How to not introduce yourself at your first team meeting…

Apparently, once a month at the foundation where I work in Austin, the whole 85-person team gets together for a team meeting to touch base about organizational goals, news and introductions. I am not too good on the fly, and was still feeling insecure about the fact that my boss told me I have to be labeled a volunteer and not a contract person, because of some all day budget meeting she was in the previous bad. So basically – no one is supposed to know I get paid.

So the drill is - I just work there 40 hours a week for free – as far as the 83 other people who are not my boss, or my boss’ boss know. It’s not what I interviewed for, and as she sprung this on me – she assured me it would get straightened out in a few weeks. But “that was then and this is now” (yes – through back reference to S.E. Hinton’s classic teenage novel) and basically I am trying to pick my battles here. Sometimes it is hard enough to slow my boss down to extract ALL the information I need for her requests without a sneer. I will weigh the benefits of nagging her about my public title as this role unfolds.
So – I am startled at my need to introduce myself, and I stumble and am insecure. Instead of taking the time to tell these professionals who can further my career opportunities anything interesting like:
• I am happy to help out in the press room, because I worked in the press office at the Smithsonian and enjoyed it
• I was a Central Region Operations manager for AT&T and am strategic
• I owned my own business for four years

I just plow through the standard bullshit the intern before said about where she was from and that she was new to Austin. Mine introduction went like this, “Hi, my name is Julie and I just relocated from Chicago and will be helping Rae and Katherine in the Communications department (thinking “sit down and let it be over”)

I need to take these situations and PUT ME FIRST! To start thinking about how talented I am and how lucky these people are to know me. I am not trying to oversell myself, just catch up. Now they will have to learn the slow and hard way – by me telling them one person at a time. And I will do it.

So basically – I need to be more strategic about the brand that is ME! First mistake made. Whew! Glad I don’t need to worry about when that will happen anymore.

And I have a job, and some stability and a pay check! So that is awesome. Yeah. Me.

The Heat is ON!

So here is Baxter chilling on my bed, after a walk that was cut short due to fatigue. Of course he is adorable and smiling, but his mouth is open because he is a panting monster on the verge of overheating after our 5 block walk to Thunderbird Café. And the walk is downhill.

Austin has a surprising number of hills. I guess because I am from Chicago, I think anywhere I travel or live will be flat until I see it is not. They actually have “Hill Country” to the West of here – not too far and people to camp there. It is supposed to be scenic.

But the heat is on my mind now, because – it is hot enough were you need to take it into account with your plans. Ie – we could go to Scholz Beer Garden, but it is still 90 degrees and we would sweat our asses off and be baked alive or its sooo hot today – maybe we should see a movie. Like the frigid temps in Chicago, people in Austin include mother nature in their plans like an annoying Great Aunt whose needs you need to work around so you can get your fun on.

I really have got to get used to this heat. It’s suffocating. You can tell from the photo Baxter is shorn short. This is my fourth attempt, and finally I am getting the groove. (Thank you for the grooming tip Amy!)

Baxter is sporting a butch-cut and it is still too crazy hot for him to walk more than 5 blocks without panting and stopping to drop frog-legged and chest down in the bushy grass under a tree. Usually it is my favorite pose of his that signals he is exhausted from playing outside and chasing the ball. But after only 10 minutes outside in Austin, you can see why I would be hurrying him home after this respite. It is 90 degrees this Friday night at 8:15 p.m. and HU-mid.
So tonight I am in practicing my piano and writing.

Sounds lame, but I am working on my career plan. I want to make this time in Austin count, because I do miss everyone back home.

Amy and Judy's Austin Adventure

It was so nice to have Amy and my mom here for the weekend. We have a lot of fun, I included pictures of us on our Duck Tour. It was hard saying goodbye to them. I miss that support system being so close.

I started to think about what I really wanted here in Austin and what I was doing. If I am honest with myself, and sometimes I am not - because it can be too scary to look your dreams straight in the eye. Or for me it has been, and that is the fear I am working to overcome with my time here in Austin.

Last week I started 100 Days of Julie to recognize the fearful shiver that my body utters, take a deep breath, intentionally and mentally address it and move it aside in my mind.

During my 100 Days, I will be enjoying writing when the inspiration strikes, and not feeling guilty about that - and make the writing of those thoughts a priority. Inspiration comes to me all the time, and I have been texting it to myself, using my voice recorder or a notebook to secure these thoughts, but I haven't revisited them. Writing a rought draft of them as is, will help me out.

