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I’m really enjoying the new Relient K album. The first 13 tracks are all original, and they have a very ‘country’ feel to them. Still quite punky at times, but the country flavour makes it very different indeed. The rest of the tracks are all b-sides and acoustic versions. Quite cool as well. But I am greatly enjoying the new sounds.

Yesterday was quite the busy, but awesome day…

Got up nice and early and headed to Hornsby station to leave my car. I jumped on a train and found Sammy at Beecroft station and we headed into the city. The Aroma Festival was on in the rocks. It’s apparently for lovers of coffee, chocolate, tea and spice - but all we cared about was the coffee. We started with some turkish coffee, but that was a big mistake. We tried some awesome 100% fair-trade and organic Republica coffee, which was pretty brilliant. But the peak of the day came a few moments later when we had a perfect latte from my friends at Velluto Nero. It’s quite possibly the closest thing to coffee perfection that I’ve tasted, and perhaps will ever taste. I will definitely miss that place with not working in the city anymore. After having some Danes Gourmet Coffee to finish it off, we headed back to Wynyard and back on a train to Hornsby… Just slightly buzzing.

edit: Forgot to add here in the middle that I had lunch at Cathy Bell’s place. Hang time with Thornleigh people was quite fun :) It was a pity that I could only stay for a couple of hours… but it was still a great time. I got in trouble for not including that.

I headed back down to Toonie for band practice. I found out about half an hour before practice was due to start that there was no drummer. It was a bit frustrating to hear… but surprisingly, it didn’t actually get me down too much. I told all the musos straight up, and just suggested that we focus on working each song acoustically, and just really listen to each other. The first run-through was very rough, but once we worked out an order, and then decided how each song would be done, it sounded tops for the final run-through. It was a challenge and a half, and I was definitely feeling exhausted by the end of the service… but it was a great experience. And importantly, it was a great time to sing cool songs to God :)

And then it was dinner time at Hogs Breath! Debbie was visiting, so she came with all of us Toonie people. And it was a really fun night out hanging with those guys. We had some good times reminiscing about old House of Bach days, and all-night LAN parties and Bathurst challenges on the Xbox. Ahh good times :) But then it was time for James to go home and clean his room. It looks good now though!

Monday has gone fairly quickly. I’m loving the fact that I woke up at 7:30 this morning, left the house at 8, and was still early to work. Love it.

Why is the new Relient K album not on iTunesAU yet?!

Kutless’ new album was there on its US release date. But no Relient K.

I’m sad.

edit: It’s ok. I found it at Word bookstore in the city. So a Saturday morning adventure into the city just to get a CD was on the cards. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do silly things like that later on… :)

It has been quite the busy week. I’m not a fan of having the end of the financial year on a Monday. By Tuesday arvo I was definitely feeling like I needed the weekend quite desperately.

Wednesday and Thursday were some all-day training things. Found it hard to keep from being tired just sitting and listening. But it was good stuff. And then today has been pretty relaxed too - I packed up my desk here in the city this morning before heading out to Parra to get it all set up so that it’s all ready for Monday morning. We were supposed to have a meeting this arvo about 08/09 sales targets, and so I trotted back into the city… but in the end, it was postponed. That was a bit frustrating, but not so bad. I had some chinese food for lunch, and then just went through some work emails briefly. What’s really strange (for me anyway) is that I haven’t had my work computer on and been logged in since Monday afternoon. It’s quite strange and unusal for me.

Now I’m just sitting here killing time waiting for my boss’s new computer to finish building and get it set up for her. Yes, I’m a mobile sales specialist. :)

One week til Kedron begins. Crazy. There’s still a bit to do… but not much I don’t think. I’m feeling quite anxious… but that’s normal for me. I’m pretty certain everything is done… I just want to get there and get into it.

I’m gonna head home soon and start working on the final hour-by-hour timetable that I like to have. And that is good to have. Then it will be dinner at parentals’ time with Debbie and my sister and Ryan too.

I think I’m going to love working at Parra.

