Merrill Lynch = Paid Stress

As of August 1st, I began the quest of studying for the nation's 4th hardest exam, the Series 7. This is the evil monster of financial exams and I have to pass it on Friday next week (Sep. 16). I am stressed out like no other. I go in at 8 and leave at 4 at work and my one job is STUDY. ALL DAY! The wonderful catch, they have invested in me. They pay me to do this studying all day and that fact puts even more pressure on me to pass the exam.
     On a brighter note, I love the office and the potential of the job. I am getting used to being a "Pellican". I've also started to get used to investing in the community (church, sports, etc). I can promise one thing is my kids will not have that stupid Kyle Korver hair cut, where they have to flip it back every 10 seconds. ha ha. I've been very blessed to have a very good job, nice office, and support all around me. I feel very lucky to be in the position I am, now I just have to pass the exam so I can stay here. ha ha.

 Name on the door and everything!

This is the office. The master sits in that chair.

Labor Day Weekend

     Labor Day Weekend didn't involve much rest for me. I took advantage of the three day weekend and had some fun with friends and family. It all got started on Saturday morning nice and early when Jordan, Mike Kleis, and I went to Iowa City and watched the Hawks destroy Tennessee Tech. As the pictures show you, it POURED! Despite the rain I had a really good time.
     I came home to Pella on saturday and went to a movie with Alex. We saw Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carrell. It was a pretty funny movie. Then came Sunday and after church I chilled at home for a little then drove to Ames to hang out with high school buddies, Trevor and Spencer. That was great, I don't always get to catch up with high school friends, we had a fantasy football draft then played some XBOX and went downtown Ames.
     I woke up nice and early on Monday morning and watched my fiance, Alex, win her second game in a row to start the season 2-0!! (They won two games total last year). It was a fun soccer game because my parents and grandparents came to watch Alex play, and she played really well and the game went to overtime. I continue my battle of learning the game of soccer.
    Sunday afternoon was then filled with golfing with Cody Thie and Spencer and Trevor drove down to Pella to finish out our foursome. Was a great time and an awesome finish to a very active and fun filled holiday weekend.

 Taylor, myself, Trevor, and Spencer in Ames.

 This is how close Cody came to hitting a hole-in-one.

 Our seats at the Iowa game, it was dry for about 20 min

And this is yours truly, soaking wet going back to the tailgate.

Spencer, probably about to slice it into the other fairway.

Back to Blogging

I figure there is a lot going on in my life right now and blogging would be a good way for friends and family to keep up! My sisters Ashley and Morgan have very neat and successful blogs (in small circles, ha ha). But I love reading and viewing pictures about their daily lives because I don't live close to them anymore. This is my 3rd attempt at holding a blog, and now that I have a concrete schedule and a lot of new things entering my life, I feel the blog re-boot has good timing.

Also, later today I will have my first official "real" post and if anyone has a better title for my blog page, let me know, I can't think of anything. I'm looking for something creative with a reference to my name or location or job or something. So comments welcome!