Easter Dinner

The Rice's are hosting Easter dinner this year. We are extremely excited as we have never hosted an event like this before. We are having bits and pieces of each of our families over and we are also having a one of our close friends family coming over too. I think we have over 11 or so people coming. So far we have bought 15 pounds of ham. Hopefully that will be enough, I think it should be. Since our apartment is extremely small, we are having it at our complexes club house. It's extremely large and it should be more comfortable for all of us. We will have to take some photos of the event.

To everyone: MERRY EASTER!

as the days go by...

Whew! We are into March already and life is grand. Kelley loves his job at Symantec and has funny stories on a daily basis. He is so good at what he does and has gotten high scores on his surveys. Besides the commute (he is a champ for the good attitude!), he looks forward to going to work everyday... his co-workers, the weekly treats work provides, and helping others. His weekends consist of Sundays and Mondays, which is different but he enjoys the "Kelley time" on Mondays. These days he spends his free time on his fantasy baseball database. It's intense and very cool!

CLAIR Company is still treating me well. I enjoy keeping busy and my friends at work. One of my favorite "tasks" at work is organizing various areas with Amy. During my "Joo Lin time" on Saturdays I read (don't laugh!) my old Sweet Valley books (Sweet Valley Twins & Sweet Valley High). It's dorky, I know - ha! On the non-dorky side of my leisure time I jog - see the next entry.

Life is fabulous. We love each other. The days go by....

jogging... love it... try it...

Amy and I are planning on jogging in the CARDV Mother's Day Run for Safe Families [Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence]. I have to give a shout out to Amy because she is my example and motivator - woohoo!! It's a 5K and the goal is to jog the entire thing. We are doing an 8 week couch-to-5K program and I feel good about it. I'm pretty excited to do this with Amy :) Wish us luck!

I have to give a plug for working out. I love it and I feel soooo good once I'm done. Ironic that I am saying this because I used to be convinced I couldn't jog any length of time. I hated track in high school (still can't figure out why I did it for 2 years!). When I started I felt like I was dying after just 1 lap. Now look at me! If you don't exercise, try it... even if it's just walking... life will seem better...

A Perfect 10.0

Kelley surprised me by taking me to a women's gymnastics meet between OSU and BYU last night. It was really fun. Those girls amaze me with the things they can do athletically. OSU is ranked 8th and BYU isn't ranked and I have to admit that it showed last night. The level of competitiveness was very clear. The highlight was Tasha Smith from OSU scoring a perfect 10.0 on the floor exercise. The performance was outstanding and was a lot of fun as a spectator.

Kelley and I both sported BYU apparel although Kelley wore his OSU jacket and was very clearly a Beaver at heart. The security guy was supposedly talking trash to me when we walked in by asking me what BYU stood for. Naive girl that I am, I didn't pick up on the clue and Kelley thought it was funny when I actually responded with "Brigham Young University - the other team here tonight." Fun times!

Late Night Scare

Wednesday night... about 11:15 pm...

Background: Since Kelley has to be at work by 7 am every day he goes to bed early (about 10:30 pm). I tend to stay up a little later since I am a night person and I don't have to get up so early. Most nights Kelley is sawing logs when I crawl into bed. The same scenario tonight: I crawl into bed while Kelley is sound asleep.

Then picture this....
Kelley is dead to the world... in his new favorite spot: the middle of the bed. I don't have much room and it's pretty warm so I lean up to open the window. I did this last night and Kelley briefly woke up to the noise of the blinds, leaned over, gave me a kiss then went back to sleep. Tonight when I touched the blinds (are you picturing this??) he half sat up, gave a (manly) little yell then sat up, really yelled, and grabbed his pillow to either attack me or shield himself. It definitely startled me and I didn't know what to do so I started talking.. "Hello, it's me. What are you doing? I'm just opening the window. Are you ok??" He calmed down a bit and told me I scared him (obviously), that he was sorry and then lay down and was completely out again. I had to then open the window - yep, wasn't successful the first attempt - then laid down trying to analyze what just happened. Then it struck me as FUNNY so I started giggling. This is the beginning of what Kelley calls my "laughing fits" and I can't stop. Then it turns into full blown laughter because I realize I am shaking the bed by laughing and thinking Kelley will get mad if I wake him up yet again. So I quiet down and then really wonder.... was Kelley going to attack me with the pillow or was he really just protecting himself from little ol' me....

Couch

Back in January, Joo Lin and I decided to purchase a new couch as a treat instead of going on a trip together. We thought that we would get more enjoyment out of a new couch. We did run into one problem, what to do with our old couch??? Here is a funny picture of what we decided to do with it. Luckily that night we were able to find a new home of our other couch and it didn't have to stay like this for too long
.

Bravo Zulu!

I had some free time today so I thought that I would give everyone an update on my new job. It has been over two months, so I guess I can still call it a new job.

