I was going to do a nice long post with various photographs but apparently my camera does not want to upload any pictures to this computer today. I have tried for quite awhile and still nothing. I will have to upload them to my mom's laptop later and then just add them in. So if you are reading this and there are photos, you have got the updated version!
Work is going by rather smoothly now! I am making far less mistakes on both purchases and sales. Sales are far easier to do but because one of my co-workers pretty much exclusively does sales, I tend to do more purchases. Which means I still make too many mistakes on sales. That and the one girl who does mostly sales is pretty ridiculously meticulous and comes down on me for every little thing that goes wrong on any file that I work on... Crazy lady!
I did my first Transfer file today! Yay! It's not done yet since the client will not be coming in to sign the documents until next Wednesday, but I have all of the documents prepared! A Transfer file is a lot easier than any of the other files but I had never done one before. Usually when we do one it's between husband and wife. Say, for instance, there is just the husband on title. He may want his wife to now take title to the property or he may want for both he and his wife to take title to the property jointly. This can be for many reasons but mostly to avoid making a Will they can take title together so that if something were to happen to one of them, their share of the property would go directly to the other person without having to go through probate or worry about any other people claiming they have rights to the property. Anyways, that is exactly what is going on with this file. The Husband owned the property prior to being married and now he is married and wants his wife to be on title too. There are far less documents that need to be signed and there is no other lawyer involved. I prepare the Transfer by myself. Both people come in and Acknowledge that this transfer is occuring. And when everything is signed, the Transfer gets registered in Teraview and is available at the Land Registry Office. I still do not do the registereing part but I think come September, I will be able to get cracking on that aspect of it. The bossman said that I will soon get to review my own Status Certificate also, as well as sit in on a few sign ups that either he or the other lawyer do. Yay!
We have had our fair share of crazies lately. One client told me that the bank/mortgage company paid her property taxes. She was mistaken. Really, she was on a pre-authorized payment and her taxes were taken out of her bank account by the City automatically. Once I found this out, I told her that we would need the proof that these taxes have in fact been paid. She kept telling me over and over and over again that the bank paid them. She refused to listen to me. She refused to even acknowledge that I was speaking at one point and said that I kept asking the same questions. I proceeded to tell her that there was no need for her to yell at me - three times I said this. I then hung up the phone and gave the file to the lawyer to deal with. That's one thing I like about this place - whenever there is trouble, I can always pass the file on to a higher up! This lady was a real piece of work though. Before all of this went down, she had called to ask our receptionist which suite we were in. The receptionist was telling her the whole address but was cut off by the crazy lady and told that she obviously knew where we were located! So the receptionist hung up. A couple of days later, the Receptionist is following up with this lady since she is supposed to have dropped off our Sale Questionnaire by that point. The lady said she dropped it off! However, she dropped it off at the wrong building. At a building that our law firm has not acted out of for over three years. At a building and in a suite where she didn't even look at the name on the door. She just left the questionnaire on the desk and left without saying anything or asking any questions. WHAT A NUT!! So instead of filling out another questionnaire, she makes the Receptionist do it over the phone with her. Then I of course have to call her ten different times to clarify everytthing that is on the questionnaire because a lot of it isn't filled out properly. Oy. And to top the whole thing off, she had a line of credit on her property. When we pay off a line of credit, we holdback quite a bit of money - usually the difference between the amount we need to pay to the bank (the amount the client owes) and the amount that the bank registered on title as a charge/mortgage. Sometimes this can be a really really large amount. So we are holding back this money and she calls today to see if the cheque is ready yet. It's not ready until we hear back from the bank that the line of credit has been closed. We have not yet heard. I tell her this and she then tells me what I am doing is illegal and her bank says that I am not allowed to do that. The banks are always fucking with me. With all of us! But I tell her it's not illegal and all they need to do is sign the fax that I sent to them to say that the line of credit has been closed. Not a hard thing to do but the banks never want to accommodate us and then the clients go off their rockers. It makes sense to hold back this money. If the line of credit is not closed, the client can still draw on their account and then we would be on the hook to pay the difference because we undertook to pay out that mortgage/line. And if we don't holdback, then we would have to pay out of our own pockets. I do not think bossman would be too pleased about that.
