Prochein Amy

A blog friend and design-ee nominated my blog in the Personal Blog category for Best So Far ~ Blog Awards By and For the People at “Bloggin” Outloud”! WOW!!!! My nomination even made it through a USC fan!

Ben of “Faith and Theology” in the running for Religous Blog category. (He is the one who nominated me.) I would have never found Ben’s blog on my own since I am not that interested in the serious study of religion. He wanted some blog design help and took me up on my offer of free assistance. Some of his posts are over my head, but I have learned from his blog and enjoy reading about his favorite subject matter. So I will be voting for his blog! Which leads me to…..

How can you vote in this contest? Via email at BestSoFar@RightThinking.net by Sun, Feb 5th. I am going to check out the other nominations and may have some new blog roll additions. I also noticed a few other Munuvian out there.

Thank you in advance if you vote for me!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Lyn on Feb 5, 2006 3:42 PM) Congratulations on your “Best So Far” Honorable Mention Personal Blog, January 2006 presented by Bloggin’ Outloud. Keep up the great work. Lyn

I love food, I love to share and I love to have people over. So hosting the Carnival of Recipes is great for me!!!

This week’s Carnival of the Recipes is All About Chocolate!!! Just in time to prepare for Valentine’s Day, huh? Have a chocolate recipe you want to share? Post it on your blog and send the link to recipe(dot)carnival(at)gmail.com. If you don’t have a blog, just email the recipe. Deadline is Saturday at noon.

Update: Here is an blog post that my inspire you!

Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

“SENATE RESOLUTION 352 — COMMENDING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN LONGHORNS FOOTBALL TEAM FOR WINNING THE 2005 BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.”

I have not counted the number of Wheras’s in this resolution yet. Unless you are a Longhorn fan, I doubt you will read it all. So here are my favorites:

Whereas Ahmard Hall, the male 2005 Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year, served his country as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps for four years–serving tours in Kosovo and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan–prior to joining the team as a walk-on in 2003 and ultimately rising to the position of starting fullback and team captain;

Whereas the entire Longhorns team should be commended for its inspirational work, determination, and success;

Whereas the University of Texas at Austin has a long tradition of athletic and academic excellence; and

Whereas the Longhorns have brought great honor to themselves, their university, and the great State of Texas…

I also picked up one of these today. My box won’t be opened.

I really want some of these cans of Coke, but they were only distributed in Austin for a limited time. I called an Austin friend to see if she could snag me some, but I am sure it is to late.

Offical story about this merchandise here.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Chuck on Jan 30, 2006 12:49 AM) There are 14 Whereases.

Still interested in helping with T-Shirt (and other design) ideas?

Like the template, but it’s hard to read the font–too small, or the background is too light.

My mother in law is a longhorn!

Chuck

(Lyn on Jan 30, 2006 10:30 PM) Congrats, Faith & Theology has nominated you for one of the
“Best So Far” Blog Awards at Bloggin’ Outloud.

http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/2006/02/best-so-far-blog-awards.html

Feel free to participate, nominate, and spread the
word. Thanks, Lyn from FBO

PS – I had trouble accepting your nomination. My daughter attends USC. That’s all I have to say about that.

I have set my blog back to the standard Moveable Type template and will be modifing it over the next few days. Kinda like Trading Spaces. Move everything out and put what you really want back in. And put it back differently.

Update on Jan. 30: Just a few more tweaks and I think I will leave it alone.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (4)

Comments on this Entry:

(vw bug on Jan 29, 2006 7:08 AM) Phew. I was worried I was at the wrong site to start with. Can’t wait to see what you do next.

(PrimoDonna on Jan 29, 2006 7:18 AM) I miss you and your hubby’s photo though!

(Sissy on Jan 29, 2006 10:37 PM) I like the new set up here! You are as talented as ever!

(Becky on Jan 30, 2006 3:13 PM) Is this an easy template to use, like Blogger? I’ve been thinking of changing my blog so that I’m no longer searchable (and keeping my Oz graphic from you:)

having some problems with trackbacks….

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Part of my job has been ensuring complaince with SOX for my company. It is not one of those things that people volunteer for. For me it crept up on me. You can read about SOX from the link above, but I want to ’splain it to you my way.

SOX should really be called the Enron Law. Because of the bad people, our law makers passed a law that was supposed to help protect us from other bad people. So what does that mean for companies now? Executives are now responsible for the finacial data. They can no longer say they had no idea if the numbers are bad. And the auditors are under stricter laws also. And most things that the government puts in is easy, right? Having to change your password? SOX. The password has to have so many characters, a number, etc? SOX. In order for them to make sure the financial numbers are good we are audited for our internal controls related to our Finacial Applications. Many things have to be checked and I am involved with the Accounts/User Access part. This control is important because you want to make sure only the people who need access can get to your finacial data. You have to make sure that people don’t have the access to “cook the numbers”. So…..

Let’s just take one system and review what has to be accurate. There are three levels to this system. You have the actual application and the database where the actual data is stored. All of that runs on a Operation System with accounts. Accounts at all levels *could* affect the financial data. OK, so 1 applications with 3 levels of accounts.

The Auditors come in and they want to verify that everyone who has access to any of the 3 levels is approved (since this is one of our internal controls). And since this is only our second year of being audited at this level and internal controls were not in place before, verification clean up of the accounts need to occur. Before we give the data to the auditors. Guess who is doing that?

