the latest addition to the Stauch family...

don't get your hopes up...we're not pregnant!

This is danny's new baby....


As I understand it, it's a 61" HD DLP Projection TV...plus or minus a few acronyms

what the stauch's are up to....

This posting is to catch you all up on the exciting life of the stauch's. My family (immediate and extended) have reminded me that I have not done enough posting lately.
This is a picture of me and most of my former roommates from college. Kind of random...I'd post a picture of dan and myself, but I'd bet we haven't taken a picture together since Christmas. Wait...I don't need to bet. I'm sure of it...hmmm, what did we do for my birthday or Valentine's Day....I don't know....but we didn't take a picture of it!!!

(oh! the above picture is from meg's birthday in July, so it's recent!)Another picture of your's truly at Cristy's going away party. *Sniff* She has left the good times in GR!!!!

Dan and I are still gainfully employed. I just started a new job in July; so I'm getting used to that still. We are seeing some of the fam on Labor Day. I have a weekend trip with the girls this weekend. Dan is leaving soon for another business trip....other than that, there's nothing new to report!

I tell ya, what a great blog...pictures, words, pictures and more words! That aught to keep you all satisfied for a while! (aught or ought??? is ought a word? it's not misspelled according to google!)

more work updates

Today I had 5 hours of training with various co-workers on specific areas of my job. By the time I had completed the third hour my brain was absolute mush! Luckily, I had a lunch break before the next two hours, but I was still recovering by the end of the day!

The first two hours were training on creating a database, importing the data into Excel, creating a pivot table, and analyzing the data. This part was not too bad because my co-worker did a good job of explaining how it worked, and I was familiar with both programs.

Then I go to another co-worker's cubical for the third hour. I sit down and he asks, "So how much do you know about programing?" My reply, "Nothing." You can visibly see his demeanor droop. My interpretation, "this is going to be rough." Let me tell you, rough doesn't even begin to explain it. I don't even know how to describe it. It was SO over my head. Here's the overall picture that I will be doing on a monthly/quarterly basis: create a report from data on our mainframe, let the report run (which may take a few days), save it to a specific place, import the data into an existing Excel spreadsheet, tweak the data so it fits the need, and finally, email it to the appropriate person. Sounds easy, right? not hardly.

After lunch was another hour of said programing mumbo-jumbo. I can tell you I absorbed nothing from that hour...

so that's my week so far!

First day on the job

Monday, July 2 was my first day at Foremost. All in all it was a boring day. they didn't have my computer set up, or my email, or my training schedule set. So I watched people a lot...at lunch...looked at some spreadsheets and that was it!

Tuesday was much more eventful. One might say overwhelming. I got a TON of information thrown at me. I think I understand most of it, but there are a lot of details that I'm sure I've not even begun to learn. I learned quite a bit about how to calculate the premium for a one year insurance plan on motorcyles. So I spent this evening telling Dan about how he can save money on motorcycle insurance. (he really wants a "motor bike") sometime in the future, honey...

Danny had a good day at work. (he's jealous that i'm talking about my day...)

:(

Today was my last day at the Center for Childhood Development. It was a sad day. They brought me gifts and cards which was really sweet of them, but saying good-bye to everyone was really hard. I really had a fun time working with all the people there. It is hard to leave a good work environment. The hardest part was when my co-workers said they would really miss my friendship at work...awwww, that brought a tear to my eye.

on to the next road in my life...

new job!

don't be shocked...but i'm actually posting on this thing!!!

I have BIG news!!! I have a new job as a "personal lines research specialist" at Foremost! I am starting on July 2, hopefully. I just need to jump through all the hoops and hope that Foremost can get all the paperwork together in time. They want me to start on July 2 so that I can get the yearly bonus next February...sounds good to me!

I put in my almost-two weeks notice today at work. It was a very difficult thing to do. I really like working there, the people are great, but I just need to move on and start my career.

So right now I am excited and sad at the same time.

Life is not fair!

Guess where Dan is right now???


Orlando, Florida!!! On a business trip...business? yay, right! He left this morning at 9 and will be home Sunday around 2 or 3. He will be going to Universal Studios and Pleasure Island with all expenses paid. They are getting the entire park closed down just for them...how nice! They will have a few meetings during the day...or so I've been told.

It was fun to read through his itinerary...
Breakfast: Provided by Ford Motor Company
Lunch: Sponsored by General Motors
Dinner: Hosted by Honda, etc. etc.

Must be nice to have all these sponsors for your meals...I bet they're good!

I begged and pleaded, but Dan wouldn't take me in his carry-on.

twice in one week!

yes, that is right, I am updating the blog twice in one week's time! yay for me!

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I just took my first practice test for my Actuarial exam. I got 9 out of 30 correct, and I guessed on 7 of the 9...i think I have a long way to go...what do you think? To my credit, I have only gone halfway through my study guide. So there was a solid 10 questions that I didn't even know where to begin or know what the topic was about. However, the other 20 I should have known. I just forgot what to do!

Back to studying...

blogging

On a recent shopping trip with my mom and Lacey, we got to talking about posting on our blogs. Lacey mentioned that her friend Murphy doesn't update as much as Lacey would like. To which I replied, "oh, she's kind of like me." To which Lacey immediately said, "no, actually she's a little better than you!" Darn! I lose!

I'm really not so good at this whole updating thing. As I'm sure you all have noticed...

We are alive!

I know it has been FOREVER since we (I) have posted. The holidays are such a busy time! We traveled all over Michigan and Indiana while celebrating Christmas. We have had many opportunities to see friends and family...it really is a wonderful time of year!

So yesterday, January 27, I finally took down our Christmas decorations! yay! I'm pretty excited that I actually got them down before February! Our apartment looks so bare now...we didn't have many decorations before Christmas and now we are back to the blah look.

Dan has been battling sickness after sickness this winter season. He is sick again today...making for a real exciting weekend!

We visited a new church today, Chapel Point in Jenison. We haven't had time to really discuss whether we liked it or not. We went to our friend's house, Cristy and Daniel, for lunch. Daniel was just hired on as Chapel Point's worship director. Chapel point is moving into their new facility in two Sundays which will change the feel of the service alot. I really want to check them out again once they are in their new building. One thing that was really good about the church was their donuts! They had HUGE chocolate glazed donuts! It was wonderful! (there were other things i liked about the church too...i'll write later to discuss those!)