2010 personal goals

Oh what a week, and it's only Wednesday.

Here are some goals I've met so far this year:

-Got a full time job (for at least three months and then it's up to the company to hire me on or extend the contract). I start monday!!!

-Quit smoking (I'm well on my way to being smoke free!)

Here are the goals I would like to meet within the next year:

-Have a permanent full time job (aka start a career)

-Purchase a new car (at this point I am considering buying my dad's car which is two years old and in great condition .. and is the car I want .. a Pontiac g6. Actually he would only have me pick up payments where he left off.. which is the best deal I could find.. and I love love love the car)

-Be completely smoke free. (Right now I smoke about a cigarette every other day).

-Purchase a new laptop. A good laptop.. not just one on sale.

-Purchase a bicycle, and along with that, ride it regularly once the snow is off the ground.

-Start paying back my student loans on a regular basis (right now I'm on an unemployment deferment)

-Save $8,000, which shouldn't be that hard as long as I either keep this 3 month job or find a permanent one shortly after.

-Start taking over all my bills. Right now I have my phone and car insurance that I need to take over, but I will still keep them under my family's plan simply because it is more cost effective.. and pay them whatever I owe. I also need to take over any medical costs I have such as co-pays or prescription cost.

-And hopefully a year from now I will be thinking about what I am going to do along the lines of moving out. I am in no rush because I want to have a steady job, a large amount of savings, and know how much I will have left over after I start paying ALL of my bills.

-Lose thirty pounds

-Go on 3 dates with 3 different people, and give each of them a chance.

-Go to a Frank Warren Post Secret event!!

On another note LET'S GO SAINTS!!!!!!

Negotiating.. not my strong point.

I've decided that in all high schools they should teach how to negotiate. Seriously, I suck at negotiation and that's like what half a person's life comes down to.

This all came about as I am now trying to negotiate a pay rate for the job I've just been offered. Yes, me, offered a job!! YAYY! Well, now it come down to waiting to see if they'll accept a different offer.

Some people I talk to are like "just accept whatever they offer". But of course the company came in at my the lowest in my range. I should have waited until I knew more about the job to discuss pay, but I didn't. Now I feel like I should be paid more.. and to truly be happy at where I am in my life I would like a little bit more.

I don't think I'm breaking new ground by trying to negoiate. Yes, this economy is rough, but I will not give myself away for free!

Meanwhile, I had to call my mom up and ask her how I should go about negotiations. We decided since they emailed me the offer I should email back my response. But I really should have been able to do this without my mom talking me through it.

Same goes with buying a car.. which I plan on doing in the next couple months. I can't negoiate.. but isn't this the prime economy to negotiate?? I need a how-to class. What am I going to do when I go to look at homes in a few years??

Speaking of cars, does anyone have any leads on really good deals? I'm looking into GM because I really did like my pontiac up until it got too old. They have some good offers.. like recent college grad and customer loyalty.. both of which I should qualify for. But I'm willing to look other places if the deals are tremendous. Any suggestions?!?!

I'm really just trying to bide time until I found out if this job works out!! Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Quote of the week!

"Sometimes it's really hard to see the forest through the sleeze" - Hitch

stupid, stupid car

So my car, which I hate, just decided to break and make me spend 800 bucks on it.

To be fair, I didn't hate my car the whole time I had it. I used to love it. It's a stick and it's sporty. I felt unique since most girls don't know how to manuever a manual car with the ease I have developed after 7 years of driving this particular car. And, let's be honest, some guys don't either.

And then it started going downhill. And, trust me, if I had the funds I would have traded it in as soon as it started acting up. If this car has taught me anything it is that as soon as something goes, the rest goes quickly too.

This car has been in and out of the shop. A couple hundred here and there. And, my parents were kind enough to pay the bills since I was living on my own and paying rent and all that with just a bartender's salary. But that doesn't negate how frustrating it's been to have to get your car towed every few months. I leave the house not knowing whether or not this car will survive the drive. And now that I've decided to move home.. the stupid car decides ring up the biggest bill yet.

