Goodbye Student Life, Hello Work!

So my last entry was about getting a job offer, and the three months that have passed since seems like a very short and yet a very long period of time. I’ve been out of school now for about 6 months, and that has been a strange adjustment mentally. I’m unaccustomed to not planning my course load for the new term, not doing reading for class, writing essays and worrying about fulfilling all my various degree requirements. Finding myself living in a new place and contemplating the imminent departure of my husband to Afghanistan, I have also come to the realization that I’m not entirely sure how to meet people outside of the context of classes and school-related extra curricular activities.

Now I’m working for an awesome company where I have the honor to work with inspiring people every single day. Not to mention I can start my mornings with an hour of working in bed with a kitten snuggled up behind my laptop! Okay, I admit it isn’t the best habit to be in, but with a winter chill finally settling in here and a fluffy kitten or two for company who could resist! (The photo below is from when Aslan was recovering from the vet visit that left him less one testicle. Yes, you read that right. Even though they cut in to his belly, they couldn’t find #2 to complete the pair. But that’s another story)

The transition to working from home has been an interesting one. Of course there are pros and cons to the remote working model. One con is of course the loneliness factor. Some of my colleagues live in big cities, and can work socially. The nearest colleague I have is a three hour drive away. There are also very few wifi hotspots in this town, so it is a challenge to work out of the house for the simple purpose of getting out.

That being said, in addition to having the option of getting cozy in bed or on the couch during part of your day (don’t you love laptops?), it can be quite a luxury to work from home. I have set up my office to my exact desired specifications. When I’m not one the phone taking calls I can listen to my favorite podcasts or music while I answer user’s email questions. I’m not gonna lie, it can be pretty awesome most days. It doesn’t hurt that my company does a particularly good job of maintaining our “office” culture across state and national lines too.

More on my tactics and lessons learned about remote working later. Until next time!

Hello world!

Hi everyone! I have awesome news! After being a lifelong student since I was five years old, I am finally going to enter the working world, for real! The evening after I received the job offer, my husband and I went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant in town to celebrate. I’m ecstatic, and itching to get started.

I haven’t paid enough attention to this blog since crunch time with my thesis. During the interim period between now and my official start date I thought I would revamp my blog and portfolio. I was greeted by the unhappy realization that my image hosting service, TinyGrab, has yet again failed. After the security breach earlier this year, the urls for all of the (non-flickr) images I used here on wordpress were changed. I went through one by one relinking them and updating their locations. TinyGrab has had a tumultuous year, any while none of my images were lost I’m not sure I have the stamina to go through that whole process again. I cannot trust that further problems won’t arise. If you have a reliable free service, feel free to share your recommendation. In the meantime I’m going to slowly start moving images to WordPress and flickr.

Instead of prattling on, here’s some photos of cute kittens!

Did I mention that we got a second kitten? Oh yeah, we did.

Back to Books

With so many teachers in the family these days I’m more aware of the return of kids to school these days, although being walking distance from both a high school and a middle school generally alerted me pretty promptly though the influx of school buses on weekdays. Those who aren’t back in classes already await their imminent return to their desks and their books. I wanted to take this opportunity to recommend an amazing online community called Paper Back Swap.

Over a year ago, an old friend of mine  suggested that I check it out. At the time I was packing up my life in boxes before I headed back to Japan for my final year of my Master’s studies. A year and two dozen swaps later I am a total junkie for this service! It is so great! Instead of donating unwanted books to the thrift store, my previously preferred disposal method, I can make sure I’m sending the book to someone who actually wants it! Whenever you send a book, you pay shipping and receive a credit in return. You can then turn around and use that credit to order books you want to read from other users, or even apply the credits for a discount off of amazon! If you have books you want to get rid of, or a collection you want to round off, or something you need to read for school, check out Paper Back Swap! (And you can even check out what I’m offering on my bookshelf now – my username is sylviaplath!)

Busy Months

A lot has happened over recent months. I finished my thesis, defended my research and conclusions in front of an examining committee, and submitted the final revised hard and soft copies. I graduated with my Master’s degree in International Relations. In between those two huge things I made a mix cd and dvd commemorating the work of Global Concerns Forum, and sent copies to all the alumni members (I still need to get copies to the class of 2011 members too). I have since migrated back home to the US, and am mid-move from one state to another. I’ve begun the process of recovering from reverse culture shock, as well as the much simpler task of re-learning how to drive on the right side of the road and the left side of the car. In a month I’m celebrating the start of a new life with friends, family, and my beau. Between planning our wedding ceremony, unpacking and job hunting I’ve been pretty busy. The year 2011 has been a whirlwind, and I’m loving every minute! (Okay, and I’ve been stressing for quite a few of them too – but it is worth the stress)