For the past two months I have been working as a Technical Support Engineer for Symantec's Priority Support group. Symantec is the industry leader in antivirus and security software market and their software is used in 99% of the Fortune 500 company. They provide over 150 different software applications to these company's. You might be familiar with Norton Antivirus, this is antivirus software suite that is provided for home users while Symantec antivirus is mainly their antivirus suite for corporate users. I am providing support for these corporations or for anyone else that provides them with big bucks for English speaking technical support.

The colleagues that I work with are the best and it makes for a fun and entertaining work environment. I believe that I am make a nice addition to their group and have been accepted quite easily among them. It must be my charming/quirky personality that they like.

From the beginning, I was thrown into the line of fire and I think I have been holding up my own. They randomly survey customers that call in and so far I have had three survey's report back. Two of them were top scores 7 out of 7's and the other was a 6 out of 7. When you get all 7's they call it a Bravo Zulu which is a naval signal that means "Well Done". The flags at the beginning of this post represent the Bravo Zulu.

I have also had one of my calls recorded and graded. Out of a score of 5, I got a 4.61. I got marked down for saying "Cool" during the conversation. I will have to work on not saying cool for future callers.

The commute to Springfield does get tiresome at times but when I get to work I am excited to help customers and work on challenging situations that are always changing day by day. Basically, I love my job!

Klorissa and AJ Farewell

My sister and her husband are off to Arizona to start their new life together. AJ is in the Air Force and has been stationed in Tucson. A couple of weeks back we met up in North Bend and had a farewell dinner for them. It was a great time to get together as a family and to hang out with AJ's family and get to know them better. It was sad and fun event when all was said and done. Here is a picture of the event, check out the hat that my mother is wearing. I dig it. Best wishes to Klorissa and AJ as they start their new life together in sunny Arizona!!!

Bruce is back!!

Bruce, our car, got back from the autobody shop this week. We are so glad to have him back and I know that Joo Lin is excited that she doesn't have to crawl through the passenger side door anymore.

Thanks for being patient wife! You are the best!

It's "KETCHUP" time!

In grade school my teacher used to have "ketchup" day.... a day to get things in order and get caught up on old stuff. So here I am doing the same:

Dec 10 - Kelley started his new job at Symantec!! We are both extremely excited for this opportunity.

Dec 14 - We had dinner with some old friends at Bishop French's place. Friends, both old and new, are fabulous. We saw "I Am Legend" and enjoyed it. Who doesn't like Will Smith? Plus the storyline was interesting.

Dec 16 - Christmas at the Stephens House! It was a great day of visiting, laughing, eating, and exchanging gifts. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtfulness!! My Dad got new pigeons... Bonnie & Clyde.... they're a nice addition to the family.

Dec 17 - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE RICE'S! Two whole years and we're still going. We enjoyed a nice dinner out. Kelley got me 14 long stemmed red roses and I got him a box of LIFE cereal. We are cute! The coming year holds more exciting memories for us.

Dec 19 - Happy early Christmas to us. We opened our gifts to each other (we tend not to wait until Christmas.... that will change when we have kids, don't worry!). I got Kelley a PlayStation Portable and the book "Baseball Between the Numbers". He got me a beautiful red cashmere sweater and a pedometer. Lucky us!

Dec 24 & 25 - Merry Christmas!! We headed to North Bend for Christmas with Mama Rice and the fam. It was traditional pizza for Christmas Eve and just visiting with family. Christmas brought some exciting oooh's and aaahhh's. Thanks everyone for their generosity!

Dec 31 - Happy New Years Eve! Kelley and I both worked today. We did our traditional dinner and a movie... Applebee's and "PS I love you". I love that movie... Kelley loves it because I love it. What a sweetie!
Please note Kelley got his first paycheck - exciting times!

2008
Can you believe it?! Another year come and gone... this one brings some VERY exciting things!

Jan 1 - Kelley worked to make some extra bucks. I lazed at home and it was fabulous. I slept in, woke up to Mindee calling over and over. Then I read and watched re-runs of "Charmed" and paid our bills. It was very relaxing and much needed.

Jan 2 - We have a new addition to the family. Nope, not what you're thinking.... a new COUCH! It's luxurious!! We got it into the apartment and get to re-arrange the living room tomorrow. Woohoo - Kelley & I are both looking forward to it.
Please note we FINALLY get Bruce fixed next week!! No more climbing in and out of the passenger side for me!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Rice family would like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a happy New Years!

O Christmas Tree....

Joo Lin and I went and got our Christmas tree last weekend. I have been slow to put up pictures so I thought that I would do that today. We decided to purchase our tree this year from a boy scouts troop, it was just to cold to go out into the forest to cut one down, but we are really happy about it. While we were deciding which one to get, a boy scout was telling us what trees were which and I thought that we picked out a spruce tree, so I called the tree that we picked out "Spruce Almighty" but when we went to pay for it, they told us that it was a noble. Instead of renaming the tree, I really liked Spruce Almighty, we kept it. Hopefully the tree will not have an identity crisis.

