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Employed

Great news! I'm going back to full time employment next week. I've accepted a job with a software company to be a business consultant. In this new job I'll be helping customers install, configure, and customize the software. I'll be helping them create the best business processes for using the software. I'll be writing a lot of documentation and solving problems. But before all that happens, I have a lot to relearn.

This job is at a company I worked for three years ago so I know the software and the customers. But things change in three years and memory fades. So I know the coming months will be challenging as I learn / relearn a lot of information. I'm really looking forward to the process!

I'm also really looking forward to going back to this company. Many of the moments in my career that I am most proud happened at this company. Plus, I'll be working with many people that I already know. It will be like a homecoming. I'm really looking forward to my first day!

Chris and I are very thankful that I've been able to find full-time work so quickly. It's only been three months since I found I was unemployed. Even more lucky for us that I was able to work as an independent contractor during much of that time. I worked with a fantastic team who are doing some really amazing things on the web.

The coming weeks and months will be full of change for us. I'll be getting settled into a new job and working through all the challenges of learning as fast as possible in order to be productive as soon as possible. I'll be going from a very laid back part-time schedule back to a normal full-time schedule. I'm moving from small, independently owned businesses to a large, publicly traded corporation. I'll go from wearing jeans and t-shirts at work to wearing business dress.

The biggest change will be the significant amount of travel my new job requires. I will be consulting with customers at their locations all over the US. I will be traveling Monday through Thursday most weeks. Chris and I know that adjusting to the schedule will be hard. Neither of us like the idea of being apart three nights a week, but we're confident this job is best for both of us. Chris can continue to focus on school full-time for the next year and a half until his degree is complete.

Right now I'm feeling excitement about the new job and going back to a great company. I'm feeling very thankful that I have a strong network of friends and coworkers who have helped me through the job changes. Considering the current economy and the high unemployment rates, I'm feeling very lucky to have full time employment. Finally, I'm looking forward to the adventures and growth that lie ahead.

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Love & Respect

Tonight while cruising on Facebook I ran across a guy I dated when I was much younger. He's married and has a billion kids. I was curious about his wife so I looked at her profile. I almost choked on my dinner when I read her "About me" which started with...

I have an terrific husband who loves me and I respect him...

She went on to share her thoughts on God, of course. All I could think was that she doesn't love her husband, she respects him. Not exactly in line with my personal values. But I've changed quite a bit from when I was younger.

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Using Social Media

Dear Social Media Managers,

My attention span on the Internet is very short. When you want me to see content you've created, please send me DIRECTLY to the content. Don't route me anywhere else. Send me directly to your content. After all, isn't that why you published it?

Be thoughtful about your audience's experience.

Case in Point
Today, Cooking Light on Twitter posted about recipes for the slow cooker. I love cooking in the crock pot because it is so easy. So I was excited to see the recipes. Unfortunately the link on Twitter sent me to Facebook where I had to click on another link which finally directed me to the CookingLight.com. There was nothing on the Facebook page that added any value.

Naturally, I was annoyed at the detour. But more important, Cooking Light isn't getting anything by doing it this way. Their ultimate goal of using Twitter or Facebook should be getting me to their site. Their site holds the value - I find their content, I can add comments. see the ads they're making money from, and most importantly sign up for a magazine subscription.*

*Disclosure: I currently have a subscription to Cooking Light magazine thanks to my good friend, Celeste. I love the magazine and often cook the recipes! I don't mean to pick on Cooking Light because I think their content is great. I've been seeing things like this too often and felt like I should point it out.

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Independent Contractor

Good news on the job front! I'm now working part-time at Aricosa, a web-development company founded by Jason Ayers. Jason and I have been friends for a few years but this if the first time to work together. It's a wonderful opportunity. His company is small and just getting started but it has great promise. Jason has put together a really fun team and I'm thrilled to be working with them.

I'm still looking for full-time work so if you know of any project management / customer-facing roles, please let me know. I'd also like to find an additional part-time contract position to help make ends meet.

I recently had a conversation with Kim who believes this country is moving towards more independent contracting. She believes someday we will all be contractors and work will be done in project teams that change relatively frequently. I agree as I've seen more and more of this happening in the web / software industry. If our government representatives reform health insurance, I'm sure more people will have even more freedom to become independent contractors. Time will tell.

