MVP

I feel as if my posts have become boring of late. Yes, I can update everyone on some of the day-to-day events of my life, but where are the crazy anecdotes? Where is the witty commentary? The truth of the matter is that now that I am working odd hours, my life has pretty much settled down into a steady routine of work, sleep, talk about wedding, work more etc. I guess this is the "real world" that everybody is always talking about.

On the work front my training class had our "graduation" this past week. Basically what this means is that we start making our real salaries, receive our commissions, and need to screw up a whole lot more in order to get fired. One personal bright spot was during graduation when I was named the training class MVP for my training performance and helpfulness to others.

So that's about it for me right now. Work, sleep, and wedding. Life as normal. Oh yeah, and the Palestinians elected a recognized terrorist group that refuses to disarm and openly calls for the destruction of Israel as their political voice. Like I said, life as normal.

I'm Certifiable!

During the training phase of my new job (which I am currently in) we learn the process that AOL wishes us to employ when we receive phone calls. At some point, everyone working on the project becomes certified in this technique and in doing so becomes eligible for additional bonuses. Also, if you don't get certified in a certain amount of time I'm pretty sure they fire you. Or at least yell a lot. In general, people graduate from the training program and become certified sometime within the first month or two. A select few become certified while still in the training phase, and ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I am now one of the few, the proud, the certified. I'm also a marine. And that's really me in the commercial. I underwent a magical transformation and killed that beast thing in the volcano. But this whole being certified thing is even cooler.

Like Call Me OK?

Ring ring......"Hello, this is Adam at America Online. I apologize if you had to wait on hold. What can I do for you today?" That would be what I would say....if I were me. That's right. My new job is working in an IDT (a large telecommunications company) callcenter doing outsourced customer service and billing for AOL. It's just my way of giving something back. And they pay pretty well. Oh, and I don't know if I mentioned, it's an overnight shift, 11 PM - 7 AM. Good times for the Adam-meister.

Not Good

Israel Channel 1 has just reported that following a CT scan Sharon has been taken back into surgery. It doesn't take a degree in neuroscience to know that this is not a good sign.

Uh-Oh

Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel has suffered from a sizable stroke. His doctor left the hospital refusing to comment. At 6:45 Israel news is going to broadcast a report on his condition. Sharon would almost surely have won the upcoming elections in March. Now the entire political situation in Israel is going to be thrown into a state of disarray. This is big. Real big.

She Won!

I know that all of you want to know about my new job, but there is more important news that takes precedence, so you'll just have to wait.

Since the beginning of Hanukkah Michelle and I have been playing an neat little game that I encourage all of you to try. It bears a certain resemblance to the game con artists play in the subways of New York City. After candle lighting on the first night of Hanukkah I brought Michelle into my bedroom where eight identical ring boxes were lined up on the bed. The rules of the game were simple. Each night she would select one of the ring boxes. One of the boxes contained her engagement ring, while the others contained other various Hanukkah presents. I thought it would be a fun game. Thankfully Michelle did too. While she had "suffer" through other assorted (but still very nice) gifts the first three nights of Hanukkah, I am proud to report on the fourth night Michelle found the ring box she was really looking for. I got down on one knee, proposed, and she said yes. We are now engaged. We will be married. It's going to be an extremely happy new year. I wish you all the same.