Tuesday

I am such a bum! I set my alarm for 8:30ish this morning, I literally snoozed my alarm until almost 10:30...it was kind of fun actually, I'd listen to the radio for a few minutes & then hit snooze and listen again in 7 minutes. It wasn't until I got a text message on my phone that I got my lazy butt out of bed. I'm going to have to snap out of this routine pretty quickly!

I'm still drinking my coffee & trying to do some creative financing...love, love, love paying bills.

Geico called me about a half hour ago and the HR gal, Emily, congratulated me on the position. I will be going in next Monday morning to do some paperwork, bring my license & social security card and whatever paperwork that proves I'm able to work in the US. They'll begin the background & credit check and then I'll go to their nurse, she'll pull a piece of hair out and do the drug test. The next training class for the day shift, which is what I'll be on, begins on Monday June 25th so I've got this week & next to enjoy being "off" and to get on a regular sleep & wake up schedule.

I also was able to make an appointment to get my hair color touched up & a trim for this Friday. The girl that I used to go to out here that I absolutely love, Julie, now has her own salon but she is booked up until the end of August!! Damn weddings & proms. So, I'm going to another gal in her salon, Gina. I'm sure anyone at Julie's place is awesome so I'll be okay. Now I have to think about if I want to start parting my hair in the middle a la Demi Moore...ha ha ha. What troubles I have, huh?!

It sounds like the people that looked at my Grandpa's house last week liked this house and it's second on their list. Whatever that means. I'd like to see the house sell for my family's sake, but for my own selfish purposes I'd like to stay here for at least another month or so. Even if they put an offer in today, it'd still take at least 30 days so I'm good. I also cannot bear to think of this house belonging to anyone else but a Miller (my maiden name). My grandpa was born in this house and lived here until the day he died. My aunts, uncle & dad grew up in this house..my brother & I spent so much time here, my cousins & I used to play in the back yard...we used to go down in the basement and write all over the chalkboard...have picnics in the backyard...stare at the circa-1970 wallpaper in the bedroom upstairs & count the bizarre objects on said wallpaper...so, so many memories and it just breaks my heart to think of someone coming in here and not knowing the history, our history. There are so many little touches of my grandpa that still live on here. I feel such comfort being here, it's the last piece of "home" that I have here. I really wish there was a way for me to buy this house or someone in our family because as I said, I can't bear the thought of a non-Miller being here and not appreciating all that there is to this house. I know it's just a house, but it's so much more than that to me & the rest of my family. Sniff, sniff.

Okay, I need to go blow my nose and see what kind of trouble I can get myself into for the rest of the day. :)

Monday night

Hello! Just watching Jay Leno...I love "Headlines"...Wanda Sykes was just on and she cracks me up. I've seen her on Leno before and Ellen as well and she is freaking hysterical. She's in that new movie "Evan Almighty" with Steve Carell coming out in a week or two, it looks very funny.

Speaking of movies, Darcy & I went to see "Mr. Brooks" yesterday...with Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, William Hurt & Dane Cook. I love Dane Cook, he is my favorite comedian and this was a totally different role for him...he's pretty nice to look at too. It was a very good movie, Kevin Costner isn't usually one of my favorite actors but he played a great part as did William Hurt. And Demi Moore, my god she is just beautiful! I'd love to look like her. I was looking at her hair during the movie and it's about the same length as mine but parted in the middle, so of course I'm thinking since I can't pull off the way her body looks maybe I'll look like Demi Moore if I start parting MY hair in the middle rather than on the side. Nice try, huh?!

I didn't do a whole lot today aside from my Danielle Steele moment...Kari knows what I'm talking about, ha ha. Oh I did go over to my aunt Barb's house to get my mail & then invited her to go to Ted's with me for lunch. For those of you non-western New Yorkers, Ted's is a big hot dog place out here. Totally delicious but along with the rest of the food out here, totally bad for you. Had a hot dog, some fries & a chocolate shake. Love the food out here but I am giving in to temptation too often and I don't want to gain back any of the weight that I've lost, need to get myself back on track with eating better & walking every day.

