new toy

Ally and I splurged yesterday and bought a 40 inch Samsung LCD TV. Ally had today off, so she went and traded our DVR box for an HD DVR. Meanwhile, I'm here at work watching the clock, waiting until I can get home and watch some HDTV. I guess it's not that big of a deal to wait. Work is over in 40 minutes, and there's never good shows on during the day anyway.

update

Well, our laptop is finally fixed. I found a guy through Craigslist who worked relatively inexpensively. He worked out of his house, so I was a bit paranoid about leaving my computer there with him. He let me see his driver's license and write down the number, so that eased the paranoia a bit. He finished the work by the next day, and he gave me a bunch of pointers and cleaned up quite a few things that I hadn't requested, all for the originally quoted price.

So now, finally, we have a computer at home where I can write blogs and upload photos as much as I want.

The big news, that I'm sure you all know, is that Ally started school a few weeks ago. It was perfect because right about the time she made the decision to go to school, the Paul Mitchell school opened up in Portland. She is in only the 3rd group of students at this location. Her class size is still small, which means more personalized instruction, and the amazing facilities at her school are still new. I know that she is excited for this opportunity and for the future that it will provide for her. I am happy that she has found her calling and is going for it.

Things at work are going well. Since being promoted, I have been very proactive and productive in instigating change in the department. There were a lot of procedures that were archaic and needed to be modernized. I have been busy finding new ways to increase productivity while increasing work flow. Unfortunately, one of my employees put in their 2 week notice last week, so that may slow us down a bit. Hopefully it will prove to only be a minor setback and we can quickly fill her spot in the department and get training done quickly. One thing is for certain ... it will definitely postpone any vacation plans I was hoping to make.

X-mas sweater party

X-mas sweater party

Finally, here are the pictures from our x-mas party. Everyone looked so great in their sweaters. I can't believe Michelle's sweater was the same as mine with the colors reversed.