Ah work

I have been mostly absent from my blog because of my work. We just passed our validation so that is a tremendous load off. My work is quite boring but it pays the bills and is much less stressful than my prior position - no phone work, etc. My only concern is that the company's stock price has taken a tumble recently along with everybody else's. I feel that my job is secure, but then again who knows what is around the corner?

I have started the process of shopping for a car. My big points are safety, efficiency and low price. Right now it looks like the Hyundai Elantra is the best option. I have also looked at the Civic, which gets better MPG but is much pricier, the Cobalt, which is also pricier, and the Accent, which is cheaper but much smaller. My parents have an 03 Elantra which they own outright and which is holding up pretty well, considering it has 150,000 miles on it. I wouldn't be able to buy brand new (only suckers buy brand new cars anyway) but something more in line with an 04 or 05. Could go later model with the Accent.

At my work we have a couple of sort of vehicle brokerage services which supposedly can get you $500 or so off the best internet price for vehicles - I just have to pick which one I want to use. We have CarPerks and Vehicle Advantage. The CarPerks website looks more professional than the Vehicle Advantage site but I don't know which one is really better. Will have to shop.

I am also planning on moving once I get the car taken care of. Somewhere toward the heart of the county I think... by which I mean more toward Akron. Cuyahoga Falls or similar? Akron itself? There is only one apartment place in Hudson itself, it is pricey and they don't allow cats. It may be silly of me but I am actually spending a lot of time looking up "good" parishes in the area and then arranging my search accordingly.

The case of the cat and the hot tub

Today, as my time in the Claims Department section winds down, I had an interesting call from a lady whose cat ran away, began living under her neighbor's hot tub and bath apparatus, and then died, creating a huge... stink in the neighborhood. Literally and figuratively.

It was a "fun" call. I felt pretty bad for the cat.

Things are currently stressful chez moi. Why do I say currently, they always are! It is time for Boy #2 to try to finagle his way into an institution of higher learning. His scores on the standardized tests were out of this world, he got a perfect 800 on the verbal of the SAT, a 780 on the math, and I believe a 780 on the writing portion as well. His GPA is also pretty high, 3.8ish. The problem is that he goes to an excellent public school crammed with ultra-competitive social climbers and so all the other GPAs are quite high too. He just misses being in the top 10 percent of the class. He wants to go to Notre Dame. We'll see. I would be happy because my impression is that it is one of the few universities that are re-Catholicizing after a lengthy stay in Irrelevant Secularism Land.

Anyway Dearest Mother is tearing her hair out lest this last child of hers fail to obtain admittance anywhere decent and wind up having to go to a second-tier public school like yours truly did. I am not being snide, either, he really is the cleverest in our family and we are kind of counting on him to get some kind of degree in corporate law and make enough money to save the family prestige. It is horribly shallow but to a certain degree we really do live in fear that he will have a horrible accident and be intellectually maimed or that he will decide to be a painter or something.

By this time next year everything will be all over, no more essays to write or applications to fill out or college representatives to butter up, he will be off and launched at whatever university is smart enough to accept him. Hopefully at that time Dearest Mother will still have some of her hair.

New job

You know how I was supposed to lose my position at Allstate in the fourth quarter of 2008? And get a $7,000 severance from the company and be cast back onto the waves of my quarter-life crisis with no idea what to do?

Well, yesterday I found out my interview for a position in risk management went well, and they offered it to me. What they do in that department is basically determine whether a prospective customer is a good risk based on their driving record, insurance record etc. etc. The other part of the job is making sure the rates our agents are giving are not too soft. Sometimes the agents like to really low-ball the premium because it makes the product easier to sell. In risk management the idea is to catch that and fix it.

I do not know which end of the business I will be working, and I don't start until September 30. I am a little nervous, but I am sure I will be able to do the work well. It is a huge relief of stress, although I won't be getting that $7,000. But it is worth it to keep my benefits, my regular paycheck and the short commute. Thank you Jesus.

Update

Things that have happened since I blogged last:

1. I joined the legions of people whose identities have been stolen. As far as I can tell the damage was limited to a $1,700 charge at a restaurant in Naples, Florida, which the good people of American Express have taken off my card. Fun.

2. It was announced that my department at Allstate is being shipped to points west - Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona, to be precise. VERY fun. It won't happen for about fourteen months, they'll give us three months notice of our exact end date and the severance package is of course generous, which will be awesome for paying off my debts. And I didn't like my job, anyway. But, ack, all the same.

3. I have hit a large pothole, which I have identified as spiritual sloth. Please pray that I snap out of it. Eternal consequences, spitting out of the lukewarm, etc. etc.

But God is still very good and I am very blessed. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ :)