the door a couple minutes late.

Of course, I’m riding the scooter, and it’s raining. Splendid.

Then I roll into the parking lot, only to discover that the five motorcycle/scooter parking spaces are occupied by about twice as many (if not more) motorcycles and scooters. I manage to get mine kind of wedged in at the end, with apologies to the Kawasaki that might require some finagling to get out. (I’ve determined there must just be an unspoken rule amongst the motorcycle/scooter folks, which says: “Feel free to move my shit.”)

Up two flights of stairs I go, to make it to my journalism class only a couple of minutes late. This was actually the high point of the day, I’d suppose – class was the typical “Here’s your syllabus, blah blah” and I got to yack with Vicki (one of my favorite profs so far, first encountered in my summer media writing course) afterwards. I grabbed some breakfast since I was finally fine to eat, talked to Laura for a while, and called and switched my car insurance over to USAA.

It goes pretty rapidly downhill from here.

All summer long, my American Revolution class has been listed as a Dr. Ramsey class. Now, I knew Dr. Ramsey was planning on taking a sabbatical for a year, but since his name was still showing up on everything (schedule, registration stuff, book list) I was in some pretty heavy denial that he’d actually left. (NOTE: I love me some Dr. Ramsey. He’s hands-down my favorite professor at UI – Mike’s too… And bless his little long-suffering heart, he seems to like me too though I’ve been a historically hideous student.)

Anyhoo, I traipse into classroom 317 and take a look around. The students are not the history student crowd. I don’t think I recognize a single one from any of the history classes I’ve ever had – and normally there’s a little band of history students that make regular appearances. Hmm. I look over at the instructor – definitely not Dr. Ramsey. I back out of the room and check the number again – yep, 317. My little history-lovin’ heart breaks, and I return to the classroom, resigned to the fact that the long-haired dude up front is indeed Dr. Ramsey’s replacement, and that I’m stuck in a class with a bunch of non-regulars. Le sigh.

Soooo I hop online and start lamenting this fact to anybody who will listen, then ratchet the lamenting up a notch when I notice the professor is preparing a Powerpoint presentation. I hate Powerpoint lectures. They are sloppy and riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Dr. Ramsey does not use Powerpoint lectures.

Then, said long-haired professor turns around and speaks for the first time, greeting the class. My jaw drops.

“G’morning, all – le’s ge’ stah-ted, shall we?”

You have got to be fucking kidding me. HE’S BRITISH.

“As y’ may no’ice, I’m no’ from aroun’ he-ah…

*dies*

Of all classes that I’ve ever had, I get a Brit teaching my AMERICAN REVOLUTION class!

I couldn’t even think after that… I recall him playing Schoolhouse Rock, poking fun at a couple of things, and lots of Powerpoint effects. I’m going to try to be open-minded about it, but… come on. The let down from American Revolution by Dr. Ramsey –> American Ramsey by Guy From Country That Lost was pretty severe.

After that class I visited with Mike for a few minutes, got some financial aid stuff squared away, and went to work. Now – I had been feeling kind of off all day, and that continued on once I was at work. Kind of lethargic, certainly not very cheery, mildly nauseous. Also, two days ago I had weird heart palpitations all day. Ever get that thing where you get a weird heartbeat that feels kind of… Wooshy? Not really a thud, not really a skipped beat, not really tachycardia… Just off. I get ‘em from time to time, but never more than a couple a day – but on Saturday it did it off and on all day. I didn’t figure I was going to die or anything, so I let it go to see if it got better, and it didn’t do it on Sunday. However, it started in again at work today, and the more it did it, the worse I felt.

Deciding that a) I wasn’t in the mood to deal with people and their textbooks and b) Mike, being newly married to me, might want to actually keep me alive for a while, I informed the boss that I was leaving as soon as another girl came in so I could go to the doctor.

Hi. Yeah. Me. I never go to the doctor. You know I seriously think I’m in trouble if I actually voluntarily interact with an M.D.

So… When I get there, I discover I don’t have my health insurance card, because my darling husband borrowed it to change something with his school registration and didn’t put it back in my wallet. I have to jump through a bunch of hoops trying to get my information, and finally get admitted. The lady at the front desk was all freaked out that I was having a heart attack or something… The nurse gave me the “O RLY?” eyebrow when I told her no, I’m pretty damn confident I’m not pregnant, thanks though… And the doctor thinks I’m going to live.