I got off track...not sure what I was planning on saying. Oh, I was hoping to get a call from the HR department at Geico today but didn't. I have to keep in mind that I'm not the only person they're hiring right now...it's amazing all of the people that work there & I know they're hiring a lot of new customer service people. The only thing that needs to be done now is my background check, credit check..the credit check part makes me a bit nervous. I used to have PERFECT credit and then back in 2001 Matt went on his first of many breaks (very sore subject) as a contractor at Microsoft, I had just started at Medtronic and we had tons of credit cards that were maxed out. Long story short, we couldn't pay our bills other than rent & car payments, stopped answering the phone, opening the mail, etc., and eventually ending up going to Consumer Credit Counseling and got on their debt management plan. It took four years but we paid off every single creditor, I was proud of us for doing that because it would have been easy to file bankruptcy. Nothing against people who do, it just wasn't for me. Anyways, although we paid off all our debt it still shows up on our credit reports as "slow pay" and I had one creditor that didn't like the credit program and they started to file a judgment against me, blah blah blah, I paid the balance and the judgment didn't officially get filed but I'm so worried that this is going to be a strike against me. I really don't even know what employers are looking for when they check someone's credit report. We'll see. Also, I'll have to get a physical and a drug test...not just your average pee test, they're going to take a strand of my hair. I'm still on a pain med from my surgery (almost a year ago, can you believe it?) so I'll have to bring my prescription as I know it'll show up because it's a narcotic. But the good news is that I only take 1/2 of one a day and some days I don't even need that. I jinxed myself though, I was telling someone that the other day and today I ended up having to lay in bed for a few hours because the bones where the hardware is in my spine were just killing me. But on a typical day, I feel so much better than I have over the past year or so. Yeah, I'm totally rambling aren't I?!

While I was laying in bed resting my back earlier I dozed off and had such a stream of bizarre dreams. Most of them were around Geico and either my first day or a day of orientation, it was so bizarre that I can't even put it into words but I woke up thinking "where in the hell does this stuff come from?". Funny.

Oh, thank you to Kaelee's/Erin's friend Lorrie for your message on my blog, I appreciate it! It's funny that you mentioned that the NY state insurance test was hard, even the HR gal that interviewed me mentioned the same thing. I'll have to do a lot of studying! Thanks again!

I think I'm going to go finish reading my latest "Marie Claire" and then go to sleep.

Goodnite & sweet dreams to all :)

Treat

I forgot to mention that I treated myself on Saturday and bought myself a DVD at Target, "Music & Lyrics" with Drew Barrymore & Hugh Grant. Never did see it in the theatre but I love both of them so I think I'll enjoy the movie. I try not to buy any DVDs that are more than $10 so this was a treat for me. I also bought a $7.50 DVD, "The Object of My Affection" with Jennifer Aniston & Paul Rudd...I love that movie. Total chick flicks. :)

Then I went to a new nail place that I had seen signs for along Transit Rd...for those familiar with Lockport it's in the plaza where Panera Bread is. Anyways, I think it's called "Nails & Spa"...boring name but it is so nice inside. I had to wait a bit because I was just a walk-in but I caught up on the latest InStyle mag...I had my usual fun of looking through the OPI nail colors and reading the names, I saw this great color and when I flipped the bottle over to read the name I remembered that it was the one that Kaelee had mentioned she tried---"Don't Wine..Yukon Do It", so now I had to try it. Love it, by the way. The gal asked me if I wanted the "spa" pedicure or the regular pedicure and I asked her what the difference was, basically more time spent smoothing your feet & heels and an extra $10...I figured what the heck, I just got a job. ha ha. Oh my god. I think I was in the chair for almost an hour. First, their chairs are amazing...my back felt so good after the little chair massage. The girl was very nice and thorough...she put some green goop all over my feet and then wrapped them up in hot towels and let me sit for about 10 minutes. Long calf & foot massage. It was so relaxing I had my eyes closed for most of it and felt like I was in heavan. Then when I was done I went over to this table that looked like a bar for 4 people, I sat down on a stool and placed my feet in the space between the bottom of the table & the floor, there's a UV light on the bottom side of the table, just placed my feet under the light and I was dry within 5 minutes. I had never seen anything like this for drying nails...there was a section in the middle to place your hands if you had your nails done. Very cool. So if any of you are in Lockport any time soon, I highly recommend "Nails & Spa", spend the extra $10 and get the spa pedicure.

Two thumbs up, way up, from Michelle. :)

Friday---what a day!!

Hello! It's Saturday evening and it sure was a beautiful day here in good 'ole Lockport, NY.

Let me tell you, I had one crazy day yesterday!! I had my testing at Geico at 10 in the morning and first let me say that due to my non-working schedule, I've been going to bed very late and waking up very late so it was a challenge for me to wake up on time. I set my alarm for 7:00 and didn't get up until 7:30ish...now anyone who knows me knows that I am very slow getting ready. Amy knows this very well. :)

