And the winner is....

It seems like quite a bit has happened in the last month, but in reality I guess it wasn't that much.

• I got a promotion at work.
• We went on a week-long vacation.

I've been at my company for about 1.5 years now, and the last 6 months or so I've just been entering orders for our Key Accounts.  I liked what I did, but I'm such a fast learner and so efficient, that after just a few months I had hit the ceiling and was as good as I was going to get at that position.  With no where else to improve (I really am that good), I asked my supervisor about moving in to a different position.  Just so happens, there was a Sales Support position that needed to be filled, and I was a great candidate for the job.  I'll basically be the support to our sales rep on our National Accounts team.  She travels a lot, so I'm the one at the office who can take care of things (quotes, sample requests, etc) while she's gone (or if she's really busy in the office too).  There may be some opportunity for me to travel a bit as well if I want to.  The main difference between Sales and Customer Service is that Sales fosters relationships with certain accounts, and we handle all the high quantity (5,000 pieces+) and Import/Custom items.  I hear it's a new challenge adventure everyday.  I'm still in training, but I'm excited to learn something new.

Now, on to our vacation.  We rented a condo in Oceanside for a week.  I would definitely do that again, over staying in a hotel.  The condos tend to be closer to the beach (this one was a 30 second walk) and they're really not much more expensive.  Plus, we had a fully functioning kitchen so we didn't have to eat out for every meal.  Our main attraction to San Diego is their Zoo.  We've been to it 2 times before this, and just love the layout and the animals they have there.  It's not a zoo I'd like to to go with kids, there are a lot of hills, but for just us it's great.  We actually bought a membership there, they have one available for people out of state.  We would only need to visit one more time in the next year to get more than our money's worth.  The membership also includes the Safari Park - which is more African Safari-like.

The main highlights at the zoo were the babies.  They have a baby Panda bear (about a year old), baby giraffe (it was only 3 days old), and a baby koala bear.  We also got to see the "Enrichment" for their jaguars.  They have 3, a mom and her two 1-year old cubs.  They put all the jaguars away and a keeper came out and put beef heart and ribs all over their enclosure.  You could hear the male cub growling to be let out because he knew what was coming.  As soon as they opened the door, he lept out and was an orange blur while he ran around collecting all the goodies.  It was really fun to see.

The main attraction at the Safari Park is their train ride thing.  They have a huge (acres) enclosure where they keep a lot of African animals together.  Rhinos, water buffalo, gazelle, giraffes, and antelope.  The train takes you on a tour around the whole thing.  Then the rest of the park has other exhibits, elephants, lions, cheetahs, etc.

We didn't do Sea World this time.  We went last year, and honestly we weren't impressed.  It felt so commercialized and more like an amusement park.  Everything costs money except for the couple shows, and those are the same every year.

Here are a couple of pictures from the zoos. Enjoy!

This is at the Safari Park, I don't think I've ever been this close to a lion.

Also at the Safari Park - This is a Lorakeet.  There was an enclosure with a whole bunch of them that would sit on you.

The baby giraffe is a little hard to see.  She likes to stay right next to her momma.

Baby Koala hitching a ride.