Thoughts from Alison that might at least entertain you!

And Speaking of Accomplishment

When I read the title of the posting I just made, I was reminded of one of my "favorite" moments in my own personal employment history:

At a previous job (a couple of employers ago), I was pulled into a surprise meeting (read: ambushed) to inform me that I would now be reporting to someone new after my boss was laid off.  As part of the "conversation," I was told by one of the supervisor-types:  "I think you're very capable."

I sat there thinking "does she think that's a compliment?"

I desperately wanted to define capable for her, and explain that perhaps that wasn't the motivational statement she was going for.

You gotta love work!

Reason Number 489,316 that I love my job:

Today I hosted 11 new Volunteers for Orientation at work.  This is why I love what I do - 11 different people, with different lives and backgrounds, and at least 22 different reasons to come and offer time as Volunteers.  It is gratifying to receive feedback from the Volunteers I work with about my work with them, but primarily it's FUN!

How novel and just plain neat it is to feel that the job I have is exactly the job I ought to have.  Yay!

Wednesday Morn

(Yes, the category selections for this post seem like a peculiar match.  Coming from me, does that really surprise you?)

Happy Wednesday morning as I try to focus myself enough to drive to work!

Last night brought a Volunteer recognition holiday party at work.  We had great fun, and I was reminded countless times that this is exactly the role I ought to be in.  What fun!

Today is massage day for me - Yay!!

The girls are happy and warm in their house, even though we're practically into next year and there's still not enough tuna in the world for Tori and not enough shadows in the world for Maggie B.

Tonight I WILL finish our holiday cards, so that they're at least in the mail before the holiday!  I will also clean off the kitchen table, which resembles a heap of forgotten items much more than a table.  I will also have dinner with my husband!

My thoughts and best wishes are with our close family friends as they celebrate the too-short life of their father/husband over these next few days.  To quote a colleague of this friend who has passed, "He was given a brilliant mind and a lousy body."  Peace to you, Friend.

And Peace to You All, Dear Friends: May your boots be taller than the snow is deep!

It's Raining In The Ark!

Today, in honor of my "day off" of work (to help account for far too many work hours over the last couple of work weeks), I spent about 6 hours at work.  Do I know how to relax, or do I know how to relax?!?

I headed to the club this morning for a quick stop - I needed to follow up on something from last night's show that really couldn't wait until I'm back to the office on Monday.  As I was headed out after my tasking, I noticed water on the floor.  I, being unable to ignore things like that - especially at work, investigated the source of the water, and discovered water dripping from the ceiling in several spots.  Curses!

The story gets very long and convoluted, so I'll spare you the details here.  Essentially, we have some significant roof damage, it's under control for the moment, and the club is filled with all our trash cans catching water from the ceiling.  Ahhhh, another good day at work.

The best few moments of my non-working-work-day came this afternoon at the offices, as I was desperately trying to figure out who to call about the water.  My coworker and friend offered to handle something else that I needed to finish, and I seized the moment to spend a few minutes sitting on the floor with her baby.  Our "office baby" is one of the best bits of medicine I know - what a joy!

John and I just came home from a late and exhausted dinner out, and only as we were running through the rain to the house did the true humor of my water adventures strike me.  John asked "Do you know if it's supposed to rain today?"  I answered "No, but it's raining in The Ark!"  HA!  If only God could see The Ark now...  what a laugh she/he would have!

Even on a non-working-work-day, my cup runneth over.  Truly.

With gratitude and thanksgiving, Friends - I wish you All a wonderful holiday tomorrow.  May we always have the things we need and some chocolate, May our circles of family and friends embrace and shelter us, and May we never have rain in the ark! 

My Day at Google

Yesterday was my work adventure at Google!  I got to spend the day at Google's offices in Ann Arbor, recruiting new Volunteers for work.

What's super neat about the Google workplace:

• They have dogs at work!  Employees bring their dogs to work with them.  (Sidenote:  I also learned from my coworkers that we have had dogs at work in the past, and I would be able & welcome to bring MY DOG to work with me!  Granted, we don't have a dog...  BUT I WANT ONE SO BAD!)
• The lunch we were provided (which Googlers have access to everyday - it is included with employment there) included an awesome salad bar; a full selection of hot options including veggies, rice, grilled meats; a cold-cuts/sandwiches station; and an AMPLE dessert table.  We also had plenty of snacks all day long.
• The Game Room where our fair was set up has a pool table and assorted other "expected" game items, but also fun gadgets/mind games, AND a couple of Hoberman spheres!

What else could you ask for in a workplace?!?  It was a fun day, I met several other Volunteer Coordinator-types, and lots of eager Google employees who were thrilled to learn they could volunteer for something valuable AND hear great music for free!!

Perspective

Hello Friends!