Another crazy is actually a legal secretary acting for the purchaser on one of the sale files that I was working on. She had ordered a tax certificate to see if my client had any taxes on the property that he had yet to pay. Understandable. She then calls to tell me this is the case. Fine. He owes however much money. She then calls me EVERY SINGLE DAY, sometimes two or three times, to let me know that the client still has not made this payment. I then call the tax department who is not supposed to talk to me because I wasn't the one who ordered the tax certificate. They are very funny that way. Very secretive about people's taxes and the amount that they have paid. The lady there tells me she's not supposed to talk to me but she is going to becasue she has spoken with this crazy legal secretary and can understand why I am so damn confused. So she gives me the exact number that we will need to pay to the tax department on closing so that our client is paid up to date. Perfect. The crazo calls again and I entered a number in wrong. I admit to it. (I know - that's usually really hard for me to do!) But instead of just saying thank you and send me the amended copy, she needs to go on for like ten minutes about how I'm wrong and why it's wrong and yadda yadda yadda. I nearly got out of my chair and walked over to the damn lady's office down on Don Mills to punch her in the face. Instead, one of ladies in my office told me just to hang up on her. So I said Buh Bye. On the day of closing, which was yesterday, I pass off the file to another girl in the office. She was having such a hard time with this lady too. She would call and then fax two seconds later exactly what she just called about! So damn annoying. And then call to see if we got the fax. At one point, the girl who handled the closing was trying to explain to her why we hadn't received the payout statement yet for the mortgage that we had to payout and discharge that was on the property. But this crazo kept interupting her and wouldn't let her get her whole explaination in. This girl rarely gets mad and she was fuming. She told her several times to be quiet because she was still talking! That was great. She pissed everyone off at the office. I finally faxed her and told her to only communicate by fax from then on as we were no longer going to accept her phone calls. At least I was not the only one who couldn't get along with this crazo!
I was going to go into the fun times that have been had lately but since my photos still won't work and it's time for my bedtime, that update will have to be next week. I will be able to add this weekend of fun in Brantford where I am attending a wedding to the list of excitement I've had over the past few weeks. I can't believe how busy I have been. Especially since the cash flow isn't all that great! haha I'm not sure how many other articling students have so much free time (well not exactly free but at least time away from the office). I'm glad I lucked out by working here. I can leave my work at work and still enjoy my evenings and weekends how they should be enjoyed!
August 11, 2010
July 20, 2010
A whole month flies by!
Well, its been exactly a month since my last update. Obviously I have lost my blogging skills. But it has been a very very busy month both at work and leisurely so this shall be a rather long update me thinks!
The busiest month in my firm's entire history, which is about 12 years or more I think, is finally over. June was definitely the busiest month that many real estate law firms saw. Everyone trying to beat the HST. Which I guess is a good move, beating the tax on legal fees and commissions. It's only about $80 if the HST doesn't apply to the commission because the agreement of purchase and sale was signed and firm long before the June 30 deadline. Can you imagine rushing and stressing and forcing a closing to save $80? Insane if you ask me. Now that HST will be applying to commissions it will add more extra fees but still! When you are buying a $400,000 really, whats another $1,000 in taxes? I guess my brain doesn't work the same way as others.
Overall, we had over 150 transactions in June, more than half of them in the span of three days - June 25, June 28 and June 30. Absolute insanity in the office! But we got a nice little bonus from the bossman as a thank you for all the hard work and stress we all had to put up with.
Now July has been rather slow. Things have slowed right down, which I guess none of us can complain about. The other girls are able to catch up on things that got put off all of June such as bank reports and entering discharges and filing them away. The discharges I think have actually been building up for about a year!! One a sale, if there is a mortgage still on the property when the person is selling it, we need to pay out that mortgage. Once it is paid out, it can be discharged. So the bank has to apply to the Land Registry office and have the mortgage discharged. This can take up to several months. So we get discharges directly from the banks on our sales, and then we have to enter them into our system and let the other lawyer's office know that it has been discharged. We also get them from the other lawyer's office on our purchases. On closing they provide us with an undertaking that they will get the discharge of the mortgage and forward it to us. It's a very important item but it's a tedious task, especially when they have been building up for months!
Since things are so slow, there arent very many transactions, and I have been given a lot of free reign. I have been working on a lot of purchases whether they be houses or condos, new or resale. I am getting a lot of practice and it's going pretty well. I of course miss a couple of things, but I am still on the learning side of things and so I get a lot more slack.
Several crazy folks in the wood work lately but I can't come up with anything exciting to come up with right now. I'll have to start taking better notes at work when I encounter a good story.
Things outside of work:
- Bridal shower - Maxine had her bridal shower at the Hilton in Brantford. For those of you with really good memories, we had her stag and doe three weeks prior to that and we stayed at the scary scary "Grand" Motel. It was a nice affair with tons of food of course.
- The boyfriend's dad's birthday - We went to Emma's Backporch restaurant on the Burlington Waterfront. I ordered the Chicken Tostito salad and its super good. You get to eat the bowl!!
- My birthday dinner - We went to Frankie Tomattos for my birthday dinner. It's a spectacular Italian buffet with something like 14 eating stations. Unfortunately, it was a Monday and apparently Mondays are kids eat free nights. Plus, it was the end of June which means there were several groups of teeny boppers celebrating their graduations. Oy!
