We're in!

I realized I hadn't posted, so just wanted to fill everyone in. We closed on Monday -- happy day! The previous owners are really cool and as it turns out, they're living right next door! Now, it's only temporary cause they're building a new home close by, but the woman's sister is our neighbor -- no doubt we'll be seeing a lot of them. But it is kinda weird to see their kids and have them watch us do all kinds of things to their house... but at least they're cool about it.

Sarah and I started painting (well, priming -- haven't got to the paint part yet) and we have 2 rooms to go. Thought it would be a good idea to get all this done before the movers showed up, but it doesn't look like we'll finish. If we can at least get some of it done, it will help a lot, I'm sure. There are only 4 rooms to paint, including a bathroom, so it's not that bad. The only problem is that we have a limited amount of time to do it, since we're away this weekend in Chicago for a wedding and won't return until late Monday. That leaves tonight (Thu) and next Tue to finish up... hopefully we can get everything at least primed and perhaps get one or two rooms totally finished. Cross your fingers!

Nothing to lose your head over...

Or is it? This is just disturbing...

Man loses top of his head in brain operation

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

We're closing tomorrow. So psyched.

Sarah and I went over with Mimi and Ethan tonight to do the final walkthrough, and were pleasantly surprised when we found not only the big screen TV and speakers (like we were expecting), but also 2 tuners, a CD changer, a DVD player, a component switcher and a bunch of other things! So cool! Now we don't need to fix our stuff!

The pool table is gone (as expected), but that's good cause it means we won't have to deal with it. We would have sold it regardless, but it's one less thing we need to do. We will need to purchase some patio furniture to enjoy on our nice big deck, but most of the other stuff we already have. Sarah wants to purchase a few chairs for the living room since most of our furniture will be downstairs in the basement, and we have some painting to do in the rooms upstairs, but everything else is basically ready to go -- move in condition, clean and smelling all purdy. NICE.

I am so thankful that this is almost done. And before I forget to mention it -- we're basically paying NOTHING at closing. We asked for $2000 back from the sellers bringing our costs down to $750 -- but we're getting a $750 rebate from USAA for using their services. How cool is THAT?!?!? Looks like we'll owe something like $.53... Love it.

The movers don't come until next week, so that gives us a little time to get things together (painting and whatnot). Really looking forward to finally having a place of our own (again)...

"Our house, in the middle of our street..."

Great article

Dad sent me this article by one of my favorite writers George Will. It's a great look at a great umpire, Bruce Froemming. In a time where many professional umpires opt for the easy way out, here's one who unfortunately is considered a throw-back. He actually CARES about what he does. He calls them like he sees them... not like he's EXPECTED to see them. INTEGRITY PERSONIFIED. I guarantee that if there were more Bruce Froemmings in pro sports, we'd have a lot less of the headline-grabbing nonsense that the rest of them are generating. But, I digress...

Read on -- Diamond-Hard Integrity -- Bruce Froemming.

Enjoy.

A 6-pack a day...

I started this little advenuture about 6 weeks ago at Jungle Jim's where I decided I would choose a variety of individual brews to create a custom 6-pack, and then sample and review them over the course of a week or two. Well, needless to say I DID finish them all (no doubt!) but I haven't had a chance to review them yet.

Now, mind you, I'm not really a beer connoisseur, but I do enjoy all the difft flavors you get across the variety of different IPAs, lagers and stouts. I plan on getting up my "6-pack review" soon -- that is, if I can find the list where I wrote down all the different kinds I tried.

The one I do remember a brew by the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland OH called Eliot Ness, an amber lager if I remember. Very nice smooth feel, slightly toasty (and no, I was not "TOASTED"!!!) and not much of a hoppy aroma to it... I remember a bit of hops in the finish, and it was quite drinkable, despite the strange name -- actually the reason I chose to try it. Apparently he loved to frequent the brewpub and got a beer named after him. Maybe I should ask the folks over at Dogfish Head to consider renaming their Belgian Dark -- perhaps the "Rezer d'Etre"???

Ethan's musical genius

OK - so I took this video with my camera the other day cause I had to share with the world the musical genius that is Ethan Rezer. Nevermind the fact that he's only 23 months...

In case you can't hear real well, Daddy is calling out the names of the notes of the scale -- OUT OF ORDER -- and Ethan is playing them on the piano! He rocks! Look out Liberace!

Click on the video to bring it up in the player. Enjoy!

