A little culture

This afternoon I went to see a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit . Actually, it was an exhibit of 6 female artists whose champion and benefactor was Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and NY gallery owner in the early 1900s, who championed photography as an art form and eventually became Georgia O'Keefe's husband.

Surprisingly, the painting that I enjoyed the most was not painted by Georgia O'Keefe. It was instead painted by Georgia Engelhard, the niece of Stieglitz, who obviously studied the same style that O'Keefe did.

I love the colors , lines , shapes and shading. Take a look!

My Sunday evening theraputic TV....

With the addition of a new show to the Sunday line-up a few weeks ago, I have realized that 3 shows that I regularly watch on Sunday night end up being really theraputic for me and help put me in the right mindset for the week.

60 Minutes
I inherited my penchant for watching 60 Minutes from my parents. For as long as I can remember, they have watched the show every Sunday night. I used to sort of watch it as a kid and even thought it was interesting then. The mixture of insightful investigative new and one of a kind entertainment stories just make it great thought-provoking television. Plus, I really remember the pride and comfort I took at seeing Ed Bradley on the show each week.

Extreme Makeover, Home Edition

Okay, this show always makes me cry --- like a snotting, blubbering cry. I don't know what it is, but I always cry at happy things. Each week, the lives of a deserving family who has faced or is facing serious struggles, is dramatically changed by the grand gesture of a brand new home, tailored to their specific needs built in a miraculous 7 days. I am always inspired by the love and perseverance that these families have and how gratified they are to have their struggle recognized and their lives improved.

The Big Give
How can you not be inspired by a giving reality show. The participants are going around to different cities on giving challenges --- being given money and a set amount of time to find deserving people to help. Some gestures are big, some are smaller but you can never underestimate the impact an act of kindness can have on the lives of the recipient.

I have actually thought about doing some community service and giving some of my time to help others a lot lately. I had intended to do something while I was out of work but didn't get to it unfortunately. Eventhough I have less time now, there is so much that you can gain by giving of your time. I am going to work to integrate something like that into my regular routine. Stay tuned for what I arrange to do soon!

The Brunsli effect

I was reading a post by Cluizel where she was talking about feeling bad for not posting for a few weeks and I could empathize. I have also felt the same way when I didn't post any new blog posts for a while. But why do we feel guilty when living life gets in the way of posting regular updates on our blogs?? Don't we need to live life to be able to have something interesting and meaningful to write about? Who says we need to post something every single day or every few days?

I call this "the Brunsli effect." How do we live up to someone who just recently posted her 1001st post after about 3 years of blogging. That is almost 1 post everyday -- and most of them with pictures! I don't know about you, but a lot of times the pictures are what hold me up on posts. I have one post that I have been planning on writing for the past couple months but it has been held up by the fact that I have yet to get the picture that should accompany it off my phone.

How does she manage to do it? Anyone who has read her blog knows that she is not just sitting around the house. On the contrary, she has been completing a law degree at a top law school, shuttling up and down the California coast for work, and traveling to beautiful and exotic cities around the world. Does the fact that she does not have a TV make that much of a difference?

Seriously though, perhaps the guilty pang comes from a desire not to disappoint our readers. It really is nice to feel that you have an online community and support system to share your life with. And I think that we really should not underestimate the theraputic effect of blogging, modern day journaling. It is always good to get things off your chest and perhaps when we are stressed by life is exactly the time when we should be blogging more, not just to talk about what is stressing us but alternatively to concentrate on something else than the situations that are sapping our positive energy.

Just a thought....... (and while I did poke a little fun, Brunsli, you know I love ya! ;-)

My chartreuse thumb

So, since I have had my house, I have dipped my little toe into the gardening pool.... Well, basically I have only bought some hanging plants and attempted to plant some flowers in the rectangular containers on either side of my front porch.

When I bought the house, there were some pink Impatiens (just now learned how to spell their name) in the pots. Last year, I decided to try something new and bought these hot pink/magenta colored dianthus. They didn't quite end up looking like this picture unfortunately, thanks to a drought and some interference by a furry four-legged creature who likes to dig and bury her rawhide bones. The impatiens actually tried to come back and looked better than the dianthus so, I got the hint.

Today, I bought some more impatiens to plant for the year. They are sort of a purply pink. There were a lot of folks at the Garden section at Home Depot because it was such a beautiful day. But then, about 2pm, grey clouds rolled in, lightening splashed across the sky and it started to pour.....

So, about 8pm, when the rain seemed to have let up and it was still rather warm. So, I decided to get to planting since tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Things were going fine. I finished with one pot and then decided to go ahead and do the next one and got finished just in time, sort off. When the flash lightening and the big raindrops returned, I decided to call it quits. Hopefully, I can keep these growing and the dog away from them this year!

Spring has sprung!

Pretty!

