December 04, 2007
Why is Room Service so Nasty?
Just curious - why is the overpriced food (complete with 18% gratuity) so abhorrent? I was starving, so I ordered a margherita pizza, assuming there's really no way to screw up cheese pizza.
Alas, I was wrong.
Perhaps I was spoiled by my sojourn in Chicago, but come on - why add tomatoes to your pizza if they're not fresh? Why bake it with so much cheese that the dough doesn't have time to cook? It's so disappointing.
I'm finally starting to get tired and it's 12:30 here. Good thing I don't have an AM meeting tomorrow. Hope I catch onto Eastern time soon...
Posted by cj at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2007
Sell Out and Doing Good...
People in my political sphere are generally surprised to learn that I enjoy my paid work. I really do, and it surprised me when I realized that. After all, I create junk mail. It's not a field I ever imagined I'd find interest in.
Here's the thing - I've had nonprofit and for profit jobs in the past. None of them allowed me to take more responsibility in a short amount of time. With labor organizing, my ideas about creating a union differed from the model perpetuated by my employer. With my other jobs, I either lacked the academic credentials for more interesting work (see public health consulting) or did not fit into the dominant culture (see magazine ad sales).
I've been involved in the national management of a peace organization long enough to know that my passion is in nonprofit management & writing. But despite my decade trying to find paid work worthy of my intelligence in the nonprofit realm, it took a for profit direct marketing agency to recognize my worth and give me the opportunity to thrive.
I wonder sometimes if I will be as interested in this work in 10 years as I am after 1 year. Will filthy lucre entice me as much when I've paid off my debt? Probably - after all, I'm anxiously awaiting the day I can afford a new car and my own flat.
Most people have this debate with themselves during college. Many classmates told me they had to make money right out of the gate, to ensure the happiness of their future children, and that once they were financially secure they would pay attention to the public welfare issues they were passionate about. I mocked them as sell outs, and righteously chose the path of future foreign service officer (aka career diplomat).
Life is not as black and white as I once saw it. I'm happy to be in LA, being near my family and sharing the ups and downs of life with them. And really, getting control of my metabolism and finding a social life are a helluva lot more important to me than having a job other people find saintly. After all, I spend a helluva lot of time doing peace work and I'm proud to be a life member active on the local, national, and international level of WILPF. In the end, selling out is as empty a term as doing good.
Posted by cj at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Tales from My Office Cubicle
I just returned to work, after two weeks off recuperating from surgery. At first, I was angry at what happened to me at lunch - I thought someone was out to get me. Then I realized I was being paranoid, and I wrote an email about the incident. Who'd a thunk that a few lines of wittiness would make me Ms. Popular with the work crowd?
Here's my email:
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:32 PM
To: status
Subject: Thank you for eating my lunch
Thank you to whomever opened my leftover container of chicken and pasta and ate the chicken. Though my name could not have fallen off the container since it was written in permanent ink on the cover, I appreciate your concern for my protein intake.
In the future, kindly allow me to make my own gastric decisions.
Sincerely,
C.J.
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in related office news, I somehow forgot about the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker advert series. Below is a montage...not the best you can find on YouTube, but it includes a relevant scene (at the end)...
Posted by cj at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2005
Emerging from Sickness, Wondering About Work
I spent most of the last week sick with a bacterial throat infection. Mi chavo was amazing - he even lied and said my breath didn't smell while nursing me back to health. (One small tid bit from last week: my breath reeked so badly it made me nauseous and caused me to stop eating.)
So, I've been relatively healthy since Friday. Which brings me back to wondering about my future career. I had a convo at work with a woman who said she would only hire people for my job who want to make administrative assisting a career. It makes sense, but also made me wonder how I've thrived in the position - I never had dreams of being a secretary growing up. Granted, unemployment will make you either never able to hold onto a job or a loyal, helpful employee. Lucky for me, it helped me become a good employee. But what am I striving to do with my life? A job in corporate America or nonprofit America?
