i had a pretty tight timeline between accepting the arizona job (yay!), visiting tucson for a quick weekend to check out apartments, and planning all the graduation celebration details, so the weeks really flew by!
i drove from san jose down to claremont a few days before graduation, so that i had some time to visit friends, tie up loose ends on my research project, and start to make preparations for the big day. my sister and her family flew in friday, and the rest of the family drove down that day, too. i got to pick up the kaases at the airport, and i even made a poster that said, "welcome kaases!" i held it up and waved it back and forth as they came down the escalator, but no one saw me :( i think they were still excited to be there, even though they didn't get the celebrated greeting i hoped to give them.
we grabbed lunch, checked into the hotel (my fave in the claremont area!), and the kids spent some time in the pool while my sister and i went to get pedicures at the place with the cushy chairs and long relax time. after our pampering, we headed back to the hotel where the half of the family who had been driving down, joined us also. we had a delicious dinner at my favorite place (YUM), and turned in for a relatively early night, since graduation was scheduled to start promptly at 9am!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
wildcat!
[here's something i wrote in early may... before i had a job lined up (obviously)]
i woke up this morning upset and nervous about not having any job prospects. before i even got out of bed i opened up my laptop and was checking out pay rates and opportunities with disneyland (how much fun would i have working there?). after breakfast, i promptly began tackling my main task for the day: job hunting. usually, i spend some time checking email, updating facebook, generally procrastinating, but today i was motivated. motivated primarily by anxiety and general upsetness - i don't feel like i made a mistake turning down my only job offer, but it is a very real possibility that i won't receive another one. how do i explain that to employers next year? who would hire someone who didn't work for a year? all of these questions (and more) were playing over and over in my mind, drowning me in self-doubt.
so. i'm an hour into my frantic job search, i literally have eight firefox windows with job opportunities that i need to read through, and i get a phone call. from an arizona area code. "it's the u of a calling to tell me they have filled the position," i think to myself. i take a deep breath and answer the phone. here's how it goes:
"good morning, this is stacy."
"hi stacy, this is dr.busy from the university of arizona."
"hi dr.busy, how are you?" [why am i filling in time with small talk?]
"i'm good, this morning. yourself?" [slight sigh of relief. when i had this exact exchange with the person from rand she said, "i'm okay, but i have some disappointing news"]
"i'm okay, thank you."
"great. stacy, i'm calling to see if you are still interested in the position with us." [wait, what?]
"oh! yes." [i don't think i hid the surprise from my voice, and i didn't know what else to say]
"well, we'd like to offer you the position, if you are still interested. i have a few questions for you before i can put the paperwork together..."
we went on to discuss a few odds and ends, and i could barely stop myself from saying to her, "but it's been 3 weeks since i interviewed! i had given up on you! i MUST be your 2nd choice, right? RIGHT?" well, no matter what choice number i was, or how long it took to respond, i am delighted to have a job offer - and one i will probably accept! before graduation! i was not looking forward to fielding everyone's questions at graduation (and the subsequent parties), and definitely not looking forward to counting how many times i heard, "so, you spent all this time in school and still have no job?"
for the rest of my conversation with dr.busy i was completely in shock. i even knew that i sounded odd (i.e., not excited), so i purposely tried to make my voice an octave higher so that i would sound excited. i didn't want my boss to get the wrong idea from the very beginning - yes i am glad to get your offer, not just taking it because i have to!
in the midst of my complete shock, dr.busy asked me how soon i could start. i didn't even have a calendar in front of me, but i thought about my graduation, the week-long vacation after graduation, and the few days it would take to move, and said, "the beginning of june is probably the earliest i could start." when she said, "how about june 1st?" i didn't have the presence of mind to think about how soon that REALLY was, i just said okay. i will have to think about whether to try and make june 1st work... although it will put me on a very tight time schedule, i think it might be better in the long run. we'll see.
anyways, i had been so stressed out about the job situation, and if i had only waited patiently, and trusted in God, all of that worry could have been avoided! typical! maybe next time i will remember this lesson and wait instead of worry (or maybe not).
i woke up this morning upset and nervous about not having any job prospects. before i even got out of bed i opened up my laptop and was checking out pay rates and opportunities with disneyland (how much fun would i have working there?). after breakfast, i promptly began tackling my main task for the day: job hunting. usually, i spend some time checking email, updating facebook, generally procrastinating, but today i was motivated. motivated primarily by anxiety and general upsetness - i don't feel like i made a mistake turning down my only job offer, but it is a very real possibility that i won't receive another one. how do i explain that to employers next year? who would hire someone who didn't work for a year? all of these questions (and more) were playing over and over in my mind, drowning me in self-doubt.
so. i'm an hour into my frantic job search, i literally have eight firefox windows with job opportunities that i need to read through, and i get a phone call. from an arizona area code. "it's the u of a calling to tell me they have filled the position," i think to myself. i take a deep breath and answer the phone. here's how it goes:
"good morning, this is stacy."
"hi stacy, this is dr.busy from the university of arizona."
"hi dr.busy, how are you?" [why am i filling in time with small talk?]
"i'm good, this morning. yourself?" [slight sigh of relief. when i had this exact exchange with the person from rand she said, "i'm okay, but i have some disappointing news"]
"i'm okay, thank you."
"great. stacy, i'm calling to see if you are still interested in the position with us." [wait, what?]
"oh! yes." [i don't think i hid the surprise from my voice, and i didn't know what else to say]
"well, we'd like to offer you the position, if you are still interested. i have a few questions for you before i can put the paperwork together..."
we went on to discuss a few odds and ends, and i could barely stop myself from saying to her, "but it's been 3 weeks since i interviewed! i had given up on you! i MUST be your 2nd choice, right? RIGHT?" well, no matter what choice number i was, or how long it took to respond, i am delighted to have a job offer - and one i will probably accept! before graduation! i was not looking forward to fielding everyone's questions at graduation (and the subsequent parties), and definitely not looking forward to counting how many times i heard, "so, you spent all this time in school and still have no job?"
for the rest of my conversation with dr.busy i was completely in shock. i even knew that i sounded odd (i.e., not excited), so i purposely tried to make my voice an octave higher so that i would sound excited. i didn't want my boss to get the wrong idea from the very beginning - yes i am glad to get your offer, not just taking it because i have to!
in the midst of my complete shock, dr.busy asked me how soon i could start. i didn't even have a calendar in front of me, but i thought about my graduation, the week-long vacation after graduation, and the few days it would take to move, and said, "the beginning of june is probably the earliest i could start." when she said, "how about june 1st?" i didn't have the presence of mind to think about how soon that REALLY was, i just said okay. i will have to think about whether to try and make june 1st work... although it will put me on a very tight time schedule, i think it might be better in the long run. we'll see.
anyways, i had been so stressed out about the job situation, and if i had only waited patiently, and trusted in God, all of that worry could have been avoided! typical! maybe next time i will remember this lesson and wait instead of worry (or maybe not).
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