Can you say "stylish!"?

Okay, this just cracked me up so I had to take a picture of what I saw when I went to the grocery store one day..... Notice the matching scarf!

Starting to get the hang of things....

Two and a half weeks in and I am starting to feel like I am getting the hang of things at work. At least I think so.

Today I was running down a few launch affecting product issues, got to do some user experience testing, was taken out to lunch by a vendor, and got a bunch of cool gadgets to play with and use to support my job responsibilities. I am still excited about the job.

Also, coincidentally, a guy who was in the same group with me at my previous job, has interviewed for 2 positions at my company, one in the same group I am in and one in a different group from me but one that I personally interact with every day. I guess that it is not completely coincidentally. This other woman who I have worked with at my last 3 companies, put in the good word for him and helped him get the interview. So I have been putting in the good word for him whenever I could. Yesterday, I was asked to write a recommendation for him so I think that his chances are pretty good, at least for one of the positions. I am glad that I am able to help him. I think that is is so important to reach back and help out someone else in their job search after you get a job. It's sort of like paying it forward....

How I know Missouri is not in the south....

So, I confess. I grew up in St. Louis. But it was not until I moved to the East Coast that people tried to tell me that I was from the South. I think Nelly had something to do with this. Everyone knows he grew up in St. Louis but no one knows he was born in Texas. I didn't really know anyone growing up who had a southern accent. If they did have any type of twang, it was because their people were from..... the South! I mean, come on people, St.Louis is "the Gateway to the West" There is that big Arch thingie at the Mississippi River and it could not be more clear that Missouri is the MidWest. But over the years I have come up with a few sure-fire irrefutable justifications of how I know that St. Louis is not in the South

1. 1. I never actually had grits until I moved away from St. Louis. In fact, I barely knew what a grit was until late in high school. It was not served as a regular side on any breakfast platter that I ever had growing up. (Case in point, no Waffle Houses!)
2. 2. I thought Luther, Bubba or Justus were just names for black men. I had no idea that somewhere there were white people with these names to.
3. 3. No sweet tea!

I rest my case! :-)

Payday!

Today is my first payday at my new job! It seems that they didn't get the direct deposit set up yet so I will be getting a physical check and since they pay one week in arrears, I will only get paid for one week but a paycheck is a paycheck!

Yay, money!

I think I am going to take this opportunity to revisit my budget......

I have an office!

So, I forgot to mention..... by the luck of the draw, I managed to get an office at my new job instead of a cube. I actually don't mind the cubicles they have. They are pretty roomy and full of light. And I think that you can learn alot by overhearing other people's business conversations (and personal ones but that is another story!)

So, I sort of had mixed feelings when they showed me my office. It is an interior, closet-like space, with a desk that forces you to sit with your back to the door. There is no window and intially it seemed a little dark. I am somewhat light-affected and my spirits and energy level is really lifted by sunlight. It was also filled with the previous occupant's stuff but I finally got that cleared out.

But, it does have a door which can be pretty nice. And, it's own printer, nice as well! I also set up my computer so that I am sitting sideways and can see the door out of the corner of my eye which eliminates the sneak-up factor. I do sometimes feel a little isolated since I have to make a conscious effort to go out and talk to people but it has been good since I have a lot to do to get up to speed. And, as I learned this week, while I can't tell when it is sunny outside, I also can't tell if it is rainy and gloomy outside! There is a fli side to everything.

Now, the whole building is moving in 5-6 months to a different complex that I actually worked in before so I am familiar with the layout. There, I will not have an office and will be returned back to cubeland. So, I better just enjoy it while I can!

How do you choose?

Imagine this scenario....

You enter a public restroom and all the stalls are empty....

How do you choose which stall to go to?

I ask because now that I am working at a new job, I get to use the semi-public restroom on my floor. Even though it is public, I know that I like to use the same stall over and over if I can. Call it an attempt to personalize the bathroom experience. So, last week, I was faced with picking which one would be "my stall" and it had me thinking......"how do other people decide which stall to choose in these situations?" "How does the choice criteria change when there is someone else in a stall at the same time you are there?"

In this instance, I was drawn to the middle stall. But if there was someone else in the bathroom I would either 1) still pick the middle stall if they were on the other side (this bathroom has 2 rows of 3 stalls across from each other) or 2) find a way to have at least a 1 stall buffer between me and any other person.

How do you choose? Or am I the only one who thinks about this that much!?!?

I bought a belt!

So something somewhat unusual about me is that I don't really wear belts. I don't know when it happened but I phased belts out of my wardrobe somewhere around college. It was not really a conscious thing but they just seemed like an encumbrance that I didn't need.

