Updates & Random Thoughts

Well, good old Malibu's on fire again - 35 homes destroyed since 3:30 AM. Lap of luxury, huh? I'm no longer as envious as I used to be of people who live there - options for driving in and out of the area are limited anyway, and apparently Mother Nature is trying to tell us something about the area.

Moving on...I don't mean to brush that off; I know it's serious and people are once again losing homes, but I am not aiming to be CNN here so I will stop reporting on it. You guys know how to find the news...

Anyhoo. I've been so busy with the new job that I haven't really devoted much time to writing. The job is a lot of fun so far. In my old job, I was usually prospecting to mid- to low-end public schools all over California, and later, just the southern region. All I did was drive. School quality ran the gamut depending on the area and the district. I really don't blame people for the moods they were usually in when I had to call on them, having taught in a highly bureaucratic district myself. It was tough to keep spirits up when I was pushing in a clutch every 1/16 of a second in L.A. traffic for 8-10 hours a day. I was putting between 80-200 miles on my car on an almost daily basis.

With this job, I am prospecting mainly to high end private and independent schools. What a difference in how I am treated on a day-to-day basis! For the most part, I am greeted with friendly smiles when I stop by unannounced - turns out people love free food, especially when it is healthy and tasty :). I plan a small route in a concentrated area of 10-12 schools to drop samples to and I usually end up driving only 30-45 miles daily, if that. When I call to ask for someone on the phone, I am actually transferred to the person or their correct voicemail in under 5 minutes (this is nothing short of a miracle for sales). People are eager to hear about our program and if they're not, they're either polite about it or have referrals for people who might be. It's quite a difference! So far it's going very well and I hope it stays that way. If I've learned nothing else this year, it's that you need to be very happy with what you do every day or else every single thing feels like a struggle. I really was starting to give up hope that I could be one of those people that loved what they do!

Last Day of Freedom

Well, the freedom clock has finally run out. I've enjoyed every minute of it, but my 6 weeks of bumhood are coming to an end after this weekend. Time to....(drumroll, please)...go back to WORK!

It's a good thing, really, as paychecks tend to be a practical thing in life. But I am very good at being a bum, I found out. True, I get restless, and tend to climb the walls. And you know you're bored when the mail delivery is the excitement of your day. Aside from that, I did throw my heart into it. Sleep till noon? Easily! Wear my bathrobe till 6? Had it covered. I really wore my unemployment well.

And after such a whirlwind summer of getting married, going on a honeymoon, and briefly attempting to fit a new job in between (and failing, as I've mentioned before), I very badly needed the break and the sanity gathering. I officially changed my last name. I re-organized my files. I cleaned out closets, gave stuff away, and re-organized shelves. I scoured frightening corners of our apartment that hadn't seen a sponge in years. My brain decompressed and defragmented along with my hard drive(s).

But that all ends Monday as I start my new job with Brown Bag Naturals. It's a tiny start-up company that's already achieved some success without much trying, and we're all curious to see what happens with a smidge of effort. I'm hired to be their first sales rep, which is both exciting and a bit scary. However, they made a pretty good offer, both the owner and venture capitalist seem like great guys, and the whole concept really seems like a lot of fun. Their mission is to provide organic, preservative-free bag lunches for schools, offices, airlines, wherever, at $5 a lunch. Both guys have experience with successful start-ups (one helped start Burt's Bees), so knowing that they've done this before is reassuring and encouraging.

My favorite aspect is that they partner with several companies that just happen to keep me alive in terms of food: Stonyfield Farm, Annie's Homegrown, Amy's Kitchen, and Kashi. My daily diet basically consists of Stonyfield plain organic yogurt, Annie's pasta meal boxes, Amy's anything from soup to frozen dinners, and I live on Kashi TLC bars. Eating healthfully is a something I push on myself on a daily basis due to allergies, past health problems and a generally cranky immune system. I didn't always eat like this (my friends used to call me the Dorito Girl), but after a weird health issue called Candida, I had to learn to eat better or face even worse problems later. It took a lot of work and a horribly strict diet for awhile, but I finally managed to get rid of the problem and by going through it I have learned how to eat in a more balanced way. It's a cause I can't wait to push on children so they can grow up with healthy eating habits and naturally do better in school because of it, among other lifelong benefits.

