March 31, 2010

One Month!

This will just be a short update.

I caught up on all my file openings (yay!).  But within moments the bossman had another 8 or so files for me to open.  So I have been slowly pluggin away on those.  The new girl is still MIA.  He's had a couple of interviews with different girls but again did not seem too impressed with any of them after they left so it's unlikely any of them will be my new replacement.  Sigh.  Tomorrow marks my one month milestone for articing.  nd still, same crap shoot.

Yesterday we started packing up the 2009 files finally.  It has only been three months afterall.  So we have to take out all the files from the filing cabinets, make sure they are in alphabetical order and place them into boxes.  There are so many files and boxes.  Currently, the 2010 files are scattered all around the office so it will be nice to finally get these 2009 files into storage and have room in the cabinets for the files that closed this year.  So I've spent at least two hours sorting through all these files and I am in pain.  I really don't think this is in my job description!

Managed to hit up the Maple Syrup Festival in Burlington on the weekend.  Had a wonderful pancake and bacon and maple syrup meal.  Yum.  Plus bought some maple syrup candies and lollipops and watched how maple syrup was made.  There were cows and pigs and peacocks (yuck!) also on site.  We walked the Maple Lane and Trillium trails.  Photos to come once I upload them.

Watched Funny People.  Don't.  It's not funny.

Watched Veronika Decides to Die last night.  Not sure if that's even been released in Canada yet.  It's based on the Paolo Coelho book.  Stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jonathan Tucker.  It was good.  Spiritual but not too godly or religious.  I rather enjoyed it.  Very dramatic.  Watching a Sarah Michelle Gellar masturbating scene followed by a hot and heavy sex scene with your mother right next to you makes for good movie viewing!

That is all.  Sorry it's so short and sporadic.  Not in the blogging mood tonight.

March 25, 2010

The Carrie Underwood Spectacle

The days at the office have been kind of blending together lately which is why my blogs are not all that work related.  But you just wait!  SOON!  When that new girl gets hired and I have trained the hell out of her, I will be learning my new tasks and I will have plenty to tell you folks.  As for now, nothing too exciting.  Although, the clients are still hilariously bizzare.  Like this one the other day called us up.  I answer the phone with the law firm's name so everyone knows who they are calling.  Anyways, he proceeds to tell me that someone emailed him and sent him our initial letter and questionnaire.  This person is me since that is step two after opening the file in the computer system.  So he's like "this letter says that you are barristers & solicitors" and I responded with "yes, we're a law office with lawyers".  Maybe a facetious answer but many people don't realize that barristers & solicitors are in fact lawyers.  So he goes on asking me why we need the questionnaire, he didn't recognize the law firm name and whether we will then pass it on to his lawyer...  After telling him we are his lawyer, he still didn't recognize us.  And we had already done his new home review.  And spoken on the phone with him several times.  And emailing him several times about that review.  Oy.  I don't know how some people survive...

I stayed a couple of extra hours today.  Opened up two mortgage files and two transfers.  A transfer file is just changing title from one person or persons to another.  Or taking one person off or adding one person.  It's not actually a purchase or sale in the property.  There is little or no consideration given.  So often independent legal advice is needed so that they understand the consequences of going on or coming off title without giving or getting any compensation for it.  As well as any mortgage consequences.  They are easy files for the most part and the bossman can get good moneys for it.  I haven't done a transfer yet because I still dont have my tereview disk.  But when I do, look out world!  I will be making transfers left right and center!

Tuesday night I went to Hamilton to see Carrie Underwood.  This was my first country concert but since it was Carrie Underwood, it was really only half country.  She has some very very country songs though.  Her first opening band was Sons of Sylvia.  Three brothers jamming away on stage.  The first one was named Adam.  He played this really tiny guitar and he played it around his nipples!  I'm not really sure what that instrument is technically called but it's awesome.  Check it out for yourself, even though all my photos are quite blurry since digital photos don't really turn out well far away in dark concert halls.  This one is actually a photo of the big screen they have next to the stage.
The second brother was named Austin.  I don't think I have any photos of him just by himself.  He played mostly the guitar.  This photo is when they decided they were going to jam.  The vocalist grabbed his violin/fiddle and they did some picking:
They are Canadian born guys and they crowd ate them up.  Far heavier than I thought they were going to be, except when they brought out the violin/fiddle.  They had some pop influences too.  I think they were pretty different but not sure how many male fans they would have.  As for the females, even if they didn't like the music all too much, the singer, Ashley, is pretty.  He kind of had some Jimmy Neutron hair going on.  Here he is being all intense:

The next artist was Craig Morgan.  I had never heard of him, nor any of his songs.  He's very much what you would consider a classic country singer.  Now, although I don't normally really listen to country, other than the pop country that is Carrie Underwood and Shania Twain, I really enjoyed what Craig Morgan had to offer.  He was extremely happy and laid back and loved every moment that he was up on that stage.