Well, last week, I bought my first belt in years. What precipitated this purchase? Low-rise jeans. In order to get jeans that fit me most other places, I have to buy a certain size but after the first wearing, the waist gets too loose. So, I when I was out doing some pre-job shopping I got the whim to buy a belt, something simple and I got a bonus as well....... it's reversible!! Just a twist and it goes from brown to black. Two for the price of one! I love it!

Fridays mean something to me again....

So the first week of work down and I am feeling pretty good about it, although I definitely have a lot to learn. The folks in my group seem pretty nice. My boss, and the rest of the group, took me out to lunch the first day, and then a bunch of us went out again on Tuesday.

The guy who is training me, whose responsibilities I am taking over, is actually the guy I talked to get info on the group back in December. He had been really helpful then and had actually worked for my former company. My former boss knew him and gave me his contact info originally. Well, now, I am taking over his responsibilities as he is moving to a different role in our group. So the good thing is that he will be around if I ever need to pick his brain. There is a lot to pick though as he had been doing the job for 4 years and knows all the history, all the people and all the vendors.

But I am plugging along.... some days I feel excited, some days I feel a little overwhelmed but I think this is going to be a really good opportunity for me. I have a lot to learn. I realize that I know a lot less than I thought. But I am up for the challenge! My big accomplishments this week are that I got my ID, parking pass, computer (delivered and set up), and blackberry (delivered and set up) and lot of reading (lots more to do though)!

Oh, and as to the title of this post..... I had blogged previously about how weekends lost their meaning when you don't have to go to work during the week. Well, they have returned to their prominence and they seem shorter than ever!

I was the victim of an elevator hair fondling!

So this week has been my first week of work and I am meeting and seeing a bunch of new people, and they are seeing me.....and my hair.

This afternoon when I was leaving for the day, I was waiting for the elevator and the woman I was waiting with told me that she liked my hair and asked how I got it so uniformly wavy. So when I get these types of questions, I always answer them with the assumption that they do basically understand that I have locks, which I know is not a foregone conclusion. I have adopted this strategy partially because recent experience has shown me that not all white people are ignorant about black hair and also in an attempt to keep the conversation short. Sometimes I don't feel like being the approachable impromptu black hair educator for the majority. So, I just told her that I braid it after I wash it and let it dry and then take it out after it dries.

DING! The elevator arrived and I was saved.

But then, I got on the elevator with about 10 people and the woman standing to my right, who was about as tall as my shoulder says "Pretty Hair!" and reaches out and touches it. Now, I am in an crowded elevator so what can I do? But I really wonder.... what is with these people and their impulse control problems!?!? I mean, would you see a woman wearing a dress you like and say "Nice Dress" and then reach out and start touching it? No! Why? Because this is not socially acceptable behavior. Now, I am not sure why people decide to dispense with social norms when they see my hair but it is annoying! I suppose I should be flattered but still.....

Why I love The Container Store.....

Back in November, at one of my "job search support" breakfast meetings, one of the regulars mentioned that they had a part-time job at The Container Store and that she really enjoyed it. Well I LOVE The Container Store and thought that since I had some extra time on my hands, I might as well apply to work there and maybe pick up some seasonal work over the holidays. So, I applied online and waited....

So, what is The Container Store, you ask? Some of you may not be familiar with the store since there are only 43 brick and mortar stores in the US (soon to be 44, as of this weekend! But more about that later) but the company also does a strong catalog business. I think that I first became familiar with The Container Store through their catalogs because I didn't live in an area where they had a store until college. Simply put, The Container Store sells stuff to put your stuff in! They like to say that they help people save space and valuable time. They specialize in storage and organization exclusively (plus gift wrap and boxes -- which technically is "gift storage") and sell a broad range of solutions to solve your organizational conundrums. And it is a perfect place for a sometimes anal/organization person like me. Don't know what to do with the lids of your pots? They have a number of pot lid organizers. Do you spend hours searching for matching shoes or socks. They have solutions for that too! Is your mail piling up on every free surface you have? Not a problem, The Container Store has many different solutions for you. And while some of the things they sell are not the cheapest that you might find, you can be sure that they are high quality and that the store has the broadest selection of options you will find anywhere.

At any rate, I got a call back from The Container Store in late January to come interview for a part time position. Although, at this point, any work I did there would just reduce the amount I would get in unemployment, (what a dilemma --- do no work and make $x or work part-time and still make $x) I decided to still interview because 1)I knew they offered health insurance and other benefits to part-time employees, 2) there is a GREAT employee discount and 3) I actually suspected that having something to do during the week outside of the house might actually make me more productive when I was back in the house.