So there I go. My first meeting is in Malibu at the owner's house on Monday morning. Fortunately his is still standing after the fires :). I wonder if I'll still need my dust mask ??

Welcome back Kotter

Well, sorry it's been so long, for those few of you who actually check my blog from time to time :). It's been a crazy whirlwind these last two and a half months. I went straight from getting a new job to getting married to training for the new job to the honeymoon to losing the new job. Sigh. I know it is all for the best, I was not happy with the new job in the least, but the old bruised ego is now recovering from not one but two job losses in a 4-month period. Not exactly feeling on top of my game these days, but I guess some periods in life are like that. I'm just such a control freak that I actually disillusion myself into thinking I should always be on top of everything.

The only good thing that's cropping up from losing the job is that I am finally allowing myself to do things that make me happy, not just money. The money with Dynavox would have been terrific but is it worth crying every day from stress? I, along with my husband Bryon, can assure you it is not. So I've been writing more often these days and it's starting to make me feel a lot better. It's something I have always been good at but always told myself it wasn't a practical job. Now I don't care anymore, I just want to be happy and the bills will get paid somehow.

So I joined a children's literature writing program where I will get mentored through a publication process to have both a magazine and a book publication at the end. I'm really excited about it; I submitted a test sample to this group about 3 years ago and they've been bugging me ever since to do their program. I guess they liked my sample...I wrote a true story called "Pest Control". For those of you who know me I think you know the story but the basic gist is when I was about 9 or 10 years old my mom got mad at me for hurting my little brother by accident and she called me a pest. I went through the whole school day with the word "pest" echoing through my head only to come home to find a "Pest Control" car in the driveway, which sent me running into the house promising that I would never be a pest again.

I'm also applying for jobs other than straightforward sales or teaching. One position in particular is for Planned Parenthood; they need a Teen Pregnancy Program Manager and I would love to be it. They closed the app process on Sunday and I haven't heard anything after submitting a resume and cover letter, so we'll see. I also decided to join the LA Unified School District sub list - their day rate is excellent and it would be a great way to get some teaching time (and money, ha ha) without dealing with the bureaucracy of meetings, etc. I've applied to various other positions as well, like a trade show coordinator, and an infant behavioral specialist, but after my horrible experience with Dynavox, I'm trying to be a little pickier about what I take.

The job I really want is motherhood, but Bryon's trying his best to fight me off with the stick of reason. And I know he's right. But my poor body is just screaming for it. And while I am so joyful to see all my friends and family start to have babies (the amount of people that I know who have given birth or who are about to give birth this year is just too long to list), it is getting harder and harder to see it happening all around me and still have to wait. I feel like I have been waiting forever! Having a baby is something I have wanted since I was a child, so every month now feels like a struggle. We'll see how long Bryon can fight me off :).

Thanks for reading! :) I'll try to be better about posting on a regular basis.

A Chatterbox Gives Voice

I'm being considered for a sales position with this company: http://www.dynavox.com/. I suppose it would be ironic if I accepted a sales position for them - those of you who know me know I'm a complete chatty Cathy. How very befitting it might be if I gave voice to those children who didn't have one. Then again, their parents may very well end up suing me ("It wasn't supposed to work THAT well; she won't shut up!"). But in all seriousness, it looks like a really cool company and product line, but as far as the job goes, I'll see after the phone interview tomorrow, I suppose. I've learned the hard way to be skeptical about sales.


At any rate, take a moment to click on that website to see some really cool new ways that special needs people are being given to communicate more independently (or at all).