I hate the Braves

Isn't it about time for the Phillies to dominate the NL East? Haven't I waited long enough? Just when you though the Braves were headed downhill, here comes the newly acquired Mark Teixiera, hitting 9 homers in 18 games and revitalizing the Braves offense. Oh, and Smoltz is still as nasty as ever, proving so by striking out 12 in his most recent outing. The Phils are hanging in there, scoring a ton of runs and leading the NL in that category, but it seems like they just can't seem to push it over the top. The pitching has been pretty steady, and a once inept bullpen has really been top-notch as far as I have been able to see in the limited amount of games I've been able to track. Is it too much to ask for a little post-season activity? There's still hope... but it's never a given with the Braves hanging around.

Oh yeah -- I hate the Mets too.

I've been waiting...

For a Blo - - og post...
To go on-to Jeff's site...
Yeah, waiting...
For a Blo - - og post...
To see if he's alright...

OK. Lou Gramm I'm not.

But neither are you - so leave me alone.

Seriously... the first 2 weeks of work have been jam packed. Things are going well. I jumped in with both feet and hit the ground at a quick jog and haven't had time to look back yet. I hadn't even realized that there wasn't a post about my first week until I started getting reminders from TravelinGirl76 and djcunnin. Sorry folks.

I like my office, the people I work with and the stuff I'm doing A LOT. I've had to dust off some of my analytical skills as well tidy up the cobwebs on the math side of my brain. I've been working at compiling online ad stats (pageviews, visits, CTR and more) using a variety of different tools for about 50-60 sites that F+W owns. More on that later. Suffice it to say it's a great way to learn about everything going on here.

I helped prepare the monthly reports the first week I was here, got to send them out to everyone and already got my feet wet answering questions from some of the online marketing managers. I think this is going to be a great match for my skillset... analytical thinking, web experience, some programming and some people-skills. There's also a good bt of "why isn't this working" brainstorming going on with my boss, which I highly enjoy. My mom can definitely vouch for that -- I started at a very young age by always asking her... "Mom, ask me a hard question."

Well, these are definitely some difficult ones. But I'm up to the challenge. I started practicing a long time ago.

More later...

Ethan and Daddy

New job starts tomorrow

I'm a little excited.

A little bit nervous.

Sort of anxious.

A little frightened.

a LOT grateful.

Start at 9:30 and I'll be jumping right into orientation, lunch with my boss and afternoon meetings. He called it "orientation with a purpose". I don't care what it is -- just glad to be getting my shot. Finally.

Househunting

Sarah narrowed down about a million listings down to a few that we've been checking out with our new USAA-Approved realtor. She's great... very knowledgable, likable and even from one of the target areas. I still can't believe what $150K gets you around here. It's ridiculous. Our $350K townhouse in DC would be about a $600-700 house here. LOVE IT.

We are torn right now between 2 great possibilities -- one is a fantastic space, ready to move in, gorgeous finished basement and beautiful... the other has a lot of potential and has a great master suite and a TON of room. So do we go for the gorgeous no-work required house with less space and no master bath or do we go for the one that has a ton of room but will need carpet and paint right off the bat? Argh! Choices...

Opinions would be welcomed...

More soon.

Playing Catch-up

And while I'm on the subject... what's with all the spellings of that word anyway? Catsup? Ketchup? Catchup? Sheesh... :-)

I GOT MY JOB! I interviewed last Thursday with F+W Pubs and it went really well... I was expecting to hear something more in about a week and a half, plus thinking I would come back to meet with the head of the department, but I got an Email the next day with an OFFER LETTER! God is good! Not only was it a great offer, it was MORE than I asked for. AWESOME!

The position will be a great mix of business and tech, and I am looking forward to being able to contribute to this fantastic team. It seems like a great opportunity and a great match for me all at the same time. I'll keep you all posted in the weeks to come as I start as ONLINE ADVERTISING SPECIALIST next Monday, Aug. 6. YAHOO!

Now, on to finding a house!

House, Job and PotterMania

OK, we finally closed on the house last Friday, July 13. Yes, that's right -- Friday the 13th. We didn't have much of a choice. After a long arduous process of fixing it up, cleaning, painting, renovating, etc... it's OVER. You can check out the pix on the Rezer.com Photo Gallery. Honestly, I didn't know if I had it in me when I started, but since we didn't really have a choice, we were able to get it done with A LOT of help from our friends. We've received our settlement check (A LOT lower than we wanted) and now are just waiting for our final escrow amounts to come back. Goodbye MD. We'll miss you.

I was potentially interviewing for the Online Advertising position last Friday (the 20th) but it got postponed to this week because the department head was out of the office. Hopefully I'll hear early this week. Heard back about the CSR job in Dayton and although I passed the interview with flying colors, there are no open positions at this time, although from the sound of it they are expecting more openings as soon as the parent company authorizes the hiring process for the department. This is still a fallback, but I'm holding on for a better opportunity. Also a possibility of working for a company called PowerNet Global as a helpdesk specialist. That one is pending approval from the company, and I'm not the only one being interviewed.

