Tuesday, February 17, 2009

It's a whole new day

I apologize for being remiss in posting these past few weeks. Here's the shortened version of what's been going on in my life since the last post (back in mid-January):

  • A friend and church member told me that she was leaving her job for another opportunity and that her position would soon be available. (Yay networking!)
  • I had an informational session with my friend to figure out what her job entailed to figure out if I was interested...I was.
  • I contacted my friend's supervisor and we started emailing back and forth about the position.
  • I went on a cruise to the Caribbean with my mom. It was a vacation in my father's memory (he went on the same cruise last year a couple of weeks before he died). His older sister, younger brother, and cousins were on the cruise as well and it was the perfect tribute to good 'ol Papa Joe. We went to his favorite beach and scattered some of his ashes, my uncle and I played 3 card poker (one of my Dad's favorite games) and won, and we ate very well.
  • Upon returning home, I had an interview for a job as a consultant with Tobacco Free Michigan. About an hour and a half into the interview, I was offered the position.
  • Today was my first day.
  • Moral of the story: Yes it's true, jobs do come from talking to people. This job wasn't even posted.

So now I'm officially a policy consultant for Tobacco Free Michigan, a grassroots organization that is dedicated to promoting tobacco-free environments and to improving health and quality of life through education and advocacy. I'll be meeting with local coalitions and community groups statewide, sending out action alerts to the agency and individual members whenever important tobacco related legislation or news pops up, and the basic care and feeding of the organization (paying bills, staffing the board, setting up meetings, etc). My coworkers seem like a lot of fun (I discovered that pranks are popular, but that I'll be left alone initially) and I'm happy to have a window to look out of.

My first day was spent meeting coworkers, going through orientation and generally acclimating myself to the tobacco control world. Tomorrow I'll be meeting WITH coworkers, going through orientation, and continuing to acclimate myself to the tobacco control world. I'm looking forward to it. :)

So, now that I've got the work that I've so desperately needed, what is to become of this blog? Well I'm going to try to continue it but I'll be taking a less personal route. I'll be updating periodically with information about career searches and networking and general office etiquette. For now, however, I'm going to log off and read some more about tobacco control. For those of you looking for entertainment with a tobacco-free spin, check out The Truth Campaign.