SOLD the Acura - Finally!

We finally sold the Acura yesterday for full asking price. It took a while, but someone emailed me lat on Wed. saying that they saw the ad on craig's list and loved the car. The person, Kristine, had lost her car in an accident and so was looking for a new one and the Acura was her favorite car. She said she was getting financing together and would contact me tomorrow (Thurs).

Well I figured "I'll beleive it when I see it", but sure enough the next day we exchanged phone messages, including talking to her mom who said, "I want to help her buy a car I approve of, instead something like a convertable..." and we met last night in the rain to exchange the car and cash.

She was really sweet and her boyfriend who is a mechanic approved of the car as well and so it is now in a new home - Woot!!

Tarheels Win, tarheels WIN!

UNC Tarheels are 2009 NCAA Champs!!


What an amazing run for this team! It was great to watch them all year long and they certainly showed everyone that they were the #1 team this year.

I could not have asked for a better season as a tarheel fan, and once they got going in the tourney it was all over. I never feel comfortable watching them play, as often times the best team does NOT win, but this team just had the drive to not be denied and I was happy to see them succeed. I am sure this will lead to most of the team turning pro, but the guys coming back should make us competitive next year for sure. Anyway - hats off to tis group and thanks for a wonderful season!!

Backyard Complete

Here is a look at the completed deck, which was installed in time for thanksgiving!



Here is a link to the remaining pictures.

Someone stole my backyard!

What happened?


I got back from work today and found that someone had stole my backyard! I thought Moraga was pretty safe - I mean who wants a backyard? :D


Actually this is the first BIG step toward a new backyard. Our designer wanted to see what she had to work with before coming up with her design and so demolition began today with the removal of our old deck (and hot tub).

I have to say I am a little nervous about having no backyard and not knowing what is going to take its place - but we have some ideas and I have faith in the designer to come up with a great design.

CIMA PASSED!

I got the word late this afternoon that I passed my level 2 CIMA exam!! I am so happy to be done with it. My boss is out this week on vacation, but I assume he got his notification as well (and he probably also passed).

I am not sure whether or not I will do the required continuing education to keep it "current", but I have 2 years to think about it. For now I am just happy to be done.

CIMA II Completed

After a very, very long week, I am done with the second and final section of the CIMA certification. The class was held at Berkeley HAAS school of business (the place with the silly tree-sitters) and it went from 8am-9pm for a week and then the test was at 8am on Saturday. That made for a long week and a lot of material to test on.

It was nice to spend a week learning more about the industry, but honestly by the end it was just a matter of finishing rather than trying to learn something. I forgot how tiring this kind of thing is.

The test was not quite as hard as I could have been, but now I have to wait for 2 months to find out if I passed or not. The rumor is that most (if not all) do pass, so I am not too worried - but until I get the email saying I passed it will be in the back of my mind. If I don't pass for some reason, I would just need to take the test again and not the entire class.

Passed the CIMA Test

Well I passed the CIMA exam, for level one of two. This first part was all self-study and so reminded me of taking a class with only one test - a final! No FUn. But now it is over and I will take level 2 from July 21-26 in Berkeley and be done with this course, I feel too old to be taking any more tests...

I was also surprised to get the ultimate geek gift - a FigurePrint of my World of Warcraft toon. It took forever to be able to order it, and almost 2 months in the making. I literally just got it and it is interesting to see this close up.


I can for sure see why it takes time to do, but clearly it has its limitations.