So I'm really happy to see that a big deal is made here out of St Patrick's Day. It seems Buffalonians love every holiday! In Florida you wouldn't even know the day happened...no mentions of it anywhere. We'd get in a little bit of st Pats merchandise at my store down there and barely anything would sell but up here it flew off the shelf!! I guess there aren't many Irish folks down there, but it's not just Irish people celebrating it! Again evidence of the culture and history present in this area. Wish I could check out the parade today from what I hear it's great, but now that I've broken it off with the g/f I have nobody to go with...plus I told my crazy aunt & uncle I'd meet them at some dive on grand island at 2.

So I had the Bed Bath interview and the guy was very straightforward about what they were looking for. Basically I'd start 2 levels below store mgr and maybe within 3 years work my way back up. The only new store opening in the area is in Batavia later in the year but that's the reason for the job posting. When he asked me how much $$ I'd need I jacked it up an additional $5k over what I was originally thinking because honestly I wasn't too thrilled about the job at that point...BUT if they'd have offered me that salary it would have made me consider it. I wasn't too sure about having someone else write my schedule and reporting so directly to someone else after a few years of being in charge of my own store. Then the very next day I get a rejection letter. My interview was at 1pm so that means as soon as I walked out he printed it out and dropped it in the mail!! At least make it look like it took some thought :( oh well I really didn't want it anyway :)

So in much of the country you can close on a house within 2 weeks. Here it takes 45-60 days on average. There are so many people involved...the attorney, paralegal, both realtors, buyer & seller, processor, adjuster, and many more I'm sure I'm leaving out....so a simple thing takes dayyysss.....my parents said in Florida there are no attorneys involved so that explains that.

My target close date was Fri 3/14...yesterday. On Wednesday I get a message.."oh, we need proof of homeowners insurance" so I send that in. Then later Wednesday PM I get another.."oh we need a receipt proving you've paid the insurance for a full yr" so I send them that...

Thursday.,..."we're ready to close, HOWEVER....."
Great, however. Turns out the FHA inspector wants a little touch-up painting done and 2 downspouts repaired. arghhhh. So we end up getting the ok to setup an escrow so those repairs can be done later...i.e. in better weather. So we're ready to close then!!! Oh, wait...the realtor still needs another document from the seller, who's out of town. He has dropped it in the mail. Regular mail. Not overnight, regular. So now I have to wait probably until the end of NEXT week. I just want to move :(

So I know National Grid is the one to contact for power and I think it's National Fuel for gas, but who do I contact for water service in the city? And didn't I hear people in the city have to pay for trash pickup? Is that something I have to setup or will it just get picked up when I put it out and I later get a bill?

On the other hand, my plasma TV was delivered today and is MIND BLOWING!!!! :)

So Friday I have an interview for store mgmt at Bed Bath & Beyond...I submitted my resume one night when I was especially burnt out from a hard couple days at work and actually got a prompt call. Not completely sure about it yet, but really that's what an interview is for...for both sides to evaluate their fit. I'd say if I can get an additional $10k/yr out of it, I'll jump ship, provided I don't find anything I object to and get a good feeling in the interview.

I do like my job don't get me wrong, and I know there will be hard frustrating times everywhere, but I don't like when my labor budget has been cut so dramatically I have to be the only one in the store for hours a day with a huge laundry list of tasks that need to be done and hordes of miserable, overly needy customers who think their shit doesn't stink because they live in Williamsville/Amherst.

Plus today I got my review..3.4% raise and $9300 bonus. Hello new roof for the new house! 3.4% is good for my cheap company, and that bonus is very atypical. In fact, next year if I stay I'll probably get no bonus. Anyone ever heard anything from current or former BB&B employees?

I finally bit the bullet and bought an HDTV. Decided on the new
Panasonic 42" Plasma with 3 HDMI inputs. Of course it's not available in local stores so I have to wait for it to be delivered!! Very exciting. With this I will sell my old 32" Sony Wega Trinitron SDTV. It has served me well for about 10 years and has been a great TV!! Anyone looking? :)



The old guy.


The new one!

I really can't believe this. There's a ticker on the bottom of the local channels showing all these places closed. CLOSED. For a little snow...in BUFFALO. I always heard how even with a ton of snow and bad weather everything in buffalo kept on going as usual but we get a dusting of snow and it's A) hyped up beyond belief even though it's BUFFALO and B) results in near shutdown of the entire county. WTF!!! Hell my drug store in Orlando stayed open during hurricanes....and we close businesses due to snow in the snow capital? Very disappointed.

