At lunch today I went down to the Quay to get a cookie from the cookie shop. When I got there I was horrified that they've shut down. Having walked all the way down there from the 4th floor, I figured I couldn't go back empty handed. While waiting for my coworker to get some cash. I looked at the little vending carts that were scattered in the isles. My eyes fell upon the jewellery one. :-) The lady recognized that I was interested in hair clips and got me. I succumbed to 2 hair clips that were "discounted" (though horribly over priced compared to what you pay in Asia). Being Asian - I couldn't resist the extra "cash only" discount. :-)

So a trip that was suppose to be for some cookies turned into a hair clip and icecream run. :-) Oh well - I had fun trying on hair clips and even more fun taking this pic of them.

pan pacific delights

On Saturday I went to the annual Social Club Christmas party. I dragged Chicky with me. He has been sick the last couple of days due to romping around in the mountains in the snow playing paintball games for Nick's bachelor party. He left Whistler and spent the next couple of days recovering from the "fun".

The party was great and it was nice to just come to eat. The event was being handled by 3 other executives and they did a wonderful job. I went around and took pictures of the event. Everyone was dressed up and feeling festive. It was nice joking around with the members and saying "hi" to people that I know or vice versa. Though I wasn't actively involved in the preparation of the party - I still got tons of compliments from everyone about the selection of the location, food, etc. The Pan Pacific hotel is beautiful and the Christmas decorations are so festive. It makes me love Christmas time even more.

Dinner was great - buffet style with delicious food. I took pictures of the guests while waiting for our table to be called to eat. Drinks were not on the house but because I have "special" rights - I get unlimited pop/juice. That's fine with me as I'm not really a drinker anyhow. I did have a lady come up to me while I was taking pictures and give me a story about being a designated driver. :-) We usually give drink tickets to designated drivers - but that's done when you first enter the party. I felt bad for her as she had to walk across the room to talk to me and it takes time coming up with a story. So I said don't worry, apologized for the greeters for not asking her if she was a designated driver (not sure why I should apologize as it's not my fault she didn't speak up when coming though the doors), gave her some tickets and told her that if people at her table were also designated drivers and didn't get their drink tickets - they could come see me. :-) Setting myself up for sob stories - yes...I know. But what the heck - pop is like $4 at the hotel! I'm sure some of the greeter ladies forgot to ask the guests as they came in.

After filling our tummy with dinner - Chicky and I were in line for dessert and it looked like by the time we would reach the table - the cakes would all be gone. This couple behind us (jokingly) said to me "the dessert table is almost empty - someone from the Executive should do something". He was looking directly at me. Then the others did too. I grinned and said "that's right! someone should do something about that" and winked. I gave up my spot in the mega line to hunt down some staff. Not sure what I was going to complain about as I knew they were trying to fill the food tables as fast as they could. I ran into the hostess and asked her to bring serving spoons to the dessert table (as I also noticed that there weren't any) and to see if we could remove the empty cake plates (hinting that we needed more desserts). She was very nice and did it. I went back in line and people were gracious enough to let me butt back in with Chicky. Chicky is really good about me abandoning him at these Social Club events to fend for himself. He's not so fond about attending them but I had assured him that at least this year I'd get to eat with him instead of being infront of the group and running the show. The rest of the night went by quickly. Did some dancing with coworkers and then played the Alphabet Movie game with our table. It was fun and made us think. :-) Chicky and I took off at around 11pm as I was tired of entertaining and he was bored. We spent the rest of the night watching License to Wed with Nick and Lisa. Lisa is suffering from a cold as well and slept through most of the movie.

black friday

Tis the season to spend! No better way to do it then to head to the States for the Black Friday sales. Tracey and I embarked on this expedition at 4am Friday morning. My mom came with us as well. We wanted to get across the borders before they became busy. The Seattle Premium Outlet mall had opened at midnight so Carol had been there a few hours before us.

Carol was still in line at the Coach store when she called me. She waited 2 hours in the cold to get through. I wasn't interested in high end items and was on the lookout for the "steals". Tracey and I shopped from 6am to 8pm. We went to Seattle Premium, another Outlet mall for some shoes at Nine West and then to Bellis Fair as the radio said that the waiting time for north bound traffic was 3 hours. We were exhausted and lacked food - so we ate the yucky food court stuff again. My poor mom reached her shopping max about 2 hours into the game. She gave up and waited in the food court for us. I think she sat in the food court for 6 hours before we circled back to get her. Tracey and I found that the deals that were to be had were for guys clothing. So Shawn and Chicky scored big and they weren't even there! We ran into Chris, Cindy and Toshiki at the Banana Republic store hours later. By that time the crazy deals were most over and the lines weren't so bad. What we discovered late in the game was the VIP Coupon book extra discounts that could have been applied to the sales ones. Duh - we only managed to get reimbursed at Banana Republic (with Tracey's stealthy management skills) for the difference. I was quite surprised as Tracey's assertiveness and persistence. Lol - I thought it would have to be me that would have to put on the "difficult customer" hat today. It was funny watching as a bystander for once. We pissed off some people though as we got this done at the counter and stirred up some commotion as we had to get the management involved. Persistence prevailed and we got our stuff refunded/rescanned on the spot - thus barging infront of the super long lines. GAP wasn't so flexible and insisted that we wait at the end of the line if we wanted to refund/rebuy our stuff with the extra discounts. We weighed the costs/benefits for GAP and figured the savings weren't as worth while. Those line ups went around the whole store. Not to mention the evil glares from patrons who have been standing in line for over 1/2 hour was troubling. :-)

