First Post of The Year

So, this goes to show how one of those resolutions is going. That resolution was to post in my blog once a week. I hope to do better.

So, as Lisa mentioned on her blog we had a nice trip to Disneyland. Although she did kick my trash on Toy Story Midway Mania. When we ride it at Disneyworld, we're almost at the 100 day mark woo hoo!, she is so going down. Same thing on Buzz Lightyear! Love ya honey!! It was really nice to have a weekend alone with Lisa. I really want to hit a goal of doing that once every quarter. Even if we just have someone take the boys and we stay at home. Our little trip away just reminded me how much I love her. It also brought funny Lisa back out for a while. Funny Lisa needs to make more regular appearances.

Work is going okey dokey. The contract was finally settled upon and now I know what my raises are going to be, so I can better budget. Actually we are going to start doing something old school that I think will really work. We are going to budget by pay period and use envelopes with cash. That will help solidify a bit more personal control.

I am excited about business this year. I had been kind of blah about just about everything in life up until the beginning of the year. Allowed myself to get a bit too down on myself. But now, I am totally pumped. I love the ad click bar thingy we have going. To get a free tool to help you make some extra cash, just click on the turnkeyleadership site link to the side. I am so excited about it I rerouted a business website to it. I love the email that comes with it too. It is super duper user friendly. I like it more than my gmail.

Oh, for all those interested, the calling I received and accepted was for Elders Quorum Secretary. I am totally pumped about it and we have a good Presidency that is willing to go out and work. I feel some great things are going to be happening in our little ward. Speaking of great things, I was in the temple doing initiatories the other night. I feel the Lord is going to be unfolding some good size changes in my life in the near future. It's a feeling like great blessings are in store. That is a nice thing, but the unknown is kind of scary. I do feel confident it will be a good change and movement though. I also felt an urgency to get the Lord's work done. The amount of time to do it is getting a lot less very quickly.

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, a fun New Year, and here is to a prosperous New Year for everyone!

I ROCK!!!

Well, it's not really anything I did, but I did find out I could access my blog account from my work computer. So much for company software blocking personal sites, woo hoo! (Said as the IT spies are probably watching me type this going, hahaha, we will shut him down)

I figured, as usual, it was time to say something. Not that I really think much before I post anything, but hey that's part of the fun and I have to kill 25 minutes before I get out of here for the holiday.

Oh, did I mention that I have holidays off now with pay! Woo hoo! No more being forced to use flex that you get in minimal amounts. Yes, that is a shout out to all my peeps still stuck at the MGM. Suckers!

I am just so excited about a lot of stuff recently. Lisa and I had a rockin trip to Mesquite. Not that we did much outside of the room, but it was nice to hang out and relax. Besides, there really isn't a whole lot to do in Mesquite. I am so very excited for the new business division we have just launched this week, loan modification. I get to spend my business hours helping people to stay in their homes. If you guys know anybody that needs help, I pay a nice referral fee. :-)

I am also just excited in general for the holiday season. I love the season, but sometimes it is depressing without several trips to Disneyland during the holidays to celebrate. Oh well, there is always next year! Oh, and Dad is taking us to Disneyworld in May. Woo Hoo! All those years of flying American Airlines is paying off big.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Wednesday boredom.

As Always, About freakin Time

So, I guess it is about time to throw another post up on here. So much for trying to get one up every week, eh? Well, this is what's been happening, in a nutshell . (Insert favorite nutshell joke here)

The new job is working out very well. The people are awesome, and the money is much much better. Plus there is not this pervasive feeling of foreboding like there was working at the MGM. I don't think it was the MGM so much as it was certain people that worked in the hallway where I was. Bad vibes from the way they treated their people and ran their department. Plus there were a couple people there always trying to find a way to try to get me in trouble. Guess they can't stand the site of somebody succeeding, especially when they have no power to pull that person down.

Anyways, the job is good. Lisa and the boys are doing good. Bryan started truly crawling this week. Now we have two little ones that are mobile. Should make life very interesting.

Lisa and I are going away to Mesquite on the 24th for our quarterly weekend away. We can't wait! A whole weekend to ourselves. Any time we can get to ourselves is definitely a valuable commodity. Not that I don't like being with the boys. It is fun, but as a couple you have to have time that is just yours together. I think that is true with any relationship, whether you have kids or not. We are also taking the boys down to LA for Halloween. Yay! One of the perks of my job is that we get Nevada Day (aka Halloween) off as a paid holiday. Did I mention how much I love the new job? We are going to have a nice three day weekend down at my mom and dad's. So anybody down there that wants to say hi, feel free to stop by their house on Saturday to hang out in the afternoon.

