(no subject)
I have spent the last few months being incredibly self-involved. And a really shit friend, online and otherwise. I just read through about a month of LJ posts, my google-reader is clearly about to hit maximum capacity, and I skim Facebook (and have a lot of people hidden from my news feed).
With the help of both sets of my grandparents we paid off the POS Hyundai and drove it off a cliff traded it in for so much more than it was worth. We scored a fantastic deal on a brand new 2010 Suzuki SX4 Crossover, and while the less-than-stellar-but-better-than-some mpg makes me wince a little, we needed the AWD. His name is Rupert.
All the loan paperwork is done, and the house has been brought up to FHA standards (it passed everything but having GFCI outlets). We qualify for a state run first time home buyer program, so we'll be taking advantage of that as well. I'm desperately curious to see where the appraisal comes in. 2 1/2 years ago it was appraised at $68K, but not only has the housing market fallen since then but at that time many appraisals were being done without ever stepping inside the building. Yeah, explain that one to me! $45K is a good deal for the house, but if the appraisal is too close to that number it could mess us up. Blarg. I'm so anxious to be in that space, to have that home. Now that the wheels are finally in motion I'm a ball of anxiety and impatience.
On Home Depot's dime, I've started training to be a kitchen designer. The classes are live, online webinars twice a week hosted by HD trainers at the Atlanta HQ. It's fantastic to not have to travel, since I'm on a computer at work during a regularly scheduled shift. The class itself lasts for 1 1/2 hours, then I'm alloted another 1 1/2 hours to complete self-study assignments. At first it was all about doing things the Depot way, and best selling practices, and basic knowledge I already had, and my study assignments were done in 30 minutes. Now I'm into the nitty gritty of actually designing basic kitchens in 1/2" scale and learning NKBA guidelines and my assignments are complex and need to be faxed to the teacher! I started out nervous and doubting my abilities, but tonight the instructor decided to upload and show my design to the rest of the class and heaped lots of praise on my attention to detail.
The downside is that I still have a weekly sales per hour goal that is not reduced even though I'm only on the sales floor 34 hours.
I can't wait until we get to designing in 20/20, but those classes might be a good or bad thing. Since they will have to be actually in person, it will require travel. But there are a couple classes running concurrently, each with roughly 20 associates that are spread out all over the country. If they send the trainers out to the closest store support centers, it might mean me traveling to Plainfield, NJ for god knows how long. But they are actually talking about flying all of us to Atlanta, and holycrap how awesome would that be?
The best part is that these classes count as education hours as far as NKBA is concerned. So again, on Depot's dime, I can take the exam to become an Associate Kitchen & Bath Designer and within a few years become a Certified Designer. With each certification level I'm simply agreeing to work for HD for a full year afterwards, otherwise I have to reimburse them.
And that's that.
With the help of both sets of my grandparents we paid off the POS Hyundai and drove it off a cliff traded it in for so much more than it was worth. We scored a fantastic deal on a brand new 2010 Suzuki SX4 Crossover, and while the less-than-stellar-but-better-than-some mpg makes me wince a little, we needed the AWD. His name is Rupert.
All the loan paperwork is done, and the house has been brought up to FHA standards (it passed everything but having GFCI outlets). We qualify for a state run first time home buyer program, so we'll be taking advantage of that as well. I'm desperately curious to see where the appraisal comes in. 2 1/2 years ago it was appraised at $68K, but not only has the housing market fallen since then but at that time many appraisals were being done without ever stepping inside the building. Yeah, explain that one to me! $45K is a good deal for the house, but if the appraisal is too close to that number it could mess us up. Blarg. I'm so anxious to be in that space, to have that home. Now that the wheels are finally in motion I'm a ball of anxiety and impatience.
On Home Depot's dime, I've started training to be a kitchen designer. The classes are live, online webinars twice a week hosted by HD trainers at the Atlanta HQ. It's fantastic to not have to travel, since I'm on a computer at work during a regularly scheduled shift. The class itself lasts for 1 1/2 hours, then I'm alloted another 1 1/2 hours to complete self-study assignments. At first it was all about doing things the Depot way, and best selling practices, and basic knowledge I already had, and my study assignments were done in 30 minutes. Now I'm into the nitty gritty of actually designing basic kitchens in 1/2" scale and learning NKBA guidelines and my assignments are complex and need to be faxed to the teacher! I started out nervous and doubting my abilities, but tonight the instructor decided to upload and show my design to the rest of the class and heaped lots of praise on my attention to detail.
The downside is that I still have a weekly sales per hour goal that is not reduced even though I'm only on the sales floor 34 hours.
I can't wait until we get to designing in 20/20, but those classes might be a good or bad thing. Since they will have to be actually in person, it will require travel. But there are a couple classes running concurrently, each with roughly 20 associates that are spread out all over the country. If they send the trainers out to the closest store support centers, it might mean me traveling to Plainfield, NJ for god knows how long. But they are actually talking about flying all of us to Atlanta, and holycrap how awesome would that be?
The best part is that these classes count as education hours as far as NKBA is concerned. So again, on Depot's dime, I can take the exam to become an Associate Kitchen & Bath Designer and within a few years become a Certified Designer. With each certification level I'm simply agreeing to work for HD for a full year afterwards, otherwise I have to reimburse them.
And that's that.