I will be sewing and speaking Spanish and have brushed up on my piano by then too. It is just a matter of priorities, like everything else in life. And in the next 100 Days - I will be putting myself first.

And last week, my first week , was great for me. I had a great week at work, but I just told myself I belonged and accepted more and more responsibility for things. I signed up for another improv class and went to a couple performances and I loved it.

The ease of settling for a mediocre life and numbing myself with television in the evenings is the path I am skipping away from with concentrated intention. I will start posting more recipes too. I cooked today and it felt good - but I don't want to over do it with food - just enough to keep me organized with healthy meals for the week!

So after experiencing the first 7 days of the 100 Days of Julie. I am feeling more my goofy and spirited self. The layers of grime are being rubbed off. Eventually I will be the shiny penny I was before I made some terrible detours in my 20s!

It is hard to come back to a 9-5 after running your own gig for so long. Part of me is excited about the new space, the free coffee and my limited responsibilities. Another part of me knows I have to be reigned in and not try to control the whole place. Or at least my little piece of the Coomunications world.

I take pride in my work, but sometimes I don't know when to let go. It was a definite "learn" (thing I learned) from Entrees By You, so I don't want to fail back into old-manic habits.

As a way to help my control issues, I enrolled in an improv class here in Austin at ColdTowne Theater. It's close, and I went to a show on Saturday and felt a longing for the days I did improv at the Second City school. So I am there now. Wednesdays, 6-8 pm. This Wednesday will be my first class. I'll let you know how it goes.

I also enjoyed a drink by myself on Saturday night. I wanted time to think, and Ginny's Longhorn Saloon provided the perfect backdrop. Dane Sterling and his band were playing Country favorites from Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and I sat at the bar nursing my cold Dos Equis out of the chilled juice glass. Sharon the bartender wrinkled her brow when I asked for a glass - I guess that is high-maintenance. It didn't bother me. I wanted a glass, and the fact it was chilled made it double the fun.

Look how far I have come. I am sitting in a bar enjoying myself and not making eye contact with Tony - who is sitting next to me. I just want alone time. Me, my beer and my country ballads.

I got a job...

That might be old news to some of you, but the first month was so stressful, I didn't have time to post. I wrote, but no time to edit. Now I make time.

My job is with a Communications department at a foundation, and since I had to sign a confidentialty agreement, I won't be naming the place. I am excited about it, and will catch you up.

It came about in the exact way every career coach I spoke with said it would. Networking. People find jobs through networking over 80% of the time versus, sending blind resumes out over the internet or any other avenue.

I have to agree, because it was getting down to it, and I was branching out into the fields of retail customer service, and waitressing - but with no success there. So I feel you have to know someone to get a job anywhere!

You would think with four years of direct customer service, a family-run florist in town called Freytag's would be interested in me. But they weren't. And I followed up.

Or the Simplicity Wine bar, after I caught the manager and discussed my food service and waitress experience and the fact I have my sanitation license. She seemed interested, and as we were talking, a server called in sick. Maybe this was the wrong move, and made me seem desperate, but I said I could cover the shift tonight if she was short.

She looked happy and confused at the same time. I think her name was Heather. She never called, and it looked like she had her hands full with just day to day stuff as her boyfriend was helping her with the opening duties.

Better I am not at either place, but the night I met Heather and she didn't call - I made a list of everything I wanted in a job:
* Strategic
* Fast paced
* Helping people
* Non-conventional
* Creative exchange of ideas and ability to execute on them
* Well respected place
* Fresh - open minded work force
* Learning each day

and it all came true.

My housemate Jenny passed on an email from her friend who was looking for an admin in the Communications Dept of this foundation. That was a Wednesday, I replied to her on Thursday morning and we met for lunch on Friday. I have press room experience from the Smithsonian, and she actually liked my executive experience and wasn't at all put off by it as others seemed to be.

Before the interview, I made sure my potential boss knew I valued myself and my time and I asked in an email before we met if
1) there were room for advancement
2) if I would be making good contacts
3) if I finished my admin stuff could I work on more challenging communication items.

The answer was yes to all three and I believe she enjoyed my enthusiasm. I told her I was starting to boss people around at my volunteer gig, so I was happy to start taking on some responsibility!

I started the following Wednesday. I promise to catch you up. I miss you.

Breaking up is hard to do....