I think that does it for now. Back ot my yummy chicken nuggets and a rare few minutes of game time.

New Job

I know I know, I said something about posting once a week or something like that. Be thankful that Lisa keeps reminding me to post more regularly and specifically about my new awesome job. Between the new job, family time, and business, I haven't figured out how to squeeze in regular blog time. Maybe I will just stop sleeping. That will give me lots more time.

I started a new job 2 weeks ago working for the Southern Nevada Health District, or as I like to call it, The Man. Some of my carpool buddies call it, Payton Place. Some of my Libertarian friends like to say that I am now contributing to the problem. They are just jealous that I don't have to pay into social security anymore. Like it's going to be there when I retire anyway. My friends that like to travel to Vegas will probably be sad that I don't get random free show tix and hotel discounts anymore.

So, on to the new job. I am the Administrative Secretary for one of the Community Health Nurse Managers. So, yes, I am a male secretary in the Nursing Department. At least my name is not Gaylord Focker. I love my new job. The hours are better, the pay is better, and the people are just way cool. None of that high school crap I had to deal with at the MGM.

Something Fun

1. Add a comment on my blog about one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot just do anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play, suit yourself.

Running from Problems vs. Being Blessed

So I had some intersting thoughts on my drive home from work yesterday. Don't ask me how I happened onto this thought process, but it just jumped out. I was thinking about how as humans we try to run from our problems. Or, another way to look at it is we focus on our problems and what we would like to change so much, we think of the best way to run from them. One area that I hear that a lot in is when people are evaluating where they live. I hear both sides of this too. One is, we don't have enough space. We are on top of each other and we just need to give the kids a little room. The other side is, we have too much room, I never see the kids anymore. I think in either situation you need to focus on what you have been blessed with. If you think everyone is on top of each other, just remember that you are blessed to have a roof over your head, and at some point as the kids grow up, they will start to do their own things and you will see less of them. If on the other side, you don't see them too much, the house is too big. Remember, as your kids grow up they start to do their own thing. So, I think the focus to fix it ends up being the same thing, right? At some point our kids start to break off and do things on their own.

This comes up for people on the financial side too. I see people with little money feel like they are the richest people in the world. I see people with a good income and lifestyle feeling like they have no money. I think if you have your basic needs met that is all you need. Also, if you feel like you have no money, the best way to solve that is track every dime you spend. If you know where your money is going, you'll at least feel a bit more in control.

I know from experience that you cannot relocate to another area to correct your problems. Even if it fixes one issue, there are others that crop up. Just remember that the secret to wealth is gratitude. Think of the things the Lord has blessed you with and everything will be alright.

A Year Half Gone

I can't believe that we are into July now. Half of the year is gone. Well, in some aspects of my life I am right where I want to be. In others, I am just a bit behind my schedule I set for myself. However, things are catching up quick so watch out.

We went up to Lisa's family reunion on Cedar Mountain this last weekend. Her family has a ranch up there and it was just awesome. We had a blast. I also got to meet some more of her cousins. It was great to let Josh get around and get super dirty. I don't know how his close survived. Although it was nice to get home on Sunday, the weather was much nicer up there. When we pulled into town on Sunday at 7pm, it was 110 degrees. It wouldn't be bad if it actually cooled off at night. (thanks for the insight there honey :-p)

I am thinking of starting up a blog detailing the stuff I am doing business wise and to document the building of my business. I just don't know what to call it. I am open to suggestions. Things have been picking up fast and moving forward. It is exciting and a bit scary at the same time. It's nice that success is starting to come through the door and at the same time you think, wow, how is this going to change my life. I am all for change, especially when it is good, but it can still be scary.

Summer Begins

Happy first day of summer everybody!

Things have been great out here. Even with the triple digit heat. I am going to try to update this on a somewhat more regular basis. I am going to schedule at least weekly time. It's nice to let everyone know what I am doing and it's a good little record for myself too.

