Online Learning, Here I Come

I logged in to my San Jose State account this morning and noticed that I’ve been accepted to their Library and Information Science Program! It’s an online course through a state university, so it’s not exactly like being accepted to Princeton (my dad actually asked me if “the Ivies” offer any library programs), but I am happy nonetheless because this means I can start planning for January. I must’ve created some good karma when I went to the Oakland Public Library yesterday and paid off all my late fees from last summer 🙂

Travel Dreams Dashed

So even before the salary cut was official, we decided to cancel our trip to South Africa. Again, not a life-altering event (like losing your job and savings in stock market crash), but a bummer. I guess we will have to have a belated-belated-honeymoon.

The Recession Hits Home, or Work Actually

It’s finally happened.  I haven’t been laid off (not this week anyhow) but my hours have been cut in half. Effective today.

I’m not particularly bitter because a) it’s affecting everyone at my company; b) we get to keep our health benefits (though my gym membership is a no-go, but boo-hoo, right?); and c) the company promises to pay us back once it gets funding (*if* it gets funding).

I’m *also* not bitter because I’d entertained the idea of working part-time while I go to school.  The program I want to do doesn’t start until January, so that gives me a few months of just plain working part-time. Maybe I will look for tutoring or temp office jobs, like I’ve done in the past.  Or perhaps I will watch every cycle of America’s Next Top Model, read the complete works of Dickens, and go for a 5-mile run everyday.

Ok: tiny bit of bitterness here: one idea my boss suggested to me and a coworker who are both relatively low on the payscale at our company was this: “come in at 10:30, take a long lunch, leave a little early.”  Um, this might be dandy if your salary was cut from $120k to $60k.  For those of us whose rent (for a small apartment, mind you) will now be 75% of our income, it might actually behoove us to get another job.  End of rant.

All I have to say is that I am very very lucky to be married and be able to get on my husband’s health plan if my job goes completely in the crapper.  That is one of the many reasons I will vote no on prop 8.  I am also thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t lose big $$ in the stock market, and that I actually *have* some money in savings.  I know many who are losing income or their jobs right now are not nearly as lucky.

Semi-Hungover Thoughts on Networking and the Weird World of Business

It turns out that I am not getting any younger. 1 gin and tonic + 1 big glass of wine + assorted bite-size sugary things = major headache and overall crappy feeling the next day. I was out representing my company at a cool music and technology panel at a speakeasy-type-bar. My company was one of the sponsors. Apparently you are supposed to network like hell at these dealies, so I put on my best business skirt and game face, filled my pockets with business cards, downed a cocktail and started talking to people.

As you might be able to guess from my personality type, this is SO not my comfort area. Sometimes the mood hits and I WANT to talk to strangers, but mostly it takes a little rallying, i.e. drinking my cocktail in a bathroom stall while giving myself a pep talk. Mostly I spend my time at these sorts of things asking myself, ‘how the hell do these people tick?’ With each person I talked to, after I’d extolled the virtues of my company, I went into interrogation mode. One guy told me he has 13,000 contacts in his Blackberry. He has a group of 800 ‘close’ friends that he calls or emails on their birthdays. I drilled him. How much time does it take to manage all those relationships? Does he remember details about everyone? Since he’s such an extraverted connector, is he also good at more typically introvtered things like writing and research? The answers were sickening. He is great at everything, apparently. Or perhaps this was just part of a wooing effort, as I noticed that our conversation waned considerably after he looked at my left hand and asked me if I had a special fella.

I did my duty distributing schwag, and then hit a wall. I didn’t want to talk to any more people or get hit on again (unless it was in a clever way… I’m always game for hilarious pick up lines). When I checked my inbox this morning, there was a handful of Facebook and LinkedIn requests. Ugh.  Social management. Not my forte.

But back to my headache. Do you drink at work events, even if they are mid-week? Also, are you older than 22? I really think the drinking age should be changed to 15 so that the people whose lithe young bods can process alcohol can actually enjoy this super power while it lasts.