Getting back across the border was a pain. We had a group guard who banished us to the declaration line. Tracey and I had a lot of stuff and we declared it all - wasn't about to lie about our purchases as it wasn't worth the hassle. Feeling depressed about having to pay taxes/duty on our goods, we lined up in the mega line at customs. Due to Canada having not enough staff, a border guard lady came up to us in line and asked us what we bought. We told her 90% mens clothing as gifts. She looked at our bills, took our border ticket from us and told us to go home. Whoopee!!! We were spared! Excited we ran back to the car and scuttled home.

new year - new job

Today I had an interview for a support analyst position with our project office. I had decided to apply for a 6 month assignment with this group as I have been really stressed with work the last month or so and have resented being there. This all translates to Kimmi taking a break from Help Desk before she goes postal on them all! :-)

The interview was a standard panel interview. I knew 2 of the interviewers through the Social Club. Ah - the few benefits of being so actively involved in the Social Club, it provides me with networking opportunities. They asked the usual behavioural questions and stuff. I was a bit nervous when they started asking me about project work, etc. I haven't worked on a project before and realistically don't have leadership experience outside of the Club. One of the ladies wanted to make the interview "equal" (I think she just wanted me to sweat in my seat) in terms of asking me the same questions as they do with their coops. :-) Seeing as I have no formal training in business or management - it was challenging. I think I did well though as I was able to answer an important question correctly. "What is the difference between an issue and a risk." I wasn't sure if was a trick question at first so I stalled for a bit. One guy on the panel felt pity for me and told me that the other people didn't get the question correct so it would be "normal" if I answered it incorrectly. Lol - yup...he had low expectations of me. :-) That's alright though. I thought about the definitions as it applied to my work and what I learned in school and told the questioner. She looked at me and I wasn't sure if it was an approval or disapproval look so I looked to one of the other panelist and that lady grinned. I sighed in relief - passed! The interview as a whole went well and I felt comfortable to speak normally after they finished the "technical" stuff (thank goodness I taken those database and MS Project courses). At the end of the proces everyone looked at each other. There was some pausing and I waited for instructions - either to get my ass out of there or wait for some more questions/answers. One of the ladies looked at the rest of them and said "are we ready to make a decision". I was like "OMG!" - I felt felt like a contestant on American Idol. :-) Waiting for Simon Cowel to strike me down. Luckily the stars were aligned today because I got the job! Hhahaa...I was really excited as they didn't realize how much of a break I was looking for. I thanked everyone and went happily off to another meeting. So starting in January - I'll not be on the phones anymore and mentoring under 2 project managers to learn the in and outs of project management.

Help Desk BC Awards

Today I attended the Help Desk BC Awards ceremony to honour the next Help Desk Analyst. I came as the "photographer" for the event but also as the cheering committee for my two fellow coworkers who were finalists. I'm super proud to work for a company that has produced wonderful support staff. It was no surprise when one of our own won the designation for 2008. I cheered super loud and grinned the whole time. :-) I'm really proud of him and of us as a company.

The week has been really busy so I haven't had a chance to prepare the pictures to be submitted to Help Desk BC. I should work on that soon. On top of that I haven't posted the pictures of the Go Karting event and Chris has been hounding me about them. Lol...falling behind in picture production. Doesn't help that I have intermittent power failures on the laptop. Grrr...sometimes I feel like killing it for good! ;-)

brunch with the girls

I had brunch at IHOP with Cindy, Josie and the kids today. I had scheduled the day off weeks ago and we all managed to coordinate our schedules so that we could catch up. It was nice to see the girls and the kids. Both Katarina and Joshua are growing up so fast! Katarina is speaking and Joshua has discovered that he's got a voice box as well.

After chit chatting and catch up with life we went over to Walmart and did some shopping. Josie manages really well with being pregnant and running after Katarina. The girls are great mommies and I'm happy that we can still see each other even though our schedules don't always match.

start your engines!

