I'm a little bit surprised by how little I get done at home now that I'm working. When I get home at 6:00 or 7:00, I don't feel like doing anything productive. And as a result, clothes and mail and unread emails pile up. This trend has been compounded by the fact that last weekend I was down in Connecticut. Saturday I went to watch Tufts win NESCACs and also participate in an open race featuring a bunch of alums. (Oh boy, not so pretty...) And Sunday I was visiting a Tufts friend, Emily Macy, who coaches at Conn College. The weekend was great. Dan and I used my new Zipcar membership to get down there, which was pretty awesome.
This weekend, I got the chance to catch up on all that stupid other stuff that I mentioned getting behind on. That's not really worthy of being in the blog I suppose, but today's adventure might be. Our house of five is down to just Dan and myself this weekend (Nate went home to NH, Peter and Brian are in NYC) so we decided there was only one logical thing for the two of us to do on Sunday... spend some time in the kitchen. We checked out Epicurious for some ideas, and came up with a marinade and a risotto dish that will hopefully last us for a few meals.
Ambitious? Probably. Tasty? We'll see.
Work
So I'm now a working stiff. I've begun work in Accounts Payable at Digitas. The details of the job are relevant, but I don't suppose they're interesting enough to write here. In short, I get a bunch of bills from different companies, and then I help my company write the checks. At least that's the basic idea.
There's been a lot of new stuff these first few days. There's the commute, which is really pretty easy; I walk two blocks to the T, get off in three stops, then walk three blocks. I work on the 19th floor of a new building right on the edge of Boston's financial district. I've got a shiny new cubicle, which you can see right here. There's been so much to absorb, but it's all been pretty cool. I think part of that is the novelty of all these new situations. Hopefully when the novelty wears off, I won't become entirely disenchanted with riding the T with all the other commuters and waiting for the slow elevators and all that other stuff.
Through the first week, I had a wide range of emotions when I came home from work in the evenings. The first two days (a general orientation on the first day and exposure to everything I'll be doing on the second) were pretty overwhelming. I was totally intimidated by everything I needed to learn. But by Thursday, thanks to feeling more comfortable with the work and getting to know my coworkers better, I felt a lot better about it all. So things are good.
There's been a lot of new stuff these first few days. There's the commute, which is really pretty easy; I walk two blocks to the T, get off in three stops, then walk three blocks. I work on the 19th floor of a new building right on the edge of Boston's financial district. I've got a shiny new cubicle, which you can see right here. There's been so much to absorb, but it's all been pretty cool. I think part of that is the novelty of all these new situations. Hopefully when the novelty wears off, I won't become entirely disenchanted with riding the T with all the other commuters and waiting for the slow elevators and all that other stuff.Through the first week, I had a wide range of emotions when I came home from work in the evenings. The first two days (a general orientation on the first day and exposure to everything I'll be doing on the second) were pretty overwhelming. I was totally intimidated by everything I needed to learn. But by Thursday, thanks to feeling more comfortable with the work and getting to know my coworkers better, I felt a lot better about it all. So things are good.
I got a job
I'm working for a big company in a tall building downtown and keeping track of their money.
OK, that's not entirely fair, and I'm not trying to demean the position. (Lord knows I'm pretty excited about it.) But that's kind of what I'm doing.
It all started in mid-September when I talked with an alum who works at Digitas. Soon after, I heard from HR at Digitas and set up an interview. I remember the morning of the interview clearly. I woke up with James Taylor playing in my head. I don't know why. It was "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)." I checked, this is the full name of the song. Needless to say, that first interview went pretty well. I got invited back for a second one. Apparently that one went well too, because they made an offer a few days later.
So yeah, I got a job. And I'm sure I'll have more to say once I start work (Monday).
OK, that's not entirely fair, and I'm not trying to demean the position. (Lord knows I'm pretty excited about it.) But that's kind of what I'm doing.
It all started in mid-September when I talked with an alum who works at Digitas. Soon after, I heard from HR at Digitas and set up an interview. I remember the morning of the interview clearly. I woke up with James Taylor playing in my head. I don't know why. It was "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)." I checked, this is the full name of the song. Needless to say, that first interview went pretty well. I got invited back for a second one. Apparently that one went well too, because they made an offer a few days later.
