Vest

This is my vest, but it's not the right color. Mine's green, like the one below.

Turns out, life isn't all that interesting

I'm finished with school. I have a job -- two, actually. I'm rowing in the morning before work, and sometimes at night too. And that doesn't leave much time for other stuff to happen. So my life isn't all that interesting, when I don't have any free time.

I do have this coming weekend off from my bookstore, though, and I have some fun stuff in store. Catching up on Mad Men; a study party with K; a monster shopping trip which will include Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, World Market, and Trader Joe's; and pumpkin picking! Hopefully I'll get some fun pictures of that!

Although one fun thing has happened. Today S and I went shopping on our lunch break, and I got a fun fuzzy vest :-) I'll try to get a picture of it soon, so you can see it!

You can't be serious.

Remember my earlier rant about buying airline tickets online? Well, things have definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Today, I spent two hours - TWO HOURS! - on the phone with six people from Delta and two people from the bank before I could buy my plane tickets for Thanksgiving! Really, how complicated can it be?

First, I can't choose my seats. Any time the "pick your seats" window opens, the window with my reservation in it closes. Not cool. So then I call the Delta customer service number. I explain my problem to Delta Agent 1. I get transferred to Delta Agent 2. We fix the problem

Second, the Delta website said that my billing city did not match my billing zip code. It gave me 4 options of cities to choose from. When I put any of them in, the website told me that my billing address was not correct. What?!? I mean, really. My hands are tied.

So then I call the Delta customer service number. I explain my problem to Delta Agent 3. I get transferred to Delta Agent 4. (Is this sounding familiar?) We can't fix the problem.

Third, I call the bank. Bank Agent 1 is not clear what the confusion was with the address, but we seem to fix that problem. However, he notices a pending charge on my account for half the cost of the tickets (read: the pending charge was for the cost of 1 ticket, but I was supposed to be getting 2). So he transfers me to Bank Agent 2.

Seven hundred and sixty-eighth, Bank Agent 2 calls Delta Agent 5 and conferenced me in. Bank Agent 2 was showing an approval code from Delta, meaning that the charge for the one ticket had been approved. In order to release the charge (and the money in my account), Bank Agent 2 needed Delta Agent 5 to tell her what the approval code was. In order for Delta Agent 5 to send the release form to Bank Agent 2, Delta Agent 5 needed Bank Agent 2 to read her the approval code. Holy ****. Seriously??? It was like watching a slo-mo showdown.

Then it's on to Delta Agent 6. He and Bank Agent 2 work it out to release the charge. That's great. At least now I'm not being billed for a ticket I don't actually get to use. So then Delta Agent 6 tries to complete the purchase, and...no dice. Apparently the reservation code (the code in their system for Montego Bay, which is where the reservation originated) is not verifying for some unknown reason. Never mind that they do thousands of reservations a day, of course mine doesn't work for some reason.

We get off the phone. Delta Agent 6 thought he fixed it, and called me back. We go through the whole credit card and billing address rigamarole again. Nope.

Delta Agent 6 is supposed to call me back tonight or tomorrow.

Two hours and twelve minutes....

What I'm Reading Now -- Breaking Dawn

It's true, I'm reading the last book. I still haven't finished The Secret Battle, but I have made some progress. It's a slow read, and I just need something to keep me going. So Stephanie Meyer it is.

Anyone hungry for a piece of roasted fan belt?

Sorry, I know it's been a while. It's just that not much of note has happened in the last few days. I've been working a lot at the bookstore in my "free" time, and that is where the one and only interesting thing happened.

But before I get to that interesting thing, get this. In one night - one night! - I was asked two of my favorite bookstore questions:
1. Customer, after taking a long, hard look at my nametag which clearly says Barnes & Noble: "hi, do you work here?" No, sorry, I don't.
2. Customer: "can you tell me where the non-fiction section is?" "Well, ma'am, everything that's not in the fiction section is non-fiction, so could you maybe be a little more specific?"

And now, on to the car fire! We were closing the store one night, when one of my co-workers looked outside and informed us that there was a car on fire in the parking lot! It was crazy. The fire department showed up a few minutes later and took the entire car apart to make sure it wouldn't blow ip in the middle of the night. Sorry, no picture, though :-(

Holy Paperwork

I knew, entering the field of law, that there would be a lot of paper involved. But my (erroneous) assumption was that it would be paper having to do with clients, not with me.

Not true. In the last week or so, I've had to fill out stuff for the Missouri Bar, the US District Court, malpractice insurance, a notary commission, and...I'm forgetting something. And whatever that other thing is. I'm hoping that this is all because I'm new, and I won't have to do this forever. I think I need an assistant :-)

I'm Waiting...

K, it's time for a new question on your blog.

When your link fell off the bottom of the list, I got a special request to put it back on so that people could read it. Now give us something to wonder about!

Good work, Mom!

She finished the puzzle without my expert assistance!

Missouri Bar Enrollment Ceremony

Today, I became a lawyer! K, Dad, and Grandpa were in attendance at the ceremony, and lots of good wishes came in from peeps all over who couldn't make it. Thanks to everybody!

Sadly, there aren't any GOOD pictures of me getting my license, and until K sends me the ones she took (hint, hint), there aren't any! But here's what I have from the day:

The dome atop the Missouri State Capitol building

The Missouri Supreme Court building

Self-explanatory, isn't it?

J and I, after it was all said and done

The Reader -- Take 2

So, the truth is, I wasn't crazy about it. I thought the ending (which I won't spoil) was very appropriate to the story, but my fear that the entire book would be rather self-indulgent unfortunately came true. (Example: the narrator compares himself to the Holocaust victims because he was "betrayed" by the woman he loved, who worked for the SS during WWII.)

But the writing was pretty good, and I liked the way the author pointed out some little things in life that are so true, but don't seem particularly interesting or significant until someone writes about it. (Example: there's a section where the narrator is complaining that he can't sleep, so he sits up at night reading. As his eyes and his book start to close, he realizes what is happening, shuts the book, and turns off the light. As soon as the light is off, though, he's wide awake again. That happens to me all the time!)

Anyway, two good things I can say about the book are (1) that it was a pretty quick listen, and (2) it made my plane rides more entertaining than they otherwise would have been.