Catching up

Hello, I'm still here. As usual, blogging has fallen to the bottom of my list. But here's a few random tidbits from life to catch you up.

I got involved with my sorority alumni group here. Based on my experience with the group in Georgia, I thought it would just be going to movies, meeting up for drinks and dinner, etc. Basically, a way to have a social life in a new city. Not so with this group. Eight of us just organized and hosted what turned out to be a huge event (almost 400 people) for chapters in our region. I ran around like a crazy person on Saturday keeping the event going. While I enjoyed helping out, I was reminded that event planning is not my thing. But if you ever need to hire an event planner, ask if they were in a sorority because those girls are organized, creative and efficient. I also came back with more sorority stuff than I need at this point in my life.

I finished Beth Moore's James study. I hope to have a real post on that soon.

I am also very close to being done with the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts and definitely plan to blog about it. It is a fascinating book especially if you are interested in the introvert/extrovert dynamic.

I just have one more week of GRE class, and I take the exam three weeks from Friday. I am just ready to have this behind me.

And one more thing that's almost done: The semester! Just three more weeks. Now that I know I'm staying, I am ready for this semester to end and hit reset on everything. It's been a rough few weeks, and I'm ready for the switchover. The end of the semester also means I'm that much closer to my trip to Ireland and London. 

The garden has been tilled, though I don't get any credit for that. I'm going to pick out plants and get them in the ground next weekend. A groundhog and three deer were in my yard this evening, so even if I can keep the plants alive, keeping the critters out is going to be a challenge.

And remember this post? Yeah, it actually worked, so I've been pretty distracted lately if you can't tell. He also gets the credit for tilling the garden and allowing me to cancel my lawn service.

And some news...

The other day I got a notice that a job I had applied for over a year ago was open again. (Well, they never filled it the first time but …) At the time I had convinced myself it was a dream job for me, but when I got the alert, I had no interest in applying for it.

There has been a lingering question about what's next for me, and as August started sneaking up, I had to pay more attention to that. But over the last couple of months, a few things have come up that I was interested in, and I had a vague plan for some combination of working and going to school for my masters.

And while I was feeling very blessed that things seemed to be dropping into my lap, I still didn't want to give up my dream job that I currently have. The past seven months have been the most fun and challenging of my professional life. I love all the different roles I have, and I really love this newsroom and the students I work with. I know for a fact there is no place like it.

For a few weeks, there has been chatter about me getting to stay for another year. It is absolutely what I hoped for, but I was trying not to get my hopes up.

On Monday morning, I got the official word that I do get to stay. (My boss and I sealed it with a high five.) I am thrilled and feel very blessed that this is how it worked out. 

I'm also relieved I don't have to move again this summer. I had been hoarding boxes just in case, but they went out with the recycling this morning. And I'm accepting visitors through August 2013!

A lesson in cynicism

Apologies for the lack of posting. There's a ton of stuff going on, and the blog just falls to the bottom of the list. Sadly, cooking has too, so I don't have any fun recipes to share. And as most of my life is right now, this post is about work, but there's more to it than just work.

One of the things I love about this job is all the different things I get to do. When I get bored of doing one thing, I have something entirely different I can do. Of course, during a week like this when I have deadlines on all of these things, it's overwhelming.

But one of my responsibilities is opinion editor. It's a very interesting role anytime because I try hard to balance viewpoints. But there's a local election coming up, and I have been flooded with letters to the editor. I've been dealing with a lot of comments and criticisms about the fact all the letters support one candidate. I know it's not personal, and I don't take offense. But on Thursday I realized it had really been building on me.

I had a long to do list and kept getting interrupted with questions about the opinion page and was quickly losing patience with the whole thing. I got another comment about the letters I had to respond to, and I had pretty much had it. Fortunately, my co-worker saved me from being too blunt in my response. But I walked out of work in quite a mood that I couldn't even describe.