I don’t have a parking spot just yet, but when I get it, it will be right under the building! But until then, the public parking I’ll use is only just across the road. No more 10 minute walk each way!

Peak hour looks like it’ll be a breeze. I just left the office this arvo at 4:45 and it took me 2 minutes and two sets of lights before I was well on my way to James Ruse Dr to head over here to Debbie’s place. So very quick.

Importantly, the two newly formed account management teams that I’ll be working with each day seem tops. Good bunch of people who know their stuff. Definitely going to mean some good sales and at the moment, I can’t see any hassles.

The office is pretty sweet. Reasonably recently rennovated, and absolutely massive desks. After a brief argument with Shay, my device specialist sidekick, I scored the window view desk :) and there is plenty of room around our desk - just need to convince the boss that having a couch there is going to mean increased sales. Hmm, that might take a bit of work.

I’m looking at moving my stuff out there on Monday I think.

I went on a little hunt this arvo for some coffee. I found Hudsons coffee. Very funky looking shop, but in the end I reckon it could just be like just a mini Starbucks - too much money in looking good. The coffee was incredibly hot and nothing to get excited about. The search shall continue on Monday.

But three cheers for 40 minute return trip each day… as opposed to the current average 2.25 hour return! Love it.

What a day that was. I woke this morning feeling quite energised and looking forward to the day. And I finished feeling incredibly drained and disappointed.

I started the day with my monthly sales on $270k or so. My target is $221k per month, so I was quite happy with already making my target. But there was a sale on the table - we’d visited this customer and chatted at length with them on Thursday last week. It was all very positive, and this sale alone was worth $180k. And the customer had said they wanted to decide by the end of fin year - today. So that’s why I was all energised and looking forward to today - it was going to be pretty much the only thing on my mind and I was going to drop anything for it.

And in the end, the only thing we could do was wait. There was a few emails back and forth, and we were missing the mark on pricing a little. But it was still just a lot of waiting. At 4:30, we got told that there was a small gap we needed to make in order to get the signature. We made that gap… but only at 5:45 this arvo. And by then, the decision maker had gone home, and there wasn’t a chance of getting it signed today. That was definitely a massive letdown - the three of us had given so much energy, and I think a lot of emotion to it today. And if it’d come through, it would’ve been one of the biggest months in mobile sales that area of Telstra has ever seen. But it wasn’t too be.

So driving home this evening, I felt incredibly drained and very disappointed. But we’ll get it signed tomorrow or Wednesday, and I’ll be about 80% toward my target for July already… but it would’ve been awesome to have my first month in a new job be the best Telstra had ever seen in that area.

I’m sitting here enjoying City Homicide. I was all excited that it was back last week… but then realised it was this week that it started. I loved the first season, so I’m hoping this second season is just as great.

As previously reported, wedding is on the 3rd January in 2009! Slight change, but now we can lock it in!

Church booked: tick.
Parents a-ok: tick.
Sister and brother-in-law on board: important tick!
Guido born: [hopefully] tick.
Speaker dude booked: recent, but exciting tick.
Reception booked: not yet… but next on the list.

Very exciting times ahead, me thinks. :)

It was quite funny to hear that my Aunty and Uncle up in Hervey Bay were so excited about our wedding that straight away on Monday morning they booked their flights down to Sydney for the 27th December! Oh dear. That’s what you get for being too organised.

Quite a calmer Saturday than the last :) Just had some good luncheon with b, and then headed out to say goodbye to the lovely Nina, who is off to the Congo, and then onto America for possibly quite a few years. Sad to see her go.

Last night we headed out to dinner with Toonie people and to the movies too. Possibly not the best decision - we were both quite tired. But dinner was nice, and then we went to watch Get Smart. I did laugh, a lot, at the start… but as the movie got toward the end, I got quite bored. Pity. Steve Carrell is quite a funny guy, but he just plays the same character over and over. That will get boring quickly if he’s not careful.

Still no firm date on when I’ll be heading out to work from Parra. Tuesday is when things all kick off out there, but there’s apparently desk allocation issues at the present - good ol’ Telstra: think of a great idea, but not quite think through the logistics. I think Shay [my sidekick who's coming with me to work from Parra] and I will just do a lot of back and forth in the meantime. I’ve only got two weeks and then I’m on leave for a week anyway.