Then out came Carrie Underwood.  I hadn't read any reviews of her previous concerts so I had no idea what to expect.  What I got was a big production put on by a very enthusiastic and beautiful lady.  She can sing very well live, which is pretty much a given, given the way she handled herself on American Idol.  She did several costume changes which I also wasn't expecting.  I thought she would merely be in one outfit and do a few things on stage.  She didn't dance and didn't have any back up dancers (thank god).  But she changed at least five times and had several interesting props on stage.

First, she came out of the floor on a psychiatrist's couch:
Her second album is called Carnival Ride so she pretended she was at the carnival next:
She was in a super hot little waitress-esqe outfit.  But prettier.
She did a costume change into these fake overall things.  Thankfully I don't have a close up of the outfit.  But I do have a photo of her swinging from a make shift fake tree swing.
Then the coolest thing ever happened.  She went offstage and there was a bit of a montage of Carrie walking through the streets of Oklahoma.  Then she jumps into the back of the a blue pick up truck on the screen and voila!  She's in the pick up truck in the air!  So neat.
She does a duet with Randy Travis on one of her albums.  Since he couldn't be there and she couldn't be performing on the Grand Ole Opry, she pretended to be there and had him singing on the screen behind her on the Grand Ole Opry stage.  Quite cheesy but perfect for a country show.
She also does a duet with the Sons of Sylvia boys.  They came up on stage and they performed really well together.  SInce they have so much intensity and are still relatively new to the scene, I think Carrie had a rather hard time at not breaking out laughing while she was up there with them.

Just before the finale she was in a super short dress.  This is for the benefit of the boys:
All in all a great show.

Off to Burlington this weekend.  Hopefully it's not as cold and as wet as they are calling for.  I was wanting to go to the Maple Syrup festival at Bronte Park.  That's unlikely to happen now though.

March 22, 2010

Too many cute animals!

I haven't got any really interesting stories related to work/real estate as of late.  There wasn't a whole lot for me to do on Friday so I spent most of the day opening up some files.  There are always files to be opened.  We must receive at least three to five agreements of purchase and sale a day.  Once we get an agreement, we are able to open it.  I don't really like when we get mortgage or refinance files.  They usually close so quickly so you have to open the file right away.  And the clients never listen when you tell them that they need to provide us with the mortgage statements for the mortgage they want to close out and all statement for any debts that need to be paid out.  So we never get those on time and then the mortgages can't be funded when they are supposed to.  So it just gets delayed.  Which is fine, as long as they don't complain that it wasn't done on the day they were expecting it to be done.  Banks are all crazy.  The whole mortgage and funding process is still a little bizzare to me.  I'll have to wait until I work on a full mortgage file to see what it's like to work with them from start to finish.

Thursday night Crash Karma played in Burlington and my boyfriend went to see them perform.  He was up close and personal and even got to chat a bit with Mike Turner.  Here is Mike playing his guitar.  It's a little blurry but when you are rocking out that hard, there is no way you can stand still long enough for a photo.  For those that do not know who Crash Karma are, they are a Canadian "super group": Mike Turner from Our Lady Peace fame, Edwin from I Mother Earth fame, Jeff Burrows of The Tea Party fame and Amir Epstein of Zygote (I have no idea who that band is).  The tickets were merely $10 and they played at some billiards bar that normally has cover bands.  I am a tad bit jealous that I was unable to attend but us articling students working girls have places to be the next morning and it's far too long of a travel back home at that time of night.



