One Week Down

I have made it through my first week at my new bank, First Bank of Manhattan. Overall I think it went very well and was nicely capped off by a Grand Opening celebration of their new branch located at 550 W. North St. in Manhattan. It is a beautiful branch and I'm very happy that my branch is being designed and constructed by the same team.

This week will be another busy one. Although Monday is my scheduled day off (and will be until my branch is ready), I will be attending the Manahattan Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours at our new facility. Tuesday and Wednesday I have meetings in the morning and then the rest of the week should be relatively uneventful.

Tomorrow is "Sunday Dinner at the Bennett's" and if I'm lucky maybe a little Uno Rummy Up or Kings in the Corner. Oh, and I've got some clothes to wash.... Luckily it's so much easier with what I call my "OxiBall" or more specifically OxiClean Detergent Balls with the Toss-N-Go Dispenser. Find out more about the product here. Take it from me, it works great.

Also, there are some new photos in the gallery. Click here for that and enjoy!

Abbie in her Garage

Aug 20, 2006 - 3 Photos

Demolition Derby Car

Aug 26, 2006 - 2 Photos

First Day

While my first day was met with some initial apprehension, I think that it went very well. The teller system is completely different yet I was able to process transactions on my own after only a few times watching my trainer. I also stuffed statements, weighed and metered mail, and took all of the day's mail to the post office. Had a nice lunch as well.

Tomorrow there is a meeting at 8am so I'm off to bed. More to report as the days go by....

Three New Albums

Some new photo albums have been added to the gallery page.

Josie's Crazy Ears

Aug 15, 2006 - 2 Photos

Iowa State Fair 2006

Aug 14, 2006 - 35 Photos

Abbie in her Garage

Aug 20, 2006 - 3 Photos

Home

Home now. Feels good to sit in a chair that is not a car seat. The drive was uneventful for the most part. Stopped twice. Even made it on one tank of gas and it just got to the quarter tank mark!!! How exciting is that?

Abbie is okay. She seems happy to be "home" and was eating heartily last time I looked at her.

The big day is coming - Monday. I hope to post a full report.

Changing

 Apparently I'm playing the "how many times can I change the way my new blog looks" game. I have finally settled on a template although I'm not completely thrilled with it. It's different enough to satisfy me yet I still like the original better. However I have vowed to venture into the unknown (seem to be doing that a lot lately) so it is what it is.

Went to another casino today, actually had fun. Then we went to the outlet mall in Williamsburg, IA where I picked up a few items for the kitchen. Overall a good day.

And now... some long-overdue TV commentary. What's up with Chicken George winning HOH and then nominating James and Erika? If you don't know what I'm talking about read no further - you will probably not be very interested. For the uninitiated I am referring to Big Brother All-Stars, my summer obsession (and I am not overstating that at all). I am anxious to see what transpires. My feeling is that if James does not win POV (that's Power of Veto), he will get voted out. Then what will happen.... Oh, I can't wait.

Vacation Update

My mini-vacation is halfway over and I'm already wishing it was two weeks instead of one. So far I have made two trips to Oskaloosa, one trip to Des Moines (including a side trip to Altoona), and tooled around Pella.

My first excursion was with Mom to JCPenney in Oskaloosa's wonderful Penn Central Mall. It is seriously the smallest Penney's I have ever seen - the whole store is walkable in under a minute. I got a couple pairs of shorts and picked out some new polos for my dad. Overall a good trip.

On Monday we went to the Iowa State Fair. It was fun. Highlights include the RVs, the pre-fab houses, the "sky tram," and the food. I took a lot of pictures but due to not having access to my computer, I have been unable to get them online. I will work on that. After the fair we went to the Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino. We stayed there for seven hours. No, that is not a typo. Seven hours. I was bored out of my mind. I can handle slots for an hour, maybe two - three at the very most. But seven. That's a bit excessive.

For the last two days I have basically been sitting at home by myself since everyone else is either working or at school (or both). I haven't gotten much accomplished although I have managed to work out my parent's DVR/DVD Recorder issues. In fact, I am so impressed with their DVR that I am considering ordering one from Comcast when I get back home.

Tomorrow (or is it today?) the plan is to go to the Amana Colonies to walk around and maybe do a little shopping. We are also going to a Casino. Yes. Another casino. Hopefully it won't be seven hours this time. Seven.

Friday Mom and I will be going to the nice new Jordan Creek mall. Hopefully I will find some good "deals."

Link to Old Blog

 I realized in my last post that I did not post a link to the original "ben's journal." It was (is) located at http://bhinc.home.comcast.net/.

First Post - New Blog

 This is my first post to my new Google Accounts-enabled blog. The following is just some testing...

• Bold
  
• Italic
• Color
• Hyperlink

Supposedly I will be able to merge my old blog (using the original Blogger) with my new blog (using the new beta Blogger) at some point. Until then I will post all new posts to the new blog which will be hosted on BlogSpot.

Thanks for following me...