So yeah, I got a job. And I'm sure I'll have more to say once I start work (Monday).
Warning: this is an "AOK Story"
In an effort to help save the world, I gave blood at Mass. General this morning. It was my first time donating and a pretty quick, easy experience. While I was sitting in the chair giving blood, I was thinking about all the shopping trips we do at our apartment. Specifically, I was thinking about how quickly we go through bananas. The last time we went to the store I bought 10 bananas for the house. Before the end of the second day, they were all gone. This is a lot of bananas. Which reminds me of this time I ate a lot of bananas back in high school.
Dianne had just come back from the store, and had bought five bananas. And I was pretty hungry, as I'd probably just come back from practice or something. So I had a banana. And since it was really good, and everyone knows that bananas are the greatest snack ever, partly because they come in their own disposable wrapper, I had a second banana. I ran off to my room, thinking, "man, I'm still pretty hungry..." So I came back to the kitchen and had a third banana.
At this point only two of the five original bananas remained. To be honest, the fourth banana was a blur. I don't really remember eating it, though I do remember throwing out the peel and thinking, "there's four banana peels in the garbage. That's pretty funny." My thoughts then turned to the fact that if I'd come this far, I might as well eat the fifth banana. So I did just that.
Dianne realized a while later that there were no bananas on the fruit stand and figured she'd forgotten them in the car when she unloaded the groceries, so she checked the trunk. When she returned I told her that I'd eaten all five. She didn't really believe me and just assumed that she'd forgotten them in her cart at the supermarket. Then she checked the garbage and saw five banana peels and realized what I'd done and laughed at me.
And that's the story. I'm sure you can't believe that I just wrote all this about eating bananas. I can't believe it either. But going back to when I was sitting at the blood center... I think the moral of the story, if there is one, is that bananas are a great thing. And that while my housemates may be prolific in their consumption, I am a bigger fan than they can possibly fathom.
Dianne had just come back from the store, and had bought five bananas. And I was pretty hungry, as I'd probably just come back from practice or something. So I had a banana. And since it was really good, and everyone knows that bananas are the greatest snack ever, partly because they come in their own disposable wrapper, I had a second banana. I ran off to my room, thinking, "man, I'm still pretty hungry..." So I came back to the kitchen and had a third banana.
At this point only two of the five original bananas remained. To be honest, the fourth banana was a blur. I don't really remember eating it, though I do remember throwing out the peel and thinking, "there's four banana peels in the garbage. That's pretty funny." My thoughts then turned to the fact that if I'd come this far, I might as well eat the fifth banana. So I did just that.
Dianne realized a while later that there were no bananas on the fruit stand and figured she'd forgotten them in the car when she unloaded the groceries, so she checked the trunk. When she returned I told her that I'd eaten all five. She didn't really believe me and just assumed that she'd forgotten them in her cart at the supermarket. Then she checked the garbage and saw five banana peels and realized what I'd done and laughed at me.
And that's the story. I'm sure you can't believe that I just wrote all this about eating bananas. I can't believe it either. But going back to when I was sitting at the blood center... I think the moral of the story, if there is one, is that bananas are a great thing. And that while my housemates may be prolific in their consumption, I am a bigger fan than they can possibly fathom.
Get busy
So here's where I'm at right now. I've been looking around for jobs a lot. This includes looking at job sites, as well as looking at company sites that aren't hiring, but that sound pretty cool from what their websites say (that sounds like a pretty unintelligent search, I know). Also, I've been emailing a handful of Tufts alumni I found online, and I've corresponded with a handful of them. But as I'm sure I've lamented before, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. (Dangling participle?) This of course is a problem when one piece of advice I've received is to be tenacious.
