I started my CPA review course about 3 weeks ago. I go to class for 4 hours a night, 2 nights a week. There are 4 parts to the exam. You study for one part at a time, take the exam for that section and then move on to another section. The section I'm studying for right now is the financial section. It's huge and incredibly hard. I've found that I'm glad I've waited (IE: procrastinated) for 2 years to start studying. It seems like I know some things now just from experience that I may not have known before. I'll take this part of the test probably right around October 15. The exact date is to be determined.
So, I have spent all day today trying to cram the information I should have learned in the past 3 weeks into my head. It's going well... I'm just so out of the school mode that it's been hard to get back into the swing of things, to develop a 'study schedule' per se. But, I'm working at it and hopefully something I do works...
My actual job is going well... it's still fairly busy but that's ok. I moved into my own office which is nice and I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I got promoted... So, things are going well on that front. Pretty soon I'm going to start a countdown until January 15, the day when things (IE: any life I may pretend to have) start to go down the drain as a result of the craziness of busy season. I can't believe it's already almost that time again... Ugh... Gotta love public accounting!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Out of commission
Both cars, that is.
Our trusty Ford Focus and of course, the mini cooper.
The mini drama is never ending and always infuriating. First of all, insurance companies are dumb. I mean, really, who are these people that we are dealing with? They are just absolute morons. On Tuesday, Tim talked to them and we were 25% liable for the accident, the other lady was 75% liable. When they talked to me on Wednesday, we were 70% liable and she was 30% liable. Did they just determine that they didn't like me after talking to me? Because nothing that happened in the accident changed from Tuesday to Wednesday. They said that ultimately it's my word against hers (so perhaps them just not liking me could be accurate) and that because she was on my right, I'm liable. Dumb. The liability is still to be determined because we learned after further discussion that they have the facts wrong regarding where exactly I was coming from before the accident happened. Apparently that changes everything... it's complicated but I'll suffice it to say that I firmly believe that it was her fault. If nothing else, they should at least say we're both equally liable (50%-50%).
Then, the body shop. Oh, the body shop. They are my new best friends. They called me several days ago to tell me that they are happy to report that they 1) Have all of the parts for my car and 2) Got everything they need from the insurance. I'm thinking, "Fantastic... my car should be done soon!" That bubble burst quickly when my guy said, "I'm happy to report that we'll have your car back to you in FOUR WEEKS!" Oh great, retard, that's just fabulous! You've already had it for four weeks. So the total for fixing my car is 8 weeks? They built the whole thing in England and shipped it to Iowa in 5 weeks. Tell me if that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that if we're 50% liable, we'll have to pay 50% of the rental car costs which are $20 a day. Do the math on that. It's more than I really care to pay for driving around a ghetto Chevy Aveo (what is that, you ask? Just picture the biggest shit box you've ever seen on the roads that is purported to be called a car. But it's a 2006 model! With no CD player! Or tape deck! Or auto locks or windows! And as a bonus it smells like old cigarettes!)
So, on top of this mess, earlier this week the focus deciding to start grinding. And not in a good grinding way. It was the type of grinding that hurt ME to hear it. We realized that it might be the brakes. The car has 106,000 miles on it, we've had it since it was brand spankin new and we've never had the brakes fixed. So we take it in and the brakes need to be fixed in a big $600 type of way... mainly because of the rotors or something (this is the part where I tuned out). Anyway, it's something major... naturally.
Now we're done to the ghetto Chevy Aveo rental car between us... sweet!
Have I mentioned that cars suck?
Our trusty Ford Focus and of course, the mini cooper.
The mini drama is never ending and always infuriating. First of all, insurance companies are dumb. I mean, really, who are these people that we are dealing with? They are just absolute morons. On Tuesday, Tim talked to them and we were 25% liable for the accident, the other lady was 75% liable. When they talked to me on Wednesday, we were 70% liable and she was 30% liable. Did they just determine that they didn't like me after talking to me? Because nothing that happened in the accident changed from Tuesday to Wednesday. They said that ultimately it's my word against hers (so perhaps them just not liking me could be accurate) and that because she was on my right, I'm liable. Dumb. The liability is still to be determined because we learned after further discussion that they have the facts wrong regarding where exactly I was coming from before the accident happened. Apparently that changes everything... it's complicated but I'll suffice it to say that I firmly believe that it was her fault. If nothing else, they should at least say we're both equally liable (50%-50%).