Friday night we watched a movie called "Are You Scared?".  Not an instant classic.  It was poorly acted and poorly directed.  But, it was quite the hilarious horror flick and I did find myself laughing a lot, and not just AT the movie.  It is similiar to the Saw films for those of you that have seen any of those.  But, like I said, poorly acted.  And not as intelligent as Jigsaw.  The kills are in the same manner, but were done far more quickly and less dramatically than any Jigsaw murder.  The detectives that were supposed to be solving the crime were absolutely useless and added nothing to the plot.  They didn't even help the victims that were locked in the warehouse.  The one walked in and was instantly killed.  The other one was in there looking for the hostages after they had already come out.  They never even met.  Very weird for them to even be in the movie but I think they were there as filler since the movie would have only been 60 minutes without them.  And then they left the ending as a cliffhanger but there is no way that they are ever going to be making a sequel.  And there's no way it was ACTUALLY a cliffhanger.  The woman was locked in a room with the killer standing behind her.  Either they couldn't think of a creative way to kill her off or they really thought that they could make another movie out of that crap.

On Saturday we put on Music and Lyrics.  Staring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.  It was pretty good.  Not nearly as cheesy or horrible as I thought it was going to be.  But Hugh Grant can't make a bad movie and Drew Barrymore is too cute to hate.  She's a bit of a crazy and he's a hasbeen 80s pop star.  Both play their parts brilliantly.  And Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond plays Hugh's agent and Hugh's his only client.  Hugh plays great gigs like Bar Mitzvahs and Adventureland.  Until, of course, he is asked by a current pop star to create a song for her.  He comes up with the Music while Drew eventually and begrudgedly comes up with the Lyrics.  While the ending is necessarily cheesey and provides serveral eye rolling moments, it is needed for the happy ending that you know is going to present itself from the first time you see Drew enter Hugh's apartment to water his plants.

Sunday we headed to the Pickering Flea Market because Gary Roberts of former Toronto Maple Leafs / Pittsburgh Penguins / Calgary Flames fame was there signing autographs.  We decided to not show up as early as we had when we went to get Jonas Gustavsson's autograph so the line was considerably longer by the time we got there.  However, it got much much longer by the time we were at the front for our autograph.  It only took us about 30 minutes once he got there for us to get to the front of the line.  Here he is signing my hockey puck:

Afterwards, we went to the Pickering Town Centre and I spent at least an hour in PJ Pets looking at all the animals.  There were so many dogs and cats and bunnies.  But so many more fishes!!!  Here are several photos of the amazingly beautiful animals I spent my time visiting:


GAH!  TOO CUTE!!

Well, 24 is coming on so I shall be off.  Carrie Underwood concert in Hamilton tomorrow!  So excited!!

March 18, 2010

Happy Belated St Paddys!

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day to you!!  I spent my special day at work and then went to a pub on main street with the folks.  We sat on the patio, even though it started to get pretty darn chilly as the sun began to set.  I met the folks at the pub and mom already had finished half a green beer.  But when I ordered, she claimed she didnt like it (apparently she thought the green beer would somehow taste different than regular beer) and so I just finished hers.  Here it is:

So she then ordered a white wine.  Which she ordered green!  My mother is such a crazy thinker that way!!  Here it is:

We so then ordered some grub.  They were just pub meals but the sammiches were pretty good.  Dad got the pulled pork sandwich.  Mom got the roast beef dip sandwich.  And I got the Italian sandwich made with veal:

I think we all loved our meals.  I would have liked to stay there and have more green beer but the place was packed and like I said, as the sun set, the chill set in.

It was also Bossman's birthday.  So, of course, we ordered a Dufflet cake!  This time it was a Cappuccino Dacquoise.  The bossman was still reeling over the crazies that were in before so he was very chatty and making all these jokes about them.  They still haven't come back to sign their documents.  Apparently they somehow managed to get an extension from the builder on their closing day.  And after several emails back and forth with the crazy woman, they are scheduled to be back in tomorrow morning.  They also now have to go for independent legal advice.  This is because they changed their mortgage.  So now the son is on the mortgage/title at 98% and each parent is on at 1%.  So now they need another lawyer to explain to them that they only owe a small portion of title but if for some reason the mortgage does not get paid, they are still on the hook for the entire amount.  Luckily, we have another real estate lawyer just down the hall that will do that for us.  So after they go to him, they must come back to us.  Lucky us.

Anyways, all that to explain why I didn't have time to get a photo of the whole cake.  He was incredibly excited to get to eating it.  So here is my piece of the cake:
Pretty great cake I tells ya.