I'm in a Beth Moore study on Thursday nights, and I was in such a bad mood I was talking myself out of going. But I went (about 30 minutes late), and I'm so glad I did. Beth's message was on cynicism, and that's exactly the point I had reached in all of this work stuff. Her message was exactly what I needed to hear. It's hard not to become cynical about some stuff at work, but it's a real problem when it spreads into the rest of my life. She gave five reasons not to get cynical:

1. Jesus is still flagrantly changing lives.
2. Real people are doing the real thing all over the real world.
3. The appetite to study Scripture is increasingly ravenous.
4. Some long-standing barriers are breaking down.
5. God will kick your tail.

I'm thinking this list needs to be up on the wall in my office.

And with the letters, I should be proud to live in a community where people are civic-minded and involved in the democratic process. It's a privilege to work in a job where I play a small role in allowing people to share their voice, but some days I need God to kick my tail to remind me of it.

It's started

This week kicked my butt.

I knew it was going to be busy, classes start on Tuesday, but I just wasn't ready.

It turns out instead of teaching a class with eight students or co-teaching a class, I am teaching a class of 19 students by myself. While I have a lot of stuff from the previous teachers, it's still a class I haven't taught before, and I've got to have a syllabus, presentations, assignments, etc.

While I took my vacation at Christmas, which was my preference, my colleagues wanted this week before classes off. I'm starting to see the wisdom in that. So I've been the one training a new group of students that are paid to work on the production desk. And they don't know nearly as much as I thought they did. The nights have been long and intense and only a fraction of what is coming next week.

And then there is a side project with several deadlines coming up.

The thing is I don't want to complain about any of it, I know it's coming out that way, but really, I love it. I love that less than six months ago my colleagues were having to teach me stuff and I was learning from the students and now I am the expert establishing the protocol for the production desk this semester. I love that I get to teach a class on editing, which is something I'm confident in. I love the challenge of a new semester and training new students. I love what I do, even when it's stressful and exhausting.

And I have some fun things to look forward to next week that are non-work related, including seeing one of my best friends for the first time in months.

So don't worry about me, I'm doing what I love. Hopefully, I'll resurface when the craziness of a new semester starts to die down.

That was quite a year

Well, 2011 turned out to be a very different year than I expected.

This time last year I was spending 30 days listening for God's guidance in my job/career. Though I was trying to be open to what He had planned I had a put the stipulation that I didn't want to leave Virginia.

A year later, I live several states away, but I have a job I didn't even know to ask for. It's been an adventure and a challenge and more fun than I could have imagined. And I'm so grateful God led me here because it wouldn't have happened without Him.

I still miss my life in Virginia and sometimes wonder when (and where) I'll find that community again. My mom asked me the other day what I thought the purpose was in my two years in Virginia. I told her I think God was showing me what community outside the realm of college or my hometown could look like. And how great it can be. Now wherever I am, I know what I'm looking for and that it can be created.

Last year I set some goals for the year, and I honestly think they just need to be my goals every year but here's how I did.

Memorize Scripture -- I didn't do as well with the last few verses, but I have note cards with 24 verses on them. The truths in those verses became very important to me in all the circumstances I walked through this year.

Return to the gym -- On Dec. 31, 2011, I finally finished the couch to 5K program I started in January 2011! It was a start-and-stop thing, but I was more successful than usual.

Monitor my spending and save more -- I did OK with this, cutting out some things to actively save more. But then I moved and my savings account has not looked the same since.

Make better use of my time -- Not sure how to measure this, but the busier I am with work or anything the more productive I am at getting other stuff done, which has mostly been the case for the last few months.

For 2012 I'm keeping my goals simple again, here's my quick list:

Continue going to the gym
Make more of an effort to develop friendships and create community
Trust the Lord with my future while making wise decisions professionally and financially
Cook more and eat healthier

Work, dreams, house renovations

It's a random collection of stuff today.

If I go to the gym today, I will finish week 7 of the couch to 5K program, which in the almost year since I started it has now changed its name to Run 5K. I am writing this down in hopes it will be accountability for doing it.

