I've officially been offered a staff position! That means this is actually a real life grown up job with a salary and the benefits that go along with that. The last few weeks have been such a roller coaster though, totally thought I was going to be in trouble when they asked to see me...nope just wanted to offer me a job.
Definitely a step in the right direction on this path. This wild and crazy path of life. It's weird you know? Like this isn't supposed to happen this way, you're supposed to have to work your way up to a job here in this market. It doesn't just happen like that. I think in some ways I'm my own worst enemy and harshest critic, but that's what got me bumped up in less than 6 months.
It was such a risk to take, not really knowing what I was getting into, but it was something I had to do. And so far it is paying off in huge dividends.
And the work continues until the next step...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year!
Another end and another beginning, here's to 2012. Looking back the past year definitely had its share of the good, the bad and the different.
The good: I finally got a job! (the perfect one at that)
The bad: Family health issues :(
The different: Working for the pork producers and living in a convent.
The job is perfect in every way except for the fact that its not a salaried staff position quite yet. Hope #1 for 2012.
Nobody else is allowed to have health issues, okay? Hope #2 for 2012.
While I absolutely love the location I'm living in now, I would like my little own place at some point. Hope #3 for 2012.
I guess I'll play along with the rest of the world and put down some resolutions.
Job: Become a salaried staff employee and maybe a promotion by 2013.
Health: Utilize the gym more and eat healthier.
Family: Make sure I spend enough time with family and don't let work burn me out.
Education: Continue to study my languages and look into proficiency testing.
Skating: Pass a test and compete in a competition. I'd like to learn a layback spin.
Enjoy life! It is way too short to worry about the little things.
From my father:
The good: I finally got a job! (the perfect one at that)
The bad: Family health issues :(
The different: Working for the pork producers and living in a convent.
The job is perfect in every way except for the fact that its not a salaried staff position quite yet. Hope #1 for 2012.
Nobody else is allowed to have health issues, okay? Hope #2 for 2012.
While I absolutely love the location I'm living in now, I would like my little own place at some point. Hope #3 for 2012.
I guess I'll play along with the rest of the world and put down some resolutions.
Job: Become a salaried staff employee and maybe a promotion by 2013.
Health: Utilize the gym more and eat healthier.
Family: Make sure I spend enough time with family and don't let work burn me out.
Education: Continue to study my languages and look into proficiency testing.
Skating: Pass a test and compete in a competition. I'd like to learn a layback spin.
Enjoy life! It is way too short to worry about the little things.
From my father:
Friday, December 9, 2011
Winter Wonderland
Been awhile on the night shift...oh the things one learns working this schedule. Anyway it's been a wee bit crazy but kind of fun in a weird way. There really hasn't been any major issues that I haven't been able to figure out. It is so weird though to not constantly be looking for the next job. That part I definitely like. As an added bonus, my holiday schedule got reworked majorly in my favor :) :) :) I'll finally get a few days to feel like a normal human again before I head back into the storm that is known as the 2012 campaign season. Night shifts, dawn shifts and everything in between...well till next time Merry Christmas!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Ghosts, Ghouls, and Vampires
I guess it's appropriate that my next post comes around Halloween as I start what I have affectionately dubbed the "vampire schedule"...the overnight shift. It's really not as bad as I thought it might be. It will be a little weird once I'm on it solo because I go to work and it's dark out and I leave work and it's still dark out but when I wake up it is light out. This schedule definitely has its perks including a 3 day weekend built in and time to go skating :)
I also survived my first Challenge Walk last weekend...and apparently I drank the kool-aid and signed up again for next year. It was quite special, kind of like band camp, at the end of the first one, you think no way will I ever voluntarily put myself through that again. But then a few days away with the legs back, something tells you to do it again.
Though I had a tough enough time getting there. Since I'm still so new I feel like I should take every opportunity for overtime that I can, the whole "pay your dues" thing. But at the same time I requested to have that weekend off 2 months ago. And of course they asked me to work overtime when I was planning to go home. I shouldn't feel bad about it, but part of me does, but the other part of me is like, look I can work overtime every other weekend of the month just give me this one. Having the long weekend is supposed to be the perk of the overnights, I guess to make up for the lack of human contact. I also don't want to get burnt out because I know that the upcoming primary/caucus season is going to be hellacious with regards to work and overtime.
Well until next time~
I also survived my first Challenge Walk last weekend...and apparently I drank the kool-aid and signed up again for next year. It was quite special, kind of like band camp, at the end of the first one, you think no way will I ever voluntarily put myself through that again. But then a few days away with the legs back, something tells you to do it again.