Speaking of irrate clients, we had another one in the other day.  This one, the client's name had an extra letter on the cheque.  So she was going on and on about how that person does not exist in the world and therefore the bank would be unable to deposit that cheque.  It is not the first time that a client's name has been misspelled on a cheque.  The problem with this one was that it was issued by the purchaser\s lawyer and so it wasn't just as easy as us re-writing a cheque.  The clerk had noticed this issue prior to the client coming in to pick up the cheque and had already received an undertaking from the purchasers lawyer to make a new cheque in case this one was not accepted by the bank.  But this client would not have any of that.  She went on and on to the clerk.  And of course both the lawyers were in meetings.  And she had a cab waiting for her downstairs.  Finally a lawyer was able to talk to them and she gave them a hard time as well.  Oy.  There was nothing we could do for her at that moment.  Either she would have to come back in a couple of days when we got a new cheque or she would have to at least attempt to put in the cheque and see if the bank had any issues.  Which they didn't.  Which we knew they wouldn't.  So she got her money and she got out of our faces.

My dog has been rather ill lately.  Had to bring him yet again to the vet this evening.  Normally my mom does that bad part of the job, but this time she had to be in Italian class.  So I had to old the wuss while he screamed and yelped when he got his shot.  Plus they shoved two pills down his throat.  One was a pill to soothe his belly.  Kind of like a pepto.  The other was much bigger and a pain killer.  But he wouldn't take it.  Instead, they had to put the pill in a pill shooter and shove it down his throat.  Rather uncomfortable and awkward for him.  But it went down.  And he's been sleeping all night ever since so I'm hoping that means things are working. 

It was a gorgeous evening for walking.  I plowed around my circuit in just under 30 minutes.  It does give my shins, salves and butt a good little workout.  Hopefully tomorrow evening is still nice so I can go again.  I feel the bad weather and overtime working is making me slack!

March 16, 2010

Who says Real Estate is boring?!

I shall start out with my most exciting thing of the day even though it happened merely moments to quittin time.

One of the lawyers is signing up a client.  In fact there are three clients - parents and a child.  This is not a young child, though.  About 25 years old.  I believe the condo they are buying is for him.  Now me and another girl at the office had already been talking with these clients several times during the day.  Yesterday also.  They were having a hard time wrapping their head around the amount they needed to bring in.  So we explained it thorroughly with them.  And sent them the documents via email so they could see all the numbers and figures that we were talking about.  We even told them to talk to the person that had set up their mortgage.  Plus, it's a condo from a builder so there were probably a few extra amounts that they didn't take into consideration.  I'm not sure because I didn't work on that part of the file but the builders are sneaky sneaky fellas.

The meeting room is a small room directly inside the door to our office.  As I am still sitting in the front, at the front desk, I can usually hear murmurs and whisperings from the meeting room, but rarely can I hear full conversations.  That was not the case today.  I could hear all three clients loud and clear.  One was deaf but he certainly knew how to read lips and he certainly knew how to vocalize how he was feeling.  Another spoke barely any English at all.  The third had some grasp of English but there was still a very obvious language barrier. They are still asking about the amount of money that they needed to pay to complete their transaction.  Which, of course, they didn't bring in because they wanted it explained to them.  So the lawyer is trying to carefully go over the numbers.  But each of them keep talking and refuse to listen to her answers.  Next thing I know she's swung open the door and heading to the bossman's office.  She comes back within moments and tells the clients that she has done the best she could, they refused to listen and she will not finish signing them up.  But the bossman will sign them up in the morning.

Complete chaos ensues.  The three irrate clients storm out of the meeting room and come face to face with me.  As I am the only one in the front.  They begin yelling and screaming and threatening to go to another lawyer.  Saying that we are trying to screw them out of their money.  That our fees are totally outrageous (when really the money they need to bring in is everything that their mortgage doesn't cover and is therefore mostly costs added on by the builder).  That they are going to sue.  As I am standing by the fax machine I try to make my way further away from them, distancing myself as best I can.  But they virtually storm past me screaming about their rights.  The woman demands that she be heard.  Trust me.  She could be heard.  By everyone in the damn building.  They actually rushed into the lawyer's office.  Finally the bossman comes out of his hiding shell of his office.  I think he had his door shut otherwise there's no way he didn't hear it any sooner.  He had to physically push his way past the father and son to put himself between them and the lawyer.  He asked them to leave several times and told them to come back in the morning as we were nearly closed.  They insisted they couldn't get another day off from work.  He then threatened to call the cops.  That got them out of there in a jiffy.  Needless to say the door was shut and bolted behind them.  I was a little scared to leave, since it was only five minutes later, but me and a coworker left together.  With the two of us, we could totally take them!!

