Antoher one for the category of "things that make me go hmmmmm"
Huh? Is there a difference in auto loans for
these folks as opposed to
these folks?
I googled other types and auto loans and did not find a group like this. Another one for my list.
What a Week It Was
I was in the nation's capital all week, Washington D. C., and what a week it was! (For the gramatically correct challenged, Capitol is the building, Capital is the city - the two are not interchangeable).
When you fly into D. C. (I flew into National) you fly over the Pentag
on, you see the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the beautiful National Cathedral rises from a blanket of trees, the Potomac - it is all so wonderful to see. It makes me proud to see all of this and know that it belongs to all of us.
I was there for the PA Conference. I flew in Sunday and flew home Friday evening. I was there with all the other PAs from across the country. These are my peers, my coworkers and my friends. There are about 22 of us nationwide, so we are not a large group. We are, however, a tough group, a loud group, an outgoing group and an entertaining group. I have to say that these people are the most creative, energetic, outgoing and wonderful group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I consider many of them my friends. Bev, my Birmingham peer. She is my co-trainer, my friend and the southern belle of all southern belles. Her daughter calls us the redhead duo. Joe, my Houston peer. Joe is gregarious, has a deep laugh, is very thoughtful and introspective and has gotten several of us to routinely state "You can't make this shit up!". Nitza, my Miama peer. Nitza has the most wonderful energy around her. She is so animated and lively, with her adorable Puerto Rican accent. She brightens up a room when she enters. Santos, my Los Angeles peer. Well Santos is Santos. He is the person who I bicker with the most and we sounds like an old married couple when the reality is we adore each other and hit it off the minute we met in 2001. We can tell each other anything and know it is ok. Krista, my Phoenix peer. Krista really opened up this year and had a great time. She is very talented and lots of fun. Rodney, my San Antonio/Dallas peer. Rodney is very smart. He has a dry sense of humor that is totally on. He cracks me up all the time. I would say this is my core group. My group I can call any time day or night, and often have. I can vent when things go wrong and share when things go right. I can get ideas, ready made presentations or anything else I need from these people. I would be lost without them.
Highlights of the week:
- Dinner at Jaleo on Tuesday night. 14 of us and we were the loudest group in the restaurant. I think we were the group having the most fun. A friend of mine joined us and he was a bit overwhelmed at first. I am pretty sure he was glad dinner was over, since he has to live there. Brian (New York) was so funny. He kept ordering "more Sangria" with a flip of his arm. Our table of 7 did the Sangria in. Our bill was $380 for our Tapas and Sangria, compared to the table beside us at $220... hmmmm.
- We had to bring baby/toddler photos for a game and Rita forgot hers. I had an extra baby pic since I used the toddler pic - she used it. Only one person was suspicious, Linda, who came up to me and asked me if I had two photos up on the board. I started laughing and had to admit I did but told her that 1 was now Rita. After the game, we came clean. We are a devious bunch.
- Walking tour on Wednesday night. Joe, Krista and I decided to do some exploring after dinner on Wed. The rest of the group went back to the hotel (slugs). We walked up 17th from P Street to beyond U Street. We were in the gay area we figured out pretty quickly. The scene was lively and there were lots of folks at outdoor cafes and bars (gay or otherwise) and the mood was jovial. We enjoyed the architecture of the buildings we would walk past. We marveled at the wrought iron fences in front of the row/townhouses that were probably 100 years old or older. We turned and walked a bit and realized we were in a Middle Eastern section of town. We walked a block and saw a convenience store with several people milling around and realized that we were in a sketchy part of town. At this point, 5 police cars raced by with lights and sirens and the police helicopter circled above shining the light down on the area. We decided it was probably a good time to move on, quickly. We walked down 15th and were in an area of older townhouses, some is total states of disrepair and others lovingly restored. We talked about how much fun it was to just get out and walk around D. C. I would never get out and do this much walking at home - why? We saw some fabulous old churches and admired the ornate carvings and friezes along the tops of the buildings. Just incredible and interesting. We then noted a huge building on the street to the right of us as we were walking past it. It looked like a huge temple of some sort and took up the whole block. We were really impressed and inquiring minds want to know. So we cut through an alley to go see what this was. It was the The Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple. It was amazing!!! You can tour it here - go check it out. Of course, Santos kept calling wanting to know where we were at.
- Text messaging Santos while he was on a panel in front of the room. He cannot ignore his phone, no matter what he is doing. So Nitza and I kept texting him and he would grab his phone and look at the message and shoot us a dirty look. We laughed so hard. He got embarrassed when Laura said that we should go on and let Santos talk before he got another phone call.
- Brian - he was just too funny. He laughed so much this week at us that his sides hurt. He also tried to blame his excess Sangria and Scotch on "bad monkfish". The round of applause when he walked into the room the next morning looking like he had been run over. He was trying to slip in but there were those of us who were not going to let him go unrecognized.
- Dinner at the Thai Restaurant and the waiter chasing Brian on the street. Priceless.
- The roundtable with Rudy, Brian, Nitza, Kritsa, Santos & I. We played the "Say one thing good about each person at the table" game. We laughed so hard, there were a few tears but some really honest moments. Ahhhh group hug.
- Tydell & Phyllis singing Proud Mary in the hall after the day had ended. That was priceless.
It really was a great week. I was ready to come home for sure but I was glad I got to hang with some really incredible people for a week.