- Whittamores - Did some strawberry, raspberry, snow peas and red skinned potato picking and digging. The potatoes tasted so good when they are so fresh. Froze a bunch of the raspberries so that I can enjoy them all year long!
- Strawberry Fest in Stouffville
- Blue Jays v. Red Sox at SkyDome - the game was so long. Not sure how long exactly but it was over four hours. I think we were still in the fourth inning after two hours! High scoring. We ended up winning. There was a bunch of Americans behind us who wouldn't shut up. They thankfully left around the sixth inning to go up the CN Tower. Hopefully the fence gave out.
- Celtic Fest in Unionville and the Unionville Farmer's Market where I got a big bunch of kettle corn. Super yummy!! Im already planning on going back just for the popcorn.
- Drive in - Went to see Inception and Jonah Hex at the North York drive in in Sharon. Inception was absolutely fantastic and I recommend seeing it. Keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. And it doesn't feel anything near the two and a half hours that it is. Jonah Hex on the otherhand can be missed. And then thrown in the garbage or burned. Quite awful, Not sure how Josh Brolin or Megan Fox got roped into that flick. After the two movies I discovered that I had put the key into the wrong position and the car battery died. Which was really fun at 2 in the morning. So we had to get a boost from the guy that ran the place. Lucky for us since the place cleared out by the time I figured out the battery had been zapped. First the alarm and locks malfunctioned. Then the radio and lights and I finally realized what was happening. Uncool. But thankfully easily fixed!
- Lots of lounging by the pool since the weather has been splendidly hot and sunny!
- Many movies watched on the weekends with the boy toy and several episodes of Six Feet Under with the mumsy!
The busiest month in my firm's entire history, which is about 12 years or more I think, is finally over. June was definitely the busiest month that many real estate law firms saw. Everyone trying to beat the HST. Which I guess is a good move, beating the tax on legal fees and commissions. It's only about $80 if the HST doesn't apply to the commission because the agreement of purchase and sale was signed and firm long before the June 30 deadline. Can you imagine rushing and stressing and forcing a closing to save $80? Insane if you ask me. Now that HST will be applying to commissions it will add more extra fees but still! When you are buying a $400,000 really, whats another $1,000 in taxes? I guess my brain doesn't work the same way as others.
Overall, we had over 150 transactions in June, more than half of them in the span of three days - June 25, June 28 and June 30. Absolute insanity in the office! But we got a nice little bonus from the bossman as a thank you for all the hard work and stress we all had to put up with.
Now July has been rather slow. Things have slowed right down, which I guess none of us can complain about. The other girls are able to catch up on things that got put off all of June such as bank reports and entering discharges and filing them away. The discharges I think have actually been building up for about a year!! One a sale, if there is a mortgage still on the property when the person is selling it, we need to pay out that mortgage. Once it is paid out, it can be discharged. So the bank has to apply to the Land Registry office and have the mortgage discharged. This can take up to several months. So we get discharges directly from the banks on our sales, and then we have to enter them into our system and let the other lawyer's office know that it has been discharged. We also get them from the other lawyer's office on our purchases. On closing they provide us with an undertaking that they will get the discharge of the mortgage and forward it to us. It's a very important item but it's a tedious task, especially when they have been building up for months!
Since things are so slow, there arent very many transactions, and I have been given a lot of free reign. I have been working on a lot of purchases whether they be houses or condos, new or resale. I am getting a lot of practice and it's going pretty well. I of course miss a couple of things, but I am still on the learning side of things and so I get a lot more slack.
Several crazy folks in the wood work lately but I can't come up with anything exciting to come up with right now. I'll have to start taking better notes at work when I encounter a good story.
Things outside of work:
- Bridal shower - Maxine had her bridal shower at the Hilton in Brantford. For those of you with really good memories, we had her stag and doe three weeks prior to that and we stayed at the scary scary "Grand" Motel. It was a nice affair with tons of food of course.
- The boyfriend's dad's birthday - We went to Emma's Backporch restaurant on the Burlington Waterfront. I ordered the Chicken Tostito salad and its super good. You get to eat the bowl!!
- My birthday dinner - We went to Frankie Tomattos for my birthday dinner. It's a spectacular Italian buffet with something like 14 eating stations. Unfortunately, it was a Monday and apparently Mondays are kids eat free nights. Plus, it was the end of June which means there were several groups of teeny boppers celebrating their graduations. Oy!
- Whittamores - Did some strawberry, raspberry, snow peas and red skinned potato picking and digging. The potatoes tasted so good when they are so fresh. Froze a bunch of the raspberries so that I can enjoy them all year long!