Anyways, I finally got myself out of here at 9:30 which was cutting it close because Geico is not in Lockport but luckily traffic is not an issue out here so I pulled in to their visitor parking around 9:50. The testing took almost 2 hours and it was kind of intense, or at least I thought so. I was put into a room with maybe 8 other "interviewees" and each of us was assigned a computer, we were given 3 different tests. The first was a reading comprehension test. The second was a 118 question personality test..statements like "I think that rules are made to be broken" and you'd answer 1 if you strongly disagreed or 5 if you strongly agreed, that kind of thing. The third was a combination test. It simulated being in a call center and tested our multi-tasking skills. We were given 20 minutes to learn the 'system' of this fictitious company and then put our headsets on and we had calls and e-mails come in and it was all timed. We had to first determine if the call/e-mail was for the sales, service or claims department...then we had to take the info from that call/e-mail and plug it into 9 various fields and hit "submit" before the timer ran out. Sometimes you'd have a call & e-mail come in at the same time, it was really crazy. We were told ahead of time to not expect to keep up with it all, that it was going to be an unreasonably fast pace...thank god because it was nuts. So in between doing that we'd get a little typing test where we'd have to transcribe someone's insurance claim. It was funny because in the middle of this test I had a "call" come in and the sound on my computer died. I played around with the headset and whatnot and realized that something was wrong and I started freaking out because I was running out of time & my calls/e-mails were piling up. So I got up and found the instructor and he took a look at my computer and determined that it was indeed defective and brought me to a room by myself...which I ended up really liking because then I could talk out loud to myself and no one cared. ha ha. I had to start the whole thing all over and was behind the rest of the class but it was fine. At the end the instructor came in and told me he'd print out my results and see if I passed...came back in and said I passed with flying colors and wanted me to proceed to the next step of the process.

So I went to the reception area to make an appointment for the next step (an actual face to face interview) and they asked me if I could come back at 1:30...at this time it was noon so I figured what the heck. I drove around and found a gas station, grabbed a sandwich and had lunch in my car. Went back at 1:30 and met with a gal in HR and interviewed with her. At the end of that she asked me if I could stick around because she'd like me to proceed to the NEXT step. At this point I figured what the heck, I don't have anything else to do, so I stayed.

The next step was being put into a room by myself for 20 minutes, given sheets regarding another fictitious company along with 5 print outs of customer accounts. I had to study the company info as well as the customer accounts and in 20 minutes the phone in the room would ring and one of the "customers" would be calling me. I was getting tired at this point and a little nervous but it all went well. I took my 3 calls, 2 of which were angry customers and the third was an airhead. Then the HR person called me on the phone in the room and asked how I thought it went, what if anything I would have done differently and I basically told her that I wouldn't have done anything differently. ha ha. Well, only that I did fumble a little bit but that was only because I had only learned of this "company" 20 minutes ago.

So...she comes in and tells me that they'd like me to stay longer for the NEXT step which is shadowing with one of the customer service reps and then interviewing with a supervisor. What the heck, let's get this out of the way I thought.

So I shadowed with this guy Eric for about 45 minutes and got a feel for the types of calls that come in. It was funny because I'm so used to someone shadowing with me at Medtronic, it was nice to be on the opposite end of it for a change.

Did that and then a supervisor named Frank interviewed me for another 30 minutes or so. At the end he said "let me go speak with my manager & I'll be right back". I sat there for about 15 minutes about ready to die of exhaustion and he comes back in and asks me if I have any questions, I said no...he asked me if I'm interested in the position, I said yes...he put his hand out and said "Congratulations, you got the job!!".

WOW!! After 8 long hours of being there, I walked out with a job! I totally did not expect it.

Not to mention when I walked in to the office it was sunny, hot & humid out and when I left it was a freaking torential downpour, thunder & lightning and my nice hair & outfit was soaked by the time I got to my car.

But I got the job!! :)

There is an 8 week training program...can you imagine? They take training very seriously which I totally respect and told them so. Within that 8 week training I will also become NY state licensed for insurance purposes...not quite sure of the exact title or reasoning, but I'll get back to you on that one.

Then when I'm done with the training I will begin a "transition period"...it will take up to 4 months before I'm actually doing the job. I am so impressed that they put so much effort into ensuring that their employees actually know their job.

They have excellent medical/dental benefits, 401K, profit sharing...a credit union in the building...a fitness center that you don't have to pay for and a full service cafeteria which I've heard is very good.

I'll have an odd schedule as they're open 24/7/365....I'll work the day shift which is 9:00 to 5:30, get a 45 minute lunch and two 15 minute breaks. I'll work four week days and one weekend day. That'll be a change but it'll also be nice because on the weekday that I have off I can schedule dr appointments and whatnot. I'll also have to work two major holidays per year, that's my least favorite part but I figure it's just me and it's not like I have children to worry about so it'll work out just fine.

Geico firmly believes in promoting from within and each person that I spoke to whether it was HR, manager or supervisor had started in the position I'll be in.

I'll talk to an HR person on Monday to schedule my physical and drug test and they'll also be doing a background check but I'm assuming that will all go well. Cross my fingers, ha ha! Then we'll talk more about when I'll start the training, I'll get paid for the training of course and my health insurance will kick in the first day of training.

So, that's my story. I just love the gecko!