On that note:

Also:
                                                                  

One Decision Made

I did it!  I actually completed an application for graduate school.  Now I can (almost) join the ranks of my friends, ALL of whom seem to be back in school at this point studying law, education, English, psychology, business, nursing… the list goes on.  As a matter of fact, I can only think of one close friend who is not currently in school.  When I told her my plans, she was happy for me but immediately said she was jealous. HA!  I certainly know how that works.  I’ve spent the last two years wondering how my friends ever decided on anything, and wishing I had their focus and resolve.  I’ve taken a class in interior design, and started applications for grad programs in English, urban planning, and education, and never finished them.  I’ve had sudden revelations and then dismissed them because of detracting information.

If all goes well, I’ll be taking between one and three classes this spring, depending on my employment status.  You see, I work at a startup, and that’s a dicey place to be in a time like this.  But now if I get laid off (and I hope I don’t, because it’s a great company with awesome people and I wish it HUGE success) I will have an alternate plan.  I can try to find a part-time job and take classes full-time.  I can get on my husband’s health insurance plan (one of the first tangible assets of being married!) and we can borrow a bit from ourselves to invest in my education.

Waawooweeewooo!!!! I haven’t felt this good about my career situation in a long, long time.  I’m fully accepting the possibilty that I’ll take a few classes and decide it isn’t for me.  Even so, each experience takes me closer to the final goal (or the next goal, I should say).  It’s like dating – the more you do it, the more you know what you want 😉

Personality Typing

Not sure who that ISFJ is in the bottom left.

The Jungian Myers-Briggs personality test is given a lot of credence by career professionals.  The coach I’m seeing asked me to take it.  Like a lot of people, I’ve had different results over the years.  When I was just out of college, I scored as an INFP, or ‘The Idealist.’  How fitting — the cruel realities of the world hadn’t hit me yet.  This type is actually similar to Barack Obama’s, which is ENFP, or ‘The Inspirer’.  When I took the test last year I was an ISTJ, or ‘The Duty Fulfiller.’  I took it a few different times here in the last few days, and scored ISFJ, i.e. ‘The Nurturer’ each time.  I took it once here and once here and both times was an ISTJ (it seems I’m on the border between Thinking and Feeling — it’s almost poetic).

It’s interesting to see how my personality has changed from a type that is known for shunning facts and analysis to one that shuns theory and fancy.  This depresses me a little bit.  Has the working world hardened me?  Yes, it’s true, I like organization and value predictability and routine.  I like to see the fruits of my labor.  I find it much easier to grasp details than the big picture.  Perhaps I’ve even become more conventional, as most ISFJ’s and ISTJ’s are.

Is this why I’m considering library science as opposed to a master’s degree in English?  I really like the idea of a job with concrete responsibilities — not broad, unclear objectives.  As much as I love reading fiction and engaging with subtext in literature and in life, I suppose I’ve become a lot more of a literal person. Facts impress me more than emotions.  Perhaps this is why, for instance, I can’t really get on the Obama-train (i.e. the enthusiasm that has swept the nation) although I *do* like him and will most definitely vote for him.

What do you think about personality tests: are they a source of penetrating insight, or a bunch of narcissistic hooey?

Sexy Librarian Jokes Aside

I’m thinking of applying to a master’s program in library science. Here are some pros:

• Seems to fit my personality traits and skills (I like organization, books, technology, and helping people)
• The program is online and is not cripplingly expensive (four digits a year, not five).  Also, I have like $4,700 from my AmeriCorps VISTA Ed award waiting to be spent 🙂
• There seems to be a wealth of interesting and different library jobs out there – private, non-profit, government, academic, etc.
• If you get into administration/management you can apparently make very good money
• Entry level jobs earn respectable money (i.e. about as much as I make now)
• The program doesn’t require GRE scores or letters of recommendation – (I can’t express in words how awesome this is)
• I could dress like this:

Hot

Here are some cons:

• Librarianism (librarianship?) is not a hugely fast-growing field.  All of those baby boomer librarians may decide to hang on to their jobs given the current economic state.
• An online course means A LOT MORE time at my computer – e.g. communicating with professors, students, etc. online.  AND the program apparently uses Second Life as some kind of means of program-wide social networking, which freaks me out.
• I’m really not sure how I would support myself working only part time or not at all.   I rarely feel like I have enough money while working full time.  Rent and food and gas are so damned expensive –  I have a hard time picturing how all of this would work.
• I had a stoner housemate in college who ended up getting a master’s in library science.  She once let her brother sleep in my bed while I was out of town 😦

Right now I’m thinking I need to grab on to this spark of *wanting* to do something.  I’ve had these sparks before, but I’ve always let them die out.  Perhaps the best thing to do (considering the EPIC FAIL that is the economy right now) is to apply for the Spring semester, register for two classes, and keep working full time. I think I can do it.  We’ll see.