I read this article in today's NYT, about a pair of Asian sisters who wrote a book on how to create over-achievers the Asian way, and it actually made me feel bad. Ridiculous how tiny things can set me off, but I did go to school with many over-achievers of all ethnicities. And I always thought of myself as one of them, until things changed in college. I've been a bit directionless every since then. I know this is just a bunch of garbled rambling, but hopefully, one day soon, I'll know what I want to be when I grow up. Either that or I'll just be comfortable with my decisions for the next few years.
Posted by cj at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2005
At One Point it Sounded Ridiculous, But Maybe...
So it sounded like a far fetched dream for me to want to be a professional blogger. After all, only a few people work full time blogging and 90% of them are men, right? Well, they might all still be men, but when CBS News starts a regular blog, you know the floodgates have opened.
I know a lot of people who graduated with me in 2000 and went onto become "content providers" for internet sites with tons of startup cash and weak business plans. I don't plan to get caught in another internet bubble, but I honestly believe that my voice is worth money. Heck, I'd be willing to just write a slice of life blog so that my more deviant political views wouldn't be associated with a major corporation.
CBS official word: the blog will be up by late summer. (Unclear why it takes so long for them to blog, but I'm sure it has something to do with the suits with JDs.)
Posted by cj at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2005
Making a Living vs. Making a Life
It appears that I am facing a crossroads in my life. I fell into the field of print advertising via a temp agency in Chicago. Now I'm looking to get promoted and move back home. Problem is, there are many, many more advertising opportunities in Chicago and NYC than there are in L.A., particularly of the print variety. So why not stay here or move to NYC? Well, mi chavo is planning on moving to L.A. to pursue a career in "the biz" (aka the film industry). So, first it's a choice between more career opportunities and living in the same city as the most important person in my life.
Many people think I should put my career's advancement ahead of romantic ideals. That's a very p.c. way of looking at my dilemma. Sure, I want to pursue my career with my heart and soul. And sure, I whole-heartedly believe in the medium, which would add to my ability to sell ad space in it. But I have a feeling if I moved with my Big Corporate Employer to NYC, I'd feel terrible about not trying to get a position on the Editorial side of the divide. My employer publishes a couple of magazines I would *love* to work for as a writer.
But who am I? An unknown blogger who barely gets anyone besides her boyfriend to read her ramblings. It's not like I have clips - or anything else to get me anything better than another glorified secretary position if I tried to make the switch to the Edit side.
Which brings us back to the business side. And am I really a good saleswoman? Can I handle the sales pitches - and the constant pressure to make / exceed last year's numbers? Assuming I can do the job, do I want to?
On the couple front - I really, really, really enjoy my time with my boyfriend. Yeah, our relationship is strong enough to handle time apart, but I'm not sure I am. I mean, sure I can live alone and be dependent only on myself. But I enjoy having mi chavo around when I wake up from a nightmare. I like cuddling with him as we fall asleep. I like making Sunday breakfast and watching the Sunday talk shows with him. I don't want to give any of that up. As much as I believe in the business of print media, I believe in my relationship more. I believe I'm a better person being with mi chavo. I'm not convinced that selling ad pages makes me a better person. Again, I'm not knocking the profession - I'm just not as passionate about it as I am about my relationship.
So I guess that one way or another, I'm going to find a job in L.A. and move back there. Unless my mind forms arguments tomorrow that convince me otherwise.
Posted by cj at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
Career Tips
These tips are from Marty Nemko at Bankrate.com:
1. Act like a star at work.
2. Talk more crisply, listen more intently.
3. Follow the World's Shortest Management Course. Create a vision, inspire your supervisees to achieve that vision, don't micromanage, fire the bad quickly and take the time to hire great employees.
4. Get your job description changed to suit your strengths.
5. Request a special project that you'd find fun, would impress your boss and the results of which would be visible to many employees.
6. Forgo State U for You U. (Create your own mentor-based system of learning new skills rather than wasting time and money getting another degree.)
7. Job seekers, use the one-week job search.
8. Procrastinator, overcome that career killer with this three-step method: (a)Be aware of the moment of truth (b)Start with one-second tasks and (c)Only deal with stumbling blocks for one minute.
9. Remember the serenity prayer
10. Remember Nemko's father's story. (Holocaust survivor who refuses to give another minute to the Nazis; personal motto is "Never look back; always look forward.")
Posted by cj at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)