A New Year Already?

Are we sure that it's really time for a new year? I mean like beyond-all-doubt sure? Because it seems like it was just a few weeks ago when we got a load of snow on New Year's Eve and I had to drive the Jeep over to Aharon's house to get him so we could play Monopoly. And then the next day at work Port Huron got even more snow and I honestly thought I would be snowed in at that horrible place-of-employment forever!

So much has happened this year. Joel graduated high school and went off to MSU with Jerry, leaving me home all alone (which has been kind of nice, actually). I finally was able to quit my job in Port Huron that had caused me ridiculous amounts of stress and start a new job right in town that has been great so far. There were tragic deaths, unexpected pregnancies, legal battles, and nights so fun that you laughed about them the next week, too. Friendships were destroyed in a matter of hours and new ones were created almost effortlessly. We all watched in uncertainty as the economy proved that it answers to no one, and as Americans divided themselves on every possible major issue and the only-slightly-larger majority went on to create a "historic" presidential election that will spend the early part of 2009 trying to convince the other half of America that it wasn't the worst possible decision that could have been made. (I will remain unconvinced, in case you were wondering.)

I'm sure that 2009 will hold many new events for us to experience. I know my life will change in many ways. It will be an awesome and wonderful year filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences and love and happiness; it will also be a tragic year filled with uncertainty, loss, and doubt.

I have many hopes for the new year. I hope to get married, get closer to actually graduating from college, learn, grown, and serve others. I hope to be an example and a blessing. I hope to get through challenges and doubts by relying on God and not on man. And ultimately, I hope that I'll leave 2009 as a better person in every possible way.

The one concrete certainty for 2009 is that God already knows what's going to happen and how we are going to get through every challenge, obstacle, blessing, or gift.

I just hope I don't let anyone down, because a new year is a fresh start and a chance to erase some past mistakes and try again at being a better person.

We're Moving On!

Aharon decided to start a blog! So, I've decided to join him. Sure, I've had a blog at Livejournal for like four or five years now, and I had planned to just link the two of them together. I couldn't figure out how to get that to work, though.
Plan B was to just manually post all of my journal entries from livejournal here. A quick visit to livejournal's past, however, revealed that I had nothing of interest to say.
I then decided to just grab the important ones and start new here. So here I am! Get ready for some good times!!

If My Thoughts Were Important Enough...

I think that if our government wants us to conserve fuel and walk more, then shoveling/de-icing of sidewalks should be required. I don't really care if they make the property owner do it or if the city does it, but it's not cool that I have to walk in the road on my way to work or else slip and fall on the ice that covers all of the sidewalk in the entire city except for on my road where the people actually shovel their sidewalks as to prevent death.

Longest. Sentence. Ever.

I think that if a car company makes a product that does not work, they should fix their problems regardless of whether or not anybody has been injured by their shortcomings. I'm looking at you, GM.

I think that office buildings should have to maintain a constant and comfortable temperature year round. It is unacceptable for this building to be 75 in the summer and 58 in the winter. Especially since I can't bring in a portable heater because of energy consumption or some crap like that. At least I can wear sweatshirts. Maybe Monday I'll bring a blanket with me and see what they say!

The Joys of Being Not-Yet Married

Aharon and I have been dating now for 4 and a half years. We plan on getting married. Once we get married we fully plan on combining finances. Call us old school but that's the way we roll. None of this "I pay for the cars and you pay for the house" stuff for us. Anyway, over the course of the last 4 years, some things became easier to just do together. For example, when Aharon really only goes home at night to sleep, why pay for two Netflix accounts? So instead we split the cost of one account and share it equally. Cell phone service was costing each of us $85 a month. We combined the two lines to one family plan and knocked the cost down to about $58 a month each. So while we never combined bank accounts, we did combine a lot of bills.

Anyway, to the point. Aharon has worked for an electrical company in Livonia for almost 3 years now. This morning, he got laid off. Apparently most of the work that office was doing was with Beaumont Hospital, and they recently suspended most of the projects Aharon was working on. So, there's no work. He'll get enough unemployment to pay his car payment and car insurance for about 6 months, and in that time he will look for whatever job he can find.