Today is hot, hot, hot outside, and I was lamenting the heat a little bit as I ran around a lot for work.  You know the drill:  "Oh gee, it's so hot, I'm working so hard...  whine, whine, whine!"

This became my Late-in-the-day Perspective Adjustment:  I was waiting on one more delivery (Tuesday is the day I receive concession stock at The Ark), and finally called to check on it.  I already knew my regular driver was on vacation, so it might have just been late.  Our rep at the distributor said yeah, it was coming, it was probably late, the driver had never been into Ann Arbor before, etc.  "No problem" I say - "I'll be here!"

5 minutes later, my phone rings.  The Rep says "So what does your day look like tomorrow?"  What happened?  My delivery never made it on the truck - regular driver is on vacation, another driver broke his arm, and a third person in their office/worksite had a heart attack!

So what in the world was I whining about?!?  My delivery will come tomorrow - no sweat!

Be Well and Be Cool, Friends.  Good Luck keeping your perspective in check!

Update on the job and some other stuff

Are clothes washers supposed to whir and clank?  Here I sit in the peaceful dark-ish basement, thinking brilliant thoughts to share with you all, while the laundry whirs and clanks off to my right.  Ahhh, domesticity!

I am through Day 2 of my outstanding and very exciting new job with The Ark.  It's been a long time since I worked with such a small staff, and I would say already I feel at home with them!  Tomorrow I get to sit in on my first weekly staff meeting.  So far, most of my time is just spent listening to others and trying to absorb institutional knowledge.  I got to sit in on a new volunteer training session yesterday evening (eventually a major part of my role).  That was fun - brand new volunteers, and brand new me!  The club manager I am learning a lot of my role from is super and will be fun to work with.  This morning I was the first one to work - not unusual in my professional life, but kind of funny on my second day of work.  I waited until someone else got there to go inside (to the offices, which are off-site from the club) once I realized I had no idea where any light switches were.  Glad I waited - they were super hard to find (right next to the front door)!

On an entirely different note, as soon as I figure out how to blog from the new computer (everything is different on the Mac!), I'll post something from there.  New MacBooks have a fun feature - a tiny digital camera is built into the computer, just above the screen.  There is a little program called Photo Booth that instantly lets you choose from something like 15 photo effects (stretching, tunnel vision, pop art coloring, etc).  We've been having fun making distorted pictures of ourselves and the cats.  More to follow as soon as I figure it out!

(I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever written about pictures that I don't include.  They're great, I promise!)

Take care, Friends.  Be Well and Be Happiness!

To Do:

A short list of things I plan to tackle/accomplish/indulge in while I'm on vacation for the next 8 days:

• Plant the plants in the planters that are currently waiting on the porch
• Find permanent (anchored) homes for Harold the Heron and Shirley the Sand Piper
• Spend a day framing two more collages with mom
• Ride my super awesome bike as much as  possible
• See Shrek the Third, even if it's getting "ordinary" reviews
• Play Scrabble with my husband
• Start a new collage, which may or may not be done in time, to give for the art auction at Food Gatherer's Grillin' event in June
• Spend a day with Holly and her silly kids
• Spend a day with Tami and her silly kids (Tam, you don't know that yet...  but it's a goal!)
• Spend an evening in Toledo listening to Hal Walker sing
• Catch up with more than a few people I've lost track of through the stress of the last several months of work
• Watch a little more Tigers baseball
• Get a pedicure!
• Celebrate the anniversary of my first date with John!
• And last, but certainly not least - begin to tackle some of the piles-o-crap in our basement that need to simply go away!

Hmmm...  not a very short list in retrospect, but I'm going with it!

Happy Sunday eve, Friends.  Be Well and Be Taking Care of You.

Beauty and Irony

The fun fact of the morning is that today is National Bike to Work Day.

The humor of the morning is, of course, that I can't bike to work - it's about 40 miles.  The beauty and irony of the morning is that it's my last day of work in Toledo before I begin my new work adventure!

(It is also National Defense Transportation Day.  How does biking to work figure into that?)

Peace, Friends.  Happy Friday to you all!

A new adventure begins!

Well, here I go!  I have news to share that will surprise some of you, but not surprise others.  My apologies if you aren't sure where this is coming from - I've been avoiding the subject of my job search in this forum because I didn't want word to reach the wrong ears at the wrong times!

As of this very morning, I have accepted a new position with The Ark in Ann Arbor.  As of late this morning I have also let my employer know about my decision.  I have mixed emotions in some ways about leaving my current role, but only excitement and joy at the prospect of this new job.

On May 29th I will start as the House Manager/Volunteer Coordinator at The Ark.  If you aren't familiar with it, The Ark is a performance venue in Ann Arbor, primarily for folk, acoustic, jazz, and roots music.  It's a non-profit agency with an amazing mission and slate of concerts.  There is a very small staff (approx 12), with a very large volunteer base (approx 250), and a very full program offering (approx 300 shows/year)!