Moral of the story: Don't be a dingus.

I have actually been keeping track of things that I do during the day, but it appears I have left it at work.  I am organized and nerdy like that.  But also clearly very forgetful.

I have been doing a lot of Requisition Letters lately.  This is done on every single purchase file. I briefly spoke about them a couple of posts ago.  What I do is look at the parcel page.  Each property has a parcel page.  This outlines everything that has ever happened on a particular piece of land or a particular condo unit, be it dwelling, parking or locker.  It's very thorough.  It lists all the transfers that have ever been done and the purchase price.  It lists every agreement, easement, lien or restrictive covenant on that piece of land.  It lists every single mortgage that has ever been on there, even if it has already been paid off and even if it was from three or four owners previous.  If it is no longer relevant or the item has been discharged from title, it is "deleted".  Deleted instruments are still there.  They just say deleted so we know not to worry about them anymore.  I hope I didn't make all that sound more difficult than it really is.  How am I ever going to teach someone the ropes?!?  I am the worst describer ever.  Sigh.  Anyways, what I do with this parcel page is outline everything on there that has not been deleted and is therefore still outstanding.  I then send this list to the Vendor's lawyer and ask them to ensure that the agreements, easements and restrictive covenants have all been complied with; that the liens and mortgages get paid off and discharged/deleted; and any other encumbrances come off title.  Also, we search the Vendors' names to see if they have ever been sued.  Now I don't do that part yet because I haven't gotten my Teraview disk yet but it's a coming!  Apparently... So if one of the Vendors' names come up, we send it to their lawyer and ask them to determine whether it is actually their client or not.  This will take some work.  They will have to contact the people who act for the people that have sued them.  If it is them, they need to be paid off.  Otherwise, title would not be transfered free and clear and no one wants to get title subject to someone elses debts.  If it's not them, they can merely provide letters from those other lawyers saying they are not one and the same person.  I know.  Challenging again.  Our office will also search for the purchaser (who is our client) and will have to perform the same thing if any executions come up against their name.

I was going to talk about something else but I think that is technical enough for one day!

March 15, 2010

Weekend Update

I spent the weekend over at the boyfriend's house so I missed out on a few days of blogging.  And walking.  But that's the rain's fault.  At least I will continue to blame the weather.

Friday was a good day at the office.  Pretty slow.  Pretty uneventful.  After dinner we watched Pirate Radio.  Quite good.  Nothing like I really expected it to be.  The entire thing takes place on a boat.  They play pop and rock music to England because the regular stations refuse to play any good music.  Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy star in it.  And Kenneth Branaugh plays the bad guy.  That's right.  Hamlet goes evil!  I would recommend it for people who like British films, 60s pop/rock and promiscuous sex.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D.  Excellent.  It was my first foray into this generation of 3D.  Nothing came out and jumped at me.  That was what I was expecting.  Instead, it just felt as though I was immersed in the film.  The story takes place after Alice grows up.  It's a nice spin considering I thought it was just an exact remake of the original cartoon from eons ago.  Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were quite amazing in it.  Anne Hathaway kind of scared me.  Too nice and sweet and delicate.  But she played that part well.  That evening was spent at a Karaoke and wing bar.

Sunday, the rain finally stopped but it was still dreary, damp and cold.  So alas, no walking for this gal.  Instead we stayed in and watched Leprechaun 3.  Now, if you are not familiar with the Leprechaun movies, you have been missing out on a lot!  Cheesy horrors.  Thne first one starred Jennifer Anniston.  SO classic.  The third one takes place in Las Vegas.  The Leprechaun gambles.  The Leprechaun rhymes.  The Leprechaun dances and chases his gold.  The three key ingredients to a classic horror film if I ever saw them.  There was a lot of gore and grit and blood.  My favourite.

