New Car

So for the last 8 months or so we have been in quite a pickle. Our Saturn only runs if you also run the heater. Apparently Saturn wires their cars so that if the AC doesn't work the car overheats. So we have been sweating double time since the AC went out. When we lived in Utah and there was little traffic we made due. I only drove it to school 3 times a week and only in the morning and evening. Now we are in California and a trip to work almost always includes traffic. I also cannot drive it to work since I meet with clients so that leaves Jessica sweating it out. Back in Utah, I just figured it was part of my diet and just included time in the car as exercise time =) Just Kidding! So we are biting the bullet and buying another car. We have settled on a price with an individual seller and are finalizing everything tomorrow morning. Oh, it's a Mazda6. I'm pretty excited since I always loved the Madza Protege I drove in High School. For all you familiar with the case... I promise not to speed =) But I have to say that when I test drove the 6, I was driving 65 and it felt like 40mph! The good news is that AT&T pays the majority of the payment! Yeah!!! Oh, and AmyJane, sorry but I can't get Jessica to post!

Mergers and Aquisitions

This spring I took a business management course at BYU that focused a lot on organizational change. I must say that it has become extremely salient to me in the last month. I have come into a company that is still trying to normalize since its merger with SBC that is in the process of acquiring Bell South on the 4th of November if the FCC approves it. To make matters even more interesting I am part of the "market response group" at AT&T. This means that my team's goal is to "respond to the market" At any given time our entire focus can change. If the merger goes through then what we focus on could be completely different than it is today. With the complexity of T1's T3's, MIS products, DSL, VOIP, plain old telephone lines, video conferencing it's already confusing enough. After the merger it is quite probable that we will also be responsible for selling Cingular since the company would be completely owned by AT&T at that point... and will probably be called "at&t wireless" once again. Anyway... now that I have completely blown away any possibility of an entertaining post for anyone who decides to read this I am going to tell you a joke. So this blonde girl goes to this guys house and wants to do something to make money. He told her that he would pay her $150 dollars to paint his porch. She said she would. He thought he was getting such a good deal because the porch wrapped all around the house, and he figured she didn't know it. His wife asked what he was going to do if she did a bad job, and he said he just wouldn't pay her. He already had 3 gallons of paint for her to do the whole job. Well she came back and said she was all done. He looked at her and said, "you're already done?" She said, "yep, and there was even enough paint for 3 coats! But you were wrong mister, it's not a porch it's a Lexus." hehehe

A Place To Live

So today we found out that we are moving. It stinks to pay more for a one bedroom than your parents pay for their mortgage, but you do what you have to do. I guess it is the cheapest place in southern California that doesn't come complete with drug dealers and gangstas but it's still a lot of money! In reference to the graphic... All our generation can hope for is a housing market crash. I know I do! Does that make me a bad person? I realize that people on ARM mortgages, interest only loans, stated income loans and people who have used their homes as ATM's this whole time would suffer... but come on! This generation should be able to afford a home too. Home prices are over double what they have been for the last 110 years when adjusted for inflation... and so few people can actually AFFORD a home. I see no other end but a hard landing.

Dave and Busters

So today I went to Dave and Busters with everyone from work. My boss informed me that I could drink, but that I shouldn't get drunk. After carefully considering a recent report about how social drinking increases your salary.... well... um.... I decided against it. I must say that some very well paid people went home inebriated. It is a very interesting to watch the tension in a room where the majority of people drink and the extreme minority do not. It's not like there is any pressure to drink.. just a strange division between the have beers and the have nots.

New Jobs

So Jessica and I made the move to sunny southern California three weeks ago and have both started our new jobs. I am working as an account executive at AT&T. Jessica is working as a retirement specialist for the Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union. While we will both miss our previous roles in life, we are excited about the future. Jessica left her gig with Goldman Sachs and I left mine at BYU. ( You can probably guess which one of us was more heart broken.) But hey, she is just excited to avoid Winter '06 in such a blustery locale! In all actuality we have been very fortunate. After a few job hunting visits to California this summer with nothing but a few less desirable opportunities I was hired by a great boss at AT&T sight unseen. After a few rounds of phone interviews and me playing mildly hard to get I was offered the position and started two weeks later. It has turned out to be a great gig. Jessica came down for one day on the Monday I started work and had two interviews before returning to Utah to work for two more weeks. The first interview was with OCTFCU and was told an offer was being drawn up the same day. We are happy here and excited about the future. I am not really good at wrapping stuff up without saying anything cheesy. Later alligator.