- Strawberry Fest in Stouffville
- Blue Jays v. Red Sox at SkyDome - the game was so long. Not sure how long exactly but it was over four hours. I think we were still in the fourth inning after two hours! High scoring. We ended up winning. There was a bunch of Americans behind us who wouldn't shut up. They thankfully left around the sixth inning to go up the CN Tower. Hopefully the fence gave out.
- Celtic Fest in Unionville and the Unionville Farmer's Market where I got a big bunch of kettle corn. Super yummy!! Im already planning on going back just for the popcorn.
- Drive in - Went to see Inception and Jonah Hex at the North York drive in in Sharon. Inception was absolutely fantastic and I recommend seeing it. Keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. And it doesn't feel anything near the two and a half hours that it is. Jonah Hex on the otherhand can be missed. And then thrown in the garbage or burned. Quite awful, Not sure how Josh Brolin or Megan Fox got roped into that flick. After the two movies I discovered that I had put the key into the wrong position and the car battery died. Which was really fun at 2 in the morning. So we had to get a boost from the guy that ran the place. Lucky for us since the place cleared out by the time I figured out the battery had been zapped. First the alarm and locks malfunctioned. Then the radio and lights and I finally realized what was happening. Uncool. But thankfully easily fixed!
- Lots of lounging by the pool since the weather has been splendidly hot and sunny!
- Many movies watched on the weekends with the boy toy and several episodes of Six Feet Under with the mumsy!
June 20, 2010
Happy Father's Day
I went to Kelsey's today to have a salad and I came home and looked up the nutrition information to calculate my points. I can't BELIEVE how much fat is in the dressings on salads at restaurants. I mean, it makes them taste better, but I got a salad to be healthy! It came to 14 points... Oy. Plus then my folks came home from visiting with my nonna and nonno and they brought me home leftovers which consisted of penne and homemade tomato sauce, a homemade meatball and sausauge in tomato sauce. So good. I have been over my point limit the last four days in a row. Good thing I have flex points but tomorrow is going to be a day where I am very under my point limit. Not looking forward to Tuesday's weigh in. Hopefully it's not as bad as I am making it out in my head. I am okay with not losing weight every week but gaining weight this early on might be a major set back for me. The next two weeks won't be any better either as it will be filled with birthday things, social events and baking!
Work. I don't even know what it is that I am to say about it anymore. I have been so busy and so stressed out over work for the last couple of weeks. I actually stayed until 9:30 on Wednesday night so that I could at least catch up on a few file openings. There are so many accumulating that I can't open because I am now working on getting files together in time for signing the documents and closing the transaction. Of the ten that I was given or I assumed, I only have two more that need to be completed. They are related transactions and I think the sale is mostly done. I have already written to the current mortgagee requesting a mortgage discharge statement so I know how much money we need to pay to them so we can register a discharge of that mortgage and take it off title. I also got all the tax information for the client so I was able to complete the statement of adjustments and tell the other side how much our client paid in taxes and whether they need to be compensated by their client for the amount paid. Now for the purchase, I am still working on getting the mortgage instructions under control. These instructions are from Macquarie. I have no idea who they are. We have had many mortgages come through for them but I have never seen a bank for them and I don't really know where one would go to request a Macquarie mortgage. Anyways, not that the instructons are difficult but they are different then any I have done before so it's taking longer than I think it should.
There were a couple of rush file openings that needed to be done last week. All of them are closing on June 30th so I don't even know how many we are up to now for that day. For a small firm, I know it's a damn lot. The bossman gave them to this one girl to open up because she would likely be the one that would be finishing off the files. But she pawned them all off on me, of course. So I am supposed to stop everything and open these damn files for her?! Gah. So I left them to the end of the day, opened them, and then had her scrambling I think to try and get everything in order. So ridiculous some people are.
I was in Burlington this weekend at the Sound of Music Festival. This is what contributed to my overdoing of points, even though there wasn't TOO much bad eating. But I did have half of a pulled pork sandwich. Those things are absolutely to die for. Yum! They were also giving away free Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches which are good for the point system but god damn are they expensive. So I took it while they were free. I didn't want to use up two points though, so I shared it with boyfriend. He liked it too. Also ended up eating a souvlaki pita that evening and some oil popped popcorn. And of course a couple of beers and a couple of vodkas. haha I can't stop drinking just because I have to watch my points now, can I?! I'm totally in trouble these next couple of weeks... haha
I have to start resting up for next week. I feel work and socializing and baking will be a doozy for me.
