Well well well I'm finally moving on up in the office!! Bossman presented me with 8 different files (5 purchases and 3 sales) that I am to take from start to finish all by myself. They are already opened (and of course I opene them all) and they don't close until the end of June for the most part so I have a lot of time to work on them and make sure everything is in order. I still dont have the disk for Teraview but it will be coming soon so I will actually be able to prepare the transfers and everything also! I'm very very excited about the prospect of learning new things and actually seeing a finished product. About time!
Now that the receptionist is working at the office full time, we are able to get more files opened, quicker. She still needs me to look over each file before she sends out the letters to the client, other lawyer and deal secretaries and agents but she is getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Especially the sale files. I still have to open a lot of purchase files, especially ones that the lawyer gives me for status certificates and new home or condominium purchase agreements. The files need to be opened before I can type up the letters to give to the clients and/or the agents. So... It takes up a hell of a lot of time. And then I am behind on all the "regular" file openings. So the receptionist and I are planning on staying late a few days in the next coming weeks so that we can get all caught up. Sigh. There goes my "life"! hahaha The bossman overpaid me a couple of weeks ago because he just used the amount from the paycheque before when I had ten extra overtime hours, so now I owe the bossman ten hours of overtime. Might as well break even as soon as I can so I dont owe him for too long. Starting tomorrow!
I have been on a relatively no carb diet for a week and a half. My "weigh in" was on Monday. I am just doing it on my own so there is no official weigh in. But based on the scales upstairs, I lost 6 pounds in my first week! So I decided to do the no bread/pasta/rice/popcorn/cereal diet for a few more days to jumpstart my diet. Then I am going to get on the Weight Watchers band wagon. I haven't done that diet/life style in years but they have two different plans. You can switch between the two plans every week if you choose so I am going to try them both for a while and see which one I like better or which one works better. I do look forward to eating breads and pastas again! Milestones or Montana's this weekend will put a nice start to my reintroduction to carbs.
May 19, 2010
May 12, 2010
Lesson 1
On Friday the bossman had me do a letter for him from scratch, mostly because he had no desire to deal with these inane issues from the crazies. My first real letter. So I'm all nervous and excited and worried that I don't quite speak like a lawyer. I speak like a normal person who just happens to have a law degree. I start drafting this letter to the lawyer on the other side of a transaction that recently closed. Our client, the purchaser, has a complaint that the washer is not working. So I draft this short mickey mouse type letter to the other solicitor. I give it to the bossman to look over and it turns out that I am supposed to have actual numbers included in the letter that I am asking for their client to pay. I call the client to ask her to get an estimate an find out that she's actually talking about her dryer that is no longer working, not her washer. Already my letter is falling apart. She tells me she will get a repairman in to give her an estimate that we can provide to the other lawyer. She calls back yesterday. The repairman tells her that there is in fact nothing wrong with her dryer. It's actually a problem with her vents. The vents might be the responsibility of the condominium property management but the client claims that they told her it is not. The other lawyer has taken over the task it seems, as this client is quite confused as to what is going on, and I have now lost my first chance to write a letter for an issue following closing. Sigh. It will come soon enough I guess.
I learned another thing this past week. When I do my requisition letters, there is occassionally an instrument or two that has been expired or discharged but for some reason has not been deleted from title or the parcel page. A request must be made to the Land Registry Office to have these items deleted. This one parcel had three different instruments that need to be deleted because they were no longer relevant to title. I wrote to the Office and they actually deleted them! Yay! I was told it would likely be difficult to get the Toronto Registry Office to actually remove the instruments as they are usually rahter busy an not into doing that for the people, but alas, they must like me. So I can do my requisition letter as per usual. Phew!
The receptionist who is taking over my role in the front was supposed to have started full time on Monday but she still has some schooling. I'm not sure how long this college course is but it's clearly longer than most normal ones as it's going well into May. I think it's on the American schedule, where they start at the end of August, have January off, and go until the end of May. Which is unfortunate that the bossman chose this girl because now I'm still not able to get completely immersed into the articling experience yet. But I'm told it's coming... So I keep waiting. With bated breath. And fingers crossed. And a whole lot to learn.
I learned another thing this past week. When I do my requisition letters, there is occassionally an instrument or two that has been expired or discharged but for some reason has not been deleted from title or the parcel page. A request must be made to the Land Registry Office to have these items deleted. This one parcel had three different instruments that need to be deleted because they were no longer relevant to title. I wrote to the Office and they actually deleted them! Yay! I was told it would likely be difficult to get the Toronto Registry Office to actually remove the instruments as they are usually rahter busy an not into doing that for the people, but alas, they must like me. So I can do my requisition letter as per usual. Phew!
The receptionist who is taking over my role in the front was supposed to have started full time on Monday but she still has some schooling. I'm not sure how long this college course is but it's clearly longer than most normal ones as it's going well into May. I think it's on the American schedule, where they start at the end of August, have January off, and go until the end of May. Which is unfortunate that the bossman chose this girl because now I'm still not able to get completely immersed into the articling experience yet. But I'm told it's coming... So I keep waiting. With bated breath. And fingers crossed. And a whole lot to learn.
May 3, 2010
Missing the Beach
I am trying to get back into the swing of things. I have been neglecting my blogging and my walking. I haven`t been able to get back into the walking so I thought that I would start with the blogging.