Right now I'm extremely thankful to have work and especially to be working on some cool projects with friends. The future looks very bright!

Unemployed

On Friday, October 30, 2009, I lost my job. My employer, OpenRain, was acquired by another web development company in the Phoenix area, redPear. Read the press release about the acquisition. Unfortunately I wasn't included in the acquisition.

This is the first time I've ever been laid off. As one would expect, I'm going through a ton of different emotions - sadness, anger, fear. As many of you know, my husband, Chris, is in school full time so we're completely reliant on my income. Now that I don't have any income, it's very, very scary. I'm also sad because I loved everyone at OpenRain. I was only there 5 months, but all the people there are awesome. I'll be sad that I don't get to work every day with them.

Chris' parents were visiting Phoenix this weekend so they heard the news very early on. (Though I waited to tell them until I could say it without crying...that took about 24 hours.) It was so encouraging to have them here. They gave us great advice about planning our next steps and setting future goals. My family has been really supportive as well. I love that both of our parents have offered to help in any way they can, because "that's what families are for."

Though this is a big and unplanned change in my life, I'm confident it's happening for a reason. I'm positive that there's something better out there for me. That I'm supposed to learn something through this. That I needed this in my life (and just didn't know it). Things will be OK.

What's next?
Everyone is asking me what I'm going to do next. On Monday, I stayed in bed until noon just because I could. (I spent the time reading The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler. It was fabulous & exactly what I needed at that very moment. I'd highly recommend the book!) I hung out with friends in the afternoon and did a long bike ride with the ladies in the evening. Today (Tuesday), I've been hanging out with friends and running errands with Chris. Tonight I'm going to clean the house. Exciting, right?

Later this week I'm going to drive to Colorado to visit my best friend, Summer. I figure I might as well take advantage of all this free time. I've already applied for unemployment insurance. I'm in the process of updating my resume. I've just begun telling my network of my new employment status. Jobs come through people you know so I figure I'll give the network some time to work.

I'm also going to spend some time thinking about what I really want in the next job. Because there's nothing like getting let go to make you think about what you'd really like to do with your life.

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My 1999 Honda Civic

My car is 10 years old. It's got 210,000 (two hundred and ten THOUSAND) miles on it. And it broke on Monday.

The story of the breakdown is dramatic and ugly. It's not a night Chris and I want to remember. I was stranded across town in my car for 7 hours until Chris rescued me at 3:30am. Cell phones & schedules failed us that night.

But most importantly my car failed us.

The little red Honda Civic has been so, so faithful for the past 10 years. It was the first major purchase I made after I graduated from college. It got me from my little apartment in Conroe, Texas to my first professional job in The Woodlands. I remember the night it hailed and the car got its first dents. It was with me for the next 5 years while I lived in Arlington, Texas. It reliably took me all over the metroplex and all over Texas (on more than a few trips to Austin). Then it took me to Phoenix, Arizona. It was that first year in Phoenix that in a parking lot, I backed into a truck that was also backing up. I was so sad about the crack in the bumper but ultimately decided not to fix a blemish on a 7 year old car. In my first year in here, I often dreamt about buying a fancy new car, but then I went to India. So I drove this one for another 3 years. This whole time, it's been so dependable despite the intense summer heat here.

But this latest breakdown (on top of the one last month) is making me think that it's time to say goodbye to this little car. No one wants to pour money into something that's just going to break again. Chris and I weren't planning on buying a replacement until he graduated from college in 2 years, but I'm not sure we can (or want to) keep the Civic hobbling along until then.

One of my life dreams is being a one car family. Going car light. Could we do it?

The more I think about it, the more I think this is the time to try. It seems like it won't be that big of a stretch for us. Chris and I are already carpooling some and really enjoy the time together. The weather in Phoenix is turning cooler and it's the perfect time of year to be outside (and will be for the next 7 months). So why not?

