Why-o, why-o, why-o would a girl move to Ohio?

And why would she leave the perfect job that she JUST started a week ago? And why would she leave a free-rent house-sitting position? And why would she leave all of her family & friends she loves to see?

I can tell you why. Because I am getting married and my fiance just accepted a job offer in Cincinatti. I can't believe it! Ohio! What the heck is in Ohio?! Three of the 5 fastest-dying cities in the nation, if you read & believe MSN. THAT'S ENCOURAGING!

It has been a decision of a lot of mixed emotions for Ben & I. My job here is not one I have much of a hope of finding again. So, that's a bit painful. And we really weren't thinking to leave Utah for another few years. We had a great set up here and so many friends & family.

However, it's a great job opportunity for Ben. There is also potential for great educational opportunities for Ben out there. All things taken into consideration, it's the best thing for us to do. Especially because his current employer is just a few notches below the level of ridiculous that MY previous employer was. That is BAD.

And on my side, while it may sound like a big sacrifice, it's not so much when looking objectively: while I may not find THIS nonprofit job again, there are nonprofit jobs absolutely everywhere. And I can run the dress business from anywhere. I never realized before how portable me and all of my careers are. I'm incredibly versatile. And handy. Biotech pharmaceutical companies ---- are not everywhere.

One of the most interesting elements of this whole situation is the unexpected satisfaction I get in being able to support Ben. The sacrifice of my treasured job and all the things I have held dear here is strangely rewarding. It's like I'm offering that up as a kind of contribution, "payment in good faith" to our relationship. I'm gonna be SUCH a good wife! I can already tell. And so humble too!

Weird. All this marriage stuff. We're not even married yet. And torture of all tortures, he'll actually be starting work in Ohio on Sept. 8th, so I don't even get to see him the last two weeks before the wedding. Then again, that may be a good thing. No need to worry about being good behavior....

So, all in all, Ohio doesn't sound THAT bad. Don't get me wrong. It WOULD. But it sounds a lot better to me with Ben there. Marriage..... it certainly changes things. And people.

Can't Hardly Wait

So, there are many changes in life that I could be anxiously awaiting. Waiting for the wedding, waiting till I get to have all of my family & friends come into town, waiting to figure out the honeymoon plans... But there is one thing I can really HARDLY wait for and it can't happen SOON ENOUGH.

If it weren't for all the planning and time needed to prepare, I would say it's the wedding, but it's not. It's starting at my new job! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And why do I anticipate it with such little patience and so much enthusiasm!?

Well, I could say it's because it's a great new job. It is. And I could say it's because they have some exciting projects going on. They do. But one factor trumps all. I can't wait to get away from my current creepy, icky, unstable, spawn-of-the-devil boss. Have you ever met someone and wondered how the heck they got to where they are? Ding, Ding, Ding!! Tis this man. Several somebodies have had severe lapses in judgement. Repeatedly. And I lay my complaints and all the blame at their feet, wherever and whomever they are.

I realize this might come as a shock. It comes as a bit of a shock to me too. I rarely dislike people, especially so strongly. However, as it is, I've got "it" bad. I keep telling myself that I don't have any ill will towards this man, but I don't actually believe that's true. I actually HAVE ill will (OH MY GOSH!) and I think I SHOULD feel really bad about that. Really bad. How do I know.? Well, I wondered a bit at firsxt, but I had my first clear sign when news got out that the poor man's basement flooded and I founnd a smile moving across my insides. Sometimes I find it very hard to behave myself! "How did this become good news? I'm confused. But it seems to be good news. It feels like good news.... Huh. I think he's turned me to the dark side...." So goes my inner monologue.

I feel less bad, admittedly, because I am so supported in my disdain for him. I've never worked for someone so wholly and unanimously offensive to people. All my coworkers help foster this distaste I have by regularly reporting the disrespectful, dishonest, condescending, hypocritical and insane things he does & says. But alas, I will be completely detached and will see nor hear nor speak of evil -- because I'll be at a new job and my boss here won't be there to see, hear or speak of! Just two more days.... I can do it.....Can't wait for Monday. La la la la la. Can't, can't wait. Oh boy.

Milestones

This Tuesday, I left for Colorado Springs on adventure that is most appropriately titled, "My First Business Trip". I've always wanted to go on a business trip! It wasn't nearly has glamorous as most. It was a quick trip and completely devoid of company perks and luxurious amenities. Nonetheless, it was an adventure and I had a great time.

Here's a photo of me arriving in Colorado Springs on Tuesday evening:


I went straightway to my rental car provider where my chariot awaited, in the form of a Dodge Caliber. After having asked the rental car staff for directions, they had a bit of advice for me: "Uhh, you should be careful. That's not exactly the best part of town." Nice!