Sarah is a little sad these last few days because the final Harry Potter book was released and she has already read it (within 24 hours, I might add). She and I went to Borders for the midnight release party and picked up the book, then we went home (after a McDonald's stop for "brain food") and started reading around 1am. She read for about 4 hours and took a short nap, got up at 9:30 and read the rest of the day, stopping only to eat for about 5 minutes each time. She finished shortly before 7pm... insane! She sure does love Harry Potter. I consoled her by mentioning that there would still be 2 more movies coming out, but she said "honey, it's not the same..." I agree. But at least it's something...

More to come

Behold the new Rezer.com!

Sarah and I got creative and started putting together a new home page. Lots of good stuff to come, but check it out. It's now ready for PRIME TIME!!!

http://www.rezer.com

Many possibilities in the works...

So after a week of feeling very down, now I'm feeling cautiously optimistic and actually excited. I had a phone interview with a company for the position of Online Advertising Specialist yesterday for a media company, and it went REALLY well. They want to have me in on Friday afternoon to meet some other folks from the company. This opportunity would be great cause it's a nice blend of business and tech, and I think would really allow me to flex my people-skills. The company sounds very team oriented and I think it would be a great fit for me... please keep this situation and opportunity for me in your prayers.

Secondly, right before this phone interview, I got a call from a tech recruiter for a HelpDesk position that would pay fairly well that's right in my location target area, the same area that I had been working earlier in the month. It may be a bit over my head, but I could most likely do the work if given the opportunity. The pay is not as good as the job mentioned earlier, but it's still higher than the third opportunity...

...which is with the company I'd been interviewing with for the last few weeks. This company is HUGE and they're located up in Dayton, about 45 min from here. The pay is low, and the hours are horrible, but it's at least a job with an opportunity to advance and make a little money. I know this is something I don't want to do full-time, but if I need to take it while I continue looking elsewhere, I will... but only if the others don't pan out.

Now, in the meantime I'm continuing to apply for some positions and am keeping my options open, but I'm hopeful that the first opportunity mentioned here will actually work out. They are looking to hire within 2-3 weeks, and have a few candidates already, including one from inside the company. This makes me a little nervous, but I can only do my best and hope they see me as the best fit for their company and the position.

"I'm holding on..."

Shock the Monkey...

For some hysterical reading, check out the latest adventures of Monkey Rezer.

"Watch the monkey get hurt... monkey."


Now on to some job-related news... in bullet-point fashion:

• Interview with Robert Half Technologies went well, although I bombed the Windows XP help desk test (did well on the hardware test). My rep there will be back to me once they have a position for me... may be a while, but who knows...



• Took some MS Office proficiency tests this AM with Adecco (the same company I've been temping with at Tom Raper RVs) and scored +90% on all of them. They were pretty easy, but if this is any indication of the talent level out there, they should be paying me hundreds of millions -- as soon as I can land a job...



• Sent a resume/coverletter to a company that I heard about through my networking group. It's for an online advertising specialist and I already got a call back on it... will be interviewing (phone) with the HR manager on Wed. This is probably the hottest prospect yet, so please say a prayer...



• Have my followup interview with LexisNexis Tue AM -- part Q&A and part tech simulation. I should do well, and if all goes as expected I hope to have an offer from them by the end of the week. The question is... do I hold out for something else or go with the sure thing? Decisions, decisions...

So that's it for now. Please keep me in your prayers...

Kobeyashi gets squashied

Yes, folks, it's old news, but I was watching a re-run (no, not Freddie Stubbs from 'What's Happening') of the Nathan's Hotdog Eating Contest and the mighty Kobeyashi has fallen. An American (Joey Chestnut) finally beat him, eatng 66 hotdogs AND BUNS within the time limit. Let me just tell you it was disturbing in that "I can't bear to watch this but for some reason can't avert my glance" kind of way. What a feat.

OK, that's all fine and good (and slightly sickening), but the reason I mention all this is because of a comment the one announcer said. Let me see if I can quote him so you can get the full effect...

"If Chestnut can hang on here, it would be [one of] the greatest moments in American sports history..."

Are you freaking kidding me??? That statement has got to me one of the most ridiculous and assanine statements ever uttered by a "sportscaster". Greater than Willie Mays' famous over-the-shoulder catch? Greater than the Miracle at the Meadowlands? The Immaculate Reception? US Beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics? Chamberlain scoring 100 in a single game? Puh-lease. It doesn't even top Gus Frerotte's famous endzone headbutt celebration...