The role I'm starting is being spun off from an existing Club Manager role, and the current Club Manager will remain as a counterpart to the House Manager.  We will essentially split the responsibilities into "front of house" and "back of house" management.  I will be working with the bulk of the volunteer base - volunteers who fill practically all operational roles including ushering, ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise sales, and membership sales.

Honestly, I'm having trouble articulating exactly how excited I am about this, but I bet you can guess?  When I was fielding the offer last night (via a phone call from the terrific director who interviewed me) I said "My immediate gut reaction is WoooHoooo!"  When I spoke with her this morning to accept the position, she said "To quote you - WoooHoooo!"  This feels like the exact perfect thing for me to be going to do!

I'll certainly keep you posted as I begin this job in about 5 weeks, and most likely I'll keep you posted as I wrap up my current role over the next several weeks too.

Peace, Dear Friends.  Be Well - and go out and enjoy the weather this weekend!!

Please Vote for COSI!

So for the most part, those who read this are my friends and family who will already know my recent history with COSI Toledo.  On the outside chance that anyone is reading who doesn't know:

I used to work for COSI Toledo, the great hands-on science center in Toledo.  For any of my old Columbus pals who might be reading this, COSI Toledo is a distant relative of  COSI Columbus, but a separate organization.  The operative part of the first sentence in this paragraph is "used to."  I have moved on from COSI with some less-than-great work circumstances that helped to push me into a job hunt.  I have, perhaps, had my bones to pick with COSI and the current state of affairs there.  That said, it is an incredibly valuable and necessary place that needs to remain in Toledo!  You can read about COSI's levy efforts and plans for levy funds on their website at www.cositoledo.org

If you live in Lucas County, please vote in the upcoming election.  And please vote for the very small COSI levy which is on the ballot.  I haven't seen a lot of press about this levy and I hope that Toledo hears a lot more about it before election day.  COSI has been an important piece of science and math education in the Toledo area for many years now, and a loss of COSI would be felt immediately in the local schools and by local educators.  Perhaps less immediately, but still with a significant impact, the loss would be felt locally by families, youth programs, and non-traditional education organizations.

Please vote to support COSI on the upcoming ballot and give COSI the opportunity to prove that they can correct their mistakes and remain viable.

Also, more to come from me - regarding state and regional races - consider the way your candidates would likely vote for social services funding.  I am learning more and more about the funding at Sunshine Inc, and I know that in order to continue to provide the services we currently offer, we will need new voices in the state legislature to support and pursue increases in most of our funding.

Happy fall to everyone (even though it feels like winter)!  Peace, Dear Friends.  Be Well and Be Taking Care!

Dreaming Big

I have two "Dream Jobs", or Pipedream Jobs maybe?  I like to pretend every now and then that I might have one of them someday. 

The first one is maybe the farthest-fetched, and probably something I wouldn't actually pursue in reality.  There's this part of me that would love to be a Smoke Jumper.  Yep, you read it right.  A Smoke Jumper - the elite fire fighting teams who parachute in on the far side (or the inaccesible side) of a wildfire and fight it from the ground.  If you wonder why on earth I would be intrigued by that, read Young Men and Fire sometime.  It's by Norman Maclean, who also wrote A River Runs Through It, and it's one of my favorite books ever.  So that's the real sort of "pipedream."

My other dream is to work for Heifer International.   

If you aren't familiar with Heifer, check out their website sometime.  This is an incredible organization that has been doing amazing work throughout the world for 60 years.  Their mission is about fighting and ending hunger, but their method is the amazing piece.  They are educators in the truest sense, and their work is all geared at teaching agricultural skills and sustainable practices.  Their "passing on the gift" policy is what sets them apart, in my opinion.  Please read about them when you have a chance.  And maybe someday I'll get to work with them, although that would probably mean we would have to move to Arkansas!  www.heifer.org

I have a smaller scale dream related to Heifer, but still one I haven't been able to pull off yet.  Heifer has two working farms in the United States, which they call Learning Centers.  There are study and work programs at both sites throughout the year.  One of their offerings is a Women's Lambing Program at Overlook Farm in Massachusetts.   http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201575/   This is my reasonably attainable dream:  To go to a lambing program there!  It happens every spring for a few different sets of dates.  There is a combination of education about Heifer's programs and working/helping with the annual birthing of the lambs!  Someday, I will go.

If you like to dream big, consider making a donation to Heifer, or to Food Gatherers www.foodgatherers.org where my husband works!  I've found that both make wonderful gifts - unique, always appreciated, and never just "more stuff" to give people who already have plenty.

Peace and Good Things to you all, Friends!