Dadgum

Last week I went to Austin for the annual conference attended by the other 35 people across the country who have the same job as me. Each year the conference is in a different location. Over the past three years I got to go to Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Austin. The first year I was so thrilled to hear about other people having the same struggles and successes in their jobs that I didn't think about much else. I made a couple friends and felt this great sense of camaraderie and went back to work newly energized.

The second year, I was really excited to see the friends I had made the previous year. I went sightseeing in D.C. and learned from my peers and went home.

This year, as I have one foot out of my job and possibly out of the credit union movement, I realized a few other things. First of all, I realized how much I like my job and the movement as a whole, how amazing my peers are and how smart they are.

I also realized how incredibly cool it is to gather people from every state in the country (or at least about 30 of the 50 states). When else can I hang out with a friend from South Carolina who uses the word "dadgum" in conversation and opens doors for women, a friend from Oregon who shares nearly all of my liberal sensibilities and has an awesome sense of style, a friend from Minnesota who has a cute Midwestern accent and drinks beer like nobody else I know, a friend from Florida who wears higher heels than I've ever seen and makes me laugh without fail, a friend from Missouri who had a job interview in a limousine with a crazy classmate...and the list goes on. I would probably not be friends with more than one or two of these people if we didn't have our jobs in common, and yet, I feel so enriched to have been able to spend a week for the past three summers with them. Hopefully this is adequately cheesy and sentimental??

But I am serious, sometimes it is our differences that bring us together and since we all tend to be surrounded by people at least slightly similar to ourselves, I really love having the opportunity to notice and appreciate those differences in others.

The Quest For Employment

I continue to look for a job. So far I've had four phone interviews, one rejection and one reference check (that I know of). I have sent out at least 25 resumes and applied for at least 15 positions. I've also printed at least 80 job listings and stacked them up by my computer at home -- you know, just so I can make myself feel completely overwhelmed...

In any case, there is one really exciting possible job and, for the moment, I'm putting nearly all my eggs in one basket and hoping this one works out. I know, I am slightly insane. Can't say too much about it because I'd hate to jinx it...

Please send good job vibes, D.C. job listings and monetary donations my way. I am accepting all three.

Concert Fiend

In the next three weeks, I will be going to three live concerts. This week it's Coldplay (I got free tickets, parking passes and VIP passes from a printer my office does business with.) The next two weeks I'm seeing Dave Matthews. That's right, I am in the Dave Matthews Band fan club and have been since it started in 1999. I am not ashamed. I'm proud. However, this will be the first time I've crammed two Dave Matthews Band concerts within two weeks. I suppose it's a test of my fandom...either I will love it, or I will be sick of it. We'll see.

In Conclusion

I just saw the WORST commercial I've seen recently. It is the one for Wendy's about the ranch tooth. Who gets paid to produce stuff like that? Ohdeargodineedtogopokemyeyesout.