A sad day

The son of one of the girls in the stitching community disappeared yesterday and has not been found as of yet. Please visit Perle Moon (in my blogroll) for more details. I don't know Stacey as well as a lot of the other bloggers do, but my heart aches so badly for her right now. I am not a mother, but I can't imagine the feeling of not knowing where my child is tonight. My heart goes out to you, Stacey...I will be thinking of you all day tomorrow as I was all day today, and I hope with every ounce of my being that I come home from work tomorrow to find that David has been located. Hugs to you and your family, Prinncess Stacey. UPDATE: David was found alive this morning and is fine! SO happy for you, Prinncess Stacey!

As for me and today...well, it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. I did get that fire assignment in Fort Worth, but since I need a full day out there and it's an hour away, I was able to talk the homeowner into letting me come tomorrow morning instead. So, it's going to be an early morning! And my boss had a proposition for me...take TWO fires today and sit in for her on Monday, and we'll call it even. No more claims until I come back from vacation. In other words, that means that after I do these two inspections tomorrow and Wednesday, I have seven full business days to wrap up and finish my claims and I have no new work coming in. Talk about a great deal! I jumped on that! But I did come up with a funny name for her that seems to be taking off with my team...I not-so-affectionately nicknamed her "Queenie". Long story. *evil grin* Let's just say that the reason why she and I get along so well is mostly because we are both Type A personalities...I'm just smart enough to realize that I'd never make a good supervisor because I'd drive my team to drink with all the nitpicking. I'm much better as an adjuster than I would ever be as a manager. But at least now I have a name for her...since there's no way I'm posting her real name in my journal!

The gym was good tonight, although I am a little more sore than normal. My biceps and back are aching up a storm, and that certainly means that my chest and tricep muscles are soon to follow. Oh, joy. The spinning instructor at the gym tonight cornered my friend and I and made us promise to take his class on Thursday. We can't back out now!

I got the greatest compliment tonight from one of my policyholders. It's so rare that any one of my customers ever compliments me like this. It's on a fire that I received in late May. The reconstruction is well underway and I've talked to this guy probably about every other week or so. Tonight he called me and we discussed several aspects of his claim in detail as we always do. At the very end, he said that I must have to have an excellent memory to do this job so well. I asked him what he meant. He said that every time he calls me, he always expects to have to refresh my memory about the details of his claim, but never has to...he said that every time we talk, he is just stunned at the detail in which I remember what he had in his garage, the look of every one of his rooms, what we discussed on the phone four weeks ago, etcetera, and he never has to remind me of anything. Not even his name or his claim number! Granted, a lot of it is detailed in my notes, both computer and handwritten, but he's right...I do remember every detail of his house right down to the diamond-shaped insert in his foyer ceiling with the intricate plaster molding! How I can remember that but yet can't remember what I did last weekend, I'll never know.

I don't think he'll ever know how much that compliment meant to me, even though I thanked him profusely. It is one of the nicest compliments work-wise that I've ever received. I take such pride in my work, and for someone to pick up on that aspect of my job just really meant a lot. My OCD tendencies carry over quite a bit to my job and to be honest, I think being a little obsessive and ultra-detail-oriented is what makes me a really good adjuster. When I'm in a house, I take pictures, yes, with my camera, but also with my mind, because I know there are going to be so many opportunities over the next few months where I'm going to need to visualize that house when making decisions, negotiating with contractors, etcetera.

One of the highlights of my day today was eating this Lean Cuisine meal I bought this weekend...spaghetti and meatballs. Only 5 g of fat and the caloric intake wasn't too bad. I'm really surprised at how much tastier those Lean Cuisines have gotten since I ate them last, probably when I was in college. Anyway, do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had spaghetti on a non-free day??? A LONG time. It tasted like heaven. I have sworn off premade foods for a long time, but they aren't really that bad, and I just get so sick and tired of cooking all the time. Especially in heat like this! Also, I did get to stitch tonight...one hour on In The Arms of An Angel while watching part of The Fugitive. So productive.

I guess I better go to sleep. I need to be walking out of the house tomorrow morning no later than eight am, and it's going to be an early morning. Please stay tuned though...it's TV Tuesday, and I'll post my responses when I get home from the dark side of the Moon. (To forever be known in the future as Fort Worth!)