Work. I don't even know what it is that I am to say about it anymore. I have been so busy and so stressed out over work for the last couple of weeks. I actually stayed until 9:30 on Wednesday night so that I could at least catch up on a few file openings. There are so many accumulating that I can't open because I am now working on getting files together in time for signing the documents and closing the transaction. Of the ten that I was given or I assumed, I only have two more that need to be completed. They are related transactions and I think the sale is mostly done. I have already written to the current mortgagee requesting a mortgage discharge statement so I know how much money we need to pay to them so we can register a discharge of that mortgage and take it off title. I also got all the tax information for the client so I was able to complete the statement of adjustments and tell the other side how much our client paid in taxes and whether they need to be compensated by their client for the amount paid. Now for the purchase, I am still working on getting the mortgage instructions under control. These instructions are from Macquarie. I have no idea who they are. We have had many mortgages come through for them but I have never seen a bank for them and I don't really know where one would go to request a Macquarie mortgage. Anyways, not that the instructons are difficult but they are different then any I have done before so it's taking longer than I think it should.
There were a couple of rush file openings that needed to be done last week. All of them are closing on June 30th so I don't even know how many we are up to now for that day. For a small firm, I know it's a damn lot. The bossman gave them to this one girl to open up because she would likely be the one that would be finishing off the files. But she pawned them all off on me, of course. So I am supposed to stop everything and open these damn files for her?! Gah. So I left them to the end of the day, opened them, and then had her scrambling I think to try and get everything in order. So ridiculous some people are.
I was in Burlington this weekend at the Sound of Music Festival. This is what contributed to my overdoing of points, even though there wasn't TOO much bad eating. But I did have half of a pulled pork sandwich. Those things are absolutely to die for. Yum! They were also giving away free Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches which are good for the point system but god damn are they expensive. So I took it while they were free. I didn't want to use up two points though, so I shared it with boyfriend. He liked it too. Also ended up eating a souvlaki pita that evening and some oil popped popcorn. And of course a couple of beers and a couple of vodkas. haha I can't stop drinking just because I have to watch my points now, can I?! I'm totally in trouble these next couple of weeks... haha
I have to start resting up for next week. I feel work and socializing and baking will be a doozy for me.
June 9, 2010
Licenses, Dinos and Flowers!
While last week was rather stressful and frustrating, this one has started out on some rather positive notes (other than the fact that I may need to stay late tomorrow and I stayed an extra hour last night). First off, the new/return receptionist is getting better at what she does. She is able to do her tasks quicker, however, she for some reason thinks I work on every single file. Bizarre chicky. Just look it up in the system. It says who was the last one in the file and they are more than likely the one working on the file. However, she is still very very slow on the file opening. Which is a problem because if I have to focus on file opening, I wont be able to do all the other tasks that are currently on my plate. Everyone in the office has been throwing all kinds of random crap at her. I guess they don't realize that these files don't open themselves!
Bossman also hired another girl. There is no room for this girl. Some weird old school portable desk was brought out of somewhere for the occassion. It's set up right next to my desk. There is no phone and no computer on this old school desk. Therefore, she can't do any phone answering or anything that requires any of the computer programs that we virtually live off of. She is our new banking girl, though. This will take the load off some of the work that one of the other girls normally does so she can focus on closing the sale files that she has been given. When the days are slow, though, or she's not at the bank, she doesn't have a whole lot to do. She's been putting file folders, checklists, filing random crap, putting waybills in chronological order and not a whole lot. It's hard to find stuff for her to do that doesn't really require the computer or phone. Poor girl. Hopefully something comes up or the bank needs to be visited more often so she doesn't appear as bored.
I got my Teraview licence on Friday! Yay! So I have a bunch of paper work that I am supposed to read through so that I don't make any mistakes. Just got the USB from Bossman today. You need this USB to be able to do any sort of work on Teraview. It's really quite interesting. The USB logs everything that you do on the computer program. That way, the programers can track everything that is done on their site and can figure out where issues or fraud has occurred. The liability risk is pretty high. But today I did my very first execution search!! Usually, after I do the requistion letter on the purchase files, I give the file to another coworker. She then will do the execution search if we have the client's questionnaire. The questionnaire is given when we open the file and it requires the client to file out how they plan to take title and exactly how they want their names to appear. So now, I can do it myself! I search two people. The execution search checks to see whether anyone by that name has been sued by anyone else and the issue hasn't been resolved. The search picks up every name so it might catch the middle and last names but the first names may be different. It is still an execution against the client. We then have to check with the client if it is them or not. If it's not, we just get the client to sign an affidavit stating that they are not one and the same person as the person whose name came up in the search. That can only be done if the execution is for a value of $50,000 or less though. If it is over $50,000, or there are a number of them over $50,000, we have to write to the solicitor representing the person suing them, and get them to determine that our client is not one and the same person as that mentioned in the execution. They will then charge us/our client for them to write this letter. Sounds like a lot of effort, but a client cannot purchase a property if they have executions against them so the executions must be waived or lifted before the transaction can close. I get to be a part of that world now! Yahoo! Tomorrow I will do my first transfer and charge/mortgage. I like learning.