I spent some time last night (because we knew this was coming as of yesterday afternoon) trimming what I could off our phone plan and cutting our Netflix subscription down to bare bones. (And I would just cancel it, but I can afford the whopping $9 a month if he can't afford his portion!) It will make a big difference.

So I guess my point is that this is going to be a nice challenge for us. We aren't yet married, but because of our strategic saving-money plans, I now have to make some sacrifices so he can get his bills paid. If we were married, that would be a no-brainer. But we aren't yet and here we are - going through a similar situation.

He's kind of happy about being laid off. He did not enjoy the job or the drive to Livonia every day. But, his dad found the job for him and he felt it would be disrespectful to leave. Plus, when you're working an hour and a half away and with limited vacation time, taking days off or even time off to squeeze in interviews is not at all easy.

And I guess I am happy to. We get a sneak peak at how we handle a financial crisis. By the time we get married, whenever that happens now that money is so tight, we'll know how the other reacts to such situations and how it can be handled in the future.

Every cloud has a silver lining, right?

Dear America:

I kind of hate you right now.

Depressed

Life is so depressing lately. Aharon's car got broken into last Monday. No, not while we was working down in Livonia. Instead, it got broken into while it sat in his driveway in the middle of nowhere, Michigan. His GPS, wallet, and about $250 cash was stolen. The police seemed to not really care.

He had also recently applied for what sounded like the perfect job for him. His best friend and his best friend's dad both work there and they both put in good words for him, but he didn't get the job.

I just feel like every time we think we're getting close to being able to afford life, something happens to knock us back down even farther. How come even though we do things right, we can't get ahead. Meanwhile, everyone who seems to just do what they want gets by just fine.

Worst 8 Days Ever!

Last Thursday: Aharon gets rear-ended on his drive home from work by a 16 year-old kid who has had his license for like 2 weeks. Police reports, multiple calls to State Farm, and trying to find alternate means of transportation follow.

Last Friday: Drop Aharon's car at a body shop in Richmond that works directly with State Farm, because we were told if we did it this way the estimate would be done on Friday and Aharon could pick up a loaner on his way home from work Friday if the car wasn't totaled. All day goes by with no phone call from the body shop. Aharon finally calls them at 4. They won't have the estimate done until Monday afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday: Aharon drives his huge work truck around and gets about 10 miles per gallon.

Monday: Aharon's car is not totaled! He picks up a loaner after work. They give him a 2007 Mustang!

Tuesday: We get a copy of the estimate and police report and give it to Aharon's agent at State Farm so they can recover Aharon's deductible from the insurance company of the kid who hit him.

Wednesday: Goes by quietly

Thursday: Aharon gets a call from his State Farm agent that the father of the kid who hit him is a lawyer and is stating that there was NO damage done in this accident and that Aharon and I faked the entire thing (to the tune of $2,200) to get an old clunker fixed up. (Aharon's car is NOT an old clunker). Agent promises to handle it, but Aharon is now stressed.
Also, Aharon's car can be picked up! We go to Richmond and return the loaner and then head to the shop to get his car. Everything looks fine. We leave, and I notice his rear tires are very noticeably wobbling. He also notices that his instrument panel has not been cleaned from the entire 20 ounce energy drink that spilled in it during the accident. This was listed on the damage report because it can damage the electrical system. We go back to the body shop and tell them these problems and leave them the car. We go back and get a new loaner, a 2006 Dodge Caliber.
Also, I am told by my employer that they will not be splitting the cost of my tuition like they originally told me they would do last summer. I am now officially looking for a new job.

Friday (today): We wait to see what happens with Aharon's car and the lawyer-dad of the kid who hit Aharon's car.

