Where everybody knows your name

This morning has been trying to say the least.  First, I finally hear back from one of the hundreds of jobs I have applied for since being here only to realize that I may have signed up to be the personal assistant to some sort of provocative "electronic and clothing" business owner, who just happens to be out of the country for the next 4 months and needs assistance shipping/receiving "packages" and "payments."  Desperate times, my friends!  Anyway, I am probably letting my imagination get the best of me and hopefully the part-time job will turn out to be alright, as a little bit of income would be very much welcomed. 

Secondly, I check my Mississippi banking account only to discover the my Jeep payment has been auto-drafted out of the account YESTERDAY after I had (so I thought) stopped the auto-draft with that account and already made a payment with my other checking account!!!  OMG OMG OMG.  So, now I discover that the MS account is in the negative a few hundred since I am not really maintaining money in that account anymore but have it open for tying up a few loose ends in MS.  OMG OMG OMG.  Pissed.  Annoyed. Mad. Frustrated. Upset. Crying. Helpless.  UGH.  So ensues the hours of dreaded phone crap...automated systems, customer services reps who are of no help, repetition, repetition, repetition etc. etc.  Finally, I am speaking to a manager at Chrysler Financial and expressing my general dislike of their website, which is NOT at all user-friendly and explaining that this is my THIRD accounting issue with their company due to their NOT at all user-friendly website and that I want to start receiving my paper statements and I will go back to the age-old ways of the CHECKBOOK AND STAMP.  (I did at least apologize that she would get the brunt of my frustrations.)  Basically, they can not do anything to remedy the problem and I would have to contact my make and try to stop payment or have a letter sent from my bank explaining the payment went through and my account circumstances ( in short NSF).  And then they would issued me A CHECK and this could take up to 6 weeks.  UGH UGH UGH.  

Next, I call my Mississippi bank and speak to a woman I thought had handled banking matters before with me though she was not that friendly and indicated that she couldn't stop payment and that I would have to get the money into that account as it will remain in the negative until the money is reimbursed from Chrysler.  UGH. UGH. UGH. 

Back on the phone with Chrysler (another representative, repetition, repetition, repetition).  Transferred money (hello, I am unemployed and do not have an extra hundred dollars, much less a few hundred, to spare why Chrysler "processes" their mistake.  Whatever. 

Back on the phone with Mississippi bank... a familiar voice, a friend from high school.  Thank God for small towns and friends willing to help.  Second time around, MS bank is able to issue a stop payment on the draft (with the fee waived)... crisis appears to have been averted at last.  I am certain this would not have been handled in this way here in Denver and that is okay.  I know I chose to leave Mississippi and I am very happy with that choice but I am also happy to know that it is friends, family and "small" towns/States that make up the woman I am out here in the West.  I am so grateful of where I am from and the kindness that it exudes in the most subtle ways and unexpected of circumstances.  Thanks so much, F.B.C, for helping me out this morning! 

Lastly, GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Carry Your Heart

I love this poem and it is applicable, as great writings are, to so many various areas of life and relationships. 

ee cummings	PoemHunter.com

i carry your heart with me i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) ee cummings

Click here for other poems of ee cummings

A month in Denver

So I have been in Denver for a month, hard to believe (1) because time seems to have flown and (2) because it already feels so much like home.  I settled in right away, at least as far as unpacking goes.  K's mom was here for the first few days and cleaned like only a mother can.  The kitchen and bathroom were cleaner than they have ever been, I am sure of it.  After the unpacking ended, I really just lounged and rested.  It was bitter cold here in December, which is unusual for that month... it usually doesn't get bitter until mid-January and February, so they say, but this week is topping off in the mid 50s. 

I have ventured out some on my own.  We are close to a nice shopping area, Belmar in Lakewood, with a great Wholefoods and several little shops.  K's mom got us a Garmin for Christmas and I am now very comfortable leaving the house, which I really wasn't the first couple weeks.  Although, ironically I ventured out more those first couple weeks than I have the last couple.  I guess I should admit, only because I feel like I need to say it out loud to break the cycle, I am sleeping until 9 or later these last few mornings.  K will usually leave early for work and I will be cold and not ready to get up, the dogs will pile into bed with me and before I know it is 9:15 :)  I do have the alarm set to get up at 7:30 and have just got to start turning it on!  I have been better about walking the doggies though and have managed all three for the most part, but man are they a handful.  It isn't a relaxing stroll that's for sure. 

Yesterday I ran at the local park just a couple blocks from the house and am about to go do a couple miles this afternoon.  I am also looking into this Bally Fitness place that is close by to start trying to do a spin class or two a week, you know how I love to spin! 

K and I have already seen a good bit of music and gotten out and about.  I would definitely say we make the most of his days off.  We went to the Blue Bird to see some local "Irish Whiskey Music" a couple weeks ago, and saw Robert Earl Keen at the Grizzly Rose this past Friday with a few friends.  We also found this great Jazz club with excellent happy hour specials, as well as music and atmosphere.  Dazzle has three shows almost every evening and we will definitely be going back.  For happy hour they have $4 martinis and $5 appetizers, which are more like  dinners.  We had the exquisite Brie and berry jam grilled cheese...oh my was it good!  K is off this Friday through Sunday and we are going to Tea Leaf Green at the Blue Bird and then will probably take the dogs for a good walk at Wash Park, or maybe even go to Red Rocks/Morrison for Saturday or Sunday. I think the warmer weather is supposed to hold out through the weekend.  We have a really great sushi place that we would go to every time I visited the past year and we haven't been since I've moved out, I think we'll be having sushi sometime this weekend too. 

I am enjoying being here for sure, but I am anxious (of course) to get some sort of income.  I have been trying to hold out for a contract job and recognize that I have gotten somewhat stalemate in my job search.  I am going to have to get back to a more active job searching routine soon.  It is nice to not HAVE to get out into the freezing temps in the morning time or have to tackle the stress of a new job, on top of all the other newness going on, I recognize that.  However, I am feeling ready to put myself out there and meet those challenges as well.  I have applied for several federal jobs since moving here (on top of the ones I had already applied for) and man do I hope upon hope that one of those would work out, but I also know the unlikeliness of that and am ready to just move forward through whatever door opens. 

One note on my family, they are acting about as expected (yet never really able to be prepared for).  Y is great about calling and keeping me updated with MP and their life, which I appreciate SO much.  Mom doesn't call, for some reason she always says "I'll just wait to hear from you," but she's still fairly easy to talk to when we do talk.  I can tell she's still worried about all the new changes for me, which I understand, but I wish some of the time she would show some excitement for me as well.  She's just being a mom though, and I recognize that.  Dad... dad, doesn't call and isn't able to have a conversation with me when I do (finally get him on the phone).  His only concern, or at least the only one he vocalizes (which is of course a blessing) is whether I have a job or not.  As I said, it's what I expected but it isn't easy.  I don't let the family stuff bring me down.  I know it will be better when I have a job and at least  those worries can be put to rest, although, I am realizing that it won't be the same relationships ever again.  I am just praying and hoping that the new relationships will be better than the old ones, eventually.  I truly do believe sometimes distance can bring you closer than you ever imagined.  (Maybe that is just my naive way of not letting the reality get the best of me, but I will stick with that thought for as longs as I can, and hold out hope that my relationship with mom and dad, individually, and collectively will be better in the long-term.)  I miss my sister.  Thank you for staying so in-touch with me, Y :)   

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First snow of 2010

Happy New Year!

 K and I had a great New Year's celebration. We cooked yummies to snack on and played The Office DVD game and just hung out with the doggies. Here's to 2010!