Long time no write....

I hope I still have friends out there. I know, it's been a long time since I posted a blog, even longer since I posted a blog with any substance, but, hey, I've been dealing with my first ever "busy season" as an accountant. OK, OK, so it was pretty easy for me. I was on clients that were not so bad. For the most part, I was able to get at least 6 hours of sleep every night. I had it way easy compared to some. Oh yeah, and I've only been back in Dallas with internet access for one week, and my Dad had my personal computer held captive at his house while he installed and obsessed over Quicken and my budget. It's not a hobby, he's ridiculously obsessed and won't admit it. Don't get me wrong, I am very appreciative that I now have a budget, and all my revenue and expenses are tracked. I can tell you what my net worth is at any point in time. I can tell if I'm over or under my allowance for groceries or clothes, or vacation for the month. I can tell when my bills are due and whether my bills have fluctuated any over the past year. It's a great tool, but it can lead to a pretty bad addiction if it's not supervised and used in moderation.

Speaking of..... I have a question to pose. Would any of you out there date a guy if he smokes? It's very important to me to hear as many responses to this question as possible.

Anyway....
New York was great for the most part. I was working about 50 hours a week, not bad at all, but that didn't leave a lot of time to do everything else I wanted to do. I DID get to see Julia. I had to work that Saturday, but Julia took the train in and met up with me in the early evening on Saturday. We had a blast. We tried to catch a play, but everything (other than the X rated stuff) was sold out or too expensive for us. So we went to Greenwich Village instead, ate at an awesome, cozy, dark, little Italian restaurant and then stopped at a pastry shop for dessert. We woke up early on Sunday and took a cab to a church Julia had heard about. The minister's sermon was so good, I ended up buying two of his sermons on CD. We then walked through Central Park to see "The Gates" exhibit. Pretty spectacular and pretty ugly. We did a little shopping and then she had to go home :( Julia is just one of those friends who you might not see for ages, but when you do meet up again, it's like a day hasn't even past since the last time you were together. I love my friends.
After I dropped Julia at Grand Central, I caught a cab to Ground Zero. I spent the next hour making my way around the entire thing. It's really hard to picture the buildings there. It's just an empty space, a gigantic whole. But...wow.....
I didn't get a chance to see much else. My last working day, I woke up early and a co-worker and I took a cold, brisk walk to central park to get pictures of the newly fallen snow. It was gorgeous and soooo worth it. I wish I had a digital camera to share those pictures with all of you.
Well, the setting was great....my senior co-worker was impossible. I think we had a bit of a cultural....issue. She took her job as senior to mean "I am your boss, and I know more than you, better than you. You better not even think of offering your opinion, because I'll ignore you or shoot you down. And anything you do wrong, I'll lecture you for at least 5 minutes on why it was wrong and why you should do better." I think in her Country staff are considered idiot slaves, not knowledgeable "team members" as they are here in the states. That's all I'll say about that.

Right now....
I am working on the North Texas Tollway Association with a great/funny/easy to get along with senior, and one of my good friends from my start group. The manager is my performance manager-a great guy. And the partner is a very personable, talkative, nice man, who told me when I was working on the City of Carrollton with him "Gretchen, you are quickly becoming my favorite new hire". I'm so happy to be where I am. It is such a great situation.

Well, I've got to get to bed. Must get up early to put my craft together for my 3 and 4 year olds. I love my 3 and 4 year olds!
Take care all.
Love to all....