October 15...

I have never been more happy to have October 15 behind me as I am this year. It marks the end of our pension auditing season and for whatever reason, this year it seemed as if every.single. client was just trying to be as difficult as possible which in turn made last week challenging, at best.

I had to cancel three dentists appointments as a result in the past three weeks and finally was able to make it in today. Can't really say that I'm glad I finally made it. I freaking hate the dentist. I had to get a crown for the root canal I had about a month ago. I thought that the root canal was supposed to make the root die. Well, to anyone that knows anything about dentistry, I would love to know why the crown freaking. HURT?!

Seattle is due for a huge wind/rain storm today equivalent to the one on December 14 last year (the day before I flew into town from Anchorage and met Tim). That one knocked out power for two weeks for some people and it was NASTY around here (I can testify to that...) Today the remnants of some tropical cyclone are headed over... and it is not looking pretty out there right now. I kind of wouldn't complain if all of the power was knocked out here and everyone just had to go home.

Although maybe it doesn't really matter. Basically I have no life for the next couple of weeks. I pretty much have to study my ass off since I take the tax/law part of the CPA exam in, uh, 13 days and just started studying about 2 days ago...

Commute times

One of the best parts of living where I do now is that my commute to work is all of about 8 minutes. I do get on the freeway but I don't have to. It's a crazy concept for me given that I just spent the past 2 years of my life in Phoenix and probably 6 months of that two years can be written off to sitting in traffic while commuting an hour (sometimes more) each way. I almost don't really know what to do with myself with the extra 2-3 hours a day that I now have. Luckily, I've figured out that now I actually have time to exercise! And to eat dinner NOT at 9pm! And maybe even to actually COOK dinner! And to go to happy hour! And to do errands! And to do whatever else I freaking want to do because I have so much time... I can't even tell you how nice it is. I had this same sort of convenience going for me in Iowa too, and surprisingly justified the commute enough in Phoenix to not really miss the short drives to work. Now that I have been reminded of what it is like to have somewhat of a life, I don't think I'll ever revert back to Phoenix commute times.

Some days I drive to work from Ellensburg when I stay with Tim over there at night. It's about a 1-1.5 hour drive into work only because I'm going up and over the mountains... which could get scary in oh, about 2 weeks when it starts to get snowy and icy over this particular pass. Right now I don't mind this drive because I only do it once a week-at most- and it's the prettiest drive in the world right now. Most of the peaks have snow on them, the leaves are all different colors and it's just so divine looking at the times I am driving through the mountains. I miss the music/car/me time I had in my Phoenix commute sometimes so this allows me some free time to enjoy the mountain beauty, to catch up on phone calls, to listen to music, and after enjoying all of that, it essentially reminds me that at the end of it all, I am glad that I get to enjoy this now but don't have to do it 5 days out of every. single. week. anymore.

Ah... more boring accounting talk...

When I moved up to Washington the last thing I really wanted to start thinking about was the whole CPA exam thing. It is such a process to meet the requirements (that vary by state), get billions of official transcripts and send them all over the freaking country, apply to the state board, figure out what you're missing from the application, resubmit, etc, etc. And then after that you wait to hear from the state board if you can sit for the exam, and then you wait to hear from the AICPA. The whole application process in itself takes several months. It's a drag.

Anyway, I don't really know why I wrote about how much I hate the application process given that I sucked it up and applied anyway. I just found it particularly annoying this time because I just went through it all in Arizona. I felt like it should transfer. But whatever. I'm done ranting about that. Until it annoys me again. Then there might be another post solely devoted to the annoyances of nothing being consistent when it. should. be.

So, I applied. I got my notice to schedule from the AICPA. I scheduled the test for August 23, 2 weeks before I was supposed to take it (most people would say this is not a very good idea... and yeah, it really wasn't). Then I crammed for 4 days before the test. Then I took the test for 4.5 hours on August 23rd and walked out feeling like I really just needed a glass of wine. People ask how you think you do on stuff like that and it's like simultaneously hitting your head against a wall while trying to shoot a fly with a rubber band. Damn near impossible. I had no clue how I did on that test. Some questions were ok, some were not. Overall I was just happy to be done. Anyone who has taken this test before will tell you that they either 1) walk out crying or 2) feel like it could go either way because it's just too hard to tell if you did good or bad. I was not the exception in this case.

