I have been offered the job that I have been waiting for.  Last Monday, I received a call from XTO, and they have offered me a position as an accounting intern, which I immediately accepted!  I am so excited, and totally blessed to be able to work in a place that is flexible with school, and gives me experience in the field that I am going into at the same time.

This has definitely been a lesson on faith for me.  When I was laid off from Metro Code, I had been preparing before hand, and kind of had an idea that when it came time to do lay offs, I would be the first to go.  It only made sense...sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn't get greased, it gets replaced.  When you stand up for yourself, and for others, people don't always listen or care, sometimes they just replace you with someone who is less vocal.  That being said, I had a feeling that I was going to be jobless, so I saved up my money.  But, after about three months of job searching, I was still jobless, and, by this point, nearly penniless as well.  I had used up nearly all of my savings, and, although I had turned in countless applications and resumes, I still had not been offered a job.  Then, one day, I was offered a job at a company I had interviewed at several times.  It wasn't the best fit for me, but it was a job nonetheless.  So, I considered it, but when it came right down to it, I just couldn't accept it.   Taking the job wasn't the right decision for me.  So, though I had no idea where my rent was going to come from, or how I was going to pay  my bills, I turned the offer down.  Thanks to some lengthy discussions with my mom and Rusty, I was able to see the silver lining in the situation, although it didn't seem like there was really any hope.  I just had to put my faith in God that the right job for me would come when the time was right, as long as I was doing my part.  Then, about a week after I turned the first job down, I received the call from XTO, and I start on the 18th!  What a lesson in faith.  Even when we have no idea how things are going to work out, as long as we trust in God, things can happen that we could never have accomplished on our own.

School is Almost out for the Summer!

I have almost made it through another semester!  I won't actually get to start my official summer vacation until the end of May, but it will still be nice to feel like I have another semester of classes under my belt.  I am taking a three week mini-mester class, Spanish in the Workplace.  I'm a little worried about how I'm going to cram an entire semester's worth of information into three weeks, but I am up to the challenge!

The job search is going well.  I have had three interviews in the last couple of weeks, and they all went pretty well, so I'm hoping that something will come of them pretty soon.  They would all be great places to work, and right now, it would be great to have a job.  It might be nice to not have to go to work everyday, but the stress of working is just replaced by the stress of not working.

That's about all the updates I have for right now!

Business School

I got into the business school!!!  When I was checking my email this morning and I was excited to find an email from the assistant dean at the Neeley School of Business welcoming me to the business school and congratulating me for being accepted as a business major at TCU.  I am so excited! There's no stopping me now.  I have about three more semesters left, all upper division courses, mostly accounting and finance, and then I will be graduating.  I am shooting for a December 2010 graduation!  What a great blessing it is to be able to go to school and get a degree from such a good school.  I know that I am truly being looked after, and that all my hard work will pay off. 

Well, it seems like I haven't been very good about posting updates yet!  I'll see if I can do better in the future.

Things are going pretty good here in Texas.  I am working extra hours at the valet to make up for the other job.  It should be a two-fold blessing to work at the valet.  I get tips, and I get to run, so it's like getting paid to work out!  Plus, I get to drive a lot of different cars, so someday in the future, when I decide it's time for a new car, I will have a lot of ones to choose from.

School is going good.  I have had so many exams this semester that I'm starting to wonder if I am ever going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Spring break is in a couple of weeks though, and I'm hoping that I can use the time to study a little and catch up, so that I can finish the semester with a bang.  My Neeley school interview was last week.  TCU requires that business majors apply to the business school, so, it's like applying twice.  You have to apply to get into TCU, and then, once you meet all of the requirements, you have to apply to the business school.  The interview results should be out after spring break, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I feel good about the interview; I think it went really well, and the people that I interviewed with were very nice.  

I purchased a dSLR camera, a Nikon d90.  I am going to be starting my own photography business on the side as well.  I am going to be doing the photos for some of my friends engagement pics, as well as some family pics, so I'm off to a pretty good start.  If anybody wants to be my guinea pig, I will take your pics for free as long as you let me add them to my portfolio.

I'm off to bed now.  I have a test tomorrow that I haven't really studied for, but I think it will help if I get some good sleep and wake up early to review the material.  

