Being the only accountant...

I always thought that being the only accountant in the company would be fun. Well exactly the opposite is true. It's so not fun. It certainly is a lot of stress. But that doesn't mean that I let the stress get the better of me. While I don't mind starting work between 6.30 and 7 am, I make it a point to leave work around 4.30 pm. And I really couldn't care less how much work is unfinished. Anything else would be crazy and just leads to an early burn out.
But I do have to say that my boss is really giving my my space. One of my co-workers has taken a month off for his studies and my other co-worker called in sick. So I'm alone in the accounting department. But the work still gets done. And only things that do have the highest priority are being done. Well, that's certainly not desirable, but there's nothing you can do about it. At times it does stress me a little out, but than I think I've only got 2 hands to work with and baby steps are here the way to go. And the most important things are being done. And of course I realize that it would be important to get started with the perp-work for the year's end tax work. Yes it would be important, but that's just no an option right now. And if something isn't done right away, although it should be, I haven't heard any bad word from my boss about that. If he should point it out...he's gonna get an ear full.

Shopping online...

Well this morning I realized once again that I'm in dire need of new Jeans. Since the ones I own are starting to fall apart. On the positive side I've been wearing them to work each week for the past 4 years. So they were definitely worth the investment. The thing is just with having a very busy work schedule, taking  2 classes and Gina needing my time as well, there is very little time to go clothes shopping. Besides that I really don't shopping for clothes as much as I used to. The older I get the more I dislike large crowds. I knew that Levi's 501 are are perfect fit for me. And I think I still need 36th. But wasn't 100% sure on that. But I did believe the online measuring chart. And I ordered them. But in the back of my mind I just couldn't believe that I should be able to ware 34th. Later I remembered that I till somewhere jeans in a size 34. So I dug through a couple of boxes and finally found them. Tried them on and...I can zip them...but I can barely breath in them. So they're gonna be too small. That's not a problem since I can send them back for a full refund for 30 days. But that doesn't exactly solve my problem.
So I jumped online to locate the next store selling Levi's and there's one at Vienna's Mariahilferstrasse  and I know roughly where that store was located. The business hours are till 7 pm so I could have gone any day after work. But I decided to do that on a Friday after work. Not so sure how busy it's gonna be since I will be shopping for clothes on Good Friday.

Taking Inventory...

I usually don't work Saturdays and yes I've really gotten used to it. But once a year, when we're taking inventory I have to be there. And  no, I really don't like that part of my job. It's a very quiet day to work and only work on Saturdays till 2 pm at the latest. But just the idea of having to work in a Saturday just pisses me off. I don't mind spending my Saturdays in class at WIFI to earn my public accountant certification. But working in a Saturday not much fun. I had to deal with the account dealing with precious metals. And figuring out the differences in the range if one hundredth to one tenth can just be tedious. But in the end I figured out the differences and left work around 1.30 pm. Got home to a very excited Gina and took her for a walk right away. The real downside of taking inventory is, that you're having a really short weekend. Half a Saturday and the Sunday is just not that much time to relax. Do I have that this years taking inventory is gonna be any better than last year. Well, not really. In my opinion it's gonna be pretty much the same disaster as last year. But in the end it's not really my problem. If the company I'm working for would be required to have an independent economic auditor look over the date, he most certainly would say that an inventory result like last years has to be redone. But currently that's not the case.

My 44th Brithday...

Well today is my 44th birthday. For me it's just another day. Turning 44 is just not a biggy. And I had to work anyways. Brought some cake to work and got birthday wishes from my co-workes. But I did take off about 1/2 earlier than usual. Hadn't planned anything for the evening. Took Gina out for her usual evening walk. Then spent the evening chilling with Gina on the couch, watching TV and checking up on social media. And yes all the birthday wishes via Facebook and Twitter were very much appreciated.

Installing Windows 7...

Today I finally got around to installing Windows 7 on my Mac. I just started up Parallels. First I let it search for the disc image on my external hard drive automatically. But for some reason it didn't see it or it was just taking too long. So just dragged the disk image onto the Parallels. And it recognized it immediately. Asked me a few basic setup questions and started with the installation routine. I was expecting a really lengthy installation routine as one is used to under Windows. But under Parallels the installation went super fast. Within 10 minutes the expanding and installation was done. Just a few Windows setup questions, one simple restart and Windows was running on my Mac. I tested right away if I could access my online classes on the WIFI learning platform. And it worked without any issues. Didn't get any sound though, but that could be due to the fact that the update procedure hadn't run yet. Having Windows run on your Mac just like a native Mac App takes a little getting used to, but so far I'm really liking it. There are 2 things I've noticed so far: under Parallels that was the fastest  Windows install I've ever seen and under Parallels Windows 7 runs at least 3 or 4 times faster than on a PC. That's a huge bonus point in my book.