Worked overtime again today.  There are just so many files that need to be opened.  Bossman wants me to get opened all the files that we currently have before the new girl starts so that I can focus on training her.  Speaking of, he interviewed a girl today.  Not sure how it went.  He didnt mentioned her at all again afterwards and he didn't really seem too pleased at the end of the interview.  I suppose that means that I am alone for at least another day. 

Although the majority of the work done in our office, at least 97%, is real estate law, one of the partners is actually a family law lawyer, focusing mostly on child protection.  He pretty much works solo, which is why I say he only takes up 3% of the work done in office.  Anyways, today I was asked to type up two of his verbal arguments that he is presenting this week.  It was different work so it was a welcome change.  However, it was also pretty draining.  The stories of these children are pretty sad and some terrifying.  Thankfully I just had to type it up.  Not research it, nor meet the families, nor present the case in court.  And thankfully I don't really know the full stories.  I just have no idea how someone could do that day in and day out.  And then go and get married and have children of their own.  I would be too nervous of the horror stories I have seen.

So no walking again today.  Getting home at 8:40 does not lend itself well to walking.  It's cold and dark.  And good prime time tv is on! 

March 11, 2010

The never ending walk

I was going to bake tonight and finally use up more of my massive amounts of eggs but for some reason I lost all motivation to want to do that.

I must have had one of the worst walks in my life today.  I decided that it would be nice to bring my slow and ailing dog for part of my walk, thinking that he would at least make it to the corner before wussing out.  However, after 15 minutes of walking, we only made it past about 10 houses.  So I turned back and left him at home.  Then, after another 10 minutes, my iPod decides that it is going to die.  I knew I should have charged my battery before I headed out but of course I thought it would last the length of the walk.  So now it's a lonely and quiet and long feeling walk.  Another three minutes passes by and I pass my my ex boyfriend, sitting in his car, in front of his friend's house.  Thankfully, I had on my stupid hat and he couldn't see me all that well.  So I ducked down and pretty much ran passed.  As I started getting warmer, I took off my mittens.  When I was about 5 minutes from my house, I realized that one pocket was less bulky than the other.  Yes, I LOST ONE OF MY RED OLYMPIC MITTENS!  So I must turn around and retrace my steps.  Finally I come across it and I swear it's exactly one - maybe two - steps after I put them in my pockets.  Then I turn back around and make my way home.  Such a pain in the ass.  And thighs.  And shins.  My 30 minute walk turned into an over an hour epic.  Bah.

I did a couple of different things at work today than writing tax letters and opening files.  First, I had to type up a Status Certificate review which one of the lawyers did.  A Status Certificate is issued when someone is buying a condo.  It pretty much tells you how healthy the Condominium Corporation that owns and runs the condo building is.  Most condo agreements are conditional on review of this status certificate.  So we provide the clients with a letter which tells them all the important things they need to know about the Corporation.  I typed up one of those today.

I also typed up a New Condominium Agreement.  These don't have Status Certificates yet because the Condominium Corporation that will be managing the building has yet to be registered.  It won't be registered for several years after they start selling the individual units.  New Condos and Homes are usually built 3 years or so after the Agreement is signed, depending on how far along in the project the person is when they sign the Agreement.  So what we do then is review the Agreement itself and point out anything that may be irregular.  Plus, the lawyer tries to make a list of extras and changes that should be capped in price.  Thankfully, both of those letters have precedents in the system and I just have to add a couple of things and give to the lawyer to review. Easy Peasy.

An agent called today.  One that we deal with relatively often.  He was trying to sort out all the people in our office, not that there are all that many.  The lady that he talks to the most often is actually the lawyer and he didn't have any clue.  He proceeded to tell me that he felt bad for always wasting her time!  I also made sure to tell him that the boss man is a lawyer.  We shared a laugh over that.  Then he asked:
"Are you a lawyer?"
Me: "Me?!  No not yet. But I'm certainly trying my hardest!"
Agent: "How so?"
Me: "Oh, I'm an articling student here."
Agent: " Oh how exciting!  Articling Student Jessie!"

He called back a couple of hours later and greeted me with "Jessie!!  Articling Student Jessie, to be exact!"  Quite cute and funny!!