But that was one physical examination, one EKG, one CDC and one thyroid test (results in on Wednesday) later. The only abnormalities the EKG showed were apparently the result of an extremely healthy, young heart: brachycardia and something something bundle branch block. The doc said either one (or both) could contribute to the heart palpitations… But wouldn’t cause them to be so frequent like they have been over the last couple of days. After talking with me about various things, he thinks if it isn’t the thyroid that it’s possible that it was inspired by stress/anxiety. Rather than start drugging me up we discussed a couple of changes I’m going to make in hopes of reducing any potential anxiety. We decided I would do all that, then kind of ride it out and see what happens…

Anyway, the good news is I’m not going to fall over dead anytime soon, theoretically. Mike was pretty happy to hear that. I can’t wait to see how much my little battery of tests is going to set us back… I’m not sure how my insurance treats all that. Huzzah.

But hey – it all made for a good story. Here’s to hoping day two is a little better. :)

My current schedule, for the next four weeks:
– Must be on-campus by 7:30 every day except Fridays, which start at 10:30
– Approximately 39 in-class hours every week (100 and 200 level courses)
– Homework accordingly
– Approximately seven work hours every week

Next session, also lasting four weeks:
– Must be on-campus by 7:30 every day except Fridays
– Approximately 24 in-class hours every week (300 level courses)
– Homework accordingly
– Approximately 20 work hours every week
– Last class won’t get out until 9:00 pm

I’m inclined to believe that next session’s schedule will be superior to this one, because a) I’ll be in class less and at work more, likely with free time to do some homework, and b) I will have Friday – Sunday off of both work and school.

That said, taking 15 summer credits is thus far not something I would recommend unless it’s an absolute must.

On the up side of things, I think I’ve gotten some financial aid squared away – at least in the form of loans, which relieves some burden. Oh, and tell me this isn’t ridiculous: my parents haven’t been able to claim me as a dependent on their taxes since I was 18. I, however, cannot file as an independent on the FAFSA (though I don’t get a dime from them) until I’m 23, married, military, a parent, and/or something else. I see this as getting screwed from both sides, but whatever, no biggie, I’m getting married so it doesn’t matter… right? Wrong. I wasn’t married when I filed the FAFSA this year, thus I cannot amend said FAFSA to reflect a change in my marital status, even though that change will occur before the school year begins. This, I do not understand. I would get it if it was reflective of the marital status of the previous tax year: unmarried. It’s not, though – it’s completely arbitrary, just one’s marital status as of the date of filing the FAFSA. In other words, I would have been past the priority deadline, but had I waited until August 5th to file the FAFSA instead of doing it on time, I could have claimed my marriage and not been handicapped by my parents finances.

So there you have it, today’s morals of the story: don’t take 15 summer credits, and wait until you tie the knot to file the FAFSA that year.

Thanks, fed.gov, You fail, as usual. No love.

I’ve determined this song is only good when it involves some combination of the following:

• Summer

• Pickup trucks, esp. Chevy
• Cold drinks
• Bodies of water, i.e. lake/river
• Shorts/tank tops
• Bonus points for a boat

So, in sum: it’s just not as good when it’s on the radio at work, where I am… on a Saturday. All day. Bah.

Ya like degs? — Degs? — Y’know, degs? — Oooooh, DOGS.

Mike and I are currently dogsitting for my friend Robby, who is out of town for the night. His big black lab, Parker, is parked (hurrr, a pun) in my living room, alternating between fearing Joey and wanting to eat Gipper. Somebody riddle me this – why do big dogs let Joey get away with being the little asshole he is? I keep a careful eye on them to make sure Joey doesn’t get eaten, but sheesh – he deserves it. Yet time after time, his bigger counterparts cower or avoid him.

Of course, this makes me want a big dog! I’ve been looking for one for a while, but Mike still isn’t sold on the idea. Hopefully he enjoys having Parker here, and he’ll change his mind… And my evil plans will succeed. ;)

PCU

We just watched PCU, which I’d never seen before. I enjoyed it. Then Daniel tried to watch Formula One racing, but I put my foot down about that… I hate car racing.

Easter

It looks like we’ll be barbecuing with friends, pretty low-key. I believe the Lutheran church I like is having a sunrise service, but I doubt I’ll go.

Work/School

I’ll be picking up a little extra work for Palouse Scoots, some more advertising as well as hopefully improving the website. I might eventually get into floor sales, depending on how busy things are. I’m going to have a hectic first few weeks of summer, because I’m planning on taking three month-long classes – nine credits of compacted courseloads. I’m hoping to not work at all for that month, but I’m not 100% sure how things are going to work yet.