ME! For the last month. 3 levels per application. And we have around 10. So 30 levels total. Of course I don’t know what each account is for since I do not support the applications. So I get with the support person. And if there are any exceptions to our internal control it must be documented and signed by at least 5 people. 2 of them question every exception. Not that they shouldn’t, but please not so much resistance to the messenger. And we can’t just delete the accounts since they may be needed and it could bring down the system.

This week I have been really working on this verification since the Auditors are “in the house”. I now dream about it. I see lists of accounts scrolling and hear myself talking out what the accounts are for. This account is for this, that account is for that. Do we need this account? Where did the account come from? It wasn’t on our list before! My alarm goes off this morning and I think “I will work on this list later, it’s time to get up.” Yikes! It is bad enough to have to do it during the day, but in my DREAMS?!?!?!?!

And this stuff has to be right. If it isn’t they will intesify their auditing. And if we fail significantly it could be reported to the SEC making our stock go down. I guess you could say that I am contributing to the stock value of my company. As much as a hate what I am doing and as much as it gives me a headache, I have a strong will to do a good job and get it right. If we fail, I will have failed. Maybe that is why I am dreaming about it.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(PrimoDonna on Jan 28, 2006 4:16 PM) You must be pretty important. But I knew that anyway! When I dream about my job, I tell my boss that I should be paid overtime. For some reason she does not agree!!

My “scan” reading gave me a giggle when I read the results of this trivia generator tool. Look at #3:

If you just read the first part of the sentence, it has a different meaning than the whole thing.

Prochein Amy can smell some things up …..

(trivia originally found at Bou’s)

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(mackenzie on Jul 5, 2006 6:15 PM) Sorry for this

Checked in with my anti-MIL after she picked up Oldest after the field trip. She is safe.

Whew.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(caltechgirl on Jan 27, 2006 6:17 PM) I’m glad she’s fine.

I remember when we went to the fair on a class trip as kids. It was crazy crowded, but so awesome. Especially to see all the animals (the Fresno county fair is almost exclusively agricultural). I’ll bet she had a blast.

My daughter is going on a field trip tomorrow to the Fort Worth Stock Show. I am freaking out. They will have chaperones and I think I trust that. But the Fort Worth Stock Show can get crazy crowded. What if she gets lost? What if someone grabs her?

On the instruction sheet the teacher recommened that the Chaperones bring a backpack to hold their lunches and antibacterial wet wipes, Kleenex, and bandaids. BANDAIDS!!!!!! Then at the bottom there is more in BOLD: Special Directions to Chaperones: You are repsponsible for the children in your care at all times. If they ride with you in your car, you are to make sure they are with you at all times and return back to the school with you.

I have been so reasonable about stuff before, but this is just freakin’ me out. Is this normal? Or are my chic hormones kicking in? I could have went as a Chaperone but since I missed work to take care of her while she was sick, I am behind on my work.

OK – (calming down) – I just read the second sheet of the info and it has a roster on it. It lists which parents are going and who is riding with them. My daughter is in the same car as the teacher. Oh my… I. feel. so. much. better.

Please tell me I am normal!!!

Update: After I posted this entry, I was going down my blog roll and read this. Heh.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (5)

Comments on this Entry:

(Bou on Jan 26, 2006 9:42 PM) Normal!

Those maternal instincts are amazing things aren’t they?

(caltechgirl on Jan 26, 2006 11:07 PM) I’m sure she’ll have a great time. Just make sure she knows what to do if she gets separated.

(MICHAEL MANNING on Jan 27, 2006 1:10 AM) Caltechgirl is right. As you know, I lived in D/FW and Fort Worth is a very friendly city compared to Big D. The people are kinder and I’m sure she’ll have a great time. It is normal to worry, yes! BUT: see Caltechgirl’s comments and you’ll be fine and so will she. Stop by and say hello!!!

(vw bug on Jan 27, 2006 2:07 PM) Very normal. I’m sure I would be just as upset.

(Winifred on Mar 3, 2006 3:59 AM) kaajbw ranbtkmbxav

This meme is going around and I have seen it everywhere. And since I have no good blog fodder, I will participate. This will be my only meme this year except for Blogcess!

Four Jobs I’ve Had In My Life:
Clerk at Baskin Robbins
Clerk at Seven-Eleven
Employment Interviewer
Computer Support

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over and Have:
The Iron Man
Pretty Woman
Usual Suspects
Batman – The Beginning

Four Places I have Lived:
Germany
Oklahoma
Hawaii
Texas

Four TV Shows I love to Watch
(These shows powered by TIVO!!!)
CSI
Monk
American Idol (yikes! I love it!)
Extreme Makeover – Home Edition

Four Places I have been on Vacation
Maine
Wine Country
Martha’s Vineyard
Hawaii (all the islands)

Four Websites I visit Daily ( I forgot to change Bou’s answers originally)
Gmail
Weather.com
My Blog to check…..
the most recently updated on my blogroll

Four Favorite Foods:
Velvetta with Rotel and beef with chips
40 Cloves of Garlic with a Chicken
Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Mixed together like soft serve.
Mexican food. This covers nachos, chalupas, burritos, etc. All of it. I could eat it every day.

Four Places I would rather be right now:
In bed asleep
A road trip with my family

This one was really hard. I have many vacation spots if that is what they are talking about, but nothing really comes to mind. I am just happy where I am. (wow!)

Four People I’m going to Tag
I won’t tag anyone but here are the people I joined:
CalTechGirl, Bou, Sissy, VW, Napster, 3T, and Lisamichelle.

Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(jenny on Jul 5, 2006 6:08 PM) Sorry for this