Saturday's Walking with Dinosaurs was absolutely amazing. The dinosaurs were so large and they really looked as if they were moving around. It was incredible. The sound effects were perfect also. The story was not what I was expecting it to be, not that I really knew what to expect. There is a paleontologist narrating the story of the dinosaurs and he takes us through the ages. Talks about the dinosaurs, other animals that were on earth at the time, the vegetation and the shape of the continents. Here is the green vegetation before there were any flowers:
Meet the Dinosaurs!
Stegosaurus:
Brachiosaurus lovin:
The battle between the baby T-Rex, mama T-Rex, Protoceratops and Ankylosaurus!! RAWR!!
Close up of mama and baby T-Rex:
The ending threw me right off. I didn't think they were actually doing a full and accurate retelling of the story of the dinosaurs but they did. The meteor came and killed off the dinosaurs. Left me a little sad feeling but then the baby T-Rex came out and took a bow and he was so cute that really you couldn't stay sad!
After baking healthy Strawberry oat muffins last night with Dominique, I wanted to bake some more this evening. So I made some Banana Coconut Oat drops. They only have five ingredients and don't take very long at all. 2 cups of oats, 1/2 cup of coconut, 3 ripe bananas, 1/3 cup oil and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I modified the original recipe because I had no dates and I like coconut a lot so that is the recipe I came up with. They are only 1 Weight Watcher point each. They aren't all that big but they are satisfying and that's all I need! Here is what they look like:
I then decided to head into my backyard and see if the garden has been doing anything exciting lately. Our perennials are not coming up all that well. They didnt grow all that well last year either so I wasn't too surprised. We got a few different plants to try and fill in the gaps. So far, really only the hanging baskets are blooming. And some annuals my mom planted out front. But there is also an indoor hibiscus which we've put outside for the time being. Here are some good blooms:
They still have raindrops on them from the light rain which fell all day long. Gorgeous. I love my flowers.
Bossman also hired another girl. There is no room for this girl. Some weird old school portable desk was brought out of somewhere for the occassion. It's set up right next to my desk. There is no phone and no computer on this old school desk. Therefore, she can't do any phone answering or anything that requires any of the computer programs that we virtually live off of. She is our new banking girl, though. This will take the load off some of the work that one of the other girls normally does so she can focus on closing the sale files that she has been given. When the days are slow, though, or she's not at the bank, she doesn't have a whole lot to do. She's been putting file folders, checklists, filing random crap, putting waybills in chronological order and not a whole lot. It's hard to find stuff for her to do that doesn't really require the computer or phone. Poor girl. Hopefully something comes up or the bank needs to be visited more often so she doesn't appear as bored.
I got my Teraview licence on Friday! Yay! So I have a bunch of paper work that I am supposed to read through so that I don't make any mistakes. Just got the USB from Bossman today. You need this USB to be able to do any sort of work on Teraview. It's really quite interesting. The USB logs everything that you do on the computer program. That way, the programers can track everything that is done on their site and can figure out where issues or fraud has occurred. The liability risk is pretty high. But today I did my very first execution search!! Usually, after I do the requistion letter on the purchase files, I give the file to another coworker. She then will do the execution search if we have the client's questionnaire. The questionnaire is given when we open the file and it requires the client to file out how they plan to take title and exactly how they want their names to appear. So now, I can do it myself! I search two people. The execution search checks to see whether anyone by that name has been sued by anyone else and the issue hasn't been resolved. The search picks up every name so it might catch the middle and last names but the first names may be different. It is still an execution against the client. We then have to check with the client if it is them or not. If it's not, we just get the client to sign an affidavit stating that they are not one and the same person as the person whose name came up in the search. That can only be done if the execution is for a value of $50,000 or less though. If it is over $50,000, or there are a number of them over $50,000, we have to write to the solicitor representing the person suing them, and get them to determine that our client is not one and the same person as that mentioned in the execution. They will then charge us/our client for them to write this letter. Sounds like a lot of effort, but a client cannot purchase a property if they have executions against them so the executions must be waived or lifted before the transaction can close. I get to be a part of that world now! Yahoo! Tomorrow I will do my first transfer and charge/mortgage. I like learning.
Saturday's Walking with Dinosaurs was absolutely amazing. The dinosaurs were so large and they really looked as if they were moving around. It was incredible. The sound effects were perfect also. The story was not what I was expecting it to be, not that I really knew what to expect. There is a paleontologist narrating the story of the dinosaurs and he takes us through the ages. Talks about the dinosaurs, other animals that were on earth at the time, the vegetation and the shape of the continents. Here is the green vegetation before there were any flowers:
Meet the Dinosaurs!