WTF am I doing with my life?! — 2007 edition:

This shouldn’t come as a shock on the heels of my “getting all emo about college” post, but I’ve been doing some serious soul-searching when it comes to the direction I’m headed with my schooling and afterwards. I wrote a pretty awesome email to a friend about it all, so rather than regurgitate all my points, I’m going to copy and paste the good parts.

…As for my own identity crisis, the basic rundown is this: I hate college. I largely hate college because I feel like I’m paying $2100/semester to be tortured and not get an education. Sure, I’m being provided with historical facts, but it’s not doing anything other than giving me information. I can write a research paper. I can take a test. I have mastered the skills set before me. Now, I’d probably be learning more by reading through a box of Trivial Pursuit cards than I do when I go to class – I don’t like learning historical information in a lecture format, so I don’t retain a lot of it. I’d rather watch the History Channel, or read a book.

I’ve felt this way for a while, but I couldn’t really think of any other options – I’m three-quarters of the way through my degree, why switch now? Everybody has been telling me to just keep going to school, finish the degree, blah blah blah. The problem is, I am looking ahead to a year from now when I’ll be graduating with a degree that doesn’t even begin to point me in a direction. I can’t say “I’m a trained historian!” and have that mean jack shit. I don’t want to teach, and I won’t be going to law school anytime soon. Therefore, my only option is basically to get the degree for the sake of having a degree, then go into some line of work that doesn’t utilize anything I learned over the last four years. I keep asking myself, “What is the f*cking POINT!?”

I’ve felt pretty stuck between a rock and a hard place, though, because I figured I’d either have to quit school completely (not good) or practically start over with a new major.

Okay, so that was pretty much the emo post all over again. The rest of this is where it gets good.

Then I started randomly getting the jobs I’ve been getting – the bookstore, which is sales/management/promo stuff, and then I was approached about (and am now doing) promo/advertising for the company I bought my scooter from, and then I applied for that girls with guns modeling gig and didn’t wind up on the calendar but was instead offered a sales/marketing position there. So, I started to kind of WTF? over all these things just HAPPENING to me…

…Anyway, I checked out the advertising requirements at UI, and it turns out that I could – busting my ass – switch my major (history) to a minor (which is already complete) and then complete an advertising major over the course of, more or less, two semesters. I’d have to take heavy course loads and some summer classes to make this happen, but it is possible.

I also checked out the journalism major, and unfortunately it’s pretty broad – I’d have to do all forms of media, and I am really NOT interested in TV or radio. Like, at all. It looks like it would only be ONE extra class to get a journalism minor with my advertising major, though, and that class could count towards my advertising electives anyway. So basically my thought process is this: advertising major, fill the advertising major’s free electives with the interesting print journalism classes, and also get the journalism and history minors.

Then kick ass.

Just for the record, the friend I’m emailing here is a print journalist herself. She’s also a superhero and pretty much saving the world. Hence the “kicking ass.” I have had multiple people recently tell me that I have raw journalistic talent, so between the advertising and the journalism, I’m pretty sure I have a combination of things that I’m a) good at, b) I enjoy and c) actually make money.

So that’s where I’m at. Is it going to be easy? No, no it’s not. It’s going to be rather arduous. However, it’s only going to be a little over a year, and I can do that. Especially when I can look a year down the road and realize I’ll have a piece of paper in my hand that says more than “Herro, I just spent a whole bunch of time and money to get this piece of paper. Now hire me.” I’ll actually know how to do something. I realize a lot, if not most, of job skills are learned on-the-job, and I’m okay with that. I will at least have a place to start, a jumping-off point, and some direction. Who knows where I’ll end up – I could do it for 35+ years, or I could do it for two years, meet somebody who really wants to hire me to work as __________, or decide to start my own business doing __________, and that’s that.

Mike is also considering his options at this point and thinking about adding something to his own history major… But I’ll save that for another post, another day, because nothing is set in stone and I don’t want to blab about plans he isn’t sure of. :)

In other semi-related news, he’s finally come around to my way of thinking and decided perhaps we should invest in real estate as soon as we feasibly, responsibly can. That is not likely to be anytime within the next six months, and maybe not even within the next year, but we’ll see what materializes. I would like to be in the market this winter, when prices will be lower, but I just don’t know if we’ll have the financing to do it yet.

Off to bed, now that I’ve quelled the Great Identity Crisis of 2007, I’ll now be resuming my regularly scheduled blogging. Also, if I owe you an email, give me a couple days – I’m a little behind.