I am also done studying for my life insurance exam. I am working with Amy and John in launching a new company. It is taking financial services and applying it to what we are already doing to give a full picture. I am really excited about this and so is Lisa. It is a crusade that I can really get behind one hundred percent and go full speed. Plus, I get to be in the peace of mind business. I really like being able to help give families peace of mind by helping them to get their financial house in order and provide them a little education along the way. Anyways, the site below is where things are starting out.

http://www.mpsguide.com/

I have been able to go back this week and help some friends and a couple former clients start getting the financial house in order. What I really like is we are building that long term relationship. I look forward to doing the follow ups every 6 months. It allows me to see the progress of friends, family, and clients that I have been able to help get on the path to financial independance. As you can tell, I am way excited about all of this.

This weekend is Father's Day, so I would like to say Happy Father's Day to all the other dads out there. I hope you are having an awesome weekend like I am.

Next weekend Lisa and I will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary. Time is just flying by. I can't believe it is three years already. It has just been absolutely wonderful. I never thought the love you have for somebody could continue to grow so much and so fast. We are sending the boys up to Lisa's parents for the weekend and we are just going to spend the weekend here alone by ourselves. It is going to be soooo awesome.

The other big thing that I am really looking forward to is the trip we are planning to Disneyland in September. I am so uber excited. I can't wait to take the boys.

A Template

Thanks to the site Lisa uses, I found a template for my Blog. I think I will change them from time to time. It is a pain however, because when I put in the new one I have to redo all my links. However, I think maybe I will change it once a month.

Oh yeah, don't mock me. The Smurfs freakin' rock!

Random Musings

So I am sitting here in my living room listening to AC/DC. Not that it is really relevent to the post, but I thought you all would like to know.

Lisa and the boys have gone up to Moccassin to stay with her folks for a couple days and get away from the increasing heat. Normally I would be at work on a Monday and then doing business in the evening, but today I really needed a mental health day. So, now that the house is empty I have been able to catch up on a couple of my projects. The one I am most glad that I have finished so far is getting the wireless network finally working properly. I was having trouble getting it set up here for the longest time. Then I finally got smart and went to the Linksys website and downloaded their latest config and setup tool. It took care of everything for me and even set it up as a secure network. I really like that. So, now I can blog, do business, or whatever on the laptop from anywhere in the house, front yard, whatever. I even finally got the house setup as a network. So, I can magically print from the other side of the house too. I told Lisa when she called, she is totally psyched.

In other projects, I am getting the office here in the house cleaned up. Now it feels a bit more conducive to being able to conduct some business out of it on the weekends. The one thing that would be nice is a new desk. My current computer desk isn't as sweet as my last one was. The previous one actually had a stand on top for the monitor which gave me space on the desk to use it as a desk. That would be really nice. I also organized some of my certificates and licenses on the wall. Only thing left is to vacuum. I believe my other project this evening will be to get the weeds along the patio and the sidewalk outside. Then I will spray that stuff that is supposed to keep them from growing back up again. After living here I now know where the phrase growing like weeds comes from. It comes from Overton, NV.

Business wise, things are super duper awesome. I have a couple deals closing this week, Yay for cashflow, and I have some more appointments to help a few more people. We have a new financial analysis and profile we can use for our clients. It really spots out the holes in their financial plan and shows how they can improve it with existing resources. I love it.

In other plans for the day, I will probably play some video games and figure out how to make this blog a bit more stylish and how to upload pics on it.

Now that you are to the end of the post, I thought I would let you know that I am now listening to Big Joe Turner.

Ahhhh, Spring

Well, in honor of the first day of spring and earth day and all that coming up, I wanted to start out this evenings post by saying, "Screw Ethanol". That's right, no foreseeable benefits for several years, will cause more pollution then gas, but the thing that really upsets me right now is that it is driving up the cost of food. When you have a family you are supporting, even if you are making good money, food costs add up.

Now that i've gotten that out of my way. I wanted to send you guys to my new favorite cat video link. You know, they are just hilariously stupid.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

I hope you all enjoy.

In the latest business news, I have just about finished studying for my Series 65. I am that much closer to lifetime residual income. Which we all know, is the best kind. As I mentioned in my previous post, things have been crazy crazy. I am finally learning how to leverage my time a bit more which is nice. Oh, I do have an interview with the county tomorrow. Trying to get a job in the assessors office and get county benefits. Cause they are the best. Besides, I am just tired of walking through the smoke filled casino 5 days a week to get to and from work.

Everything else is just hunky. The boys in my young mens class are as rowdy as all young mens classes are. They are starting to pay a bit more attention now, so that makes lessons easier. For mutual on Wednesday we are having a texting competition. I am preparing to get my butt throroughly kicked.

