So around august, the company that i've been working for had a huge merger with another company (come to find out, my smaller company acquired this much bigger company).  So over the last couple months, after I attempted to quit in august and they kept me on to help with training and compliance after the merger, theres been a reorg of the regions and a lot of the offices that were under the old company in the area, now work with my office.  So i've been going to client sites on my own time to ensure that logistically and IT wise the new people are doing ok.  And i've been doing this with the blessing of my old boss who was a District manager of NC, but has been reorg-ed as DM of GA, but still has influence here.  Anyway, so one of our really big clients is Lowes hardware, and one who i've been really good with.  Two managers that were formerly with the other company were running an inventory near my house, so i went by to help them out.  sidebar...these new guys are doing horribly, their efficiency scores and net revenue are in the tank.

So while i'm there, this one guy who is an "Area Manager" under the other company's old system of hierarchy which is analagous to an "Inventory Manager" under my company's old system, starts talking down to me and just being rude.  I explained to them why I was there, and they said they were fine without me.  He was being an ass to me while I was on the phone with my secretary asking who these guys thought they were, and so she heard all the stuff he was saying.  Anyway, so instead of using me as a resource to make their day go smoother, they wanted me to do some menial tasks.  I was basically like "screw this", told the Lowe's manager (who i'm close with cause i've worked with him many times before) and one of the new managers from my office that I was leaving because these guys didnt think they needed my help.  So i thought that was the end of it and didnt really think about it again. 

Ironically, I had lunch with my old DM a little later in the day and told him what happened, and he wasnt happy.  But then, later in the day, I get a phone call from a manager at my office.  As it turns out, those guys complained to their District Manager and tried to file termination papers on me.  Their district manager didn't even call me to get my side of the story.  So the higher ups from my old company who've worked with me are upset and not having any of it.  Now there's some bruhaha and meetings and stuff.  I think they think i'm going to file a wrongful termination suit or something.  I can't believe those morons have escalated this situation that was such a small thing. 

So now i'm kinda interested where all of this is going to go...

So like i said, I was in chapel hill for the weekend.  A couple bits of exciting news...UNC won their homecoming game against nationally ranked BC, which is always nice.  And come to find out two of my very good friends who have been dating each other for almost 7 years, are now finally engaged as of this saturday.  It was one of those engagements that everyone knew was inevitable, but surprising that it finally happened.  We had a huge dinner with friends and family and ended up being up until 5am.  We're so cheesy sometimes, but its always fun.  Although I am one of those people that likes to keep in touch with people that i've known, i find it really aging when I realize i'm spent a majority of my time over the last 8 years with this same group of people, and we've been through a ton of stuff...of which we remind each other as we recount our adventures whenever we see each other.

I've been watching way too much tv lately.  Its always on...

Currently Listening Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 By Dave Matthews Band see related

- seek up

I remember back in the day when i had the premium preview and my site didnt look as crappy. 

What have I been doing lately?  I make my own hours at my work now, so i tend to have a good amount of time to take care of other things.  I'm applying to medical school, studying for gmats and eventually applying to MBA programs.  Basically, I want to go back to school.  I found that life, as it was constituted while i was working full time, was not for me and a waste of my existence. 

My shadowing experience in Missouri was amazing.  I was with 4 doctors there, and I really wish that my experience with doctors here in charlotte was as nice.  I was in a really rural are, and the docs there were all home grown, went away to study and then came back to practice, so they basically knew all their patients (it kinda reminded me of little house on the praire), it was all pretty surreal.  They were really patient and caring, and they all took me under their wing for the short time i was with them.  At the risk of sounding really juvenile, it was frickin cool.

Since (and before) then, I made a discovery in my house that has led to wholesale changes.  I was rearranging my room and accidentally pulled up some carpet in a corner to discover that we had beautiful hardwood floors underneath!  Ironically, i had been pushing the family to change out the flooring anyway.  Well, as it turned out, this "beautiful" flooring was covered up a few months before we bought the place in 96.  The previous owners (a nice old italian couple) had many pets.  So the more carpet we removed, the more stains we found.  Pretty nasty stuff.  So over the course of the last couple months, we stripped and sanded and buffed and varnished and clear coated, etc.  And now the floors are beautiful again.  Since we were doing all that, and another big event is coming along, and it was hindu new year, we also decided to repaint the house, and I've been in charge of redesigning the layout of all the rooms.  You would have to have seen the house before and after to really grasp the dramatic change, its friggin noice.  I guess i actually did get passed to me some of my dad's handiness.

So this "big event" is that my uncle and his family (the only sibling of my mother) have finally gotten their immigration papers and are coming to america right around thanksgiving.  Its him, his wife, and my two cousins who are both now college aged.  I think it would be a much bigger deal if I hadnt seen them last year during my sabbatical to india, but its pretty cool anyway. 

I went up to blacksburg, Va last weekend for a basketball tournament.  As usual we got to the finals, and as usual we lost in heartbreaking fashion--this time a last second heave off of a long rebound.  Absolutely unreal.  This one is really haunting me, i still have dreams about it.  And what really bugs me is that we were absolutely distroying this team, up 18 at one point.  Regardless, it was fun to see all my teammates again.  Since college we've spread so we dont really see each other anymore unless we get together to go play at one of these tourneys. 

So, after all this excitement, I'm back to working on applications.  I'm looking forward to this weekend too.  I'm going to Chapel Hill, its a friend's bday, its homecoming, and some other people who'd scattered are coming back into town.  I wonder sometimes if other schools have the same draw for people as Chapel Hill does for me. 

Currently Listening Futures By Jimmy Eat World see related

I got my new Dell laptops!!  (one for me and one for my brother)  They are both beastly and hopefully something new wont come out anytime soon that will blow them out of the water.  I'm excited.

Currently Listening We Are Not Alone By Breaking Benjamin see related

- so cold (acoustic)

Have you ever had people that you were really good friends with for a short amount of time due to circumstance, but it was really intense because of the enviornment? 

So i used to work at this camp up in Cape Cod for a summer a couple years ago and got to know some of the people really well to the point where years later we still keep in touch.  Randomly, two of them, who are boston residents called me up tuesday night at 11 and said they were in NC and would like to come down to visit.  I havent seen or talked to these people (other than email) in over two years, so I was all up for it.  It was pretty cool to hang out with them, and its good to see that people dont really ever change all that much.  One girl claims to be very political and VERY left although i'm not buying because she has tons of conservative tendencies, and the other is just all around cool.  I think it was our general love of DMB, booze, and traveling that got us together. 

Regardless, it was good to see them again, even though it was just a couple hours.  It was kind of like that episode of Frasier where an old friend from Cheers comes to visit and you can only talk about old times for so long and repeat the same (very funny) stories so many times. 

I finally heard back from the AHEC director in Mizzou and I will be heading there sept 9th or so for orientation and then starting immediately after.  I'm really looking forward to getting started with the shadowing, this lady is going way out of her way for me so i need suggestions on thanking her appropriately when i get there. 

Thats all for now, i need to get cracking (again) on this essay....bleh