Though I had a tough enough time getting there. Since I'm still so new I feel like I should take every opportunity for overtime that I can, the whole "pay your dues" thing. But at the same time I requested to have that weekend off 2 months ago. And of course they asked me to work overtime when I was planning to go home. I shouldn't feel bad about it, but part of me does, but the other part of me is like, look I can work overtime every other weekend of the month just give me this one. Having the long weekend is supposed to be the perk of the overnights, I guess to make up for the lack of human contact. I also don't want to get burnt out because I know that the upcoming primary/caucus season is going to be hellacious with regards to work and overtime.
Well until next time~
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Settling In
The past couple weeks have been good. I started training some of the other shifts too. It definitely feels like a test of wills or some bizarre hazing to weed out the weaklings. The overnight/day time flip flop is a little bizarre...would definitely help if things were a bit busier, but I think I'll get used to the overnights. I'll probably miss the peace and quiet once I have to flip back. Well, the company just celebrated it's 15th anniversary with a fabulous rooftop party. :) Seriously awesome! Now to the sad part, my boss left to take a new job :( I know I've only be here a few months, but seriously it was the best fit of personalities. I learned so much and will be forever grateful to him for giving me a chance here. Things are definitely going in the right direction and I'm secretly hoping by the New Year I will be upped to a permanent/staff position.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wow...just wow
Seriously, these last few weeks have simply been unreal...I think subconsciously somewhere my mind still thinks that this is only temporary and at some point I will wake up and everything will be gone. This is supposed to happen, this isn't the way they teach you in school. You're not supposed to be working at a major national cable network at 23. It's just not the "normal" way, but I have never been one for the "normal" or "easy" way. I have always done better with the more difficult tasks at hand. Granted I've also had my moments wondering what I'm doing here, if I was simply going to be sorting the mail and stocking the kitchen I could have gotten a job doing that anywhere. Slowly it's feeling more and more like home which is nice. Hopefully sooner rather than later I will make staff. Everything seems to be going well and I'm adapting and as flexible as possible. It was a long and winding road to get to this point but I think I definitely needed those stops along the way to figure out exactly who I am and what I want to be doing. The party tonight...words can't even describe it. I mean it was just totally unreal. The view, the food, the drinks, everything was just out of this world. It was a definite perk to be able to socialize with people outside of the bureau and to actually get to know them a little bit and realize that I'm not alone on this crazy ride.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
A Day of Reflection
I guess I'm part of the 9/11 Generation. The generation that lost their innocence far too soon and came of age in a time of war, terror, and a drastically altered political landscape. Every generation seems to have that "where were you when" moment. That moment in history were you can recall every detail of the event.
For me, that moment was in 8th grade science class. I can still recall the beautiful Tuesday morning. It was the second week of school and science must have been the first class of the day. With beams of sunlight drifting into the classroom, our teacher pretty much just blurted it out. She had recieved an email from her husband about a plane crash into the World Trade Center. Honestly, in our 13 and 14 year old minds, we didn't really know what to make of it. It seemed like something you would see on the news, the gravity of the situation had yet to reveal itself. At some point, the teachers decided to return us to our homerooms. That is when we knew something must be up. Being a small school with only 2 classes per grade, all the teachers and the principal simply met in the hallway to discuss what to do. What could they do? I mean it's not like this is something you could have prepared for or practiced.
Eventually school buses started showing up to dismiss us. There really was no rhyme or reason as to when or how they would do this. It was also the kindergarten boys first day of school. (Private school, what can I say?) I distinctly remember going down to both kindergarten rooms to see which students I would be in charge of. I was the safety person that got them on and off the bus every day. But this was no ordinary day. They too knew something was up, but they were so young. I remember them asking me or the bus driver what was happening. I had no idea what to tell, because truth be told, I didn't really know either. I'm pretty sure I just told them that their parents would explain it when they got home. What else could you say?
I remember both my parents at home when we arrived. I vaguely remember watching the news but not much. Again this event just seemed like another bad thing on the news. It seemed a little nerve wracking because if the bad guys had hit NYC and DC, what's to say they wouldn't hit Philadelphia next? Two years later, I went to a leadership camp in Washington DC and we visited the Pentagon. I definitely remember the chapel area, I'm not sure if the memorial was completed by that point or not. Beyond prayer services, remembrance ceremonies, American flags and ribbons, I don't really have much connection to the events for the next few years
Fast forward to 9/11/10. I moved to Washington DC for the first time. To see that date on paper didn't really mean a whole lot, to pull into downtown Washington and see all the flags at half staff really puts it into perspective. The events over the next year lined me up perfectly to take a new job that again landed me working in Washington DC on 9/11/11 with a view of the Capitol Dome.