Sarah's Hate List, Volume 7: Work Edition

I went to Richmond with my dad on Saturday morning. There was nothing out-of-the-ordinary about this trip, except for a bunch of near-accidents such as the following:

1. A girl in the Tim Horton's Drive-Thru threw her car into reverse and gunned it for no reason and came to a stop about an inch from my dad's car and only because he slammed down on the horn.
2. An old man driving a huge van whipped out right in front of us in a parking lot when we had the right-of-way. Had my dad not stopped, he would have driven right into the side of my dad's car.
3. A mini-van pulled out in front of us from a gas station and then slammed on her brakes while in the road having realized she pulled out in front of us.
4. A girl drove through a parking lot at about 45 miles per hour and cut right between my dad's car and another parked car as I was getting out of the car and had I not stopped and pulled the door shut, she would have taken the door, and possibly me, out. I don't know know why she felt the need to drive right between the only 2 cars in the huge parking lot.

All of this happened in about 20 minutes, too. So in honor of surviving that, I am dedicating this hate list to all the stupid things done out there by drivers. I know that nobody is a perfect driver, but the following 20 things have no excuse.

1. People who creep forward at red lights in anticipation of the turn to green. Not only is that amazingly annoying, it makes you look like the most impatient person on the road and probably contributes to quite a few accidents every year. Bonus points if said creeper actually goes through the intersection while the light is still red because they were sure it was green. This really does happen. I've seen it a shockingly high number of times.

2. Drivers from Canada in Port Huron. Normally, I have no problem with Canadian drivers. But in Port Huron, that's a different story. I don't know if they think that they're still in Canada because they're so close or if they just honestly don't think they need to follow any laws here because they won't get tickets or something, but these Canadian drivers account for most of the traffic mishaps I see every day. Whether it's pulling out in front of me, not using a turn signal, thinking that brakes should be reserved for special occasions, using 2 parking spaces for their SUV, or driving 20 miles under the speed limit when the posted speed limit is only 35.

3. People who cop an attitude at others for stopping at yellow lights. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. In fact, the law encourages it.

4. Anyone who at any time fails to use a turn signal. It's really not that hard, and it prevents people behind you from wanting to smash your head into the ground. Get used to it, ok?

5. People who don't use turn lanes. They are there for a reason. They are not there simply to separate directions of traffic. When you need to make a left hand turn, please enter the turn lane. Do not come to a dead stop in the far left or only lane and expect to make your turn from there. Others will become angry with you.

6. On the same note, people who attempt to use turn lanes but don't fully succeed, like when someone enters a turn lane too late and thus only really has their front tires in the lane while their back end sticks out and blocks traffic anyway.

7. People who misuse turn lanes. This could mean people who drive in them for extended lengths to bypass slow or stopped traffic, or people who get into them way too early and then stop because someone else is there needing to make a turn, and then they basically are both blocked because the car who's correct needs to move up farther but the car who's incorrect is blocking them and can't back up.

8. People on bikes. This does not necessarily include people who ride as primary transportation and keep off to the side and with the flow of traffic and what not. This does, however, include children and adults who have no regard for the traffic and act like they are in charge of the road. For instance, I turned onto a road today, and a man on a bicycle was riding right down the middle of the road. We made eye contact and he continued to ride. I stopped, because the only other option was to run him over. He continued biking and went right past my window and gave me a nasty look like I had just taken his rights away or something. Really, guy on flimsy bike? Do you want to challenge me?!

9. Pedestrians. Of any sort. Unless you are crossing in a marked crossing area when my light is red and yours is CLEARLY green/go/whatever-the-symbol-is, then please stay out of the freaking road. In South Carolina, you would be dead. Do not walk out in front of me and then get offended when I do not stop for you or when I give you a mean look. You do not have the right of way. Also, do not stick your head out in the road to view oncoming traffic. Find a crossing area and use it.

10. People who drive through the parking areas of a parking lot instead of through the clearly-marked driving areas. It's not that hard. Please learn the difference.

11. People who fail to look before backing up. I don't know if everyone out there just feels that they are entitled to take back space they previously occupied at any given time without any indication of this, but they do not have this right. Please stop exercising a right that you don't have. As Master Shake said, "You don't own space so stop acting like you do!"

12. Motorcyclists who speed. It's your funeral and I will not feel bad.

13. People who pass on the right when someone is stopped to make a left-hand turn on a one lane road where there is no shoulder for passing on the right. It's illegal and when I stop instead of breaking the law and you honk your horn at me, I want to blow your car up with my mind. I haven't mastered that technique yet, though.