Today I hosted the second annual Go Karting race at TBC Indoor Racing. The event turned out to be great. Lots of enthusiam from the crowd. We had 45 participants this year. Less than last year (which was 90 people) but I prefer managing a group this size as it's not so crazy. Because of house stuff last week I ended up slapping together the last minute details on Friday night - which included trying to find a new pizza parlour which would deliver to me at 10:45am. No such luck so I had to go with Panago again.

Everyone had a good time bashing carts and cheering on team mates. The facility has new carts so we were happy with that news. The new carts are much faster and I'm told by the drivers that they were a more comfortable ride too. I only had one injury this year (one of my coworkers managed to crash into a kid and have her cart wheel pin his knee) and zero broken carts. Whoohoo! :-) Last year was 3 injuries and 4 broken carts. Injuries only suck when it's some kid and I have to deal with the worried parent. :-) I didn't race but hung out with the manager and staff at the site. They are pretty young Asians (probably a few years younger than myself). We joked about suped up cars and how to "file" a claim when you have a rice-rocket. :-) Plus they don't seem to mind it when I treat the facility as if it's my own place. Lol - I was surprised that Arthur (the operations manager) gave me the master key this year when I just told him that he should. :-) Asking requires too much work. But it's a logical argument - I usually want to lock the party room (so that people can leave their valuables in there) and I want to be able to access it at anytime during the event. So - instead of hunting him down every 5-10 mins - it's just more convenient for the both of us if I held onto the key.

I think I'll run this event in the summer time as well because it's always fun and the comments from the people that attend is basically that they would come again. I did get a few suggestions for new events such as snowboard racing (hmmm...don't know if I can make that happen) and paintballing (doable). I'll have to see what the Club Executives think about that though.

After the event I drove home and took a nap. I was pooped out from getting up early and not sleeping much the night before. Chicky was in Whistler all weekend for Nick's stag party. He called me Saturday night to tell me that it was raining ice up there and that they had played paintball in the freezing rain. I'm happy he had fun and I'm sure Nick had a memorable weekend.

used car salesmen

So for the last 2 days I've been involved in negotiations with used car lots in search of dream vehicle for my parents. What they thought was a dream turned out to be a nightmare. My parents are indecisive people. In this exercise I've learned that they are easily pursued by the next shiny new object. Unfortunately their impulsiveness put us into a situation where we had "deposits" on vehicles at 2 different car lots. My parents kept bouncing back and forth between a Jeep Patriot and a Ford Escape.

When they changed their minds and wanted to back out of the deals - they asked me to deal with it. I've been in need of a stress break lately and dealing with their problems wasn't at the top of my "to do" list. So on Tuesday night Chicky and I went down to Maple Ridge Chrysler to back out of a 2008 Jeep Patriot deal. We felt bad as the salesman was really nice and his service was impecable. We ended up leaving our deposit with him with the intention of him finding us a Ford Escape. Marco (the salesman) was nice in the sense that he didn't fuss much about refunding the deposit. We hadn't signed any official papers at either dealership so we felt that getting our money back was legit. I called WestCoast Ford at 9pm and got into a fight with Santino (the other salesman). I was not impressed with his service to begin with and resented the fact that my parents wanted to deal with him at all. ;-) I'm big on first impressions. He gave a bunch of excuses about having to clean the vehicle and having to get head rests, etc for it. He wanted to deduct the cost of those "extra" services from the deposit amount. I yelled at him through the cell phone in a restaurant (as we were starving from not eating and dealing with Marco earlier). I am normally a loud individual and can be heard miles away - when I'm pissed off...my voice goes up to hysterical levels. He was making me hysterical. He was going to sell my parents a stained vehicle that lacked standard safety equipment (head rests) and he wanted me to pay for that?! Is he an idiot?!!! Ah - I have no shame in expressing my frustration. It was ugly and he wanted to escape it so he gave me that stupid line of "I can't make that kind of decision, only my manager can". I didn't gripe about the escalation as I would have done the same. I told my parents the outcome of my "talk" and said I'd deal with it the next day.

