50 Things

Swismiss posted a lot of great things today.

This amazing inflatable iceberg that I want to buy and take to the lake house for the Knight family reunion, and this list of 50 Things Every Graphic Design Student Should Know, from Jamie Wieck.

This one above is my favorite. I'm so prone to comparing myself to others... so this is good for me to keep in mind.

I thought the advice given was really great. Maybe I should set a reminder for myself to read it weekly. :)

Change

I like change. I crave it. It's refreshing and renewing to me.

My college roommates used to joke about me being pregnant all the time because I always wanted to move our furniture around in different configurations. When I owned a house, the artwork on the walls changed about every 6 months.

So. Why bring this up? Well, I just realized today that it is an important factor to consider as I'm weighing different career options.

My most recent career decision is Museum Studies. And I happen to think it's a perfect fit for me.

For the past 6 months or more, I've been trying to decide between art, education, and public administration.

Museum Studies combines them all. I decided I would really love to be the education director of a museum--coordinating workshops, seminars, school tours, creating curriculum based on permanent and temporary exhibits.

Think about it: I would be involved in education (check), surrounded by art and constantly thinking about/researching/talking about art (check), and the content I develop would change regularly, as would the people to whom the information is presented (check). Art, education, public administration, and change.

It's been a long time coming... but I feel really good about it!

So, to help get some experience under my belt, I am volunteering as a docent at both the Springville Museum of Art and the BYU Museum of Art. I'm really excited.

(I just hope it doesn't mean another 4 years of undergrad studies before I can do a Museum Studies Certification.)

Keep your fingers crossed for me! ('Cause I'm going to do it all while working full time.)

Uggggg...

It's two in the afternoon and I haven't left my apartment at all today. Must. Get. Out.

I went out last weekend to get my cubic zirconia, and everyone was already closed. Fancy that.

So, maybe I'll skip over to the shopping district and grab myself a ring quickly before hopping back for a conference call.

I haven't just been lazing around all day, mind you. I have in fact showered and done my hair, made myself lunch, and updated my previously empty Flickr account so I could post a picture to Photojojo. I also ordered my Navigo Pass online. The Navigo pass is the public transit pass. That was ridiculously time-consuming.

Filter

This is what I wrote based on the prompt I put up on "This Time It's Personal" this week. The prompt this week is "Favorite Places," so I wrote about one of my favorite places to be: in front of a classroom full of people.
My mind racing. Scanning the room. Looking for a friendly pair of eyes, a nod of understanding, a glimmer of interest. My heart pounding. I want to scream, "Like I'm an expert!! Give me a break!," but I can't. Because that would be unprofessional and completely counterproductive. It's always a challenge to present information in a classroom when you know it's not going to be well received. Maintaining a positive attitude, presenting the information with clarity while my mind is clamoring in the background, trying to think of witty responses to all of the snarky comments I know are coming. This is what's going on in my mind. Meanwhile, my mouth is putting a positive spin on all the things I know they're going to hate about today's training.

This is my job.

10,000 Pyramid. Or however many thousands. Listening to colleagues trying to explain words like behentrimonium methosulfate to each other--a word which I can only pronounce because my coworker kept repeating it over and over while she did a little cheery song-and-dance number. Giving them credit because they finally came up with "you know, the behe...something something sulfate one that's in the shampoo." Close enough, right? I should definitely be the host of a real T.V. game show.

This is also my job.

Laughing my head off as different groups of my trainees come up with clever jingles, posters, and skits to showcase our latest and greatest product (whatever it may be). Wishing that I could spend time chatting with many of them in a setting where we didn't all have to be so PC. Some of them are freaking hilarious. I hang their posters, give them accolades for their skits, and think about passing their jingles and one-liners to the marketing department.

This is my job.

Staying until 9. Coming in at 5. Taking a three hour lunch because I had an early class and a late class. Reading dozens of emails a day. Never feeling like I "finished" anything, because by the time I had finished writing a training, some of the content was obsolete and it needed revamping. Feeling like I was on a constant information overload. Feeling like I had to know everything about everything. Loving every second of it.

This is my job.

Well, it was my job. For four years. Now it's not, and I don't think I could ever go back, because I would feel like I was doing it just because it's familiar. And that would be like taking a step backward instead of forcing myself to branch out, grow, and take risks. But it's a job that I will always look back on with pride, gratitude, and satisfaction because I did love it, and I did it well.

Great News

So, considering the current economy and with unemployment creeping up, I've been getting nervous about leaving a stable job with a great boss in a company I love (even in exchange for a wonderful lifelong dream). It wouldn't have changed my plans, but I was thinking to myself:

?????????????????????????

Will I come back to an economy that is worse off than it is now?

Will I be able to find a job that offers benefits?

Will I have to sell my soul to the devil to afford individual health insurance?

?????????????????????????

Well, yesterday my boss told me that the VP our department reports to agreed to let me telecommute from Paris and just work fewer hours.

It might end up that I do this as a contracted employee, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can just get bumped down to a 20-hour-a-week cap and stay on as a "real" employee. Which would be great, because I would stay 100% vested in my 401k and be able to get right back onto my health insurance.

Either way, I'm rejoicing.

Oh, and today I also got my confirmation from Campus France. With their approval in place, I can now apply for my in-person visa appointment at the consulate in San Francisco.

Hooray!

Can a Back Massage Change Your Life?

Yes. At least the one I had yesterday did.

Okay, it was actually what happened before the massage that made such a huge difference...