I caught an error in percent vs. percentage points in a story on Monday night. Before I spent two years at my job editing financial news, I never would have caught it. Now I not only catch the error, but I get to teach future copy editors to catch that error.

I'm designing pages this week, nothing very exciting, but I'm remembering the challenges of making everything fit just right.

Points two and three remind me that every job and role I've had is important to what I'm doing now. I realize this sounds like a Rascal Flatts song, though maybe only to me since this week I bought tickets to see them in January.

I posted this on Facebook, but I have to share more of the story. I was at home on Tuesday because I'm working nights this week, and there was a knock on my door. There was a guy standing there, and he asked me (1) when I moved into the house and (2) when I was moving out. Apparently, he has had his eye on this house for four years. He gave his number to the last tenants for them to call him when they moved out. Obviously, they didn't, which I'm grateful for. Anyway he told he'd come back in July since my lease is up in August. It is a wonderful house and one of a handful of rentals in this neighborhood, which is the best in town if I you're asking me, but I don't think it would have occurred to me to go knocking on the door to try and rent it. He also said he wanted to rent it and then convince the owner to sell it to him. I was thinking, "You and me both."

Continuing on that point, I have no idea what happens for me after August, and most days I'm really comfortable with that. But in the event I stayed here, I would continue to rent this house. And though I doubt I'd (1) convince my landlord to sell and (2) actually stay here long enough to make it worth the investment, on a daily basis I think about what I would do to it if I owned it. Just this week, I was debating what color I could paint the bathroom (it's currently yellow) that would still look OK with the blue tile or if I'd have to take the tile out. I've already decided on painting the cabinets an off-white or cream and changing the hardware on them, and then painting the kitchen a nice sage green after taking down the wallpaper in the kitchen for this house I'll probably never own! This is another area where pinterest isn't helping.

I had a dream the other night I went on a date (shocking!), and my entire family and current boss were all at the same place. I also woke up that morning to check to see if my car was in my driveway because in my dream it was stolen.

The pictures from my brother's wedding were posted this week, and it's making me dislike my recent haircut even more. In other words, my hair looked great in those photos, and I'm hating it now that it's short again. I guess you only luck out once with getting your hair cut at the mall.

End of semester brain dump

A random list of things that have been going on in my life this week:

It's finals week, and apparently one way students avoid studying is baking. It's been treat overload in the newsroom this week. I even have cookies I need to get out of my house, but there is so much other stuff I don't think anyone would eat them.

I'm starting to feel like I'm on idea overload. I've spent more time on pinterest lately and keep seeing all these things treat/desserts to make. But then I remind myself it would just contribute to the last point. So I'm trying to either pin actual dinner recipes or non-food related things. One of my co-workers said the other day that she had never thought to use it for recipes. I guess I need to follow her to see what she pins because I feel like all I see is food.

Grading is harder than I expected.

Tuesday was my last night working with that combination of students. I was sad to see it come to an end. (And granted, every day this week is the "last," but there is a unique bonding over late nights at the paper.)

But it must be the end of the semester because I've been snapping much quicker than usual. One of those stuffed singing/dancing Christmas trees almost pushed me over the edge.

The TA I worked closest with all semester worked her last shift with me before she graduates today. Another student I'm sad to see go.


Last January, I downloaded the Couch to 5K app on my iPhone. I didn't really start using it until April. But I got distracted by the prospect of moving and then found out I was moving, quit the gym and then moved. I eventually joined a gym here, but struggled to fit it into my routine. Long story but I typically get to week 6, stop going to the gym and have to go back several workouts and work my way back to week 6 and the cycle starts over. On Thursday I finished the last workout of week 6, and I realized I have six workouts left and two weeks left in 2011 to finally finish the program. So that's my goal — finish this workout program before the end of the year.

A birthday

Last week a friend and I were emailing, and she asked if I had plans for my birthday. I kind of played it off and said it was no big deal. But she directly told me I needed to be proactive for my birthday this year since I'm still getting settled here.