I went straightway to my luxurious accommodations at the swanky Travelodge -- not exactly the Broadmoor. But hey! We're nonprofit. What do you expect? It didn't seem too bad, really. Of course, I'm from New Jersey, so I might have a skewed perspective. But there were no sketchy broken windows with creepy prowlers and dealers on the corner. Travelodge had internet access in the lobby only (but it was TOTALLY free), so I hung out there till about 12 sending emails and.. well, goofing off really. There was a lovely, friendly-looking dog behind the counter of the front desk and lots of asian people, who appeared to be management, hanging out and starting to play old 80's ballads as we approached the 12 o'clock hour (which is apparently also the karaoke hour?). Despite they're eccentricities, the crowd proved harmless.

The next morning I got free breakfast! Travelodge is seriously growing on me at this point. Especially when I found my hotel room free of hair in the sink and all other forms of ickiness. Ok, so my standards aren't very high. But the fun asian management people were a total perk. Who wouldn't be endeared to petite, middle-aged, balding men who sing power ballads at midnight?

After breakfast I wisked myself away to training. It was hosted by the Olympic Complex. I didn't know the official complex for the Olympics was in Colorado Springs. But it is. So, now you know. It was pretty cool. My favorite feature was the juice station they had in the hallway. YUM!

After the conference, I had an afternoon to kill before my flight. the gentleman that was next to me on my flight the day before had recommended some local attractions. The most appealing to me of his suggestions was the Garden of the Gods. Here's a couple pic's of its beautiful vistas:





As you can probably tell, the rock formations were HUGE and totally cool. Here's a close up:


I also encountered another close up. There was a deer right on the walking paths there who didn't seem phased by the tourists. I admit, I've seen a million deer before and it's NOT a big event, but he was so CLOSE. And I had a camera!! I had to take a picture. Several pictures. I was trying to photograph him/her in a discreet manner so as not to startle the beast. Well, I was successful in being discreet. AND so was the deer. So, they're a bit more of a "Where's Waldo" experience rather than "Look How Close the Deer Is." But I'll post them anyway. Can you find the deer?




I was disappointed to find there was no fitness center at the luxurious yet amenity-lacking Travelodge. To my rescue and my delight, there were trails at the Garden of the Gods. Most accomodating. Here's me at the Garden of the Gods after my run:


After that, I went through the shops in Historic Old Colorado City, which was lovely. At last, I was kind of done with everything and lost my adventurous spirit. I also worried I might run out of luck and actually get myself lost, so I decided to head back to the airport and get some work done till my flight left for home.

I'm amazied I managed to get to everything without screwing it up. You'd almost think I was a responsible adult. Well, not quite, but there may be hope for me yet.

Other career news: I was actually on the news Wednesday morning w/ the KJZZ Cafe. My organization sent a shipment of supplies to Myanmar, so they featured a bit about us and apparently almost everyone else at my organization is camera-shy. Good thing their PR girl is a total ham! :)

Customer Service At It's Best

Work is sometimes a joy. It is also sometimes frustrating. One of my most recent joys and irks has been the organization's Annual Report. Lately, I have been DYING to have the annual report finished, printed and thereafter BURNED so I never have to see it again (save one copy to keep for my portfolio, of course). It has been a project that was a pleasure to work on at the beginning, full of creative outlets and fun. It has felt more like a disease that will not leave me for the last month and a half. I sent it to the printers to have it be out of my hair, FREE AT LAST, over 2 weeks ago. You think that would cure me, right? Not so.

Problem #1. The program I created it in does not communicate well with PDF files, so any color fields I had created on the document would not "bleed off the page" when I sent it in pdf format to the printers. So, The printers tell me they want to cut an 8th of an inch off each side of the page so the colors are flush with the paper edge.

Trim the document?!?! Are you serious? You are giving me this as legitimate fix for the problem? Really? Um... No.

So I dig, search, ask, re-maneuver and fix the problem. Funny how a girl with NO PRINTING EXPERIENCE is the one telling the printers how to get the bleeds to work. I mean really. Let's be honest. We all know I'm not the brightest tool in the shed. The easiest fix would have been to just switch printers. And I would have, but they already ordered our paper. Note to self: when you meet the person who started working with them last year, give them the stink eye. A really big, obvious, long-lasting stink eye.

Next -- They tell me, "Sharon, every logo on the document has a funky grey background." Really? Odd. When they used the logo in last year's version, it didn't do that. Ok, I'll switch them all out. I do. One of them is still doing it. What!?!? How is that possible? I do some more changes to try to fix it. They send it to template to print. Lo and behold -- STILL SHOWING UP IN GREY!

"This is going to be an expensive mistake," they tell me, because they have already run the templates.