Do you ever think of a song that is yers upon years old that you haven't heard for eons but suddenly it just pops into your head?  And then magically, within days, you hear it on the radio??  Well, for me, "Lovefool" by the Cardigans is one such song.  But I haven't heard it once on the radio in the past month since it originally popped into my head.  I've heard it SEVEN times!  What could that possibly mean?  It's not like the Cardigans are coming out with a new record or coming on tour.  It's just a song that I randomly thought about and mentioned that I was thinking about that is now making a revival in the pop world.  I have such powers and strength that I can make random old songs make a comeback!  And like I've mentioned before, my next song that I am waiting to hear on the radio is "Informer" by Snow.

90210 is finally back after months of being off the air.  I am a 16 year old at heart still.  Melrose Place and 90210.  My Wednesdays and Thursdays are back being fun filled and teenage!!!

March 10, 2010

Into Overtime We Go!

What an exhausting day.  I walked in to the office and one of my co-workers said that we had to go to storage to get a few files.  Now when I say storage, there are really three large storage rooms filled with hundreds of boxes filled with thousands of files.  They attempt to be put away alphabetically and by year but often that is not the case and files just cannot be found.  There must be a better way of storing these files but I can't come up with one!  So these boxes are piled high and we have to move the boxes from one stack to the next without dropping them on our heads so that we can get the file out of the box which always happens to be at the very bottom of the pile.  Gave my arms a very good workout though!  Exhausting start to the day.

Apparently that `grow op` email guy called back because the email I attempted to send to him didn`t get to his inbox.  Turns out is wasn`t grow op.  It was `grow up`.  This even after I spelled it out with him.  Twice.  So after I tell everyone about what not to do when giving out email addresses to lawyers, he goes and spoils my fun.  But also, one should never tell themselves to grow up in an email address to lawyers.

We got an upgrade in the Conveyancer computer program last week.  That program is the one used for real estate transactions.  It keeps them all in order and keeps track of everything that needs to be done online for the purchases, sales and mortgages.  So this update has several things that are different and better.  The big bossman set up a webinar with the Conveyancer people.  That`s right.  Webinar.  Which is a seminar, but over the computer.  But then you have to call in and have the woman speak to you over the phone.  So its a webinar seminar over the phone.  Confused yet?!?  In any event, we all feel slightly more comfortable with the program, although everything that we went over, I don't do on a daily basis yet.  BUT SOON!  Or so I keep telling myself with my fingers crossed/

The boss man also asked me to start staying late so that I can get caught up on some of the file openings.  Apparently he wants the back up of unopened files opened prior to hiring someone new.  Even though I could have sworn that's what he said her job was going to entail.  But I think it's because he wants her to get eased into things with just phone duties.  And then letters.  And then eventually some file openings.  But I'm not sure I really want to wait for all that.  Not that I have much of a choice.  So off I go staying late.  Yay OT!  Just cant stay too late in the evening since I have all my amazing tv shows on.  Like the current masterpiece I have on.  Melrose Place.  Yes.  Masterpiece.  I still managed to get my walk in though!

March 9, 2010

Walk for Health. Walk for Fun!

The big boss man is still threatening to find a replacement for my receptionist position.  I say threatening because this has been going on since the beginning of the year.  It's not like we didn't know this day was coming.  We decided on March 1 being my start day way back in December.  But of course, March snuck up on us.  Apparently.  I think he's too busy going on vacations to worry about little ole me.

I watched Julie & Julia last week.  That is what started getting me interested in perhaps starting up a new blog.  And then I saw that chick that played Donna on That Seventies Show on House and her whole life revolved around blogging as well.  So that kinda forced my hand.  Can't really come across two things like that in the span of a week and NOT take it as I sign, can you?!

So work today was pretty busy.  Spent the morning typing up letters for one of the lawyers.  We had to write letters about property taxes.  Thrilling.  Well, the clients find them thrilling.  For the most part, these letters are giving them back money that we held in excess.  When taxes for a property haven't been assessed and then that property is sold, the lawyer acting for the Vendor has to hold back money to pay to the Tax Department when the taxes become due.  And since it's not an exact science, there is usually way too much held back and then it goes back to the clients!  Now ain't that an exciting day in the office.