14. Slow drivers on the expressway, people who can not maintain a consistent speed on the expressway even though traffic completely allows for it, and people who fly by at 94 miles per hour. You all need to go back to driving school.

15. People who are inept at merging. This could mean people who don't understand that they need to adjust their speed while merging onto an expressway, or it could mean people who refuse to move over a lane and allow traffic to merge easily, even though the lane on the other side of them is completely empty!

16. Narrow, two-lane road with parallel parking on them, too. Can we say crowded?!

17. Cars with brake lights that malfunction in any way. This could mean that the light burned out and you haven't bothered to fix them, or it could mean that someone broke the cover and you used tape to distract the police from noticing. Either way, when you hit the brakes, nobody knows it and trouble is bound to come swiftly.

18. Other drivers who stare at me at stop lights/any instance where prolonged amounts of stopping is necessary. Leave me alone, creepy!

19. Any driver who does not understand the concept of a 4-way stop, a flashing red light, or a light flashing yellow for one road and red for another. You are going to cause an accident or severely anger the people who avoid you and your accident-causing ways.

20. People who speed up when you try to pass them because they are doing 20 under. Inevitably, once they realize you are next to them and intend on passing them, they gun it and travel at about 10 over the speed limit instead. Moron on the loose!

Thankful!

Thanks to the dear old environmentalists (there's no convincing me otherwise - don't bother), gas prices are insanely high. I have now been driving my good old used 2004 Saturn Ion for one full year. When I purchased the car last May, an entire tank of gas (about 10 gallons) cost me right around $24.00. Now, it's closer to $42.00. Don't get me wrong. As far as I'm concerned, that is totally ridiculous and completely unacceptable. However, a read through a favorite magazine and a chat with my mom and brother put things into perspective for me.

Sidenote: Wired recently ran an article about why buying a used compact car is a better choice for your wallet - and for the environment (if you buy that carbon crap) - than buying a brand new hybird, like a Prius. In fact, it recommended you go out and find a used Geo (now Chevy) Prizm or Metro from 1994 to 1997. Why? Their gas mileage strongly rivals that of a Prius. And I know this to be true because Aharon bought a used 1997 Geo Prizm in December and with driving in stop-and-go traffic from Memphis to Livonia every day, he averages right around 30 mpg. A nice traffic-friendly trip from Memphis to Port Huron results in something closer to 36 mpg. (And in case you didn't know, a Prius really only averages around 36 or 38 mpg.)

But anyway, back to me. So yes, gas costs me now almost twice what it cost me only one year ago. What's there to be thankful about in that situation? Well, on a full tank of gas, I can travel 300 miles. (Yep, that means I'm averaging 28 to 30 mpg!) My brother and my mom can also travel 300 miles on one tank of gas. The reason I'm thankful? A tank of gas costs my brother $75.00 and my mom $95.00. A tank of gas costs me $42.00 and Aharon $38.00. And yes, all four of us have different size tanks. But the catch is that we all travel 300 miles on our tank of gas. So really, Aharon and I are both way ahead of the game.

On average, I go through about 5 tanks of gas in a month. ($210.00)
Aharon goes through about 10 tanks of gas in a month. ($380.00)
Just last week I thought that forking out $600 a month for Aharon and I to travel back and forth to work for a month was insane (and it is), but when I realized that if I was driving my mom's van and he was driving Joel's Jeep, it would be closer to $1,200, I realized just how thankful I need to be for our small, safe, compact cars with excellent fuel economy...and the fact that we both got exceptional deals on them.

Dear Ford Motor Company:

Thank you for sponsoring closed captioning on Lost. The only thing better than watching TV late at night is reading TV late at night. And for that, I am very grateful.

Sincerely,

Sarah

P.S. I'm totally serious. Reading TV is the awesomest invention ever.

It's Tough Being a Girl

I just renewed my subscription to Wired Magazine, and when I checked my email for my confirmation, something about the email caught my attention.
On the left side of the email, running all the way down, were ads for other magazines that I might be interested in based on my subscription to Wired.