Every friday, the company I work for brings in two massage therapists to do seated massages. It's $10 for 15 minutes, and on more than one occasion I have considered it the best $10 I ever spent.

This time I actually had a back injury, rather than just general tightness. Last week this same therapist just did a massage, and she kept commenting on how tense and tight all of my muscles were, not just the ones in my back.

So this week before she started with the massage, she did a process that she called "unwinding."

I've never really had anything like that done before, but I tried to keep an open mind, and the results were truly incredible. It's not like my back magically feels 100% better, but I could see a significant improvement just in those ten minutes.

I found this article, which seems to be a pretty accurate description of the process as I experienced it (and as she described what it is supposed to do).

My back actually felt so much better after my "unwindy" massage appointment, I forgot all about the chiropractic appointment I had that same afternoon.

Just One More Reason to Vote Tomorrow

I get a weekly "Customer Loyalty" newsletter in my work inbox every week from a company called COLLOQUY, and one of the customer loyalty stories they reported last friday is below.

Okay, so it's not an actual REASON to vote, but a fun reward for those who were going to anyway.

Finally, a campaign promise we can get behind
10/24/2008
November 4th, Election Day, the day Americans exercise their most precious right in our democratic society. And now, just for voting, Americans can be rewarded with ice cream. You’d have thought it impossible to beat the feeling you get from voting but Ben & Jerry’s has done it.
According to the company web site, each voter who proves their eligibility for a free scoop of ice cream, either by displaying their "I Voted" sticker, showing a photo of themselves at the polling station, or doing the "I Voted" dance, will be rewarded at a participating Ben & Jerry’s outlet.
Free ice cream will be scooped from 5 PM to 8 PM on November 4th. We’ll assume that you get free ice cream regardless of for whom you voted or the quality of your "I Voted" dance.
Source: Ben & Jerry’s

I'm anticipating a very long line at my voting location tomorrow morning, so maybe the promise of free Ben & Jerry's will help the time pass more quickly (well, that and maybe coming up with special choreography for an "I Voted" dance of my very own).

Post-It Notes...

... make me happy. Especially these, which I think are hi-larious. You can find them all (and more) through KnockKnock. Some of their stuff is kind of cranky, but the ones pictured below make me laugh.
Can't you just picture yourself checking the boxes and happily slapping one of these on someone's computer monitor?
I especially love the little 'P.S.'-type check boxes in the lower right-hand corners.

New Job

So, the day before I left on my cruise to Alaska, I got a new job. Some of you reading this might be thrown into a state of shock and bewilderment by this news. Probably because you're heard me rave about my current boss and coworkers, and how I love my job because it's never boring, there's always something new going on, etc. And it's all true. I literally couldn't have hand-picked a better boss or more incredible (supportive, cooperative, creative, brilliant, friendly) coworkers if I could pick from a million-person lineup.

"So, why change jobs?" some of you may ask. And it's a great question... one that woke me up in the middle of the night on my cruise (more than once) almost in a cold sweat. I didn't quite seriously consider going back to my boss and telling him I was joking, but I did wonder if I had just started digging my own "professional" grave. What if I hate my job? What if my new boss seemed nice when she offered me the job, but she really isn't? What if I don't get along with my coworkers? These are all questions I pondered when I wasn't busy snapping 1300 pictures of Alaskan panoramas, whales, and glaciers. And, ultimately, I decided that it was just time for a change and this was an opportunity that presented itself at the right time in the right place. I've been training for four years this month, and I have literally loved every second of it. This new position is a great opportunity to interact with the company in a completely different way, learn new skills, and just flat out experience individual growth as a person.

The job offer was completely unexpected, I hadn't applied for it, and I didn't see it coming AT ALL. My new boss even said when she offered me the job that she felt like we were getting into an arranged marriage because she was just going off of other peoples' suggestions!! And it really does kind of feel like that, because we literally hadn't ever met until I walked into her office to meet with her about taking the job. So there is probably a certain level of uncertainty on her end, as well. But with all that being said, I am completely excited and really looking forward to carving out a place for myself somewhere other than the training department.

My new job is to oversee the customer loyalty program for the company and has a lot to do with marketing and promotions, etc., which is completely out of the realm of anything I have ever done (read: I am going to LEARN a ton of new stuff!!). I've been back from my cruise for a couple of weeks and have started to transition over to my new job while tying up all of the projects I need to have done for someone to come into my training position and not want to kill themselves right off the bat. My new boss and coworkers are really awesome, and I have started to brainstorm a lot of good ideas to put my own signature touch on the program. So, here's to new challenges and adventures!
Wish me luck!

Teaching

"A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled."
--Plutarch

I am a teacher. Well, I am technically a trainer, but I do the same thing a teacher does... with better pay and fewer disciplinary issues. But at work I frequently feel like I am dumping information into a vessel rather than kindling a fire of individual thought, curiosity, and true learning.

I taught Sunday School today in my ward, and it reminded me how much I sincerely love to teach. I love to listen to the comments people make and see how the things we say can influence each other's perception of or reaction to an idea, principle, or person.

One of the things I love most about teaching is watching students or class members experience those "aha" moments when all of the parts snap into place and they suddenly "get it." I have no idea who this guy Stephen Brookfield is, but I love the way he explains it:


"We teach what we like to learn and the reason many people go into teaching is vicariously to reexperience the primary joy experienced the first time they learned something they loved."
--Stephen Brookfield