Do it because you want to, not because you have to

Today my boss handed me a gift card to J. Crew as a thanks for staying late on Friday night to help out with her computer. I’ve become somewhat of a resident tech support at my office, mostly because I love computers and all things electronic so when someone has a problem with their computer, I’m usually the first to volunteer to help out. Last week, we were getting ready for a new employee to come into the office so we had to buy a new computer and dual monitors and get them all set up. We had originally scheduled an appointment with Geek Squad to help us with it, but when I saw all the boxes for the computers and monitors, I volunteered myself to set it up instead. It felt like Christmas morning and I unwrapped all of those shiny new things and put them all together.

This was all Thursday and by the end of Thursday, everything seemed to be up and running. Come Friday, my boss brought in her computer and her e-mail wasn’t working. Blame the slow Internet connection or the Microsoft Exchange server, something just wasn’t clicking. I spent most of the day reinstalling programs and trying everything I could so that the computer would run again but by 6:30, things were still sluggish and I had still had a computer to wipe and set up for our new employee! But honestly, time wasn’t an issue to me. I persuaded my boss to go home since her husband had been out of town for the week and she had a three-year-old waiting for her at home! I, on the other hand, am fresh out of college and living on my own so I don’t have anyone waiting for me. I stayed late to figure out what the problem was and eventually, with a little help from my friends overseas, I figured it out and it was up and running! I even offered to drop it off at her house after I got done. It was a little “The Devil Wears Prada” moment but my boss is nowhere as cold as Miranda Priestly.

Fast forward to Monday Morning, my boss gave me a heartfelt shout out during our team meeting and thanked me for staying late on Friday night. I was really touched that she would mention it to the team since it really wasn’t a big deal for me. I saw a problem that I could help with and I genuinely wanted to help out! It was something I thought I could tackle and it was something I was interested in. It made me feel extra good inside to know that it was so appreciated.

My office started an unofficial book club (though we refuse to call it that) where we’re going to try and read a book a month. Last month it was Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (one of my favorites) and I had suggested it because I felt that it was pertinent to our world of recruiting. I guess I could add it to my list of 20 books to read this year but I’m going to leave it of because it feels like a bit of a cop out since I’ve read it before. This month, we’re going to read Give and Take, by Adam Grant. He’s the youngest tenured professor at UPenn and his book describes three types of people: givers, takers, and matchers. Takers try to get as much out of others as possible while matchers try to trade evenly. Givers give and contribute and expect nothing in return and surprisingly, it’s these types of people who are most successful. I’m excited to start this book but more importantly, I strive to be more of a giver. I think, innately, I already am a giver. I really try to help others without thinking of myself just so I can get that feel good feeling. This really reminds me of that episode in Friends where Phoebe tries to find a truly selfless act.

This has turned out to be quite the long post. Thanks for sticking with it till the end! I know I haven’t been the best at updating but I do try to post something insightful when I get the chance. On another note, I have a student to tutor in SAT II Bio this weekend so I’m spending most of my nights reviewing cellular respiration (I never really understood that) and DNA replication (much more manageable).

I’ve been very very bad

I do apologize for not writing as of late but I did warn you, sister time does not leave much for writing time. But alas, I promised to write here every day and I have broken that promise to myself and to you, readers (although I know my readers consist of a few moms and occasionally toilet readers). So here I am with updates!

I just got back from my tutoring training and I was actually quite surprised by how fun and entertaining the whole thing was! I spent a little time going back and forth between whether I wanted to take on this tutoring job because I have a full time job already but after today’s training, I’m much more sold. My trainers are hilarious and we do a lot of role-playing as tutor and student. It definitely helps that my trainers are aspiring actors so they take the role of the student very seriously. Flip plays the most convincing teenager. Joss Whedon, please cast him in some role because he would just be amazing. We also got fed for dinner and our parking paid for so I’m pretty happy.

Because I’m taking two half days this week from my full time job, it’s going to be a rough week. I’m going to have a lot of catching up to do so I might have to stay a bit later tomorrow night to get everything done. As of right now, I have 49 e-mails sitting on my phone waiting to be addressed so I’ll probably go through some of them tonight but it’s nothing an hour or two extra won’t be able to fix.

Everything else in my life has been normal. The sister left today so I’m left to fend on my own again. I have some leftover soup from Sunday and I hope it isn’t going bad. I think I can eat it for dinner tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t give myself food poisoning. Well until tomorrow, I promise to do a better job of posting!

DocStoc Fireside Chats

So onto why I was out so late (it wasn’t even that late, I got home around midnight) and my long work day:

About a week ago, we (at our office) signed up for a DocStoc Fireside chat – they’re these monthly talks put on by DocStoc (an awesome start up company that helps with the legal paperwork that start ups need) and they invite important people in the start up world to come chat with DocStoc’s founder, Jason Nazar. This latest talk was with Wendy Lea, the CEO of Get Satisfaction. I think what was one of the most inspiring things about this talk was that Wendy Lea is a strong female CEO in a world that is predominantly ruled by men. But the best part was that she didn’t address that. She didn’t care about the gender gap and she didn’t care that she was a woman. Through out her talk, she simply said that she was just who she was and she didn’t care to change herself.