The Sabres are a bunch of assholes!

That is what the headlines should read. Ok team, playoffs are on the line, we play the Rangers.....oh let's get our asses kicked. Okay another chance against the Devils. Leading 3-0...alright we can stop playing now and allow one of the stars we chased out of town to score the winning goal against us. Our defense needs help...let's allow our star defenseman to leave town and then NOT REPLACE HIM ON DEFENSE but instead trade him for a no-talent left-winger and draft pick.

EVERYONE RUNNING THIS TEAM SHOULD BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!!!

so my soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend wanted to run in Abercrombie because they had a sale on some stuff (9.99 instead of the normal 49.99 for shirts that cost 12 cents to make) and one of the kids that worked there needed to get by me and said....'excuse me, sir"...SIR!! I WAS CALLED SIR!! In my head I'm still in that 21 year old frame of mind but I guess people see my age (all of 28). It was my first "sir."

My great uncle came into my store yesterday, haven't seen him since I moved back into town, and invited me over for dinner. My cousins were there and all, had a good night playing a domino game called "Mexican Train." Played until midnight in fact. Was a great time but at the same time I thought, "damn, I'm having a great time playing a domino game and am the youngest one here by far...I AM getting old!"

I'm convinced that's what UB stands for.
First a little background...
I have a BSBA - my major was MIS, which is about as useless as a degree can get (I screwed up and didn't get into internships when I was in school because I had to work and make $$$ to survive, didn't have the parents paying my way). Can't get into the field without experience, can't get experience without getting a job...that old story. I've determined that I cannot be a store manager for too much longer before I lose my sanity. It's definitely not a career move, and moving up any higher almost definitely requires relocation which I'm not willing to do. I moved back to Buffalo because this is where I want to live!!

Anyway, as I bust my ass 50 or so hours every week taking crap from customers, employees, my boss, my boss's boss, sales reps, you name it, I look back and see the Pharmacists kicking back and making 2-3x what I am. Now I know their job is serious and important and involves people's lives, but it's a completely different kind of work. And it's in insane demand....a Pharmacist has power and can pick and choose where he/she works...it's on their terms. So I look into it and decide I will try to get into the PharmD program at UB which is very competitive. First I have to complete some prerequisites of course.

So I have 7 prereqs I have to complete. This is my first semester. I graduated in 03...only 5 years out of school right? No problem. Never had a problem with school before. Well it's week 4 and I'm debating on whether or not to drop the class and give up!! I have absolutely no clue what the professor is talking about and don't even understand where to start to get back on track!! It's all bullshit memorization....and is irrelevent...ahhh prereqs.

And UB is trash. Whoever designed the campus (North at least) was smoking some serious crack...it's the worst college campus imaginable. I literally spent 25 minutes trying to get back to the building near where I parked because everything looks the same and in many instances, nothing is marked....you often have no clue what building you're in as you make your way through the continuous "spine." That's number 1.

Second, the school is woefully outdated. They use blackboards and have transparancy projectors....I haven't seen either since middle school. Even the poor shitty Florida high schools I went to used whiteboards and PC projection. The desks and rooms are ancient and in really poor shape. My God, I spent $2500 to take this one course since they wouldn't consider me a NY state resident...they certainly aren't hurting for cash.

Third, the staff is worthless. As I sit in the lecture hall, surrounded by 18 year olds playing games on pogo.com on their laptoips, listening to their Ipods, playing games on and sending texts on their cellphones, I try to concentrate on what the professor is talking about but he's only reading the powerpoint slides verbatim...which are downloadable via the web. So why am I attending lecture???? He's not a teacher, he's an expert in his field. Which in some cases is great but probably not for a lower level course. I need someone who knows how to teach!! The TA doesn't give a damn and is even more worthless as nothing is explained and everyone is confused as hell. Then in lab, the woman in charge of the labs comes storming through screaming "PUT YOUR GOGGLES ON EVERYONE THIS IS A LABORATORY!!" and walks out. I only know who she is because her picture was on the website and she's so damn ugly. But she did not introduce herself in any manner...wouldn't it be logical to do so?!

Basically, UB doesn't give a damn about it's students and is a craphole. And I suck at chemistry. Wow this was long, sorry but thanks for listening if you actually read this!!!

So does anyone have a roofer they can refer? The house I'm in the process of buying has a very old roof and it needs to be replaced in the next couple years....may as well do it asap especially since I probably won't see another sizable bonus from work after the one I get in March. I suppose they don't do roofing in the winter up here? At least I could get an idea of what it would cost?