As I'm driving to my temp job.. (the one I've had for a whole four days) my car starts smoking so bad I can't even see the street in front of me. I pull over and call my temp agency and tell them the bad news. Well, apparently somebody else called in sick and she wouldn't have it from me too. So I had to somehow find a way there. So I call my mom and ask her to leave work early (luckily that's not a huge deal for her since she has that luxury after working at her current employment for thirty something years). And she arrives and takes me to my job (and I'm 25 minutes late). The lady was nice about it, but I know that I have blown my contacts here. I now just have to get through the job and hope my temp agency will still use me.

So back with my car.. it turns out my mom doesn't have a key to my car so she can't get it towed. So my dad is going to meet the tow guy after he gets off work at midnight to sign for it. Well, he gets there. And he doesn't have a key either. So I race through town and make it to other side in record time and hand the key to the tow guy.

Today I find out the place wants to charge me 1400 for a rusted radiator and to change all the hoses out. So my dad, knowing cars, talks them down to 800. Still, for an out of work girl, that's a big chunk of my savings. But now that I'm home not paying rent.. it's up to me. After talking with my parents they are only making me pay 500 of it, which is huge.

But my dilemma is that I don't even want this car. But I have to repair it because I don't have the money to trade it in. And I don't have the money because I don't have a job. Seriously, it all comes down to having a good job. I can't really do the things I'm supposed to be doing at this age without a job.. and my savings are only depleting.

I'm sick of this economy. But mostly I'm sick of this car.

quote and blog revamp

Sorry I'm late. The new temp job is more time consuming than I thought it would be.

Here's my quote:

I miss him. Not enough to want him back, just enough for it to hurt.

LOVE that quote!

I also will be re-doing this blog. The writing will be the same but the theme will expand. I'm going to cover what it's like to be a 20-something trying to enter the real world. Think finances - buying my first car, to rent or own a home?, how am I going to pay back all these loans. Think love- maybe someday.. until then probably really pathetic dates. Think career- I'm hoping to get a job sometime soon, until then my temp jobs will be entertainment enough for the category.

That's all folks!

One more reason to hate walmart.. and job news!

The walmart customer service tried to pull a fast one on me, but I wouldn't have it.

As I approached the counter, I could tell by the customer service rep's face, that she wasn't excited to be at work. And when I said hi and she just stared at me, which was another clue.

I was there to return my GPS, which I received as a gift that my mom bought at walmart.com and I had the receipt in hand. All I wanted was the exchange it for a product that worked. Should have been simple.

She, instead, gave me a gift card with the money on it and told me to use this to re-purchase the item if they had it in stock. I knew they had it because my dad asked the day before when he was in the store. So I go back to get my new GPS and it's thirty dollars more.

No way am I paying thirty dollars extra for a product that was purchased and was defective. Just because my mom might have gotten it on sale, does not mean I now have to pay the non-sale price, as the broken unit came broken.

So I go back up and tell her about the situation and she acted like it was the most annoying thing she's ever had to do. She tells me that she doesn't know how to do it. Meanwhile I'm thinking …great, get me someone who does. And finally calls someone over to get HER mistake all figured out, while she silently sends angry eyes in my direction

Sometimes I wonder why people work in customer service if they have no idea how to deliver proper service to customers.

In other news, tomorrow I start my first temporary position. It is 5 hours a day, five days a week and pays pretty nicely for a data entry position. It doesn't start until the afternoon so I will be able to interview for full time jobs during the day, while still making some money to keep up with my bills, it's actually the ideal position.. and I'm excited to start working again!

Although, I never thought I would go through four years of college, just to take a job that I could get with a high school diploma.. it's something.. and that I am happy for!

Look for my quote tomorrow!

Good things are happening

Today was productive and very positive! I feel like 2010 might be my lucky year.. but that might just be my high spirits talking.

There is some bad news that I want to get out of the way.. I had a doc apt today and he thinks I may have cracked my tailbone.. which would account for my abrupt screams that escape when I'm trying to sit down or stand up.. or sneeze or cough. But there isn't much he can do as far as helping.. just same ibprofen type meds and recommendations of sitting on pillows.