Stegosaurus:
The battle between the baby T-Rex, mama T-Rex, Protoceratops and Ankylosaurus!! RAWR!!
The ending threw me right off. I didn't think they were actually doing a full and accurate retelling of the story of the dinosaurs but they did. The meteor came and killed off the dinosaurs. Left me a little sad feeling but then the baby T-Rex came out and took a bow and he was so cute that really you couldn't stay sad!
After baking healthy Strawberry oat muffins last night with Dominique, I wanted to bake some more this evening. So I made some Banana Coconut Oat drops. They only have five ingredients and don't take very long at all. 2 cups of oats, 1/2 cup of coconut, 3 ripe bananas, 1/3 cup oil and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I modified the original recipe because I had no dates and I like coconut a lot so that is the recipe I came up with. They are only 1 Weight Watcher point each. They aren't all that big but they are satisfying and that's all I need! Here is what they look like:
I then decided to head into my backyard and see if the garden has been doing anything exciting lately. Our perennials are not coming up all that well. They didnt grow all that well last year either so I wasn't too surprised. We got a few different plants to try and fill in the gaps. So far, really only the hanging baskets are blooming. And some annuals my mom planted out front. But there is also an indoor hibiscus which we've put outside for the time being. Here are some good blooms:
June 3, 2010
First completed file!
I'm obviously really bad at keeping up with this blog. However, I only have one follower and one other semi-reader, so I don't feel so bad!! haha
Work has been super super super busy and super super super stressful. I have made up 9 of the 10 hours that I owed bossman and I am certain many more overtime hours are in my near future. June is the most busy month I think I've witnessed there. Everyone is still trying to beat the HST. The last four working days on the month are going to be absolutely insane. I'm not really sure how everyone is going to pull all this shit together but it will get done. Just don't expect any of us to be smiling!
So I have all of my files sitting on my desk and slowly going forward. I worked on my first sale file today! One of the other girls went through a sale file yesterday while I followed along with her. I wrote everything down because there is just so much to do, but today I was able to do the sale file mostly by myself. This was the sale file that was thrown at me out of the blue because I had a question on the file and she decided she didn't want to answer me and so therefore I was working on the file. And they clients have a purchase too. The purchase isn't for two weeks after the sale closes and one of the clients is leaving on Monday for a few weeks. So it's a big rush job. Luckily we got the mortgage documents late this afternoon so I can prepare teh purchase file without having to prepare a power of attorney. And then she can sign before she leaves the country. Now I just have to make sure I get all the purchase documents ready for signing. As I STILL don't have my license/disc on Teraview, I can't prepare the actual transfer or mortgage/charge documents, so I will have to get one of the other girls to do that part for me. But luckily I asked bossman about it today (for like the fifth time) and we faxed out the request for my name and password this afternoon. Which means that I better be getting it goddamn soon! Then I can ACTUALLY finish the whole file on my own. Maybe by the end of the month when most of my other files are due.
The girl that took over the front desk has already left. She apparently was offered a better position somewhere else, I assume in her field. No one really talked about it prior to her departure, so when we arrived on Monday and found that she was no longer coming in, it was a bit of a shock. But another girl that has been there the past two summers has returned. She has the phones, filing and copying down pat. The only problem is that I know have to train her how to open files. I feel I just did that. The other girl never really got it down pat so I am more hopeful about this one. Not as fast of a learner though, but we'll get there!
I thought we were finally finished opening up all the files for June but we got three more today. Bossman has decided that he would not be accepting anymore transactions for the end of the month so these ones were earlier in the month. Which is also pretty annoying because things need to be done really fast and quick. But I have passed those ones on to the experts to get through them since I am way too green and slow at it thus far.
Two weekends in a row we have gone to stag and does. Although I am not a fan of having to drive over an hour every weekend for 6 weekends in a row, we have already won several exciting items. The highlights are a 26 of Smirnoff, aromatherapy sets, bracelet, candles, gym bag, $25 gift certificate to a pub and $100 gift certificate for a fancy pants restaurant. Very exciting. Plus we have another stag and doe this weekend in which we have the chance to win a signed Alexander Ovechkin jersey, among other things. Which is also very exciting!! But it's going to be a full out fun weekend. Prior to the stag and doe we are going to see Walking with the Dinosaurs at Copps Colliseum! It is an early birthday gift from my boy! Wooooot! And then after the program, we are staying over in a fantastic looking little hole in the wall in Brantford, where the stag and doe is. No plans for the afternoon after yet, but we will have to find something entertaining to do in the town. I've never been in that area in the day time so maybe there is a big highlight that I must see! Any tips of what to do in the Brantford on a Sunday?!