Everything is happening at the moment.

Aside from the obvious huge thing of marriage and such, Kedron is just around the corner, and I still need to get heaps of stuff done for that. It will be an absolutely massive week, but it will be cool.

But Kedron lands right in the middle of something else huge: I just had it confirmed that I’ll be moving offices - I’m off to Parramatta! :D This is a good thing cos travel time goes from 2 hours per day down to about 45 min per day. There are some farily big internal restructure things happening, and some account executives who sit out at those offices are now coming under our banner, and so we’re providing a mobile specialist resource to support them. And I was the lucky one :)

One of our mobile fulfilment type specialists who I already work with at the moment is coming out with me as well, which I’m stoked about… cos we already work well together and it will be good to keep something consistent.

In the end, the customers aren’t that different to the ones I’ve just gotten used to over the last 6 weeks. The bonus will be that these account executives haven’t ever had mobile specialist resources available to them, so it’s a great chance for me to be able to set the rules about how they engage me in a sale, what I do and don’t do, etc. But the flipside is that they’re quite “amateur” as far as mobile education goes, and so there will be a lot of training, leading and coaching to be done, and that will be my responsibilty.

Knowing that they are going to need a lot of coaching, I felt a little overjoyed when my boss asked me to be the one to head out there. It’s a bit of pressure, cos in the end, I am heading back to management type things, still with the expectation to make mobile sales and hit a $$ figure each month. But it’s all being seen as very positive, and I’m pretty stoked about how it’s all panned out too.

I’m trying to think through a 30/60/90 day plan that I will have to present to my boss in a little while about how I’m going to approach the whole thing and what I want to have acheived by the end of each month. I wasn’t keen on that when she asked for it… but looking at it now, it’s going to make things a lot clearer in my head.

Oh, and this all only surfaced last Thursday… and I will probably start there in a week. :) Here’s hoping that I can actually stay put in one job for more than a few months this time round.

wondering if a certain young twittering telstra working man might be interested in a lovely lady friend he is yet to meet
07:43 PM December 24, 2007

Wondering if James likes friendly, fun, musical, primary school teaching, 24 yr old females
10:36 PM December 24, 2007

In answer to the second question: yes. :)

Wow, that was an intense weekend! So intense that I’m home from work today cos I’m utterly exhausted (but have a sore throat too). It will probably only be topped by a weekend about 6 months away :)

Saturday was just amazing, as you’ve already read. But then Sunday was more stressful in some ways! It was wonderful to be able to see both our families and have them be so excited for us. But lots of thinking, and telling the story a lot meant that by Sunday evening, I was very drained :)

I headed to Debbie’s place, and Jen & Howie came for a visit. Howie made sure we knew he thought it was yuck :) We chatted about wedding dates briefly, and Debbie’s mum kinda wanted to then go into reception plans too… but there was no way we were ready to start talking about that yet. We watched a movie before heading back to Toonie to hang out with the Three Tops Toonie Chicks for coffee at GJs. It was a great time seeing them and celebrating with them too. Then it was off to visit my parents and enjoy the excitement one more time. We chatted about dates too, and it was good to be able to leave there with the 27th December pretty much locked in.

Then it was time to head back to Thornleigh for church… and psyching ourselves up for being excited still, even though our energy levels were starting to drop. :) Debbie’s pastor was very lovely and, as slightly embarrassing as it was, got us up on the stage and prayed for us during the service. And then we got to share with all her/our friends after the service was over… many fun reactions, and it really was a very good evening.

Finally, a patient Sammy dragged us away and we headed off to Pennant Hills to have some very yummy pizza, and have some really good quality time hanging out with a guy who’s pretty special to both Debbie and I. It’s been awesome to get to know Sam - he and Debbie have been friends for ages, and so for he and I to get on so well and become such great mates so quickly has been really awesome.

And then the day was done. It was time to head home and sleep. Sleep a deep, deep sleep.