Here are some pictures of Joo Lin and I decorating the tree. I hope that everyone enjoys them and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Bruce has a boo-boo!

I started work this past week at Symantec and during my lunch hour on my second day, I went to go get something from the store for lunch and when I came out I noticed a man was swearing. At first, I didn't understand why he was so upset but when I went to enter Bruce I noticed that he had hit my car. Usually I take Jasmine to work but that day I took Bruce because the wife was headed up to Portland for a meeting so luckily it didn't happen to her. Here are some pictures of Bruce...they are graphic so you have been warned!

I'm DONE!

I finished my last final yesterday! I am excited to be completely done with school. It feels like a 5,000 pound weight has been taken off my back. It's a great feeling! I have already gotten two of my final scores back and I did extremely well on them. I ended up with A's in both of those classes. I was hoping for a C- or better, I guess I did better.

Now I am just skanking out until I start work next week.

One Final to Go!

I completed two finals today and I only have one left. I am starting to realize that I am done with school. It is an amazing feeling and I can't wait to be done so that I can start "Video Gaming Week." I decided to get done with finals early so that I could take the rest of the week off and focus on fine tuning my video gaming skills. As I only have a week off before I start up work I am going to make the most of this week.

Civil War Football

"Who said war was civil?" This is one of my favorite slogans from the many civil war battles that I have witnessed in my life. I am excited that this weekend the Beavers are playing the Ucks in Eugene for this years Civil War. It is always a tense time of year when this game rolls around. I am feeling pretty confident that OS (Oregon State) will prevail this year. Here are a few photos that I love that shows the hatred that we Beavers have towards the Ucks.

Charlie Tuna!

I was looking through some pictures and found a cute picture of my wife and my mother with Charlie Tuna and I wanted to share it with everyone. The picture is after my little sisters wedding and we were heading back into town when I suddenly veered off the road when I saw the Tuna statue.

Symantec

The fourth interview looks to be my final interview with Symantec. It was an extension of the behavioral interview and it was a solo meeting between me and a lady in a room the size of our bathroom. I knew that my "ice breaker" of talking Beaver/Duck football wouldn't cut it, so I relied on the "How was your Turkey day?" instead. This interview wasn't as good as the main behavioral interview and it only lasted about half as long as the other. So I was beginning to worry.

So I lied and told Joo Lin that it went well. I didn't want to tell her the truth for some reason because I didn't want to stress her out more. Around 4:30 yesterday, I was studying and I got a call from Sue at Symantec. I was surprised to hear from her and I was getting a nasty feeling inside because I was expecting some bad news from her.

She asked me how it went and I told her that I thought the other behavioral interview went better. I told her that it was strange because the questions were similar and I felt strange about giving the same answers. She then proceeded to tell me that they're still really interested in me and that I was their top candidate for the position and then she proceeded to tell me that the manager wanted to do whatever it takes to get me on-board with them. I told her that I was excited about the offer and I am now waiting to hear from them to start the salary negotiation process.

I really don't know how to negotiate but I want to get a fair amount of money as my education and eight years of experience should allow. So today I talked to my strategic management professor and my brother in law to gather some helpful tips and ideas for negotiating with them. So hopefully we can get something put together soon. We will keep you posted.

Another Interview

Today will be the fourth interview (one phone and three on site interviews) with Symantec. I am starting to get really anxious about todays interview. It's at 2 pm today so I will not have to wait too much longer but I think that Joo Lin and I would love to find out if they are going to offer me a position with their company.

I played another mean trick on Joo Lin. Yesterday she was waiting to hear from me to tell her that if I had another interview set up with them. I didn't hear anything until about 4:30 and I didn't tell the wife about it until we were driving to dinner that night. I was avoiding the topic and then she eventually asked me if they had called to set up an interview, I said no. She got disappointed and that is when the Kelley grin came out. I am not sure if she saw it, I was driving and she was in the passenger seat but I knew that I couldn't hold it in any longer. After the grin, I told..."but they did email me!" She was relieved and was then mad at me for telling her that way. Silly monkey am I!

I did something funny today

So today I gave my wife a call and told her that I stopped by the College of Business (COB) to check on my graduation status. I proceeded to tell her that I had a dream last night and that they told me that I had some loose ends to tie up before I graduated. So I then told her not to get upset or mad but I that I stopped by the COB to check on my status and...(I paused for awhile)...and told her that nothing was wrong and that I am still on track to graduate this term.

She said that I was really mean for messing with her as she thought that I was going to tell her that I needed to take another class. I know that this was mean but sometimes I like to fool around with her to keep her on her toes. I got a great chuckle out of this.