** Yes, Aaron's easy-going ways aren't exactly helping him get a leg-up that might separate his application from those of the competition. **
But I'm convinced that I'll figure out sooner or later (yes we all hope sooner) what looks good. And while it might sound like I just don't care about ever finding something, that's not at all true. It's just that I'm not feeling horribly defeated by my lack of direction. At least not for the moment. It isn't all that exciting, but it's really not such a bad thing.
On a somewhat related note, my apologies to anyone who, along the way, might have suggested someone I get in touch with. I think that a couple people gave me names, and I remember not really paying attention to those names, and it probably came off as me ignoring the suggestion. At the time I think it had more to do with not being sure what to do with a bunch of names that didn't mean anything to me. Well now that I'm used to emailing complete strangers whose names don't mean anything, I'm more than happy to try again with those names you suggested. So if you're reading this, and you know what I'm talking about, hit me up with those names again. I'd love to network with them. Thanks.
** Yes, Aaron's easy-going ways aren't exactly helping him get a leg-up that might separate his application from those of the competition. **
But I'm convinced that I'll figure out sooner or later (yes we all hope sooner) what looks good. And while it might sound like I just don't care about ever finding something, that's not at all true. It's just that I'm not feeling horribly defeated by my lack of direction. At least not for the moment. It isn't all that exciting, but it's really not such a bad thing.
On a somewhat related note, my apologies to anyone who, along the way, might have suggested someone I get in touch with. I think that a couple people gave me names, and I remember not really paying attention to those names, and it probably came off as me ignoring the suggestion. At the time I think it had more to do with not being sure what to do with a bunch of names that didn't mean anything to me. Well now that I'm used to emailing complete strangers whose names don't mean anything, I'm more than happy to try again with those names you suggested. So if you're reading this, and you know what I'm talking about, hit me up with those names again. I'd love to network with them. Thanks.
Not much
So I've got a library card.
That's the latest (and really the only) news. I swear I'm not trying to sound excessively sullen (sigh).
That's the latest (and really the only) news. I swear I'm not trying to sound excessively sullen (sigh).
Newness
So I'm going with a new layout for the blog to go along with the whole "new" theme I've got going on right now. I'm in Boston at the moment, moving into a new apartment, hopefully finding a job somewhere. It's pretty odd. I don't know how to describe the feeling. I think mostly I'm feeling a little bit "out of it" due to the red-eye flight last night and the lack of sleep. But it's also just weird to be back. It'll take a few days I think.
Trying to be profound
I feel like I should have something deep and meaningful to say about this summer, since it was (as this website has hopefully shown) a pretty cool summer. As I think I've shared before, my experiences as a camp counselor this summer were at once exciting, scary, enlightening, challenging, tedious, eye-opening, exhausting, and rewarding. I really feel that I learned some valuable lessons that were only possible in the camp environment. For example, I had the unique opportunity to work closely with with teens which really taught me a lot, though at times I wanted to pull my hair out. I got the chance to work as a team with with fellow counselors who offered me support and friendship, which I'm totally thankful for. Finally, (and I feel most importantly,) camp gave me a chance to have a lot of fun. I know that there's going to be "fun" out in the real world, but having a summer filled with an overload of activity every single day was definitely a good time. There's so much I could say about camp, but there's no good way to write it all down, so I'll leave it at that. This summer was a good time.
DONE.
So it's been a crazy week. And I should definitely mention my trip to Half Dome, but first, I just have to announce that IT'S ALL OVER. DONE. NO MORE. There's no next session, no next week, nothing.
But yeah, I got the chance to do Half Dome for the second time this summer with Dan, Peter, and Pete, friends from Tufts. It was a ton of fun, though pretty tiring. I think they enjoyed it too. And I'll leave it at that because I've got to go celebrate the end of camp with my counselor friends. (The owner's preparing steak and lobster for dinner....)
But yeah, I got the chance to do Half Dome for the second time this summer with Dan, Peter, and Pete, friends from Tufts. It was a ton of fun, though pretty tiring. I think they enjoyed it too. And I'll leave it at that because I've got to go celebrate the end of camp with my counselor friends. (The owner's preparing steak and lobster for dinner....)
more insanity
So we had another Special Day on Saturday. And it was pretty nuts. In the morning we had Regatta Day, which was relatively tame. Each cabin made a "boat" out of cardboard boxes and duct tape, and in the afternoon everyone got to race the boats down at the lake (the regatta part of Regatta Day.) So it was fun, but nothing huge.