It was inspiring to see her thirst for knowledge continue to grow and her enthusiasm for her work is so encouraging! She jumps out of bed every morning excited to work and interact with her team and the customers. I feel like I’m gushing but it was so SO SO motivational! If you want to see some past DocStoc fireside chats, click here! Unfortunately, Wendy Lea’s talk isn’t up yet but it will be soon!

After the chat, we headed off to dinner. We started with a drink and a small appetizer at Sushi Roku and then onto our main dinner at Blue Plate Oysterette. Blue Plate Oysterette is one of the best places I’ve eaten at, hands down. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share and I was stuffed at the end of it but it was totally and completely worth it. I definitely need to write a Yelp! Review about the place so I can relive all the dishes again. It’s not a cheap place to eat but for the occasional celebration and special event, definitely.

I feel like there’s just so much happening in my life right now, it’s hard to find time to slow down and just relax for a little bit. It’s really exciting, fast paced, and some days, it just feels like things are going at lighting pace! I can’t believe I just finished my second week at work but every day continues to be a new day and I haven’t found a single slow moment. Now that it’s the weekend, I’m going to definitely take some time to recuperate and catch up on blogging so you guys have something to read! Happy Friday (or well whatever’s left of it)!

Just a Brief Update Today

I didn’t hit my target goal today so I’m a bit bummed about that but some days are better than others. Not an overly exciting day but I did get lunch at the café on the lots today and the cashier was pretty cute! Tomorrow night we’re going to a DocStoc talk after work so it’ll be a shorter day. I’ll be sure to give you updates but tonight is going to be an early night for me. Sweet dreams!

Working Tunes

Almost 100% of my workday is spent on the computer. It will change as I get on the phone and start talking to candidates but as of now, I spend a lot of time inputting candidates into the computer. As a result, my mind is often craving more stimulation than just computer image processing. I’ve been listening to a bunch of different things on my phone and I thought I’d share some of my working tunes with you!

Spotify: This is literally the best and most-used app on my phone. I don’t know how I survived without it before. I guess I had iTunes but Spotify really gives you that instant gratification when you want to listen to a specific song. I pay the $9.99 a month to get ad-free streaming and also so that I can get my playlists on my phone. Totally worth it.

Comedy albums: Who doesn’t love a good laugh in the middle of the day? When I’m feeling a bit down or my eyes start to glaze from the computer screen, I put on a comedy album or even the comedy radio station on either Spotify or Pandora. The radio station is great but sometimes I prefer listening to a whole album so I can get the flow of the comedian and his jokes run smoother. I just listened to Donald Glover’s album, Weirdo, and it was hilarious. His joke style is anecdotal and stems a lot from his unconventional upbringing. He grew up with adopted children and foster kids in his family and so there were a lot of children passing in and out of his home. As a result, he has some pretty hilarious stories!

Podcasts: Since I’ve gotten into audiobooks, I really like listening to people talk. But because I associate my audiobooks with sleeping, I have to find a different way to listen to talking: enter, podcasts! The first podcast I’ve started subscribing to is “Freakonomics Radio.” Hosted by one of the authors of the popular Freakonomics book, Stephen Dubner, he discusses different topics like whether burgers could be the nutritious, cheap meal for the masses or if Jane Austen was the original game theorist. It’s all really interesting and great to listen to. Look here for some awesome podcasts!

thetechblock.com

Those are my work tunes! What about you?

A Few Work Updates

I find that with most of my day spent at work, catching up with Tumblr and all my blogs is a great way to wind down. Though it seems like a lot of information to be taking in at the end of the day, I actually find it really relaxing that I can just mindlessly go through some photos, read things interest me but I don’t need to memorize and pay too much attention to the details.

I’ve been having a lot of fun at work and learning so so much. It doesn’t feel like work, it feels more like high profile stalking. Today we had a potluck at lunch and all the different companies that work at the office building we’re in all brought food. It was a FEAST. It reminded me of the potlucks we used to have at our old dance studio. Our company brought Indian food and it was a hit. I loved it too and luckily, the Indian restaurant does delivery! I have a feeling I’ll be ordering that in the near future.

The other cool thing about working where I do is that we’re actually located in the midst of some studio lots which means there’s actual studio filming that goes on. Right now they’re filming Reven8e and the second Captain America. I JUST WANT TO SEE SOME FAMOUS PEOPLE. It doesn’t help that I sit right next to the window and there’s limos and cars that drive by on their way to the lots. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for some actors and actresses.

Working from Home

Because a lot of my work is done online and entering candidates into a system, I can actually do some work from home! This will be very helpful when I go in to do my laundry and need something to do, given that there’s wi-fi (speaking of which, my Laundromat friend never contacted me!). I also don’t mind doing some work while watching television since I find it hard to just concentrate on TV. Is that another sign of our millennial generation? At least I find it hard to pay attention to television and not work.

I think the only difficulty with working from home is probably just the small screen size. At work I have dual monitors and it’s really helpful when I’m copying and pasting information from different sites. I’m sure I’ll figure out an alternative with just my laptop but I’m kinda excited about sitting in coffee shops over the weekend and getting some work done!