What lovely news. Working with you brings smiles to my face. "Well," I tell them, "I have no more versions of the logo to play with and I have no more fixes up my sleeve. I don't know what to tell you."

"We can fix it for you in another program."

I'm sorry. What? You can fix it? YOU CAN FIX IT?!?!?!? Thanks. Would ya? That'd be just peachy. You're a gem. I won't mention that you could have offered that up about TWENTY LOGOS AND A WASTED TEMPLATE AGO!"

Somewhere in their training manual, they must have the phrase: "When encountering a printing problem, first bring problem to customer and offer ridiculous solutions and make them solve it. Do NOT OFFER PROFESSIONAL, WORKABLE SOLUTIONS if you don't have to."

Where do they find these people? I should hang out with them. They would make me look very intelligent.

New Job

So, I started my new job last week. I am the PR and Development Manager. Whatever that means. It is, officially, the coolest job I've ever had. I'm quite pleased they've taken me in. The work they do is inspiring and they do good ALL OVER THE WORLD. Love it. And the work I do is actually fun for me. Not to mention, my commute is 10 minutes and I haven't had to get gasoline for my car in over 4 days, which is probably the first time that's happened in almost two years. Ahhh, how fabulous.

The funniest/oddest part of my job is that it involves quite a bit of PR. You might have guessed that by the title, I suppose. It surprises me, even so. I'm not sure why they structured it this way or entrusted me with this responsibility. I think we both saw my resume. Yet somehow, here I am. Of course, I'm always up for something new and exciting. I look at it as a fun adventure for me. And it's a fabulous outlet for creativity. However, from my organization's perspective, hiring someone so green to PR as I am and just handing it all over like they have... it seems a bit... what's the word... brash? risky? imprudent?

One caveat to this point of view: I have a habit of underestimating myself and thinking less of my experience level than perhaps I should. For example, when I got into the college I had wanted to and which had a reputation for being competitive and selective, my first thought was "I guess they're not so selective after all." Okay, so I still think that.

Anyhow, I started working on the annual report for the organization and slicing and dicing stories that are coming to me. As my work in progress is taking shape, I find myself thinking, "Huh, perhaps they're not as naive as I thought. That's not half bad-- and a *?&! of a lot better than last years, for sure. Why didn't I start doing this earlier?" Who would have thunk it..

Finally!

I swear, I've been on the job search for an eternity. At least it felt like eternity. It's probably been 4 or 5 months. I can't remember when I started. And it's been a long haul. There have been interviews. There have been 2nd interviews. But never the job offer. At least, not from the job I wanted. And then..... it happened! Hurray! Yippee! I can hardly believe it! I can hardly wait! But I have to, for two weeks. If I can survive the commute in the every-other-day-mob-by-snowstorm we've gotten lately, then I will finally be there.

I just got hired by this fabulous nonprofit that ships donated medical supplies all over the world. Yeah! I can finally start helping to save a village in Africa. You've no idea how long I've had that on my to-do list. And they are training me to be their development director. I'm SOOOO excited about that. And the commute is 5 minutes from my house in Salt Lake. How fabulous is that?! I'm already daydreaming about how much extra time I'm gonna have to go to the gym. And I won't really have to work at Chloe Lane. So I can do LOTS of stuff. Like go to church on Sundays. I might even be able to pick up my guitar on occasion. And hang out with people on the weekends. And go to Will's "rock band" parties. Ok, I may or may not do that.

Anywho, I also don't need to get a new car so soon. Thanks for all the feedback, you guys. Really, you're great. But I'm happy to say, though a new car would have been fun, I don't have to get one just yet. I can wait till I can better afford it. And until I can afford the hybrid or diesel version. Double bonus.

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

What to do, what to do.... Currently, I find myself going in a million different directions. As usual. Good to know I am, if nothing else, consistent.

Working and having an education in the nonprofit field and being involved in revenue development, I have a keen understanding in the need for diversified funding sources, which is a very sensible adherence to the belief that you should not "put all your eggs in one basket." Nonprofits are better positioned and more stable when they have at least 12 to 15 different sources of income. That way, if one should pull out on you, it won't sink your organization.

Well, apparently I take this advice to heart. As I see it, I am, on a smaller scale, my own little nonprofit. Heaven knows most of my personal pursuits are of the kind that suck money rather than generate income, which is as nonprofit as it comes. And indeed, I have found that my approach towards income, as well as marketability and experience, is to diversify, diversify, diversify. I can't help it.

Take NOW for an example:

1) I work at a nonprofit organization. I'm also currently (please don't tell my boss), looking for a job at another nonprofit organization.

2) I also work part-time at a clothing store.I like it there. A fun little fact about our store: we were just featured in a NY Times article last week. I almost felt famous because I work there.

3) I like to sell things on Ebay when I come to possess things I don't have a use for or no longer want. I like doing that. It amuses me.

