The new job

Now that I have had 2 days on the job, I suppose I should give a bit of an update.

As I've probably mentioned already, I am working for Merrill Corporation in St. Paul as an Associate Training Specialist. I sit in a "pod", as I like to call it, with 4 workstations total. I share my pod with 2 other St. Paul trainers, and for the week, one London trainer. The whole place has a really laid back atmosphere, and I think I'm totally going to thrive in the environment. My schedule can be flexible if needed, but for now, I need to be there when the other trainers are there so I can absorb as much knowledge as possible.

While I'm learning a lot from the other trainers, my job is a bit unique. I'm the first trainer ever to be assigned to the Production department, meaning that the people I will eventually work with the most will have a slightly different set of tools than the rest of the organization, and I will be working to create materials that fit their needs. It is definitely going to be fun learning what they do and creating training to fit the job. It seems I will have a lot of autonomy and room for creativity while working with other people who also like to be creative while solving problems and helping other people to learn the software and processes. In my opinion, this is a perfect fit for me at this point in my career.

Anyway, that's probably enough for now. Not much else is going on other than running errands at night and watching a bunch of season finales. It will be nice not to have to worry about fitting in all of my regular TV watching while starting this job. I'm definitely going to have some fun this summer... and hopefully I will be able to get back into the regular habit of scrapbooking...

Rambling

So here I am at scrapbooking night... For some reason, I'm not feeling as happy today. I wonder if I'm stressed about having to start a new job on Monday. Maybe I'm just bummed about still having a long list of things to do that I don't really have enough time to get done.

I've decided I want to try harder at eating good food, taking care of myself, using time wisely,etc. I wish that I was one of those people who could just decide they wanted to do something and then do it. Too bad-I'm not. I guess if I had one wish,that would be it. I would definitely want the ability to use willpower to control my actions. You'd think that I already had this ability,but apparently not. I'm still not living life I'd like to.

I feel like I'm just rambling right now, so I hope I'm making sense. And now I can't think of anything else to say... So,anywho...

Statewide smoking ban

Big news of the day - Pawlenty signed a statewide smoking ban that includes restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, etc. MN is the 20th (I think) state to do so. The question is always about freedom. Is the gov't stepping on our freedom, are they crossing the line?

My answer to this is that I'm finally glad to have the freedom to go to any restaurant that I want and not have to get asthma attacks, headaches, feelings of nausea, etc. That's my freedom, and I'm glad that it is being protected. Matt is glad about the ban, but he thinks the line was crossed. He's concerned for the business owners whose businesses might have to close due to lack of customers caused by the smoking ban. Of course, this is the position that one of his favorite radio talk show hosts takes, but I'm not saying that he's just following that guy's opinion.

I'm pretty passionate about ridding the world of tobacco, so this is obviously a topic that Matt and I really shouldn't discuss. I wonder what the rest of the people in this state think...

Vacation... finally!

So this is a good week. I finished my first graduate level class on Monday. My final presentation went well. We got 24/25, so that puts me at about a 96% in the class - not too shabby. Also, I'm starting my job on Monday, so that means I have the rest of this week to get some new clothes and close out some of my remaining personal tasks. Of course I'm still keeping busy, so it's not likely that I'll get that much done. I do hope to get my house cleaned, though. Once again, it's gotten way too out of control, especially with regards to cat hair. It is nice, though, to just have "home stuff" to do this week. The only thing better would be if I could stop time like Hiro Nakamura. Then I could really get some things done...