The good news is that today I got a blog award!! It was my first ever and I want to thank ShellSpann over at http://michellespann.blogspot.com/ for giving me the award! She is such a sweet girl and writes about her life and being a mom. You should check out her blog! Along with my award I get to write up a list of my top ten favorite things and I will hopefully get to that tomorrow!

On other good news.. I may be starting a two month part time temp position for data entry. It's good money and it's in the later afternoon so I can still interview for full time jobs during the day. It's very convenient .. since I need to make money while still looking for permanent work.

Also I got an extension on my unemployment deferrment for my student loans. Hopefully I will get a good paying job soon so that I can start chipping away at that! But for now it's nice that they will work with me! I also applied for a great job today that I found out about from my aunt. It inspired me to update my resume and I really spiced it up.. I'm hoping this will help me stick out. It's nice that my family looks out for me and tells me about these jobs because I get so drained searching for jobs. Everyday when I see nothing in my inbox I feel a bit rejected. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

I got my two new books in the mail today and I'm happy with my purchase. Lately, I've been buying used books. I enjoy collecting and keeping the books I read. I've always wanted a library room.. and someday I'll have it. In order to keep up with my book addiction I've looked for inexpensive books. I've been really successful in that all of the books I get are in great condition for MUCH less.

I've also decided to quit smoking. It's just something that I need to do. And today I received the new quit-smoking pill. I wonder if anyone has tried it and had any luck with it. I'm hoping it's as great as the doctor made it sound.

In other news.. for Christmas I got a TomTom and I uploaded the upgraded map from the internet and all my maps disappeared. Tomtom customer service is apparently very busy.. so I haven't been able to get it working. I'm going to return it for a new device tomorrow.

That's all from me! Enjoy your night!

Monday's quote

Los Angeles was the kind of place where everybody was from somewhere else and nobody really dropped anchor. It was a transient place. People drawn by the dream, people running from the nightmare. Twelve million people and all of them ready to make a break for it if necessary. Figuratively, literally, metaphorically -- any way you want to look at it-- everybody in L.A. keeps a bagged packed. Just in case.

-Micheal Connelly The Brass Verdict

quotes, jobs, and books

Happy New year all! Two years ago, my friend gave me one of the best Christmas gifts I could have possibly recevied. It was a brown leather journal. And in it I wrote various quotes I found from reading books, watching movies, and anything else I see or hear that I find inspirational or significant to me in some way.

I've decided that from now I on I will display a new quote every monday to share with you guys. I hope that you enjoy them as much I've enjoyed collecting them.

In other news I signed up with a temp agency and had to go in for testing. No joke-- I was there for three hours. It's was ridiculous. There were eight tests ranging from word, excel, basic office, to ethics and basic math. I felt like I was taking a computerized ACT. But I ended up doing well. I surprised myself by getting 72 WPM on alpha numerical tests.. since I rarely use the number pad as it's not on my laptop.

One very awkward thing is that I went to high school with the "problem solver".. basically the person who I have to call every week to check in and the person who interviewed me. She was a year older than me in school but we hung out in similar crowds. It was a bit shocking to see her sitting behind that desk and me coming crawling in for a job. A blow to my pride, for sure.

New years was fun. I went back to my old town (by old I mean I left it three weeks ago) and partied with my friends. I wrote about in on my other blog. So click the link on the right side of the page to check it out.

One of my long term goals this year is to read the books I got for Christmas. I received somewhere around 16 books and I've already gotten through a few of them. I'll let you know if I read a really great book. I will say that I've been following Micheal Connelly (sp?) rather closely and I love his books. If you've never heard or read him you should just gander at the books and see if you might like it. They sell for pretty cheap. I've never been into mystery before but it's like reading an episode of NCIS and I just can't get enough. I've also picked up copies of the postsecret books. If you haven't heard of Frank Warren's blog postsecret.com please stop by it.. it's amazing.

That's all for now!