4) I have a studio in Park City that doesn't really generate revenue, but it does generate tax breaks and equity.

5) In addition, I am applying for a slightly higher-paying part-time job at a restaurant. I, of course, have no intention of quitting the first part-time job at the clothing store, as I like the store, they are nice to me and they need help. I will simply take on this and then pop in and work at the clothing store "whenever I have time."

6) New and incredibly fun, I am starting to design dresses and my sibling and I have in the works plans for launching a women's line of formal dresses: beautiful, well-made, dare I say "sexy" and classy dresses for women who prefer not to walk around half-naked in order to catch someone's eye.

7) And then, there is the LSAT and contemplation of undertaking three years of law school and taking the bar to become a lawyer.

That's not 12-15 sources, and they don't all generate revenue yet, but it's more than a handful of options. How do I not feel all over the place? The answer to that: I do. But I'm used to it. I've had my hand in too many honey pots since I was a freshman in high school. The only difference is when I was in high school all my honey pots were non-revenue producing clubs and activities (I've grown slightly more lucrative in my old age). With these 7 or so pursuits, one might think that my basket "overfloweth". And, to be honest, I really wonder how one person can do all of this. I don't know that it's possible. I think I need five lives to be able to do all the things I have an inclination to think are interesting and want to pursue.

Who knows if all of it will happen. Does it really matter if it doesn't? I don't think so. And it won't happen if I say it won't and don't try, right? So, try is what I do every day. I get done what I can get done, take life as it comes, and make plans. Some plans don't happen. Some do. Some succeed. Some fail. I've been on the job search for a better and better-paying job for about 3 or 4 months now and what I have uncovered? Most recent: 2 "no, but thank you for interviewing's" this week. OUCH. And yet I have hope.

I got down about it once and told my boyfriend, Male, I felt unemployable. He laughed and reminded me that I currently have three jobs. It's easy to get down about interviewing and about opportunities you want that don't seem to come easily. But I think, when I am thinking rationally, even though my present situation doesn't reflect it right now, that I will have the income, ability and time to take all the risks I need to pursue whatever I want. Maybe even everything on my list. I'm young yet, and throughout my life I imagine I'll be in many different phases and places. One thing I like about being born in this age as opposed to 30 years ago is that careers now-a-days change so much and people pursuing new things is commonplace. So, I'll keep talking crazy and making lots of plans. Diversify, diversify, diversify.

Money, money, money

Last week, a friend offered me a job. Actually, she told me about two jobs at her company to which she wanted me to apply. Two jobs that pay considerably more than my measly little nonprofit job. Not only do they offer more, but they require less of me. For them, I need to know how to run an office and answer phones. For my job, I have to have a master's degree......

That's enough to make a girl think. And boy, have I been thinking! I thought a lot about the money. I like money. Heck, I have TWO JOBS, just so I can do stuff with all that money. But then I decided not to apply.

"Sharon, you are nuts!" you say. I know. I can also hear my dad's advice playing in my head over and over, as it's never quite drowned out. He says, "Ultimately, you work to make money. The end." So true. And yet, not ONLY to make money. There are louder voices.

Why I'm not going to apply:

1) My job hired me with the desire/intent to have me stay for about 2 yrs. Maybe I won't give them a full two years, but I've only given them 11 months so far. And they've had a lot of staff leave lately. I'd really be screwing them over if I left. So, I don't think I'd leave even if I applied and they offered me the position.

2) I'm actually using my degree at my job, and it gives me great experience. That could be very valuable for a future doing what I WANT to do and getting paid more later, rather than taking a no brainer job that could lead me to more no brainer jobs in a career that pays but has no appeal to me. If money was the only priority, would I have studied nonprofit management?

3) If money was the only priority, would I have studied nonprofit management? (I thought that point was worth reviewing... why DID I study nonprofit management????:))

4) I think I can convince my boss to give me a raise at my year mark. And that's only a month away.

5) If I don't get a raise, I can at least give back to the org. for the great experience they've given me. And I am optomistic that after that point, there will be more opportunities to make more money. It's not like that's the only job on the planet that will ever come my way.

6) Ahh, but HR's look at my previous salary, and just having a higher salary might get me better pay doing what I like to do in the future... I thought about that. But I don't think that applies the same way to the nonprofit field. They don't have the flexibility with their salary budgets that for-profit companies do.

7) Why be faithful to an empoloyer? Employers aren't that faithful to employees. Do what's best for you... a sound, good argument. I've been burned before and am leary of employers. But my job is pretty secure where I am. And they've treated me well. And it is a cause I am passionate about. And I have projects I want to see through to the end.

8) One could always make more money. But do I really need more money? Right now? Nah...

9) I really am a little crazy.