Las Vegas Move Series, Installment 2

Sorry for the delay in a new post. After you read this, you’ll see why I haven’t had any time.

In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II, dealing with many trials in her life, declared the year to be the worst of her life—I had the Latin phrase ready, but I can’t decide if it’s anus horribilis or annus horribilis, and I don’t want to be talking about a horrible anus incorrectly! While I haven’t had scandal with an heir-apparent child or a castle burn, or even a bad year, I sure have had one hell of a day!

Let me tell you about today, and then I’ll catch you up on the family’s transition to Las Vegas. Don’t worry, they’re intertwined.

Morning. I’ve now moved from traditional hotels to an extended stay hotel. It’s a little bit better now with a refrigerator and I don’t have to eat EVERY meal at a restaurant. I haven’t been able to get a reservation for the first week of January—actually the 3rd through the 9th. Apparently, the largest convention in the world comes to Vegas that week every year. The hotels that are not sold out are charging between $500 and $800 per night, non-refundable 100% deposit. I mentioned this at work, and a couple of people knew some people who knew some people and eventually got me a room. But as this was going on, two of the employees—one my direct report, were arguing about how I was mistaken. One is a native Las Vegan. You don’t meet many of these out here, and some of them feel the need to let you know that they know EVERYTHING about this town, and you’ll always be inferior. Their mission was not about helping me find a room, but rather proving me wrong.

Lunch. A disturbing call from my relocation consultant. I had been counting on a safety net offer on my house that my company extends at 90 days that is based on two appraisals. I hope to sell before, but it was nice to have that comfort. Anyway, their offer came in several, several thousands of dollars less than my house would appraise for. They failed to mention during this entire process that they instruct THEIR appraisers to discount their report based on selling the house quickly and to account for slow periods of the year, which we are in the biggest one of the year.

I was furious. I started my argument with her, and then just told her that she should call her appraisers and ask specific questions how they justified the lesser amount. I figured I should let it rest because I really tend to make an ass out of myself when I make such impromptu arguments.

(As a side note, no need to worry yet. Our house has shown 7 times in the past two weeks, fairly remarkable considering the slowdown and the Thanksgiving holiday. If we get our price or close to it, none of this will matter anyway.)

Afternoon. Mrs. MoN is sick. We think it might be the flu. Yes, she’s the only one at home to take care of Baby MoN, and we sure as hell don’t want her to get it. So, step-mother-in-law from Mississippi was dispatched immediately and our buddy Tex took the evening shift with the baby to keep my wife’s contact limited. (Thanks Tex).

Tonight I had to step in at the last minute for our plant manager at the Nevada Manufacturer’s Association annual dinner. He’s on the Board of Directors and was sick. It wasn’t a total loss though, because I sat beside another Controller from a neighboring company. I asked him where he moved from and he said, “Tupelo, Mississippi.” Thus the groundwork was laid for easy conversation for the rest of the night.

Prior to getting sick, Mrs. MoN joined me here in LV for Thanksgiving (Baby with grandparents). We stayed on the strip and did all of the touristy things as it was her first time here. She really liked it, and even liked the place I’ve picked for us to live. Timing was on my side when I showed her the community. I was explaining how it was supposed to be a real family-friendly place, and an ice cream truck drove by complete with the corny music.

When I flew out a week and a half ago, I got upgraded to First Class. Of all my years of business travel, I’ve never flown first class. I loved the extra room, but I thought all of the extras (warm, wet towels to wash your hands, etc.) were a little silly. But hey, if Delta can charge a lot more money for those towels, more power to them. Lord knows they need the money. I only got upgraded because I am now a Silver Medallion member thanks to my travel this year.

As I recap the move-to-date, here’s what has shocked me the most. I was totally wrong about what would be the difficult areas of this move and what would be the easy ones. I was concentrating so hard on the new job that I forgot about some of the details. While my company has a fairly good relocation policy, it’s still a lot of work, even if I’m not paying for it.

As for the job, I am adjusting fairly well, and more importantly, I really like what I’m doing. It has been difficult getting used to approximately 75 emails a day that require responses and the mini deadlines that accumulate hourly, but they day flies by. I like the environment too. It’s so different than the corporate structure I’ve been used to. Hell, I now wear jeans to work and I have a pair of steel-toed boots that I wear occasionally and a hard hat with my name on it (Everyone who knows me personally is busting out laughing at this thought)!

One of the weirdest things for me is being someone’s boss. I’ve been in a supervisory position for a few years now, but I have never been administratively responsible for anyone, let alone a whole accounting department—okay, so it’s not that big, but still. On Monday one of my employees came in and asked for a vacation day next week. My first thought was, “Why the hell are you asking me?”, but luckily I caught myself before I said that.

All that being said, I can’t write much more. It’s almost 10:00 here and I think it will take the permanent move early next year before my body fully adjusts to Pacific Time.

For everyone who’s still stopping by this site from time to time, thanks. Hopefully life will adjust one day and I can write more frequently.