Have a great weekend everyone!

GEICO

Just wanted to say that I had a phone interview with GEICO this morning and it went very well, at the end of the conversation I was asked to continue the interview process and come in tomorrow morning for a face to face and then some testing. The testing part is kind of funny to me, it's testing computer skills, multi-tasking skills and reading comprehension. One thing that I am SO impressed with is their training, they have a solid 6 to 8 week training program, nothing but training. How awesome is that? I mean, not to knock any of my previous jobs but the training that I've received in the past could have been so much better. I really wish that companies would realize how important it is to have their customer facing departments fully trained inside & out. If a customer calls in and the person taking that call doesn't know the products that they're selling and has to put them on hold or transfer them to tech support for the answer to a basic question, that it is a poor reflection on the company. I know it costs money to have an official training program or class but I believe in the long run that it is so worth it.

Things are going pretty well otherwise. The realtor for my grandfather's house contacted me the other day to let me know that some people wanted to see the house. I spent 2 hours scrubbing the rest of the kitchen floor (and yes I used pine-sol!), mowed the lawn and all that good stuff. I don't know what the people thought, they only call me for authorization to enter the house.

The weather has cooled down some the last couple of days and I'm happy about that. I've been keeping busy which always helps my mental state.

I'll write again tomorrow to report how my interview goes! Wish me luck! :)

Sunday

Hello, hope everyone had a nice weekend! It's Sunday evening and I'm eating some left over pizza from Carrabbas...ohmygod, it is so good. I got the quattro formaggi wood-fired pizza with extra virgin oil, sundried tomatoes, romano, mozzarella, goat and fontina cheeses..mmmm. I thought I'd miss not having a microwave but for one, I don't cook in the microwave...don't know why because I know some people do but I just can't. I only ever used it for reheating things and I've learned since being microwave-less that I can easily reheat things in the oven. Imagine that! :)

I had a pretty good day today, got up and did a little bit of cleaning, had some coffee and then got ready to go to the movies with Teri. We went to see "Knocked Up" and we both really liked it, it was pretty funny...I think it seemed a little long at some points but I'd still recommend it.

I'm really hoping that I hear something from Geico this week, I've heard that they do 1 or 2 phone interviews first before bringing people in for an in person interview. Not to sound concieted but with my experience, I feel that I will hear from them. May not get the job but I do think they'll at least interview me over the phone.

Not much else to report other than I'm feeling better about everything in general. I seem to be having more good days than bad and I'm happy about that. :)

Saturday night

It's Saturday night and I'm waiting for SNL to come on...one of my favorite things to do on Saturday nights. I can remember watching it with my mom when I was little and then my friend Tracy & I trying to do our own skits. Good times. :)

It has been hot & humid here. I can handle hot more than I can handle humid. I am not a fan of that sticky heat. Yuck. I think I have become a weather wimp with living in the Seattle area for 10+ years...I was spoiled by the mild summers & winters. Sure, we had a few days each summer where it was in the 90's and we'd have a few days in the winter where there'd be a little bit of snow, but aside from that things were very mild. I always loved the weather there.

Yesterday I did a whole lot of nothing. Wasn't in a bad mood, just didn't feel like doing anything but sit inside with the window air conditioner unit running.

Today I went with Darcy to Best Buy & then Carrabbas for lunch...oh, we went to Fashion Bug also and they had some really nice stuff. They have both plus sizes & regular sizes...I'm proud to announce that I shopped on the regular size side of the store! I bought another outfit for interviews/work...it's a black pencil skirt (size 12!) and then a real pretty black/red/white flowy satiny blouse. Don't you just love my descriptions? I just make words up as I go along. I still need to get some new black heels, all the black shoes I have are heeled boots...I do have a pair of non-boot heels but I don't think they'd look right with a skirt. Such dilemmas.

Tomorrow I am going to see "Knocked Up" with Teri (aunt), should be a good time. Teri & I are getting along better than we have in quite a few years....when I was growing up I worshipped the ground she walked on (she's only 13 years older than me) and then we made the fatal mistake of working together and that just about ruined our relationship. In my opinion, family should not work together...at least in my situation that was the case. Oh-well, long story short, we're getting along better and I'm happy. :)

Today Jason moved in to his new home and I couldn't be happier for him. Our dad is going over there tomorrow to help him install some ceiling fans.

Oh man!! SNL is not on tonight, some stupid sports or wrestling thing. Damn it Jim!!

Anyway, I'm excited for Jason and can't wait to see pictures of his new place with his stuff in it. I was lucky enough to be able to see his home while it was being built...I'd love to go visit again soon. Yeah, so Jason, get right on buying me that plane ticket, okay?

Well I think I'm going to see if anything else is on tv, otherwise I'll pick up my book and read a little before I go to sleep.

Have a great weekend!