Part of Being a Grown-up

Well, the economy has finally touched me on a personal level.  I have officially been laid off for the first time in my career.  I guess I should have been a little bit more prepared than I was--I really should have seen it coming.  I mean, I do work part time, and the business that I work for is a family business.  It would only stand to reason that the non-family members get the boot first.  

It's a strange feeling, walking into work like its any normal day, and then being told that it's your last.  I'm not extremely sad to be leaving the job behind.  There will be others.  I will miss all of the fantastic people that I have had the chance to work with.  And I also worry about them.  There are so many good people there and they are my friends.

I have worked very hard for this company over the last five years.  I have worked in nearly every department, become certified in TAS, and completely revamped an entire department.  All this, and I could still write pages about the way the company has mistreated and taken advantage of the people that work for them.  But you know what...writing about the unethical decisions that the company has chosen to make will not accomplish anything.  Instead, I will continue to work hard, and I will refuse to believe that this is the way that business works.  I have been told by so many older people that I should accept that this is the way business works--that no matter where I go, I will always find that businesses are like this--treating people like they don't matter and that anything should be done to make or save a buck. I absolutely refuse to accept this, and if it takes creating my own business someday, and leading by example, then that is what I will do.  

 

School

I survived the first week of school!  I did have a few minor setbacks, but all in all, it was a pretty good week.  I have arranged my schedule so that my day starts at 10 instead of 8.  This allows me to get the sleep that I need, and still get up and work out and eat breakfast, and hopefully, still be to class on time.  That wasn't really the case this week.  I couldn't drag myself out of bed to work out, and I barely got up in time to shower and get ready and drive to school.  And then, even though I was at the school way in time to be to class, I didn't factor in the fact that I would be parking anywhere from 4-6 blocks away from campus.  So, needless to say, I was late everyday this week except for Friday.  I absolutely do not like walking in late to class.  It's embarrassing.  On Tuesday, it was exceptionally embarrassing...

  I had to park about 6 blocks away from where my classroom was, so I was about 10 minutes late.  I had decided to wear my super cute black boots, which unfortunately, have high heels and squeak a lot when I walk.  These boots were not made for walking.  So, I finally get to the building where my class is being held, and try, as quietly as possible, to slink into the back row.  My squeaky boots did not help me in this feat.  Then, someone hands me a syllabus and the teacher continues talking.  He is holding up the books that we will need for the class so that we can all see them, and I think to myself, "Man, I totally got the wrong books!"  Then, I look at the syllabus and realize that I am sitting in a U.S. History class, when I'm supposed to be sitting in a religion class.  I was in the wrong class.  So then, I had to get up (and it wasn't quietly) and leave the class.  I then had to walk into the right class, and go through the whole scenario all over again, except for I didn't get to leave.  What a day!

It's always funny to me how at the first of the semester I am always on top of things and totally ready to learn new things and meet new people, and by the end of the semester, I'm still working hard, but I can't wait until its over so that I can have a few weeks of vacation.  This semester is going to be a little more stressful because I am applying to the business school.  I am really excited and nervous at the same time.  The whole reason I am at school is to be an accountant, so I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing if I don't get into the business school.  I'm just going to trust that this is the path that Heavenly Father has in store for me, and if it doesn't work out, then I know that there will be another path that I am supposed to take.  I'm learning that a lot of times, the plans we make for ourselves don't work out the way that we imagined.  But, during those times, I think I learn the most, and when I look back, those times are often filled with memories of people and places that I will treasure forever.  I guess that old saying is true, "Life is what happens while we are making other plans."  I think my journey to TCU is just as important as the education that I will receive here.  So, this semester I will be working as hard as possible to get into the business school, and keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out.  But, I'm also going to be trying to enjoy the journey a little bit more... 

My New Blog

Welcome to my blog, Thoughts in Panoramic.  I originally started this blog as an assignment for one of my classes.  So, as you may notice, the first blog entry is pretty random.  The assignment was to write about how we could use a particular Web 2.0 feature to enhance the company that we had created to sell costumes. 

So now it's just me being me.  There are lots of blogs out there with deeply profound insight into our universe or witty and entertaining excerpts from exciting lives.  I don't profess to have profound insight or exciting adventures to report, but sometimes the day to day stuff is enough to keep me busy, and that can be entertaining in its own way.  I hope you enjoy, and feel free to come back and visit as often as you like.