Apparently, I’m a Control Freak

I met this week with the career coach I alluded to earlier. I had put this off for a lot of reasons, the most obvious being the cost (which is a pretty average hourly rate for any one-on-one consultation with a professional, but to me that’s $ that could be spent on groceries, rent, or the occasional night out).

I liked him and I think it went well. One of the things we did was establish a list of my values through a series of what-if questions meant to reveal the things I hold dear. He went through his notes last night and sent me a list. Here are some highlights:

• Learning
• Teaching
• Balance
• Creative control
• Beauty
• Art
• Mastery
• Culture
• Travel/adventure/exploring

The value of ‘control’ kept coming up over and over. My favorite job ever was teaching in a summer program for middle schoolers, where I was able to design my own humanities curriculum and teach it without close supervision. I also organized a circus arts program in the afternoons and directed a performance for families and fellow students each of the three summers I worked there.

There is something wonderful about having creative license and oversight in your job, and I realize not all teachers are allowed this. However, even running one’s own classroom is a certain type of freedom that is rare in the corporate world. I’ve noticed at my job that the less responsibility I’m given, the less sure I feel of myself. The more responsibility I have (as long as it’s not right up against the watchful eye of a boss) the more confident I feel.

As I think about what career(s) I want to pursue in the long term, running my own show (whether that’s being a teacher, librarian, researcher, business owner, etc.) is important to me.  As scary as it may be, I want to make my own decisions and suffer the consequences.  Granted, I want to do this in a relatively secure job environment, if possible.  I guess you could say that I want to take risks but have them turn out well 🙂 .

How did you get into your current career?  Does your career embody your values?  Do you have any advice for me?

Being Coached, Eating Elk, and Discovering a Pop Obsession

I came to the conclusion, after a few solid weeks of feeling bleak about the world, my skills (or lack thereof), and my day-to-day life, that it was time to consult a professional about my career crisis. I set up a noon appointment for an initial phone consultation with a career coach and found a quiet place at work to talk – i.e. I parked my car in the parking garage across the street.

I was impressed with the guy’s demeanor, and the fact that he had recently gone through a similar phase of not being happy at a job and finding a way out. For some people, getting advice from someone in their immediate age group might not seem appealing, but I feel like I can get in to this. He says his methodology involves determining strengths, values, and personality traits and finding careers that will match. I strongly believe that my personality (ISTJ last time I checked) plays a large role in how I experience the work world, so I’m eager to see how this all turns out. Once I formally decide to work with the coach, I will write more about it.

In other news, my husband made elk burgers last night. His dad is very much into bow hunting elk and deer – in fact in he grew up eating mostly meat his dad had hunted – and on his visit this month back home, my husband brought back a freezer’s worth of last winter’s bounty. I consider myself 85% vegetarian (the years I spent being vegetarian as a child and vegan as a young adult have left their mark on my eating preferences forever) but I’m open to the idea of wild meat (none of the evils of factory farming to atone for, right?) so I suggested we try some. Although drier than I imagine a beef hamburger to be, I found them surprisingly palatable and non-gamy. The heirloom tomatoes, aioli, cheese and home fries that accompanied the elk meat didn’t hurt either – it was a gourmet version of burgers and fries to be sure.

On a final unrelated note, I was surprised and hugely amused to find out on Saturday night that my mother (whom I have never known to like any popular music, outside of the Beatles and my brother’s band) has a bit of a secret obsession with this guy:

I think I get it. He’s from Utah (as is my mom), is innocent and cute, and has a nice voice to boot. I don’t watch American Idol but I understand the appeal. It’s all about the making of a star, and he seems to have that je-ne-sais-quoi that goes beyond looking and sounding nice. As an added bonus he’s got a very positive, not-yet-jaded vibe (I suppose that comes with being seventeen). So much so that a 50-something who doesn’t normally like anything more popular than Steve Reich can be found rocking out to his single while cleaning the kitchen. I personally think it’s adorable.