Then, the body shop. Oh, the body shop. They are my new best friends. They called me several days ago to tell me that they are happy to report that they 1) Have all of the parts for my car and 2) Got everything they need from the insurance. I'm thinking, "Fantastic... my car should be done soon!" That bubble burst quickly when my guy said, "I'm happy to report that we'll have your car back to you in FOUR WEEKS!" Oh great, retard, that's just fabulous! You've already had it for four weeks. So the total for fixing my car is 8 weeks? They built the whole thing in England and shipped it to Iowa in 5 weeks. Tell me if that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that if we're 50% liable, we'll have to pay 50% of the rental car costs which are $20 a day. Do the math on that. It's more than I really care to pay for driving around a ghetto Chevy Aveo (what is that, you ask? Just picture the biggest shit box you've ever seen on the roads that is purported to be called a car. But it's a 2006 model! With no CD player! Or tape deck! Or auto locks or windows! And as a bonus it smells like old cigarettes!)
So, on top of this mess, earlier this week the focus deciding to start grinding. And not in a good grinding way. It was the type of grinding that hurt ME to hear it. We realized that it might be the brakes. The car has 106,000 miles on it, we've had it since it was brand spankin new and we've never had the brakes fixed. So we take it in and the brakes need to be fixed in a big $600 type of way... mainly because of the rotors or something (this is the part where I tuned out). Anyway, it's something major... naturally.
Now we're done to the ghetto Chevy Aveo rental car between us... sweet!
Have I mentioned that cars suck?
Monday, September 4, 2006
Poor little Winston
Here are the pictures the adjuster took of our car to give the insurance the estimate (which was approximately $4500, by the way).
It's so sad.
And, yes, the car's name is Winston.
It's so sad.
And, yes, the car's name is Winston.
The croc hunter is dead?
I find that absolutely unbelievable.
Steve Irwin just seemed so happy and invincible.
Steve Irwin just seemed so happy and invincible.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Babies, watermelons, and revelations
So in honor of the traditional labor day festivities, we decided to have a barbeque today since Tim's brother, Aaron, is in town visiting us and he leaves in the middle of the day tomorrow. We went to the grocery store to get the appropriate items, one of which was a watermelon. On the way home, I sat with it on my lap to prevent any rolling that might occur anywhere else in the car.
As I was sitting there with this 10 pound ball on my lap, I had the sudden revelation that it must really be uncomfortable to be pregnant and to be carrying something in your actual body that is similar to this size and shape. I mean... wow. I made the comment to Tim and he basically looked at me like I was crazy. Then I tried to stuff the melon under my shirt to put a realistic spin on it and I think that he freaked a little himself. For whatever reason, because of this ball of melon and its sheer weight, I gained an entirely new respect for all of the mothers out there in the world. I mean, seriously, not only does pregnancy seem highly uncomfortable but after you go through all of that, then you actually have a baby (and everyone KNOWS what comes along with that). I cannot even begin to imagine how, if and when I will ever be prepared for the actuality of this motherhood process... and to think that these thoughts all spawned from a melon... who knew that melons could be so profound?
As I was sitting there with this 10 pound ball on my lap, I had the sudden revelation that it must really be uncomfortable to be pregnant and to be carrying something in your actual body that is similar to this size and shape. I mean... wow. I made the comment to Tim and he basically looked at me like I was crazy. Then I tried to stuff the melon under my shirt to put a realistic spin on it and I think that he freaked a little himself. For whatever reason, because of this ball of melon and its sheer weight, I gained an entirely new respect for all of the mothers out there in the world. I mean, seriously, not only does pregnancy seem highly uncomfortable but after you go through all of that, then you actually have a baby (and everyone KNOWS what comes along with that). I cannot even begin to imagine how, if and when I will ever be prepared for the actuality of this motherhood process... and to think that these thoughts all spawned from a melon... who knew that melons could be so profound?
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