To think about what could have been, if those passengers and crew members had not taken matters into their own hands? To think about what might have happened if it wasn't the south side of the Pentagon hit? Everyone focuses so much on NYC because they took the brunt of the casulties. But to realize that the mighty and powerful United States military and government could be taken so off guard is mind boggling. To realize that over the course of the last year, I have gone in and out of the Pentagon travel space so many times, traveled a path that some took that morning and wouldn't take that evening. Now it hits closer to home, it's this place I've always dreamed of, a place held up on a pedestal that no one could knock down.
To those who think the media needs to tone down coverage, look at the babies who never met their fathers, look at the girls who won't have their father on their wedding day and the boys who have no one to place catch with in the yard.
The men, women, and children who died that day were unknowingly the first soldiers in the war on terror. They died doing everyday tasks on that beautiful late summer morning. Thank you to the soldiers that followed in their footsteps. Thank you to the families that sacrificed everything so that we can live in country as great as this one. Thank you for protecting our freedoms and allowing the American Dream to flourish in this new age. Thank you for allowing me to live my American Dream.
For me, that moment was in 8th grade science class. I can still recall the beautiful Tuesday morning. It was the second week of school and science must have been the first class of the day. With beams of sunlight drifting into the classroom, our teacher pretty much just blurted it out. She had recieved an email from her husband about a plane crash into the World Trade Center. Honestly, in our 13 and 14 year old minds, we didn't really know what to make of it. It seemed like something you would see on the news, the gravity of the situation had yet to reveal itself. At some point, the teachers decided to return us to our homerooms. That is when we knew something must be up. Being a small school with only 2 classes per grade, all the teachers and the principal simply met in the hallway to discuss what to do. What could they do? I mean it's not like this is something you could have prepared for or practiced.
Eventually school buses started showing up to dismiss us. There really was no rhyme or reason as to when or how they would do this. It was also the kindergarten boys first day of school. (Private school, what can I say?) I distinctly remember going down to both kindergarten rooms to see which students I would be in charge of. I was the safety person that got them on and off the bus every day. But this was no ordinary day. They too knew something was up, but they were so young. I remember them asking me or the bus driver what was happening. I had no idea what to tell, because truth be told, I didn't really know either. I'm pretty sure I just told them that their parents would explain it when they got home. What else could you say?
I remember both my parents at home when we arrived. I vaguely remember watching the news but not much. Again this event just seemed like another bad thing on the news. It seemed a little nerve wracking because if the bad guys had hit NYC and DC, what's to say they wouldn't hit Philadelphia next? Two years later, I went to a leadership camp in Washington DC and we visited the Pentagon. I definitely remember the chapel area, I'm not sure if the memorial was completed by that point or not. Beyond prayer services, remembrance ceremonies, American flags and ribbons, I don't really have much connection to the events for the next few years
Fast forward to 9/11/10. I moved to Washington DC for the first time. To see that date on paper didn't really mean a whole lot, to pull into downtown Washington and see all the flags at half staff really puts it into perspective. The events over the next year lined me up perfectly to take a new job that again landed me working in Washington DC on 9/11/11 with a view of the Capitol Dome.
To think about what could have been, if those passengers and crew members had not taken matters into their own hands? To think about what might have happened if it wasn't the south side of the Pentagon hit? Everyone focuses so much on NYC because they took the brunt of the casulties. But to realize that the mighty and powerful United States military and government could be taken so off guard is mind boggling. To realize that over the course of the last year, I have gone in and out of the Pentagon travel space so many times, traveled a path that some took that morning and wouldn't take that evening. Now it hits closer to home, it's this place I've always dreamed of, a place held up on a pedestal that no one could knock down.
To those who think the media needs to tone down coverage, look at the babies who never met their fathers, look at the girls who won't have their father on their wedding day and the boys who have no one to place catch with in the yard.
The men, women, and children who died that day were unknowingly the first soldiers in the war on terror. They died doing everyday tasks on that beautiful late summer morning. Thank you to the soldiers that followed in their footsteps. Thank you to the families that sacrificed everything so that we can live in country as great as this one. Thank you for protecting our freedoms and allowing the American Dream to flourish in this new age. Thank you for allowing me to live my American Dream.
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