I realized she was right, and instead of being passive I took her advice and ended up having a really fun day.

First of all I made cake pops, which I haven't done in a long time (I tried a new combo I'll share later), and I took them with me to work to share with students and co-workers. I sit in the middle of the newsroom during the day, and basically, I gave out cake pops to people that wished me a happy birthday. It was a really fun game to play because I had students that don't really know me come over so they could get one. It just kept me entertained all day. And my co-workers sang happy birthday to me at our afternoon meeting, a little mortifying, but I guess you are supposed to be sung to on your birthday.

After work I went with my small group from church to a service project, and then I had invited them all back to my house for dinner and dessert. I loved hosting in my house, it's perfect for it and I haven't done much of it. And I just felt so blessed that these people I didn't even know a couple of months ago came over to celebrate with me. I told my best friend when we chatted after they left that it was finally starting to click. I really enjoyed this group of people and had a great time hanging out with them, and it was all low key and easy. So I think the community piece is slowly coming together and that really is a gift.

To add to the fun, my friend who wanted to make sure I had birthday plans sent me a cookie cake that I was able to share with my small group.

And of course I was blessed by Facebook messages, emails, cards, text messages and phone calls. It's fun to have lived all these places and have people that I love hearing from on days like my birthday. I'll also be able to drink peppermint mochas from Starbucks all winter long.

Phone calls

Have I said lately that I have a lot of fun at work? There's plenty of work and stress involved, but there is always something going on in the newsroom to keep me entertained. Thanks to this job I now know about the duck song  and Marcel the shell.

But here's the funny thing I have to share with you today.

The first thing: People will call newsrooms with all kinds of questions.

A sports editor I worked with used to complain about drunks calling from bars to settle bets, but I think what happened on Tuesday night takes the cake for newsroom calls.

A week or two ago, we ran a story about a disease affecting bats, called white-nose syndrome. On Tuesday we get a call from a guy asking what he should do about a bat that is in his house (not totally clear on where the bat was but the guy said it wouldn't go away). The student that took the call has a pretty loud voice so people in the newsroom heard his side of the conversation.

Here's what we heard:

"So you're calling because we ran a story about white-nose bats?"

"You have a bat that won't leave?"

"Did you call animal control?"

"There are probably bat removal services."

"I see, so you don't want to kill the bat, you just want to get rid of it."

"This is a newspaper, so we don't really deal with bats. Have you tried the conservation department?"


The whole conversation lasted about 10 minutes with each comment by the student followed by laughter in the newsroom. My stomach hurt when it was over. I am impressed the staffer was able to carry on the conversation without busting out laughing.

Is this what people did before the Internet? Call newsrooms looking for answers?

Chaos, i.e. students arrive!

So last week was my brief chance to (1) get up to speed on how things work at the paper and (2) come up with a plan for the class I teach. This week students arrived, and I suddenly became an expert and a teacher.

Here's the best description I could come up with for how things went this week:

Imagine you work with several teams of people to complete a project/task/product. Now imagine that it's the first day of work for everyone on those teams. And then imagine that this repeats itself every day of the week for a week. Of course add to that the fact that it's only your second week on the job and you can start to imagine the chaos.

Basically, as soon as I had a handle on the Monday teams, it was Tuesday and there was an entirely new crew. It also feels like as soon as I managed one crisis, I was hit with another.

While there is something energizing about working with students, especially the ones who are over-eager, I also had to realize that they are flaky 21-year-olds who are working for you for free. Of course, they have no hesitation in canceling a shift at the last minute.

All week, I've watched my days fly by and even forgotten to stop and eat. I work until the paper is done on Tuesdays, which was 12:30 a.m. this week, and even though I don't think I slept much, I was excited to get up and teach a class and be in the newsroom all day on Wednesday. I consider all of these things to be proof that this is a job I'm passionate about and that there was something missing before.

I'm still figuring out how to factor in life stuff and even a social life (when I find some friends) with all of this but that will come once I get past the craziness of the first few weeks.