Now, I have never worked in retail before but this was not seen as a drawback at The Container Store. They just viewed me as a person that they didn't have to untrain from the "typical retail mindset." I knew that I liked their products but I didn't realize how different they really were as a company until I started interviewing and learning about the company

A little history
The Container Store was started in 1978 by it's two founders, in Dallas. At that time, they were focused on providing commercial storage and organization products, such as dairy milk crates and Metro commercial shelving, things that normal consumers couldn't readily get, to those consumers. Everyone thought that they were crazy, that they couldn't possibly build a successful business model for a store that sold boxes. But they remained dedicated to the idea and have since built a $ million private company that is run based on the personal principles that have meant something to the founders since high school.

Their principles
The Container Store runs it's business based on certain core principles that address everything from relationships to manufacturers, to how they communicate with and treat employees to customer service. They work directly with many of their manufacturers as partners, even placing orders during a manufacturers low season to help them maintain their business. They believe in fully training each employee so that they fully know how to do each aspect of their job before they are allowed to do it on their own. They also believe in training all employees on all aspects of running the store -- from truck to sales. They are very selective about the people they hire, believing that a great employee equals 3 good employees, and, as a result, they believe at compensating them on a higher scale than typical retail jobs. They also believe in communicating store level and company level goals, metrics etc to all levels of employee, whether full or part time as well as fully training each employee so that they know how to do each part of their job before they do it. Also, they believe in being contributing parties to the communities that they are in and donate 10% of the opening weekend proceeds from a new store to a local charity. And most importantly, they believe in providing excellent, proactive service to their customers. Yes, they do have sales goals but the viewpoint is that if they do all these other things well, then the sales goals will come naturally as each employee feels empowered and has a sense of ownership. All these things have given them a place in the top 20 of Fortune's Top 100 Companies to Work For list every year since they became eligible to compete in 2001, ranking #1 in 2001, #2 in 2002 and 2003 and #3 in 2004. You can learn more about the company here.

They were interested in hiring new people to help support a new stocking and merchandising process they are trying out and I decided to join the team. So I have spent the past 2 weeks, coming in at 5am 2 days a week to learn the truck and merchandising process. This includes unloading the truck, sorting merchandise, unpacking the merchandise and putting it on the shelves. If you have ever been to a store, you know how amazingly clean, organized and fully-stocked the shelves always are. I now know how they get that way. There is definitely no lull in activity, which is actually good since, if you have to be up at 5am, you want to be busy so you will stay awake! And, I know I can skip my workout on these days. It's fun though and the people are all really cool. I want to keep working there after I start my new full-time job and with the process change and the slower schedule through April, I think it will be pretty managable. After all, I have a bunch of things I want to buy with my employee discount!

And oh yes, the 44th store opened in Little Rock, Arkansas this weekend. So, if you are in the Little Rock area, stop by and check it out! Other new stores are planned for Plano, TX, Scottsdale, AZ, Edina, MN & Cincinnati, OH. Find info about current store locations here.

I can't get sick on my last week of freedom!

On Monday, I started feeling a little tickle in my throat and I knew what that meant! I can't get sick the week before I start my new job!!

One good thing about being unemployed is that you are not exposed to other peoples germs all the time and I managed to stay healthy for most of the entire 5 months! But on Monday, I started to feel the first hint of sickness.

So I went into my stay healthy regimen. I took my vitamin and also this Brazilian version of Airborne that I got when I was down there. I aired out the house. I drank Danactive and Kombucha, both of which have lots of active cultures, the natural bacteria that occurs in your digestive tract and helps boost your immune system and I immediately went home and brushed my teeth and changed my sheets. I also drank lots of liquids.

It seems to work because I got better and averted an immune system melt-down! Yay!

What I have learned from my job search - Create your own job seach support group!

One really great idea that one persone in my group at my previous company had when we all got laid off was to create a little "support group" for all of us as we dealt with the impact of losing our jobs and started our searches for our next opportunity. So, since September, a group of us met every Tuesday morning, not too early, for breakfast/brunch and conversation.

It ended up being a great thing. Not only did we have folks to commiserate with on a regular basis, but also, since we were all looking for jobs at similar companies, it was a great way to share job leads, resources and contacts. We were witnesses for each others' severance papers, shared ideas for small businesses, shared interviewing and negotiating tips and celebrated successes.

Membership obviously changed over time. Folks came and left as they got new jobs. Some only came once or twice, others came for months. There was another round of lay offs so we gained a few new members in December. We also opened up the group to other friends we knew who were looking too and even some of our "still employed" former co-workers started coming (more around lunchtime) for the camaraderie, and to be proactive.

It now seems like the group will be coming to an end. February and March have been good for our group as for getting results from our search efforts. There are only a couple folks left and they are the ones who just joined in January.

So, I strongly suggest, if you find yourself in a similar situation, don't be too proud and suffer in silence. Find others in your same boat and help each other. And if you don't know enough people to start your own group, then tap into local job search groups in your area. A lot of churches seem to have regular group meetings that anyone can attend. But don't go it alone. Your search can only be helped by tapping into and expanding your network.