The Craziness Never Ends

So I thought I would be able to get back on here and keeps things updated a bit more. Maybe at least like once a week, or maybe throw in the occasional rant or whatever. Business has picked up so much that I hardly have time to check my personal email. let alone blog.

Things are going pretty good. I came just shy of getting my promotion to Regional Marketing Director. I did however, surprisingly enough, manage to get enough points to be promoted to Marketing Director. Hey, a 5% raise is better than a swift kick in the butt. Hubert is running a new contest now and I will at least hit Regional Marketing Director in this next quarter. However, I did discover that leading each of the good solid people on my team right now to Regional Marketing Director themselves, will get me to Area Marketing Director. That is where I wanted to be by the middle of the year in my original plan anyways. I am totally psyched.

The boys are still the boys. To take a line from Lisa, Bryan still pretty much just sits there, and Josh is entertaining to say the least. We actually started a "family" blog as well. I think she may be the one that posts on that the most.

http://raisingoverton@blogspot.com

Well, my first appointment of the evening is going to be here in about 5 minutes. I better get offline and get the last couple things set. Having 3 back to back appointments tonight is awesome. I can feel that million dollar goal this year screaming towards me.

I'm Alive

That's right baby. I am still alive! Ha ha ha ha!

Yes, I forgot about this thing for like 3 years. However, when Lisa said she wanted to start up a blog here on blogspot, I was like, Oh yeah, I have one of those.

Still working for the big behemoth company and started my own business.

I will try to get a small but somewhat substantial update here in the next week. I am so busy I don't know how often I can blog, but we will see.

Free Stuff

Free stuff from work rocks. They got too many promotional posters for next months concerts in. So I have extra tour posters, with the Vegas performance dates stamped on them. They are for the groups below.

U2
Rolling Stones
Paul McCartney

Any of my known friends out there in cyberspace want one.

Blues and BBQ

So, for those of you that keep up with this little thing. You'll already know that I am hitched. Yep, been married for about 6 weeks now. It is awesome. I love it. Very nice to have someone to come home to.

So, now that you've been updated on the last 6 weeks.

Tonight I get to see a blues legend. I get to see BB King. I scored the killer deal on discount tix through work. He's playing with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Another great guitarist that has been on my list of people to see. I get to hit two in the same show. I'm like, woo hoo, I get to see the King. Yay!

No, there is no BBQ in this post but hey, something had to rhyme.

Later on, my thoughts about this summers reality trash tv. Speaking of trash, Dukes of Hazard this weekend. Yee Haw!

Moving In

So, we are getting things settled into the apartment finally. Well, we have all of Lisa's stuff over there. Of course, just starting out we don't have too much furniture to move in. At least we have a couch, a bed, and a table with some chairs. Later today we are going to head to the mecca that is Walmart to find a cheap computer desk, entertainment center, and possibly some bookshelves.

I just got off the phone with my Aunt Lurlene in Florida. We are going to have Sunday dinner with them when we are down there in a couple weeks. She just told me that the beaches down there are still pretty torn up after the hurricanes from this last year. We will just have to see how all of that goes.

Well, it's back to repacking some of my stuff. For those of you coming to Vegas at the end of the month, I just wanted to mention that Wayne Brady is playing town that weekend and Tony Hawks Boom Boom Huck Jam is that weekend too. Just in case I don't chat with you before you get to town.

Keep it real kiddies. Don't know if i'll have time to post anything before the wedding again, but we'll see.

4 Weeks Left

What I have 4 weeks left of I haven't figured out yet. However, I do know that I am getting married to the most awesome girl ever 4 weeks from today. Yep, just 4 weeks left. For those of you that I have not received an address for, you should know who you are, I need that so I can mail you kids the official announcement. We should be sending those out on Tuesday as Monday is a holiday.

We are signing the lease for the new apartment tomorrow. That is going to be cool. I have to figure out if they will let us do satellite or not. The cable situation out here is unjust. I'll post more on that later. It deserves it's own post.

In other news, it looks like they are working on getting me into the company on a permanent basis. Yeay, no more being a temp. They are doing the background check and I have to go in for the pre-employment drug screening on Tuesday. I wonder if they'll give me a free haircut with that as well as they are going to pluck out some of my hair. After all that I just have to interview with the Executive VP and General Counsel for the hotel. A nice little chat with a high ranking executive at the hotel is exactly what I need next week. Well, it is all about the people you know, right?

For those of you looking into employment law and want to get a working perspective of it from the corporate position, let me know. It's actually rather interesting, plus I still get to deal with the idiots of the world. I just can't escape them.

