As Valentine's Day approaches, I just have to brag a little bit on my man. It's only natural. First of all, isn't he handsome?
Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you some great news. Remember how we went to Seattle earlier this year? Well, we weren't just there to hang out and eat oysters, ride ferries, and sip coffee in the rain (although we definitely did all of those things and they were awesome). No, we were actually there so Patrick could take a class. During that class, Patrick wrote a "demo," or in other words, a really long-ass appraisal like a thesis that has to be utterly perfect. Then, at the end of our trip, Patrick submitted his demo to a board of reviewers, and we went home.
Then, we had to wait for weeks to find out if what he submitted was up to snuff. Just after Christmas, we found out he passed! Thus ended a five-year journey toward this big ol' promotion. Since 2007, Patrick has been taking classes, tests, and logging hundreds of thousands of experience hours to earn a designation in the commercial real estate field called "MAI," which technically doesn't stand for anything, but if you must know, it used to stand for "Member, Appraisal Institute." This past week, he finally received the official designation!
I'm really proud of him. Oh yeah. And he brought me flowers and a surprise for my birthday. What a stud.
Okay bragging over. :)