Things got pretty crazy after we put the rest of camp to bed. The CILTs transformed the dining hall into a pirate ship with treasure chests, cannons, parrots, treasure maps, and big signs that said "ARRRR!" At midnight we went around and woke all the campers up and brought them down to the dining hall for a big carnival. There was eye patch making, sword fighting, alligator wrestling, fishing, and of course tons of candy and ice cream (exactly what every camper needs at midnight.) It was a lot of fun, and all of camp is absolutely wrecked this morning. It's good that there are no more special days because I think staff is pretty much spent at this point.
Here we go. One more week.
Things got pretty crazy after we put the rest of camp to bed. The CILTs transformed the dining hall into a pirate ship with treasure chests, cannons, parrots, treasure maps, and big signs that said "ARRRR!" At midnight we went around and woke all the campers up and brought them down to the dining hall for a big carnival. There was eye patch making, sword fighting, alligator wrestling, fishing, and of course tons of candy and ice cream (exactly what every camper needs at midnight.) It was a lot of fun, and all of camp is absolutely wrecked this morning. It's good that there are no more special days because I think staff is pretty much spent at this point.
Here we go. One more week.
zzzzzz
I woke up at 3:00 this morning to canoe for one of my camper while he swam the length of the lake. I'm really really tired.
Running
This one is about running for two reasons. First, my own running. It's been around three months that I've been without running (due to a weird injury). May 5th was the last day I competed, and I've probably run four or five times since then. I tried running on Wednesday, and I don't think there's much improvement in my leg. This is discouraging after many many weeks of rest. But then again, my running career has pretty much been defined by injuries, so it's somehow appropriate that college running came to an end for me because of an injury. I feel totally powerless to do anything about my leg at this point, so I'm trying not to worry about it.
During my senior year when I was still competing I wondered if I'd still want to run after graduation and how often I'd do it. Well, this injury has pretty much not given me a choice in it. I'm hopeful that it'll all sort out eventually.
Not running has really been a bummer. I've been feeling lethargic, and I feel like being able to run would help. Also, I feel like I've lost a ton of fitness (I guess not running for three months will do that. Go figure) and I'd really like to be able to get some of that back. It'd be great to have a run every morning... but again, I don't know what I can do about it.
Now the second reason I'm writing about running. I learned this week that my college coach, Connie Putnam, has retired after 21 years as head coach at Tufts. It's really hard to put into words how I feel about this. At first I felt kind of lost. I think that despite the fact that I'm done competing, knowing that Connie was still coach made me feel like I was still part of the team. Now it feels like a big part of that connection is gone. On top of that there are so many other things to consider that are just too numerous to name. This will sound a bit elitist, but you just wouldn't get it unless you were on the team.
Basically, just some serious shock and surprise, and serious thought about how this changes the team that was so important to me.
During my senior year when I was still competing I wondered if I'd still want to run after graduation and how often I'd do it. Well, this injury has pretty much not given me a choice in it. I'm hopeful that it'll all sort out eventually.
Not running has really been a bummer. I've been feeling lethargic, and I feel like being able to run would help. Also, I feel like I've lost a ton of fitness (I guess not running for three months will do that. Go figure) and I'd really like to be able to get some of that back. It'd be great to have a run every morning... but again, I don't know what I can do about it.
Now the second reason I'm writing about running. I learned this week that my college coach, Connie Putnam, has retired after 21 years as head coach at Tufts. It's really hard to put into words how I feel about this. At first I felt kind of lost. I think that despite the fact that I'm done competing, knowing that Connie was still coach made me feel like I was still part of the team. Now it feels like a big part of that connection is gone. On top of that there are so many other things to consider that are just too numerous to name. This will sound a bit elitist, but you just wouldn't get it unless you were on the team.
Basically, just some serious shock and surprise, and serious thought about how this changes the team that was so important to me.
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