Pretty standard, right? Well, here's what I found interesting. The 3 magazines advertised were: GQ, Men's Vogue, and Details. All magazines with a male target audience.

The geek community really needs to make us girls feel more welcome.

Why A + B + C = Crap

A)Being female +
B)the youngest person at my job and +
C)still in school =
A bad combination when you want to be taken seriously in your career.

Case in point:

Last Friday, one of the guys from a different office than the one I work out of was having problems with his laptop. I'll leave out all the geek-talk, but basically he could still get email but he got nothing when he opened up Internet Explorer.

He didn't call to discuss this problem. He emailed me about it, and I was in the middle of dealing with over 20,000 locked files that employees needed access to. So, it wasn't my top priority. Throughout the day, I would email a suggestion and he would give it a try and report back. Nothing worked.

On Tuesday, I was down at that office to help Michelle with all the archiving. I got there before the employee with the broken computer, so I went to his office and had a look. Turns out the problem was one of the first things I told him to check, which he told me was how it was supposed to be. Anyway, I fixed it and then also happened to notice an icon on his desktop for Limewire. I checked on it, because I've removed the program before, and sure enough, it had been reinstalled. The last time it was used also happened to be the day his computer stopped working correctly.

So before I went back out to start helping Michelle, I sent a quick email to the office manager, who is my direct supervisor, about the laptop. I didn't wait for a response. I went back out front with Michelle and we started working our way through some files. Broken-Computer Employee walked in and asked if I'd fixed his computer. I said yes. He asked what was wrong, so I told him his DNS server was pointed to a specific IP address and that our network will not support that, especially since he was pointed to the IP address of the copy machine, and last time I checked, copy machines don't provide Internet access.

He seemed kind of confused and asked how that happened. I had a pretty good idea that he'd let his kid use the computer again, because that's how it happened last time (oh yeah, this is a repeat problem), but rather than accuse someone who wasn't even there, I just said, "I don't know how it got changed. But I do know that it doesn't change itself."

He kind of gave me a dirty look and then headed down the hallway, muttering under his breath. Michelle and I shot each other a glance and went back to work.

A few minutes later, he came walking down the hall and said, in a rather demanding tone, "Sarah, come into my office for a minute." I stood up, Michelle told me I didn't have to go, but I headed down anyway. I walked into his office and he got up, shut the door, and told me to have a seat. This is when I knew that this was going to get "interesting."

He began by telling me that he doesn't work for me. (No kidding) He also mentioned that I don't work for him, but he didn't say it quite as matter-of-fact as he said that he didn't work for me. He said that we worked for a company and that we were co-workers and that we needed to stick together and not take problems to other people that should just be addressed with the other person.

Side Note: The office manager is my direct supervisor, and I report back to her about computer problems since she needs to be aware of what employees are doing with their computers so she can give this information to the owners. I do this with any computer problem I fix, whether the employee is my best friend or someone I can't stand. That's just how business works. Also, over the last two years with the particular employee that this all involves, I have come to learn that he thinks he's - for lack of a better way to describe it - the shit. He always has an opinion on something or a way to improve what's going on. He has also, on at least one occasion, told me that I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to computers because he told his brother about some of the stuff I said and he said I was wrong. Nice.

Back to story: Then, he said that I was accusing him of being a liar. (Those words, or anything close to those words, never came out of my mouth) He said he didn't know how the DNS server got changed and when he said that he didn't know, that's exactly what he meant. He said that he does not let his kids touch his computer on the rare instance that he takes it home, but that if they do use it without his permission, there isn't really anything he can do about that. Then, he again pointed out that he doesn't work for me and that when I have an issue with him, I should come to him. (Which is not what I have been instructed to do by my supervisor - and the owners, for that matter.) He then added that I am new to my career and that while he hated to have to word it like this, it needed to be said. "This is something you need to work on, and I'm glad that I can be the one to point this out to you."

Because apparently, I need to work on disobeying my supervisors and do whatever he says instead.

