I'm Still Alive...

As I sit here listening to the rain and thunder, as nice as it is, there's a sick feeling tugging at my stomach as I think about how busy work will be tomorrow thanks to the nickel and quarter sized hail that fell in areas nearby. UGH! My last 3 days of work at State Farm was SUPPOSED to be smooth sailing. Maybe everyone pulled their cars into their garages and we will not have any claims to file. (yea right!)

Sorry for disappearing from the blog world...I've obviously been pretty busy lately. Here's a brief update: We have verbally made an agreement with the builder of the house in Saginaw we're trying to get. He wasn't budging on price, so we asked for him to throw in the farm, and he's obliging to most things. In addition to him paying almost all of the closing costs, he has also agreed to install rain gutters, window coverings in the bedrooms, a garage door opener, and the street number on the mailbox. He will also finish sodding the backyard and will convert the garage back to a garage (it is currently closed in and was used as the office since it was the model home). We also asked for a refrigerator, but he said that was too much. However, he said we could use his name at his appliance vendor and buy a refrigerator at a good discount. So, now we just have to sign the contract, send in our earnest money (which he agreed to accept only half of standard amount), wait for him to finish the work (convert garage, install gutters, window coverings, sod back yard, and some other structural projects), have the inspector come out, do a final walk-through, and then close on the loan!! Our realtor feels pretty confident we can close by mid-March. We shall see! Here's a pic of the house, before converting back to garage:

I went to Fort Worth today for an introduction meeting at Green Investment Management, and to fill out some paperwork. They gained 20 new accounts today (about $3million in assets!)!! I tried to connect with each person (half of which I already knew), and my perception of a strong team environment was only reinforced. I am very excited about this new job and I think I'm coming in at a great time. From what I've heard so far, I think the assets under management could easily double within 4-5 years! Wonder if my paycheck will....HA!

I rode down with my dad, and he sat outside and read a book for 3 hours while I was in the office. On the way down, we heard on his CB radio that a highway patrolman was out around Bowie. So we see him a few minutes later on the other side of the highway. Here's the funny (and not so funny) part: a few minutes later, my dad says something like "They normally leave you alone if you're only going 80 or so." Not 10 seconds later we see another highway patrolman on the other side, and about 10 seconds later, dad starts pulling over and says "here he comes." So my dad gets a ticket for going 82 in a 70! I guess he should have slowed down to 80! :) Sorry you got caught dad! On our way back tonight, we heard on the CB that a car was driving down 287 the wrong way, in the same lane we were in...so we were able to slow down and get ready for it. Sure enough, about 30 seconds later we see a set of headlights moving our way. The car was on the shoulder, but on the wrong side of the road. We were debating what the heck was wrong with the fool. Hopefully he corrected his dangerous mistake and nobody got hurt. Anyway, it was really cool to get a heads up on the radio so we could be prepared! I must admit, on more than one occasion I had to resist the urge to grab the CB microphone and scream something immature on the radio! HA!