MACH or Bust

Resting on the couch with her "Change in Class" ribbon. This club had pretty up town change in class ribbons, as you can see.

This weekend, we visited the lovely metropolis of North Olmstead for a show sponsored by the Cleveland All Breed Training Club. It was a great trial - in an indoor soccer facility, VERY air conditioned, nice crating space. We ended up staying at this crappy little Motel 6...sleep was a little rough that first night, but we worked it out the second night. Lots of noises made one barky lab. I told her if she did not shut up, we were going to get kicked out...

We had a good weekend, going 3-4. Our first run was an absolute train wreck, due to handler error of course. At that point, I wondered if I had made a mistake in trying to compete this weekend. I was pretty upset and stressed out all week, and I knew she was feeling it too. But I spent some time just cuddling with her and we worked it out and had a great jumpers run after that. The first course this morning was a really fun course, and she absolutely nailed it. We needed a Q this afternoon to get out AXJ (first excellent jumpers title) and she nailed that too. We had a tricky entrance into the weave poles, which she hit spot on and then we just had fun after that - for our efforts, we were awarded our title, and a pretty nice ribbon to go with it. This club had some pretty good toys for Q's - I got her this string ball that should provide plenty of opportunity for her to whack herself silly. I will try to have the camera on hand to get a video of her "killing her toys dead".

While I was gone, my parents and brother painted my garage, despite me specifically telling my dad not to, so I could help them. My layoff has been very hard on them, as they feel pretty helpless in the situation. Again, I cannot imagine going through this without them. I had a lot of time to think while driving, and read an encouraging article on Saturday night in one of my accounting magazines about the qualities of a good employer. Before anyone says anything about reading an accounting magazine, I am trying to push through as much continuing education as possible to my former employer. I recently paid my Ohio Society of CPA's dues ($285) - on Friday, I paid my Association of Certified fraud examiner dues ($150) and my Association of Certified Public Accountants dues ($200). You can see how that adds up...CPE is important because I need to certify my continuing education at the end of the year because I need to renew my CPA license. If I read this particular magazine, take a quiz and pay $30, I get 2 hrs of CPE. The more I can do now they can pay for...you get it.

The reality of unemployment is setting in, I am not worried about what I will be doing tomorrow or when my first meeting will be. I still have a few things I want to discuss with my direct boss, but I have decided I will say my peace with him and be done with it. I know I will not be going in Tuesday or Wednesday, and have not decided if I will be going in tomorrow. I do need to spend some time with my team, probably on an individual basis, but I have the next few weeks to do that. I am still experiencing the moments of stability vs instability, and I hope that will subside shortly.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Stay tuned, the saga continues.