"Just Roll w/it."

I would have to say that it’s been a crazy couple of months for me.  In addition to getting into that car accident and everything else, there have been a lot of really big changes for me going on at work. 

First of all, somebody in my old department got fired let go a couple of weeks ago, leaving them an employee down.  And since they’re a pretty vital department to our company (they work very closely with our database system), the bigwigs at the company made asked to step-in and help them out for a few weeks since I still have a pretty good working knowledge of said system and it would take a while for them to hire a replacement. 

A few days later, after I had a chance to re-acquaint myself with the job, they called me into their office and asked me if I’d like to return to my old department….that I only left a year ago to advance my career. 

Apparently, aside from my old boss, I was the only person in the company who knew the system so well.  And with my old boss being so indispensable (enough so that she can’t even go on vacation), they realized how vulnerable this potentially left the company should she decide to retire / leave.  As an incentive to return, they promised me an increase in pay as well as some managerial duties with a promise to promote me once my old boss retires (she’s sixty-one right now and will probably retire at sixty-five).  

Ultimately, though, they said the decision was mine; I could either move back to my old job and return to the boring old system-work that I used to do, or stay where I currently am and leave the company to fill that position from the outside. 

Initially, I was pretty hesitant.  It felt like a step back in my career (such as it is).  Plus, I didn’t particularly see myself being there for that much longer considering how overworked I’ve been lately (barely enough time to blog).  Plus, as much as I complained about how stressful my current job is, I have to admit it’s never boring: I now deal with multiple aspects of the company (billing, service issues, contracts, etc.) and have acquired quite a few job skills in the short time I've been doing it.   

Plus, commiserating with your co-workers is half of what makes the job fun. 

After talking it over with my mom and a few others, I decided that it’s better to not look this ‘gift horse’ in the mouth (especially in this economy).  So I’m taking the “senior position” that management created for me (along with a hefty pay increase – or so they promised; otherwise I'm staying where I am) and waiting for the job market to heal.  

Hopefully this means I’ll have more time to blog again.  I’m not sure how much more work will be required of me (more money = more responsibility), but hopefully I’ll have a little more free time on my hands. 

**NOTE** For those of you who know where I work, please don’t say anything on this blog.  They have this “tracker” thing that catches anything that mentions the company online and I’d rather not have this post show up in the company E-Newsletter, okay?  I’M TRUSTING YOU HERE. 

Real Exciting, AmIrite?

Hey all – long time, no post!

Apologies about that – stuff’s been happening but not a lot of it’s “blog-worthy” y’know? Or…I guess it was AT THE TIME, but I was either AFK (away from my Keyboard) or just not in the mood to blog about it.

Plus, I still haven’t bought a new camera yet so I’ve got no pictures / video to go with some of the more “you had to be there” parts of the post.

So this’ll be just another mish-mash of “this is what I did” updates.

First off – I applied for another (higher-paying) position at my job……and didn’t get this one either. I was really surprised this time because I not only thought I did really well in the interview (which I didn’t feel last time) but pretty much everyone around me already assumed I got it before I even met with the Supervisor. But they ended up hiring someone from another branch (who, of course, had more experience) to fill the position.

After word got out about that, everyone came by to express their condolences / tell me not to ‘give up’ etc. But I was still kinda bummed. Just a note to anyone who’s trying to console someone in a similar situation: phrases like ‘cheer up’ is one of the last things people want to hear when they’re in a bad mood.

Moving on…..both Lauren & Warren came down for Labor Day weekend so OF COURSE we went to All Star Lanes for some bowling & Karaoke. The Karaoke Bar was pretty empty when we got there, so we were feeling pretty brave with out song choices. Have to thank Carol for daring me to sing Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” – I think it turned out pretty good! (Or maybe that was a side-effect of the alcohol messing with my brain) 

Sometime over the next half of the 3-day weekend I got sick – some kind of fever / sore throat thing that I’m still not 100% over. That and Rob (my roommate) forgetting to pay our internet bill on time led to me being kinda bored the next couple of days. But I did manage to buy the Scott Pilgrimm vs. The World soundtrack. And don’t worry, all the good songs from the movie are on the CD. I had to think a bit about where to get the actual CD cuz all the record stores are pretty much extinct (ended up at Borders).

So yeah – that’s my past couple weeks in a nutshell. I’m planning on being more exciting next weekend, I promise.

Today is a Special Day

Just wanted to jot down that today I did something that my gut tells me I'll regret for the next couple of years (should everything go as planned) 

Since this is a public blog, I can't really say anymore without shooting myself in the foot, but look at the labels to get a hint at what this refers to. 

PRAY THAT IT ALL WORKS OUT FOR THE BEST! 

I got lemons

So yesterday I found out I didn’t get that job / new position I applied for.

H.R. (somehow) left me a message on my work phone w/out calling – I guess so they could personal, yet non-confrontationally, break the news to me.

Now I told myself I wasn’t gonna get too worked up over not getting it, but I’m a little bummed about the whole situation.

I’m planning on channeling all my negative “bummed” energy into working towards my new goals (which I do have, just so you know) as well as getting feedback on what I did wrong / could’ve done better.

After all - "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" right?

Outlook not so good?

So rather than tell you about my recent battle with the stomach flu (an exciting, yet graphically 'T.M.I.' story that I'm sure will haunt you for years), I thought I'd let you in on my recent attempts to move up the corporate ladder. 

See, last week I heard there was an opening in the department that works closely with mine (and pays better) so I applied for it, thinking I had a good shot at getting it. 

I'm assuming they were very interested in hiring me because they interviewed me right away (the very day I turned in my application).  

And at the time, I thought I did okay (I'm never really sure how well my interviews go) but now I'm not so sure. 

They initially told me I'd get an answer (good or bad) "by the end of next week."  (i.e. this week)  But they just called me and said they're still interviewing and will have an answer by the end of the week after this. 

That's not a good sign, is it? 

So I guess my interviewing skills need work.  Any tips?? 

A lot on my mind - Volunteering

So as some of you may know, I’ve been hoping to “branch out” of my specifically career paths by attempting to volunteer at non-profit organizations. My hope is that, by volunteering I can learn different skills and ‘sample’ different lines of work through my observation and experiences.



I got the idea from someone I met who told me that she only discovered she didn’t want to become an Engineer *after* she got her Engineering degree. She eventually became a volunteer coordinator at a non-profit and gave me her card when I said I’d be interested in helping out.

Unfortunately, I am off to a bit of a rough start as the non-profit this person works for happens to be Christian-based as is reflected in a few loaded questions they make you answer in the volunteer application:

Q: Tell us about your faith.
A: I don’t have one.

Q: How often do you attend Church/mass?
A: Once in the past nine years?

Q: In your opinion, what specifically characterizes a person walking with God?
A: I...don't know?

It also asked me to list the name of my Pastor / Reverend as a personal reference.

I thought about just filling it out anyway and hoping for the best – they can’t deny me from volunteering based on religious differences, can they? – or even asking if my not being Christian (or religious) would be a problem, but then I realized that if I’m taken aback by just the online application, I can only imagine what other things I could take issue with as I go further down the line. So I decided not to do it.

Shame, too. I had high hopes for that one.

Still on my list is the "A Noise Within" Theatre, Visual Communications, and Idealist.org