There is something so anonymous about online job hunting, that I really appreciate this rejection I received from Scripps Corporation. The personalized care with which they rejected me, makes me think they understand I created a resume and cover letter exclusively for them. I did, and my reward is a sweet and extremely informal rejection email, that takes a terse and firm twist in the middle - but flattens back out to sweetness in the closure.

If you have been following the blog, you know I vacillate between landing one of my dream jobs, and just landing a job to get a paycheck. I now feel like my creative soul and my corporate one are on some Amazing Race to see who finishes first to land me a paycheck. It's a series of hills and valleys and gut-wretching challenges.

One of my dream jobs would to be to host my own cooking show on the Food Network. My idea is called Pantry Possibilities, but I am available for other shows too. I applied to a few jobs on the Scripps Corporate website, as Scripps owns the Food Network, home to such stars as Rachael Ray, Alton Brown and Bobby Flay, in order to start from the ground up.

I remember this particular job listing was for a type of Production Assistant job (they called it something fancier). I stretched all my culinary skills as far as I could towards the posted job description. I mean - to chop onions for Ina Garten, my real Food Network hero, would be an honor.

Clearly they were thinking about me for a long time as a match for this job, because I submitted an application for "Kitchen Steward" (another fancy title - this one for dish washer) on the same day. For Kitchen Steward, they rejected me straight away, and not nearly as nicely as in this one.

You will notice, in today's rejection email, they use my first name, like we are already friends, and tell me to not take this rejection - done electronically - personally. That is really sweet, but nothing about my interaction with Scripps has been personal. So maybe is it overly sweet, for a company I have only encountered online. But it is a well thought out rejection, and it indeed has a pleasant tone. Proving it is easier to be sweet and firm from a distance.

They thank me for my interest, let me know it has been difficult for them, that we just aren't a good match, and warns me that I am NOT being further considered for this job.

The email is well received by me. I forgot I even applied for this job, and it makes me feel busier then I thought I was. I don't want to be oversensitive with my pride - but I understood the content before I opened it. I understood when I received the email with the subject line "Thank you for your interest". So on that end, I think the "you will not be considered further for this particular opportunity" is a little excessive, but maybe they have had problems getting through to people with their rebuffs in the past.

The personal salution is touching. I mean - read it:

Dear Julie,

Thank you for your interest in employment with Scripps Networks Interactive, and the position of Food Styling Coordinator II; requisition #1353. The selection of candidates requires difficult decisions and at this point it has been determined that your background is not a match for the specific requirements for this position. Accordingly you will not be considered further for this particular opportunity. Please do not consider it a poor reflection on you; rather, it is an indication that another candidate has skills that better fit the role.

We encourage you to periodically review the list of available job opportunities provided on our web site and follow the application process described. Thank you again and best of luck with your career search.

Sincerely,

Scripps Networks Interactive Recruiting Team

I have had less civil break ups with men I have dated. And I am glad they let me know it's them, and not me with the phrase "Please do not consider it a poor reflection on you". I was wondering how I reflected, and now I know, it's not poorly.

At first I thought the Scripps Network Interactive Recruiting Team didn't understand that during the last 2 months of this job search I have had to develop skin thicker than a Biggest Loser contestant. I am directly and indirectly rejected each day. This is the nicest direct rejection I have received so far. And from a place where I haven't even spoke to someone on the phone.

I usually find when I am doing follow up calls, people find the intrusion of personal contact threatening. Everything is pretty in cyberspace, but don't put yourself in front of me. Like the floral designer yesterday, who guarded the hiring managers name at Freytag's Florist like it was a formula to Coke Classic. I wasn't trying to harass him. The job posting said phone calls where okay.

So - this electronic rejection is really sweet. And I am going to let it make my day. I am not going to worry that as a society, people want less and less to do with each other.

Someone at Scripps in HR understands the level of rejection involved in a job search more than I realize, and I appreciate it. He/She is just trying to make the world a kinder, gentler and more civilized place, one rejection email at a time.

That are probably mail merged in some way and sent out a thousand in one shot.

Sweet Home Chicago -- or Austin

Back from my trip to Chicago, and it was good to be home. I saw many friends, took care of errands (like my taxes and a good haircut-thank you Kim) and had some mom-time with Judy, when I could pry her out of the house. The world she recognizes and trusts gets smaller each day.

My mom doesn’t remember where I live, or when I will be back in front of her again, and I honestly don’t know what to tell her, or anyone. I am torn as to where my home actually is. Chicago has much love for me, and is filled with family and friends, but I tire of the high taxes, government corruption, the dreary weather, and its most popular past times of eating and drinking.