I come home tonight after a LONG battle with traffic. Being in a foul mood I hear that the sales manager had called my mom earlier in the day and given her a "credit" to the dealership. I was not happy. What in the world was she suppose to do with a Ford credit?! Already in a pissy mood I figured I'd vent my road rage on the manager. I only had a first name so I called the dealership. The receptionist put me through to his line and I explained the situation. He wasn't budging. His attitude only served to make my frustration levels become exasperation. He tried to redirect my anger and evade the main point (the deposit). After 15 mins of arguing with him about service levels, bylaws, trust, etc. He tried to intimidate me by telling me that my parents had signed a contract to buy the car and that he was being "nice" by giving them a credit for backing out of the deal and that he has the right to hold the full deposit. I flipped out (again). I told him that I had a copy of the Purchase Agreement in hand and there were no signatures on it therefore making it non-binding. I was bad and went into my condescending tone - which only made him defensive. Wrong tactic on my part. He changed his mind and said it was the worksheet that my parents had signed. Trying not to be the hot-headed person and have the conversation drag on for more than it had to, I backed off and went into my "futureshop-mode". I asked him what was on the "blue sheet". He didn't say anything. He said he would fax me the sheet as evidence. I think he was hoping I would say I didn't have a fax machine. I told him I didn't have a fax machine and that he should scan it and email the document to me. He said he didn't have a scanner. I was adamant about seeing this mystery form. I pushed harder and said that if it's truly a legal and binding document - I needed to see it and that I would gladly come down to the dealership to do so. He was surprised. I then told him that because I would have to make an unplanned trip into Maple Ridge to see this document - I would be bringing a copy of the Demand to Dealer Letter with me so that we would save time. He asked me "for what?!" I told him that according the Motor Vehicle Sales Authority of BC (lol - I was Googling while fighting with him on the phone) I had the right to file a claim against the dealership if they were to falsify document for gain on their part. I think that caught his attention as he said I didn't have to come down. He then switched modes and said he couldn't authorize a refund. I was tired of running around the bush with him and said that if he can not solve my problem then he needs to escalate this to the owners of the dealership. He was not happy with that request. We argued some more about his lack of management skills and inability to resolve conflict. When I began asking for his full name and phone number he told me he didn't have a direct line. Yah right! He's the general manager and has his own office - no direct line my ass! He didn't want to give it to me for the fact that I told him I've documented our conversation and would like his direct line so that I can follow up with him tomorrow and the next day and the next day until this situation has been resolved. :-) I'm good at pestering people for updates as I do it for a living! When he refused to give me the names of the owners I told him that I do not need him to get that information and that I can contact Ford Canada for it. I think he was tired of me and finally took my earlier advice for just giving me the deposit so that I would leave him alone. He said he'd call the owners, I asked him for an ETA of when he'd be calling back (so that I know when I should bug him next). He couldn't give a time so he said "soon". 10 mins later he called back and said that a cheque will be cut tomorrow for the full refund and that I could pick it up. Feeling exhausted, happy and relieved - I went downstairs and had dinner with my parents and told them the news.

After the Thomas issue and these dealers - I feel that I'm ready to work in Collections. :-) My skin grows thicker with each new "challenging" situation and I have a more abrasive attitude towards those that try to screw around with me. I've turned "documentation" and "escalations" into an art. That or I've gotten so fed up with salesmen that I have zero tolerance with them. Ah - maybe it's time for a day off for some relaxation.

On a happier note. My manager came over from her Victoria office today for one of her weekly meetings and noticed my quiet demenour in one of our meetings. She bought me flowers and a Starbucks card to wish me good health as I complained about crappy tenants and sleezy salesmen. It's very sweet of her to do so and brightened my day. She's worried that I might stress out and run away from the department for good. Lol....

that time of year

It's that time of year when the pace of life starts to get a bit out of control. I haven't had much time to blog lately due to other obligations. In the last week I've spent time at home repairing the basement suite, finding my parents a car, taking them to test drive cars, haggling with dealers, organizing the year end Social Club events, writing another midterm and in the midst of it all even managed to squeeze in Frank's birthday party on Friday. :-)

Weekends tend to be the crunch time - time to finalize things that were not accomplished during the week. It was nice to see some of the gang on Friday. Granville Island was a bit far and I discovered that taking transit has it's ups and downs when trying to get from one city to another. Since my parents have been carless for nearly 2 weeks now - Kim Anh and I have to split our car time. Good thing about KA is that she has a nurse's schedule so she can go carless for a few days without too much inconvenience.

On Saturday we celebrated Angelina's 8th birthday. Can't believe she's growing up so fast! After dinner and cake, the kids and I went over to Betty's new house to enjoy the rest of the evening with them. We got the house tour, etc. They have a wonderful home and are much closer to us now. :-) Betty, Hanif and Nyah are doing well and in the midst of setting up their nest. There's still lots of furniture and appliances that need to be boughten but they'll hopefully be all unpacked and settled in a few weeks.

I worked today. That kinda sucked as Chicky was in long-weekend mode this weekend and wanted to spend most of it playing poker or watching movies. So I indulged him and we watched movies till 3am. I slept for about 2 hours before having to get up to go to work. Thank goodness it's a stat holiday and only myself and Colleen were working. So I showed up in my sweats, ponytail and a GIGANTIC cup of coffee. :-) I needed it. 5 hours later I called it a day and went home to take a look at another vehicle for my parents. I quickly ate a late lunch and realistically just wanted to take a nap as I was so tired from only having a couple of hours of sleep in the last couple of days. But there were things to do and places that I had to be so I climbed into my car and continued on.

Time for bed. It's going to be a long day at work tomorrow. :-) Talk to you guys later.