I've been alerted that my blog url was included in all the Christmas letters my Mom sends out, so Hello to all our family members and friends who actually made your way to my blog! As a reminder, this blog is personal and in no way representing or speaking on behalf of my organizations. With that said, check out the organization I work for (OASHF) and the specific program I help administer, doing outreach and trainings: (OBB)
My office is closing down between Christmas and New Years, but as a VISTA I still have hours that I have to work. Therefore, I get the thrilling task of going through the IRS tax training called Link and Learn. I am learning way more about taxes than I ever thought I would, but I do find it weirdly satisfying to know a lot about something that I hate, but is still worthwhile in my life. I will conquer taxes!
Lastly, I am heading to Chicago for New Years Eve with my wonderful group of friends from college. We went to Florida together for Spring Break and to Michigan this August, so I am beyond excited to spend NYE in Chicago with them all again.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Soup Kitchen Lunch
For this week, living in solidarity means breaking bread with people who are at the end of their rope. I'm hoping they've all tied a knot and are hanging on!
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” - Thomas Jefferson
Crazy Training Weeks
I have dreams about taxes. About training taxes. About missing a tax training and 15 angry people being lost and confused about taxes. Tax season at my organization is nuts. This week especially, we have trainings every day, sometimes two a day (taking all three people on the Central Ohio team to handle everything). All the organizations are gearing up and they need many new people trained.
These trainings come in all shapes and sizes. Earlier this week I trained two gentlemen in Logan County at a library:
The library reserved their "large study room" for me. There is a possibility that I am biased just coming from Miami, where we had an amazing library with study rooms to accommodate the plethora of class groups, but I was still a little unprepared for what I found:
These trainings come in all shapes and sizes. Earlier this week I trained two gentlemen in Logan County at a library:
The library reserved their "large study room" for me. There is a possibility that I am biased just coming from Miami, where we had an amazing library with study rooms to accommodate the plethora of class groups, but I was still a little unprepared for what I found:I didn't have enough room to capture the entire table, but there are 6 chairs in the "large study room." Just enough room for me to squeeze around to help.
I also had a training in Pickaway County, in Circleville. I always have trainees introduce themselves and explain what agency they are from. In this case they were all involved with the same agency, and they all described in one way or the other how the head of the organization had strong-armed (her words!) them into coming to this training. Hey, I don't care how they get there, as long as they are trained and can help people file their taxes for free. I did think it was funny though.
The next training was at a facility that will stay un-named, where I found this sitting on the desk:
Finally, my training in Springfield on Monday provided these lovelies for everyone:
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| Christmas COOKIES! |
If anyone is keeping count, I have conducted 10 trainings in the past 3 weeks, traveling a total of 490.8 miles to seven different counties in Central Ohio.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Let me eat cake. And other things.
New Desk. New Co-worker. Santa Clause. Cake. Youth for Technology. My last couple weeks in a nutshell.
Most significantly my co-worker John's term was finished at the end of November, and he was replaced by my new co-worker. I am eagerly teaching her the ropes, considering I am doing double duty covering all John's responsibilities and training load until my new co-worker is ready to go. This huge transition was ushered in by an in-office desk move to the other end of the office. I now have a bigger desk with a back wall that doubles as a bulletin board (yay!!) and I get to sit right by the window. Also note the computer bag on my chair. This is a newfangled fancy chair, and I have yet to figure out how to raise it high enough to be functional. You win this time, fancy desk chair. Also note my lovely TOMS flag on display. I get to tell all my visitors about my favourite shoe brand and spread the social entrepreneurship love. Sustainable models of giving. Service in all aspects of life, that's how I see it. It's meaningless unless you live it out.
When I train people on my programs' online tool, I take them through simulations with fake clients. These training tools are used by thousands of people all over Ohio, and all the training is administered out of my office in Columbus. Therefore, how could we not commemorate the birthday of our favourite fictitious training client, Alice Nelson? We had cake!
As I said in my region's blog, please excuse the photo of a half eaten cake. There are lots of hungry VISTAs in my office who love cake and who were not moved to the opposite end of the office. That's another thing, my new desk is so much further away from the area where we put the free leftover meeting food. I am going to have to be on my game...
I also went with my co-workers to the Statehouse to see the arrival of Santa Clause. (I know him! I know him! < Elf reference. If you have not seen the movie Elf, you need to stop reading this and go watch it. Immediately.)
My volunteer work with Youth for Technology Foundation is starting to picking up as well. Naturally, this is coinciding with my actual job becoming insanely busy. I do enjoy the chance to do something I am passionate about and specifically have a degree in. Right now I'm helping them put together a social media strategy outline, maintain and analyze their current efforts, and interview new volunteers.
My roommate also forwarded me a job posting that had "Social Media" in the job title, which reflects an encouraging job market that is hopefully growing and eager for new hires when I am out in June.
Most significantly my co-worker John's term was finished at the end of November, and he was replaced by my new co-worker. I am eagerly teaching her the ropes, considering I am doing double duty covering all John's responsibilities and training load until my new co-worker is ready to go. This huge transition was ushered in by an in-office desk move to the other end of the office. I now have a bigger desk with a back wall that doubles as a bulletin board (yay!!) and I get to sit right by the window. Also note the computer bag on my chair. This is a newfangled fancy chair, and I have yet to figure out how to raise it high enough to be functional. You win this time, fancy desk chair. Also note my lovely TOMS flag on display. I get to tell all my visitors about my favourite shoe brand and spread the social entrepreneurship love. Sustainable models of giving. Service in all aspects of life, that's how I see it. It's meaningless unless you live it out.
When I train people on my programs' online tool, I take them through simulations with fake clients. These training tools are used by thousands of people all over Ohio, and all the training is administered out of my office in Columbus. Therefore, how could we not commemorate the birthday of our favourite fictitious training client, Alice Nelson? We had cake!
As I said in my region's blog, please excuse the photo of a half eaten cake. There are lots of hungry VISTAs in my office who love cake and who were not moved to the opposite end of the office. That's another thing, my new desk is so much further away from the area where we put the free leftover meeting food. I am going to have to be on my game...
I also went with my co-workers to the Statehouse to see the arrival of Santa Clause. (I know him! I know him! < Elf reference. If you have not seen the movie Elf, you need to stop reading this and go watch it. Immediately.)
My roommate also forwarded me a job posting that had "Social Media" in the job title, which reflects an encouraging job market that is hopefully growing and eager for new hires when I am out in June.
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