Last Friday I got my results back from the August 23rd test. Yes, please do the math... that's ALMOST 2 months to get the score back from a computerized test. LAME. Anyway, it was well worth the wait- I passed! With an 84. Which means I studied TOO much (you only have to have a 75).

But I was excited... I really wasn't wanting to change my career but I kinda made a little promise to myself that if I didn't pass this section after using so much time off to study for it then I was going to look into another profession. I'm not a very patient person and wasting my time taking the same test over and over again just doesn't really fit what I have in mind for my life. Granted I should probably give it more than one try but I wasn't willing to. But now I don't have to worry about that. I'm scheduled to take another section on October 31, then another on November 20 and then the final one sometime at the beginning of January.

I'm scheduled to have about 7 days off in the course of the next two months for the two upcoming tests... I hope that studying proves to be worth it again! But I won't know until, like, next June. Wish me luck!

Accounting is a dangerous profession

Somedays I have to take my laptop home from work so that I can work at night. Last night, I decided that this was necessary. So as I was leaving, I was putting my laptop away into my computer bag and then I was unplugging my power cord. The next thing I know?

BAM!!! BZZZZZZZ. BZZ. BZZ.

I electrocuted myself.

Oops.

I never stuck my finger in a socket as a kid so I guess this makes up for that. It was very bizzare. The shock ran all the way up my arm and into my back. Probably not supposed to do that on a regular basis.

It's not the first time I've managed to injure myself on the job. A year or so ago, I fell down about 20 steps at a clients and landed in divebomb position on the floor... and the floor was marble so I skidded on my stomach about ten feet across it.

Now, that? THAT was classic.

Rainy weekend recap

Weekend was long, rainy, and overall excellent. Tim came back to Seattle on Thursday night to spend the weekend since he doesn't have classes on Fridays and he won't be starting his hospital time until November (which will then occupy all of his weekends as he will be working 48 hour shifts trying to meet various goals for the year- like 30 innubations/tubes, 500 trauma/cardiac patients, 100 IV starts, etc. I don't really understand what all of this means either, but I am learning...and hearing disgusting stories that remind me why I am an accountant in the meantime).

Friday I left work early and went with Tim across the water to Seattle to run errands... pick up transcripts, try on uniforms, etc. It wasn't such a bad deal for me because I got to spend time with him, I love going into Seattle, regardless of what I am going for, and the day ended with a trip to Cactus- a restaurant that has the best margaritas and mojitos I've ever had. Strange, considering I lived in Phoenix for 3 years, where there are as many mexican restaurants there as there are starbucks up here.

Saturday was cold and rainy. We were going to go to a Washington U huskies tailgating/game day but opted out once we got up and saw the weather. Instead, we spent a lot of the day working and studying, which seems lame but it was the perfect day for that. We worked, drank tea, and sat under blankets. It was actually really nice. We got the newly released season 5 of family guy so we spent an hour or so watching that after we finished studying and working. Saturday night we went to Pen Thai... probably the best Thai food I've had. I crave Thai food on a weekly (and sometimes multiple times weekly) basis.

Yesterday was also rainy and cold. We hung out with Tim's three neices (ages 4, 2, and 4months), made breakfast, and then ran a couple of errands before he had to leave.

Overall, it was a really low key weekend but it was so relaxing. It was a nice change of pace from what both of us keep up with in our weekly lives.

Drunk on coffee

Note to self: As tired as I feel on Monday mornings and as easy as it is to get caught up in the Seattle coffee-holic syndrome, I will cease consuming starbucks peppermint mochas, as much as I love them... especially without eating first.

I am actually buzzing right now.