I could be traveling in the wrong crowds, because sometimes being rooted in a place too long, lets you be lazy, stop exploring opportunities and while you travel your old, tried and true goat paths. Obviously Chicago has live music, but something about Austin’s scene is so refreshing. People treat the artists with great deference. They have “listening rooms”, not bars. Although it is a bar, with tables, chairs, and an actual bar with drinks, but people become irritated if you are talking too much and not listening to the artist in front of you. Or they are dancing to the music. And you know I LOVE to dance.

Plus, music in Austin is on every corner, literally every coffeeshop, grocery store, record store, even the airport. That rocks. And not only does it rock, but its country , and Swing -type honky tonk, and some punk, all of this and more. And the depth of talent is impressive. My housemate and I heard a guy named Dan Dyer at Central Market North (yes, a supermarket) he would make Shuba's or the Bottom Lounge proud.

In Chicago, The Pritzker Pavilion is a lovely addition to the music scene. It is scenic on the North End of Millenium Park, and the acoustics are perfect. The price is free, so basically unbeatable, but it is an outdoor venue and open for a few months of the year.

Also, most music I hear in Chicago is a back drop to drinking and catching up with friends. Again, maybe I am in the wrong venues in Chicago, or it is what you make of it.

Austin has lots of hiking, and kayaking. It is beautiful here- mostly year round. A real jewel of forest preserves and lakes (that are really the dammed off portions of the Colorado River) in a city struggling to not develop into a metropolis. Its small town charm, plus its urban amenities make it a utopia for many transients.

There seems to be a fight brewing for Austin’s soul or at least its way of life. There are so many new transplants from bigger, urban areas, that there is a bit of backlash against foreigners (people are other states-it is Texas, and they really do think they are their own country), and people who haven’t lived in Austin for over 10 years. It is a snide and ugly face to Austin, that their Southern manners hide well, but I have heard the snickerings. People here are proud to be Texans, there are more State of Texas flags flying then American flags, but those are populous too.

It is a beautiful and livable city. I too would guard it from the strange, city folk who the Austinites believe will destroy their way of life with fancy high rises, increasing rents and jaded rudeness. Attitude is any form is not normally found here.

Already the South By Southwest music and film festival has transformed into a national event, that I noticed many locals just avoiding in parts or altogether this year, because it is too overrun with people now. Better to just see some music the following week, when you don't need to worry about wrist bands, lines and finding a seat.

That is a problem in Chicago. Too many people all trying to do the same things. So many lines, it was a treat to find a place for Sunday brunch where there wasn't a 45 minute wait, or a bar where you could get a drink right away. Using the lakefront made you a defensive runner, biker or rollerblader, because you never knew if someone's kid was going to travel across the bike path chasing a ball.

Chicago’s electricity and energy comes from so many people though, and the natural beauty of Lake Michigan, is undeniable. I remember many Summer mornings walking Baxter down to Oak Street beach early in the morning, and feeling like I was in Florida with the Atlantic Ocean stretched out in front of me as he repeated jumped in to fetch his ball.

Plus Chicago has abundant man-made architectural beauty. The Art Institute, Cultural Center, Millenium Park, UIC-area historic homes, neighborhood bungalows, and all the various skyscrapers serve as a testament to man’s forward progress through the years.

Knowing I can navigate the bustling urban landscape, and have an insider’s eye from years of experience in this fast-paced metropolis makes me feel young, savvy and energetic. I can't help it. It makes me feel competent.

That the gritty students who hop on the Orange line at the Art Institute stop don’t scare me with their loud meanderings and music mean I am not an old fuddy-duddy. Though I will admit, they were annoying and brash. Their adolescent flirting of physically hitting your crush (one guy was i guess "lovingly" kicked in the balls on my trip), and now apparently profanity is quite popular as a term of endearment. Of course as a teen, you do need to act out so loud that everyone can hear you. Even I remember that.

While not a fuddy-duddy, I have become a weary, urban warrior, and I did curse myself a bit for not accepting the two offers I had for a ride to Midway.

So while Austin fights for its way of life amidst of a crowded sea of transplants like myself. I will struggle to find out which landscape I now fit.
The savvy, overcrowded, urban arena of Chicago or the laid back, creative, livability of Austin. I’ll let you know when I find out. I would love it to be both.