When I took a closer look at the Windows version I got. It turns out that it is a Dell OEM, but as far as I can tell. It is a full version of Windows 7. So it is one of those copies that you see all over Amazon. But as long as it works, I really couldn't care less.
Next had to run the Windows update routine. And that, as all Windows users know, can take quite some time. Here it definitely comes in handy to have a 100 Mbit internet connection. The download was done quite quickly. The installation of 174 system updates not so much. But that's what you have to go trough and there's not really a way around that. So far I'm fine with it. The only thing I question is, why did I put up that long with my old laptop, when I could have had it that easy...running 2 systems on my MacBook Pro while taking advantage of the Mac's features and hardware.

Finding an replacement for Windows...

Those of you guys who regularly read my blog know, that my old Laptop had died on me. The only reason I kept the thing around was for my classes at the WIFI online learning  platform. Since the WIFI platform only supports the PC versions of Explorer and Firefox, I had to find a solution. Of course I knew that I could run Windows on my Mac. But I wasn't sure if I wanted to run it through Bootcamp or through Parallels. After all there are distinctive differences. While bootcamp has the benefit of being able to take advantage of the Mac's hardware completely, it has the disadvantage, that you have to reboot your machine every time when switching between both systems. Parallels on the other hand doesn't offer you as much hardware advantage, but it has the benefit of letting you switch between Mac and Windows as if it where just another App on your desktop.
At first I wasn't sure what route to choose. But pretty quickly it was quite clear to me that Parallels was the route to go. After all I use Windows just for minor tasks. For my online studies and for certain applications that aren't available under OSX like MS Access for instance.
So I purchases and downloaded a copy of Parallels right away. Everything from the purchasing process over download and all the way up installing the app was exactly as I expected it...just a piece of cake. That's one of the thins I love about my Mac...things are really easy and work.
Next up was downloading a copy of Windows. Since I had no copy of the Windows version that came with my old laptop I knew there was no way around than to purchase another copy. I really didn't want to buy a copy of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. Version 8 of Windows just drives me crazy. It does reminds me a lot on the troubles people used to have with Vista. And since I had to purchase a Windows copy anyways I was definitely going to go with Windows 7. Found a place to buy it online for a really good price. A full version of Windows 7 Home Premium for about 24 bucks. Of course I had my doubts if that was a full version or maybe just an upgrade version. But for that price there wasn't really that much lost. So I purchase the thing and paying by credit card I was expecting to be able to download it immediately. No so much luck. So I was kinda furious, as the email said that the payment had to be verified first. I was just about to right a really salty email to them when I get another email about 20 minutes after the purchase, giving me the link to download the disk image. So I go ahead and do just that. Of course it takes some time. But there's nothing you can do about that. Of course not having at a DVD drive I had to put the disk image on a USB drive. Just wished they would tell you that the USB drive needs to be Mac formatted. Took me quite some time to figure that out. Luckily one of my external hard drives is a mac formatted one. But of course I wasn't going to install Windows on my Mac before having a whole backup. So I start up time machine and let it run a backup. By the time the backup was done it was time for me to head to bed. So to Windows "story" will continue tomorrow.

RIP old Laptop...

Well, today was going to happen what just had to happen. it was inevitable. My old Laptop hasn't been working properly for month and month. That was one of the main reasons I bought a MacBook Pro back in December. My old laptop was behaving kinda strangely you might say. Having more and more system issues. That was the reason why I never shut it down completely, just put it to sleep. Since I wasn't sure that it would be starting the next day. Luckily I had saved all the data to backup drives and cloud storage a long time ago. So if it was going to die there would be no loss on personal data. The thing I still used it for was for my advanced Excel class, since the WKO online platform only works with the Windows version of Explorer or FireFox. Of course I could have run windows on my Mac, but why spend the money if you don't have to. That was at least how I was looking on the issue.
So today during one of my Excel units the suddenly stopped being reactive. Didn't load the page any more. Nor did Excel do anything. Starting the task manager took forever. But closing the unresponsive applications and restarting them didn't help either. I really didn't want to try and reboot the thing. Suddenly the screen goes all dark and it doesn't leave my any choice but to restart it. I starts up with an half attempt of trying to do repairs but nothing happens any further. So this was pretty much it for that laptop. I'm not really sorry that it finally decided to die, since that thing was pretty much a lemon from the get go on. Still not sure if the laptop itself was the lemon or if just Windows 8 is just another lemon.
Now I have to figure out how to run Windows on my Mac. It pretty much leaves me to options: either via Bootcamp or via installing a Virtual Machine. Both ways have there pros and cons. Not entirely sure which route I will be taking.

Student life isn't easy...