Puerto Plata was absolutely amazing. We spent a week at the Grand Oasis Marien. It`s a 4.5 star resort. It exceeded all my expectations. The food was really good. Some things could have used more spice and flavour but they had a table full of different herbs and spices that could easily be added to any dish. So I refuse to allow anyone to complain about the food there. I have been to Varadero and Holguin (both in Cuba) and the food in both those cities leave something to be desired. The a la cartes were also very good in PP even though our resort made you line up around 6 o`clock in the evening to get a table. There were no reservations made ahead of time. But you could go as many times as you like, so we did the Italian restaurant twice and the Tex Mex restaurant once. Delish. Here are some examples of the a la cartes:
The beach and sun were amazing. The beach was cleaned on a daily basis so there was no buildup of seaweed. The sun was super strong and me being pastey white got amazingly burnt. There were a lot of Dominicans on the beach trying to sell us stuff and to get us to go to their Orange Flea Market. That was definitely an experience. We went into the warehouse type area and pretty much were not allowed to leave until we bought something. Thankfully, I think we got a couple of good deals. You have to barter with them and are told never ever to pay the price that they originally ask for. So I ended up getting an awesome turtle (two over the week), a wrap, mini cigars, Dominican baseball, two necklaces, two bracelets and a pair of earrings for $55 US and we think that we made out well.
We went off the resort only once. It was for a Puerto Plata City Tour. It involved going to the Brugal Rum Factory, Amber Museum, Rainbow Lounge (place to see whether an Amber stone was real or not plus a place to shop), the City Centre with San Felipe Cathedral, San Felipe Fortress, a buffet in a local restaurant and a Cable Car ride up Mount Isabel. The mountain was fantastic and breathtaking. There was a giant Jesus statue on top similar to that of Rio de Janeiro. Plus it was all a botanical garden and there were many little critters that we were able to photograph.
The entire trip was amazing and I would recommend the resort and the City to anyone.
I finally am back at my old desk again! The new girl has been officially trained so I have my old desk that I had last summer and in December. However, it`s still only for 2.5 days a week until mid May. She is still finishing up her semester. But after that, full time in my cushy chair at my own desk away from reception! I didn`t get the new computer though. That went to another worker at the office. But that`s fine as mine appears to be working fine, even though that co-worker has been using it and she is cursed. Every computer she touches seems to turn evil. I shouldn`t talk though. In the past two months I managed to break two monitors. I don`t even know how that is possible. The one that the bossman used to replace the first one was just one in the office though so it wasn`t brand new. If I was able to break a brand new monitor in two months, I would be damn impressed! Of course, this new fancy monitor is at the receptionist`s desk. I have everything old... But in just a matter of weeks I will be able to work on a mortgage file from start to finish! The anticipation is mounting!
Puerto Plata was absolutely amazing. We spent a week at the Grand Oasis Marien. It`s a 4.5 star resort. It exceeded all my expectations. The food was really good. Some things could have used more spice and flavour but they had a table full of different herbs and spices that could easily be added to any dish. So I refuse to allow anyone to complain about the food there. I have been to Varadero and Holguin (both in Cuba) and the food in both those cities leave something to be desired. The a la cartes were also very good in PP even though our resort made you line up around 6 o`clock in the evening to get a table. There were no reservations made ahead of time. But you could go as many times as you like, so we did the Italian restaurant twice and the Tex Mex restaurant once. Delish. Here are some examples of the a la cartes:
The beach and sun were amazing. The beach was cleaned on a daily basis so there was no buildup of seaweed. The sun was super strong and me being pastey white got amazingly burnt. There were a lot of Dominicans on the beach trying to sell us stuff and to get us to go to their Orange Flea Market. That was definitely an experience. We went into the warehouse type area and pretty much were not allowed to leave until we bought something. Thankfully, I think we got a couple of good deals. You have to barter with them and are told never ever to pay the price that they originally ask for. So I ended up getting an awesome turtle (two over the week), a wrap, mini cigars, Dominican baseball, two necklaces, two bracelets and a pair of earrings for $55 US and we think that we made out well.
We went off the resort only once. It was for a Puerto Plata City Tour. It involved going to the Brugal Rum Factory, Amber Museum, Rainbow Lounge (place to see whether an Amber stone was real or not plus a place to shop), the City Centre with San Felipe Cathedral, San Felipe Fortress, a buffet in a local restaurant and a Cable Car ride up Mount Isabel. The mountain was fantastic and breathtaking. There was a giant Jesus statue on top similar to that of Rio de Janeiro. Plus it was all a botanical garden and there were many little critters that we were able to photograph.
The entire trip was amazing and I would recommend the resort and the City to anyone.
I finally am back at my old desk again! The new girl has been officially trained so I have my old desk that I had last summer and in December. However, it`s still only for 2.5 days a week until mid May. She is still finishing up her semester. But after that, full time in my cushy chair at my own desk away from reception! I didn`t get the new computer though. That went to another worker at the office. But that`s fine as mine appears to be working fine, even though that co-worker has been using it and she is cursed. Every computer she touches seems to turn evil. I shouldn`t talk though. In the past two months I managed to break two monitors. I don`t even know how that is possible. The one that the bossman used to replace the first one was just one in the office though so it wasn`t brand new. If I was able to break a brand new monitor in two months, I would be damn impressed! Of course, this new fancy monitor is at the receptionist`s desk. I have everything old... But in just a matter of weeks I will be able to work on a mortgage file from start to finish! The anticipation is mounting!
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