This idiot should lose his sportscasters license. What kind of credentials does this buffoon have anyway? It's people like this guy that make some ESPN'ers the laughing stock of knowledgable sports fans everyway.

Dipstick.

Last day at Tom Raper

Well, maybe. It was supposed to be yesterday, but I came back for a few the morning to make another $.99. Whoopee. Well, at least it gives me some time to write in my blog. It doesn't get busy till later in the day.

Sarah and Big E come back today from Illi-no-ah. I'm SO ready for them to be back. You can only watch so many episodes of Flip This House before it starts to get old. I almost put in a Veggie Tales DVD the other day cause in a weird way I almost missed watching it. ALMOST.

We're getting excited about the new release of the Harry Potter movie. I can only imagine that Sarah is going out of her mind. And not only does the movie come out this weekend, the 7th and final book is not far behind. She's already got her reserved copy ordered and will most likely polish the entire book off in a night or two. Seriously.

Looks like Momma R is now in the land of Gmail and IM. Got her hooked up yesterday and upgraded her from her old JUNO acct. There's no need for that old dialup acct anymore since she's on the church's LAN. It will be nice to chat with her on a regular basis without needing to be near a phone. And I'm sure Dad is not far behind in the IM world... I can almost hear Sting now...

"I want my, I want my, I want my Instant Chat..."

And now... Paula Cole!

Silence.

Chirp.

Uncomfortableness.

You would think that during a major multimedia event like the All-Star game that they'd have this wired a little tighter. Is there a sound issue? A cable not plugged in? What's up? Where's the sound engineer? The roadies? AAAAHHHH...

At this point we see her keyboard player hunched over the keyboard trying frantically to either select a sound, see the display or figure out why it's not working. I have an incredible feeling of deja vous. Know the feeling. Don't envy her right now.

More silence. The long-distance TV camera pans the crowd. Still nothing. I can't believe it. Wondering if she's going to start singing acapella. She probably should. Start Paula. Please start. Why can't they figure this out. This is embarrassing...

I can almost hear the sound of James Adams in the background "Down-time, Down-time...let's go guys..." But Flip Like Wilson never played to a crowd like this... even at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach.

Ok -- finally. She says something about the country, men and women fighting... very nice. I don't remember exactly. She starts singing. You can hear the nervousness in her voice as she sings. No wonder. She just had a couple hundred million people watching (or not watching) her sing.

Ok... sounding better now. Actually, this sounds quite good. Nice version. I'm glad... nice recovery. I'm happy for her. And me. My blood pressure is returning to normal... as normal as it could be, I guess...

All-Star Extravaganza

OK. If you didn't see the game last night, the finish was fantastic. Bad in a baseball sense, but good for thrill-seekers.

*** SPOILER ALERT!!! READ NO FURTHER IF YOU TiVO'd the game ***

OK... so for those of you who either don't have a DVR or don't care about the outcome, here we go...

It was a rather uneventful game, except for a few cool moments. Ichiro hit an inside-the-parker. He rounded the bases like it was nothing. By the time the outfielder retrieved the ball, he probably could have gone half way around again. That guy is ridiculous. And if I could say it in Japanese, I would, just so I'd be sure he could understand how I feel. Suffice it to say that he is probably the best pure hitter in the game right now -- (yes, including BARRY) -- and don't even get me started on the fact that the guy can plain out FLY on the bases. Silly good. And he's a pretty good fielder as well.

Speaking of "Fielders"... I know there's a lot of emotion and hype and all for the game, and the players probably have the an equivalent amount of adreneline in their systems as if they had just downed a case of Red Bull, but what's up with Prince Fielder dropping a simple throw to first? That was plain out sad. Coming from an ex-first baseman, there was no excuse for dropping that ball. And I wasn't a perfect "Fielder" either, but I feel like I should be able to throw some stones here. Maybe Prince should think about dropping that last name of his and just going by his moniker... oh wait, that name's already been taken by the Purple One. :-)

OK, so a lot of stuff happened blah blah blah and then as usual, the American League pulls ahead and is leading 5-2 going into the final inning. Then a 2-run shot by another ridiculous hitter Soriano.. so it's 5-4. (Side note: I find it funny that he hit it off a reliever whose last name is "Putz" -- even if he does have 24 saves and a sub 1.00 ERA)

There are 2 outs. They bring in Francisco Rodrigez. He proceeds to walk the bases loaded, and if it weren't for some fine defensive catching by Posada it would have been tied. Finally Rowand flied out to end the game, but the NLA almost pulled it out... almost. Oh well. It's been 10 years... they've got to be due SOON.

I read an interesting stat the other day... the starting salaries of the NLA -- $52mil. The ALA -- over $120mil. No wonder they always win.

"Take me out to the ballgame..."