I had to spend ten minutes talking to a client today.  He was ranting and raving about the amount he has to bring in to complete his transaction.  The way he was calculating the amount is slightly different than the way that we calculate it.  So as he was trying to explain his way to me, I was busy trying to explain our way to him.  He refused to listen to my rationale so I got fed up and told him to call his mortgage broker.  And this was the third time he called today.  Asking the exact same question.  To three different people.  I wonder if he was thinking he would be getting a different response from each of us.  Or maybe he was hoping to bring is $500 less as based on his calculations.  But really, how much is $500 when you need to bring in $50,000??  People are so bizzare.

Then there is this other guy!  OY!  So I open up his file and I have an initial letter and questionnaire that I need to send to him.  I need an email address in which to do this. He's the seller in this particular transaction.  I call him up and tell him why I am calling him.  He proceeds to ask me several questions before feeling comfortable enough to give me this very secretive piece of personal information.  His email includes the words "grow op".  As in a drug grow op.  A grow house.  Now nearly all Agreements of Purchase andSale have provisions in the schedules that state that to the best of the Seller's knowledge, the house has never been used as a grow op.  And of course, this particular Agreement contains that clause.  Now I try to contain myself, but really.  If you are selling a house and claiming that there was never any illegal activity at the house, try to give the lawyers an email address that does not insinuate you are growing and producing drugs in your basement.  That's my tip to the wise.  For all you grow op operators that are trying to sell your homes.  Try to come up with a less obvious email address to give the lawyers.

Today was day four in my walking agenda.  I am trying to go for a walk daily.  Saturday we walked around the pond and saw some ducks and geese.  Apparently they thought it was spring. 

Sunday I tried to walk my dog but he's old and was not impressed with a long walk so we cut that short.  But after I dropped him off, I went out again.  And today I power walked around the neighbourhood for a half hour.  I am trying to get into shape for a trip in April that is unlikely to even happen now.  But it's always good to stay active.  We'll just see if I keep it up now that any motivation I had is gone.

We watched The Box movie tonight.  It stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and the classic creepy guy that was in that short lived tv show "unscripted".  It was rather strange and nothing seemed to be answered.  At the end I just stared at it and wondered why I watched it.  But I don't feel like I wasted my time.  It's a hard feeling to describe.  And it's a hard movie to descirbe.  A box gets dropped off and you have to determine whether you are willing to allow someone to die so that you can be given $1 million.  I thought that I would easily do it in a heartbeat but maybe I am not so sure now that I watched the whole movie and saw the consequences and butterfly-like effect.  Sorry for that crappy description.  Clearly I am no writer and no movie critic.

March 8, 2010

And so it begins...

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I began my articles at a real estate law firm on March 1, 2010 .  I had already been working at the office as a receptionist/legal clerk for several months so the transition thus far hasn't been all that outstanding or remarkable.  I am still doing all the receptionist duties until a replacement is hired.  Until then, I am the first line of defence to prevent the crazies from actually making any sort of real contact with the fancy pants lawyers.

My student duties include opening real estate files and providing requisition letters/title searches on our purchase files.  This is to ensure that the transfer of title that our client receives from the Vendor is a valid one and that there are no encumbrances that are not taking care of before closing.  I know.  So far, my day sounds thrilling.  But it actually is.  You'll see.

The clients we deal with on a daily basis come from a variety of backgrounds.  No matter what that background, that background seems to make them crazy.  For example:  Just last week a guy sells his parking unit in a condo.  Just the parking unit.  Which, in itself, is perfectly fine.  Not everyone wants or needs a parking spot, especially while living in downtown Toronto.  So on the day of closing, title in the parking spot transfers from him to the new owner around 5 pm.  He is called and informed that the transaction has completed and title has been transfered.  We receive a disgruntled email from our client the next morning which was sent around 8:30 pm the previous evening.  It states: "Thecccre is someone parked in my parking space.  Should I call the police?  Why is someone parked in my parking spot?  They should not be allowed to park in something that I own!"  Obviously, he is crazy.  The crazies make up a large portion of my day.

There are also a lot of good times in the office.  Those days usually revolve around goodies of some sort.  For instance, today was someone's birthday.  We ordered in a Dufflet cake.  Caramel Dacquoise.  Was quite good.   Absolutely devine in fact.  And that made my entire day.  I am a foody at heart.  You'll come to learn that as well in due course.


I do not want to bombard you with everything all at once.  I need to save some good stuff for the days to come.  There is only so much that I can learn in a day.  And some days that isn't all that much.  And some days go by rather slowly.  But as those days come and go, I will be sure to keep you posted!