Skate or Die

Remember that video game? I used to play it on the Nintendo at my friend Shaun Hunsaker's house, and his stepdad Tom would call us Nintendo Nerds. Anywho...

I usually go ice skating about once a year. And that one time is the annual institute ice-skating activity, which just happened to be this weekend. There was quite the large crowd there and we all had a great time. Though I haven't done much skating, I still feel like I've got decent skills. Apparently when you spend as much time as we did playing street hockey on Canyon Cove Drive and on the Clarke's Sport Court, that ability sticks with you.

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"Wild & Wonderful" Weekend in WVa

When you need to get out of the DC area, there are many options here on the East coast. New York, Amish Country, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Hershey, Colonial Williamsburg, and a plethora of beaches are within just a few hours. But there's one gem that gets forgotten. Yes, that gem is West Virginia.A group of 16 of us rented a cabin in West Virginia for the weekend and escaped civilization (for the most part). We had no internet, TV, or even cell phone service. Instead, we enjoyed lots of fresh air, sunshine, and nature.

We spent our time going on hikes, hot-tubbing,

playing horseshoes,

dining on scrumptious vittles,

canoeing,

reading poetry,

and speed-scrabbling.

It was a great weekend and just what we all needed. Thanks, Amber, for arranging everything and making it such a fun time!

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Unkey Aaron x 3

Question: What's better than being an uncle to this cute little guy?

Answer: Being an uncle to that cute little guy and two more cute little girls!

Yes, I have been informed that my sister-in-law is preggers with twin baby girls, and she's due sometime in June/July. I'm so excited and I'll keep you updated!

Note: This ultrasound is not of my actual nieces. It is from the internet :)

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The Car Curse of the 2008 Geico Audit

It's been a rough week for cars owned by people on our audit team.

• Matt (senior #2) got a flat tire while driving home at 11 pm. Then, while changing the tire, his battery died. So he had to wait until the tow truck came and he didn't get home until about 2 am.
• Marc (partner) had a fender bender. Nothing too big, but enough to turn him off from driving for a bit -- though he prefers to metro when possible, anyway.
• Erick (senior #1) was run off the road and hit the curb, messing up his wheel and causing him to have to use a rental car for a week and a half.
• Phillip (1st year) almost got hit by a cabbie as he was driving to work. Now, this isn't particularly surprising, given our working in Washington, DC. But according to him, it was even closer to being an accident than cabbie's normally are.
• And I (2nd year) was about 3 inches away from being the front car in a 4 car fender bender. I turned onto M Street from the Key Bridge, and as we all slowed down at the next light (which was red), I heard crunches behind me and saw the jarring effect of several cars behind me hitting each other. Fortunately, I was able to inch up right by the car in front of me, and that provided just enough room that the car behind me didn't get knocked into mine. It was too close for comfort, that's for sure.

So if you're on the Geico audit team, beware and drive very cautiously!

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Step or Modern Dance Show? How About Both!

Well don't let anybody tell you that I'm not cultured. This weekend I saw a duet of dancing diversity and it was delightful.

First, I went with a group of ward friends to see a Step Show and the GW Lisner Auditorium. There were fraternities, sororities, and high school teams in the competition and they all showed great power and strength in their unified movements. In the end, we all agreed that the high school teams dominated through their preparation and not relying on a gimmicky theme like some of the college teams did.

Second, I went with my co-worker friend, Elizabeth, and some of her friends, to see a modern dance performance at the Kennedy Center. We saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform, and for those that know modern dance (which I don't), that name is immediately recognizable. I definitely saw why they're known in the modern dance world. They showed such grace and fluidity in their movements, and on occasion it just took my breath away.

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Music Videos that Move Me

So I can't get through my day without music. It just wouldn't happen. The audit room is too quiet most of the time, and the click clack of laptop keys and mouse buttons is maddening. Therefore, I latch onto music videos on YouTube and they carry me through the hours as I fill in workpapers and write memos.

Here are a few that have moved me through the years, whether due to great cinematography or just very emotionally charged. A big "thank you" goes out to my friends for pointing most of these out to me and thus saving my sanity.

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie


Winter Song by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
Sorry, I couldn't embed this one, but I linked it for your semi-convenience.

Click, Click, Click by Bishop Allen


I Wonder by Kellie Pickler


Everything by Lifehouse


Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros


I'm sure I'll find more on my musical and work odyssey, so there may be future posts like this one. Enjoy!

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Today's CLM

Oh boy was I ever close to having a CLM today at work!

What? You've never heard of a CLM? Here's the entry from www.urbandictionary.com:

"CLM - Career Limiting Maneuver (or Move) - When you do something stupid in front of co-workers that can potentially cause you to never move up in the company."

Here's how it happened. I don't currently have a senior on my audit, so my workpapers go directly to a manager for review. Well, this manager is very, how do I put this, "thorough" in performing the review process.

So today I got back some workpapers and they had about 90 review notes between 4 workpapers. For those of you not in public accounting, that is a ton of review notes. And several of the notes involved major changes to the work performed. We discussed the major changes for a few minutes, so I'd know what my manager wanted done. Then I got back to my desk and decided to vent a little to the first year on the audit (we both feel that this manager is causing delays to the audit through unnecessary changes to the audit process).

I opened up the instant messenger and quickly typed something to the effect of "it's just so frustrating to do the workpapers how they were done last year and not have anything kick out of threshold [show up as a problem, in accountant terms], and then have to change everything". As I pushed Enter, I glanced at the recipient line and, to my immediate horror, saw my manager's name. But the message had been sent and it was too late to recall it.

Quick thinking saved the day. I spoke before my manager could make any determinations about the intent of the message. Basically, I made a comment saying the exact same thing, but in a light-hearted tone to convey that I wasn't upset but that it's just the nature of improving the audit. Fortunately, my cover-up worked and I don't think there will be any effect on my performance evaluation due to my CLM. Phew!

Lesson to self: double check who the recipient is before sending messages, especially when you're venting or saying something less-than-positive.

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