We're throwing around the idea of a 4 week trial run to see if we can handle life with only one car. (Specifically life with a Mini Cooper as the only car.) We know it will mean we both will be inconvenienced far more than we are now. But hopefully there's a bright side which is we'll be on our bikes more, getting more exercise, enjoying the city more, and saving money. I know this weekend we'll be talking about this a lot and going through all the logistics. I'm suspect we'll give the one-car life a try. Updates to come.

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Weekend Update

Chris' work schedule changed so he's going to have every other weekend off. This past weekend, he didn't work at all. It was so great to have him at home the entire weekend.

Friday night we went to artist Elly Gale's opening reception at Practical Art in Phoenix. The paintings are beautiful and Elly is a warm, bubbly person. There were lots of people there who obviously think the world of her.

At the reception, I ran into Joseph Perez, who I met at Bike to Work Day 2009. Turns out Joseph's wife is good friends with Chris' boss, so she and Chris had met before. However it was the first time for Chris to meet Joseph and my first time to meet his wife. It's always fun to have social circles come together. I learned that Joseph recently opened the Bike Cellar in Tempe, Arizona. The Bike Cellar is a bicycle commuter facility, providing secure bike parking, bike shop, and the added convenience of restrooms, shower, lockers and dressing areas.

Ryan and Kim joined us at Practical Art so we all had dinner afterwards. We walked a couple blocks up Central to Aiello's. It's an Italian restaurant that I've been meaning to try for quite some time. I was extremely impressed by the food and staff! We walked in the door at 9pm and I fully expected service to be lacking at that hour. Instead, we had the best waitress - she was so helpful and fun! The food did not disappoint either. I ate the sea bass which was lovely, but I fell in love with Ryan's raviolis - caramelized onions, prosciutto, and ricotta cheese with a vodka cream sauce. It was a great experience and so fun to hang out with Ryan and Kim.

On Saturday, it was a fairly lazy day around the house. Chris and I are talking about backyard landscaping so we spent a lot of time with library books. In the afternoon I helped my friend, Steve, with some web stuff. As an added benefit, Steve and his wife gave some great recommendations for landscaping ideas then sent me off with fresh basil and limes from their garden.

Saturday night we had dinner at Alex and Michelle's house. Really enjoyed spending time with Michelle & Alex's son, Axel, who is 11 months old. He was all smiles and sweetness. He even reached out to ask me to hold him. The weather was gorgeous so we sat outside. Alex showed us his garden and cooked veggies from it! This confirms that the backyard changes will definitely include a small garden. I'm thinking some herbs, onions, and peppers should be plenty to start with.

Sunday morning we worked on cleaning up the yard. Wayne dropped by for a quick visit and to see the bike Chris is building for him. Much of the afternoon was relaxing. In the evening Chris went on a bike ride with David. We met up later for Roller Wars at Boulders. All in all, a great weekend.

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Carpooling

Chris started back to full time school a couple weeks ago. He's now a junior and fully immersed in his major - Housing and Community Development. I love hearing his excitement for what he's studying and the friendships he's building with others in his major. School is a really good thing.

With this new schedule, Chris and I are working out a way to carpool as many days a week as possible. I'm also trying to ride my bike more and it's best done by including it in my commute. Yesterday we drove to Tempe then hopped on bikes. Chris rode to school and I rode to work. My ride was about 9 miles and took around 45 minutes. After work, I rode to a friend's house for dinner and Chris picked me up after he got out of class.

We both really enjoy the time spent together in the car rather than driving separately. We think we'll be able to carpool three days a week, which makes me very happy.

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Riding Bikes

Now that it's cooling down (a little bit), I've gotten back on my bike. Last week I rode twice with friends and this week once. Though last night's ride was short. A thunderstorm was rolling in when we first started out. The rain was light but we opted to hit up a bar closer than the original destination. Within minutes of arriving, there was a downpour of heavy rain. I'm glad we made the decision to shorten the ride. Plus, we had a fabulous time hanging out with Danielle, Clint, & Gordon and getting to know them better. Once the rain stopped we had a short ride back to the car dodging puddles the whole way. Chris drove home and I fell asleep on the way.

Tonight we're going to ride bikes in downtown for the 1st Friday artwalk. Hope the humidity from last night's rain goes away by tonight.

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