He ended all of this by saying again that he doesn't work for me and that I do not have the authority to act like he works for me. He also mentioned that another thing I could work on if I wanted to succeed in my career was letting power go to my head. (Look who's talking, huh?!)

Then, he closed the conversation by telling me that he was sorry that he had to get angry with me about this, but that somebody needed to put me in my place. Then, he said that the door was closed so that I could apologize in private without having to worry about being embarrassed about people hearing me apologize.

So I told him I was sorry that he thought I had accused him of being a liar.

But that's all I said. He then started talking about how crappy the computers run around here and how he has done stuff with his computers at home that has made huge differences and maybe I could do those same things here to help improve the network. Oh, and at one point in the conversation he told me that he just wasn't sure what I was thinking because I was being so straight-faced. Yeah, because I guess that over the last 50 years nobody ever told him that it helps to keep emotions in check while you're at work.

Yeah. Whatever, prick.

Not Cool

Did you know that when you call Fed Ex Customer Support and get that voice-navigated menu thing and you say something that it tries to register it, it makes a quiet computerized blip (for lack of a better word) noise that sounds just like the noise the aliens made in Signs to communicate with each other. Not fun at 8:15 in the morning!

The Politics of it all

I have a point, I promise.

I used to hate election season. All the lying and cheating and scandal that goes on just never appealed to me. But lately, I've taken quite an interest in what's going on in the world politically, and I found out that politics is a way of life for Americans, and that's an unfortunate thing.

Think about politics. What comes to mind? Obama winning Iowa? Hillary winning New Hampshire? The fact that there's a Southern Baptist running again? (And we all know how great that turned out last time.) How they all have something very appealing that they are going to do once in office, although you know that it's more likely than not that none of what they promise will actually happen.

And that's the key right there. None of what they promise will actually happen. They make all these promises to get ahead and get the power they want. Why do they want the power? Maybe they have a secret hidden agenda. Maybe they want to be set for life. The point is, politics is not about running a nation or even running a business. Politics is about stabbing someone else in the back to get ahead for your own good.

Watching political debates makes me laugh. Why? Because they are arguing about running a country, but I can see similar arguments going down at work.

I guess that because we are all humans with a sinful nature, I shouldn't be surprised about what happens in the government, business, and the world. But, I am. Maybe I just am figuring this all out a little bit later than others.

When Tuesday rolls around, or whatever day your state's primary election is, you can vote for anyone you choose. Just remember, though, that it doesn't matter. Popularity is for all the wrong reasons and it's just a matter of time before everyone who voted for the person who won decides they don't like them and claims to have not voted for them in the first place.

It's just like business. Everyone is always covering themselves at no expense. For instance, let's assume that some guy from another company that you are doing a joint project with has been emailing and calling you and basically pushing work he should be doing off on you. Why? Because he asked someone at your job for one thing and they had told him to ask you to do it. So, he started skipping the middle man and sending request after request to you. When you started to get multiple demands rather than an occasional request, you say something about it. His response? Someone at your office had told him to have you do all the work. So not true! But, if it came down to losing the partnership, what were his options, really? Admit he was shoving work on you or cover himself at someone else's expense?

Every day, those are the kinds of things that get dealt with. When I was working at McDonald's, although I enjoyed the job, I craved a fancy business job where I could dress up and sit at a desk and do important things. Now I have that job. And, surprisingly, I enjoyed McDonald's much more. For starters, I was friends with the people I worked with at McDonald's. Why? Because it made the day better. No one really sticks around too long at McDonald's, so the politics of it all are far less than they are anywhere else. Sure, everyone wanted more, but if you made friends with your coworkers and managers, you realized that for that job, it wasn't worth the fight. And what happened? You enjoyed yourself.

But in business, things are totally different. You've got to "look our for number one!" Lie, manipulate, and complain your way to the top. That's what business is. You aren't friends with the people you work with in a job like that because, well, why would you want to be? They don't have your best interests at heart. So why bother? It's all about deceit and betrayal. Who would want to be friends with that?

Moral of the story:
Why am I spending so much time and money on a degree in business when, obviously, I can learn more about business from watching election coverage on TV?