Engagement Photos and Such

Being that 1, I haven't figured out how to post them, and 2 after working with them on photoshop, here is the link to the engagement photos. Well, at least the two we had been thinking about using.

http://photos.yahoo.com/mike_c0ntr0l

For those of you that may read my journal, do me a favor and email your snail mail address to me so I can send you an announcement.

mike_control@earthlink.net

I would update some more but I have to head out for dinner and a movie. For those of you with t-mobile, send me your phone number. I have t-mobile and get free mobile to mobile.

Random Rambling

So, in the interest of keeping up with the peeps and the fact I have nothing to do, here is a random friendly whatever update.

Lisa is up in Salt Lake City with her mom and a couple of her sisters. They planned on taking a couple days to find her wedding dress and then come back on Wednesday. I had a message from her when I got out of work that she found her dress in like 90 minutes. That's very cool. I am happy for her cause she's all excited and giddy. Although, I was disappointed to find out that they were not going to be heading home any earlier. Eventhough I miss her I think a couple days apart is good and healthy. It gives me an opportunity to take a break from all the planning and catch up with some internet stuff. You know, things like Homestar and Foamy.

Work wasn't too shabby. Got our response to an amended charge out to NERC (Nevada Equal Rights Commisson). Oh yeah, as promised here is the basic rundown of what my boss does and therefore I type up and file. Anytime an employee or generally former employee files a complaint with either NERC or the EEOC, and they generally file together, it comes to our office to respond and defend it. Any subpoena's for employee information, general request from law firms for employee information, or employees/other people companies requesting employee info also comes across my desk. We also act as the liason between the company/departments and the immigration attorney in New York for any immigration issues with the employees. My boss also provides basic legal insight and guidance to the employee relations team. That being the case, our offices are down in employee relations. It's pretty cool cause I am making all the important contacts as I am temping here.

Although there was a decent amount of stuff that came across my desk today or that I am waiting on information for, I still played a lot of solitaire today. I'm glad I discovered my computer had it as I don't have net access to kill the dead time. I'm still using the boss' log on with my computer cause IS still hasn't set mine up yet. It's been two weeks since we put in the request. Should have been done over a week ago. I'll give them a call again tomorrow and find out what's happening.

So now i'm sitting at home debating what to heat up for dinner. There are some enchiladas from this weekend in the fridge. Lisa is like the world's most awesome cook. Of course, I am tempted to just go to Arby's cause they have those arby bacon melts on sale and who knows how long i'll be able to take advantage of that deal.

Viva Las Vegas Baby! Yeah!

So, I have moved up to Vegas. I had made the decision a couple weeks ago that I couldn't leave out the possibility of looking for work up here before the wedding. It's good to be open to new opportunities, you know. So, I came up here the Thursday before Easter. Instead of just spending my normal rotation of a trip up to visit Lisa for the weekend, I decided I was going to spend a whole week up here and hit the pavement. Get registered with some temp services, apply at all the groovy hotels, and all that good stuff.

I walk into Millenium Staffing on Friday as they are having an open house for admin assistants. I figure I have all the necessary skills and people experience, plus it pays good, I might as well start out doing that and then move on from there. So I go in and talk to the recruiter, take their little battery of tests (which I always ace) and head back to where i'm staying. Recruiter says that he didn't have anything on his desk right then but to call him back on Monday or Tuesday as he always has stuff coming in. Two hours later I got a call back. He had an order come across his desk from MGM/Mirage. They were looking for an admin to support one of the guys in their legal department. It's temp to hire starting at 12/hr but will go up significantly if I go perm. So I thought, sure why not. He sent my resume over, they liked me, and I started that following Monday. Good thing I brought a significant portion of my clothes with me.

So, my official title there is Administrative Coordinator for the Director of Legal Administration. Or as the others refer to me, Ted's temp. Ted is their lawyer that deals with all the employee relations stuff so our office is down in Employee Relations as opposed to upstairs with the rest of legal. It's ok though. I get my own little office. My lunch hour is paid by the company and I get free employee buffet across the hall. It's the good stuff in the buffet too. Not a bunch of crappy stuff. I'll start posting more about some of the things i'm picking up on and get to work with in a bit. Especially for all you peeps that are interested in corporate legal. I'm hoping to go perm with this job. I don't see it as something I will do forever. At least while I finish up my school. However, it is my foot in the door with the most powerful company in town.