I am certainly glad that tomorrow is Friday. This week has been a bit of a mess. As was last week. Month end. And now month beginning of an insane month. Plus the air conditioner has decided to konk out. So even if it's not too hot outside, it's at least 15 degrees hotter indoors. We all have desk fans directly in our faces and still all sweating up a storm. It might be helping me lose my weight though! Started the Weight Watchers last week and this Tuesday on weigh in day I was done another 2.5 pounds. So in total, I am down 8.5 pounds. I eat pretty well during the week but then comes the weekends where stag and does provide fattening foods and liquor. And my boy can eat anything because he's a skinny guy and never gets fat. BAH TO HIM I SAYS!!! So I have prblems restraining myself on weekends. But I think the healthy times during the week compensate for it. At least so far. Fingers crossed for more good times and weight dropping off.
Work has been super super super busy and super super super stressful. I have made up 9 of the 10 hours that I owed bossman and I am certain many more overtime hours are in my near future. June is the most busy month I think I've witnessed there. Everyone is still trying to beat the HST. The last four working days on the month are going to be absolutely insane. I'm not really sure how everyone is going to pull all this shit together but it will get done. Just don't expect any of us to be smiling!
So I have all of my files sitting on my desk and slowly going forward. I worked on my first sale file today! One of the other girls went through a sale file yesterday while I followed along with her. I wrote everything down because there is just so much to do, but today I was able to do the sale file mostly by myself. This was the sale file that was thrown at me out of the blue because I had a question on the file and she decided she didn't want to answer me and so therefore I was working on the file. And they clients have a purchase too. The purchase isn't for two weeks after the sale closes and one of the clients is leaving on Monday for a few weeks. So it's a big rush job. Luckily we got the mortgage documents late this afternoon so I can prepare teh purchase file without having to prepare a power of attorney. And then she can sign before she leaves the country. Now I just have to make sure I get all the purchase documents ready for signing. As I STILL don't have my license/disc on Teraview, I can't prepare the actual transfer or mortgage/charge documents, so I will have to get one of the other girls to do that part for me. But luckily I asked bossman about it today (for like the fifth time) and we faxed out the request for my name and password this afternoon. Which means that I better be getting it goddamn soon! Then I can ACTUALLY finish the whole file on my own. Maybe by the end of the month when most of my other files are due.
The girl that took over the front desk has already left. She apparently was offered a better position somewhere else, I assume in her field. No one really talked about it prior to her departure, so when we arrived on Monday and found that she was no longer coming in, it was a bit of a shock. But another girl that has been there the past two summers has returned. She has the phones, filing and copying down pat. The only problem is that I know have to train her how to open files. I feel I just did that. The other girl never really got it down pat so I am more hopeful about this one. Not as fast of a learner though, but we'll get there!
I thought we were finally finished opening up all the files for June but we got three more today. Bossman has decided that he would not be accepting anymore transactions for the end of the month so these ones were earlier in the month. Which is also pretty annoying because things need to be done really fast and quick. But I have passed those ones on to the experts to get through them since I am way too green and slow at it thus far.
Two weekends in a row we have gone to stag and does. Although I am not a fan of having to drive over an hour every weekend for 6 weekends in a row, we have already won several exciting items. The highlights are a 26 of Smirnoff, aromatherapy sets, bracelet, candles, gym bag, $25 gift certificate to a pub and $100 gift certificate for a fancy pants restaurant. Very exciting. Plus we have another stag and doe this weekend in which we have the chance to win a signed Alexander Ovechkin jersey, among other things. Which is also very exciting!! But it's going to be a full out fun weekend. Prior to the stag and doe we are going to see Walking with the Dinosaurs at Copps Colliseum! It is an early birthday gift from my boy! Wooooot! And then after the program, we are staying over in a fantastic looking little hole in the wall in Brantford, where the stag and doe is. No plans for the afternoon after yet, but we will have to find something entertaining to do in the town. I've never been in that area in the day time so maybe there is a big highlight that I must see! Any tips of what to do in the Brantford on a Sunday?!
I am certainly glad that tomorrow is Friday. This week has been a bit of a mess. As was last week. Month end. And now month beginning of an insane month. Plus the air conditioner has decided to konk out. So even if it's not too hot outside, it's at least 15 degrees hotter indoors. We all have desk fans directly in our faces and still all sweating up a storm. It might be helping me lose my weight though! Started the Weight Watchers last week and this Tuesday on weigh in day I was done another 2.5 pounds. So in total, I am down 8.5 pounds. I eat pretty well during the week but then comes the weekends where stag and does provide fattening foods and liquor. And my boy can eat anything because he's a skinny guy and never gets fat. BAH TO HIM I SAYS!!! So I have prblems restraining myself on weekends. But I think the healthy times during the week compensate for it. At least so far. Fingers crossed for more good times and weight dropping off.
May 19, 2010
A wee little update
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.
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 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.
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