Well who ever said that student life is easy has obviously never worked full time and gotten additional qualifications in his spare time. My day starts at 4 am. I get up take Gina for morning walk. Then I have breakfast and head out to work. I work for about 9 to 10 hours depending on the workload. Right now I have a pretty heavy workload, since one of my co-workers has taken a month of for studies. So I have to do parts of his work as well. I got off work at 5 pm. Take Gina for a long walk. Then I sit down for about 2 hours to study and do exercises for my economic calculus class. Once I'm done with that my day still isn't over. I jump online on the WKO "learning platform" and deal with several units of my advanced Excel class. Here I'm really making good progress. Then it's time to grab a bite to eat. After my dinner it's time for some relaxing und cuddling time with Gina on the couch, before heading to bed around 10.30 pm.
I've learned to cook on Sunday a big pot of food that usually lasts till Friday. There really wouldn't be any time to cook. And if anyone things that I have a free weekend. Think again. My weekends are filled with studying economic calculus and lot's of advanced Excel as well. So having lots of free time seems like a distant memory from the past. But you do what you have to do.
On the bright side it's nice that my 2 girls are always keeping my company when I'm learning. Daisy's urn has found a permanent spot in the left corner of my desk and Gina usually sleeps in the left corner under the desk when I'm learning. I think that's really cute.

Update on my back...

Well it has been over a week now. And I'm less and less sure that lumbago actually is the culprit. It's just taking way too long. But the slipped disk doesn't feel right either. It has gotten a lot better. Getting up in the morning is the problem. My back feels stiff and is still hurting, but far not that much as it used to. The starting and stoping of public transportation feels particularly bad in the morning. And the morning walk with Gina isn't any fun as well. It takes about 2 or 3 hours until I feel OK. Then it's as if nothing would be wrong. And the long walks with Gina in the evening feel actually very good. I'm just not sure what to make of it. It's becoming more and more obvious that I will have to see a doctor about it and that there is a good chance that there will be an CT or an MRT in my near future. Can't say that I'm particularly fond of that idea.

Health scare...

When I got back from todays walk with Gina, I went grocery shopping and didn't expect anything bad. The weight of the groceries wasn't even much. I had just finished putting them away and was getting to kick back and relax a little. I was just changing my pants when I felt a sharp pain in my lower back, just right above where the spinal column meets your pelvis. I just dropped the pants as I couldn't really move. But I did manage to make it over to the couch. I sat there for about 10 minutes without being able to move or to get up. I just thought that I was happy that I had taken Gina out already. After about 10 minutes I decided to just lay down on the couch. After all it couldn't possibly get any worse that it was already. I spent most parts of the afternoon on the couch. The plan of learning economic calculus was pretty much out of the window. Gina knew that there was something really wrong. She stay right next to and kept licking my hand. Once I was resting on the couch she slept right next to me. As long as I wasn't moving at all it was not too bad. Bad moving was every single time a new experience in pain.
Getting off the couch to go to the bathroom was anything but easy. But with slowly rolling off the couch...it finally worked. But the early evening hours it had gotten a little better. And I did manage to take Gina out for a really short walk around the block, so that she could do her business. Gina was behaving particularly good. And we made it back. This walk was no fun at all. One just slightly wrong movement and it was a new experience in pain. I knew that there was no way that I would be able to cook, and so I ordered some take out food. I had 2 large pieces of baked Emmentaler. And the thing really hit the spot. I spent the rest of the evening watching YouTube videos of through hikers of the PCT. Of course I looked up online what it could be. The 2 most likely culprits are lumbago or a slipped disc. But from the symptoms I was more leaning towards lumbago. But of curse things like that always have to happen on the weekend, when my doctor isn't around and the pharmacy is closed. And I wasn't going to the subject my hurting back to a cab ride to one of the weekend pharmacies. So the thing I was left with was just to kick back an relax as much as I could and it got better as the weekend went on.
The one thing that surprised me most, was that I didn't feel helpless at all. A lot of the guys in my age bracket who are single and have to deal with similar stuff, they all feel helpless or wished they were in a relationship. Not me. I took it for what it was and dealt with it. But I guess having a dog has 2 positive effects here: on the one hand you have someone loyal to keep you company and having the responsibility for a dog you drag your hurting body out so that the dog can do his business. Not that Saturday und Sunday morning was particularly fun, but I managed to do it.

Update on Economic Calculus...

Well, so far economic calculus has not been too bad. I really did hat Math in Highschool and economic calculus is much closer to math than I would like to. Especially theoretical math formulas or for me almost like torture. But give me a economic calculus formula in an example based on numbers...that's not too difficult to understand. The subject doesn't come super easy to me, but I do understand that. And yes it takes an considerable effort on my part to understand it. But it's not something that would be boring, since the matter at hand is actually interesting. And having to find the appropriate solution in MS Excel is a challenge as well. But it makes you getting much better in Excel. Some of the topics are hard, at least as far as I'm concerned and other topics that are way closer to accounting come to me super easy.
With that being said, the plan of taking an easy course this spring semester didn't exactly play out as planned, since economic calculus is anything but easy. But I need that understand that stuff for the time when I will be taking my class in cost calculation and cost analysis.