I'm back! Miss me?

Yes, I think I'm back. I'm back to writing on my blog. I've missed it. Writing a bit every day was a great exercise. But I also think I'm getting back to my sassy self. Frankly, I've become a bit of a recluse here in Chicago. First because I was so swampped with work, which was/is fantastic. Work is great. But the first six months have been crazy busy. It's exciting stuff, but now things are slowing down just a tad. My other excuse as to why I'm a recluse is the cold weather. It's freakn cold here.

But it was a beautiful sunny weekend. A balmmy 35 degrees. You know I've adjusted to cold weather when I walk around and say that 35 degrees is balmy. Yesterday was lovely. I popped over to my neighborhood Irish bar for some good bar food and met the owner who was such a sweetheart. The bartenders are so good to me. From there I headed to the Garfield Conservatory. I wanted to be surronded by greenery. And that was the perfect place for it. They have a lovely Fern and Palm collection. It was so humid which is a nice change from the dry air here. I walked into the tropics room and it was actually hot! Loved it! So nice to walk around without a coat, be surronded by green plants and feel sunshine and heat. It's definitely a winter time favorite. From there I went to Oak Park and walked around the shops.

Anyway, I'm going to get out more and do more exploring of Chicago. No more recluse behavior for me! And I'm going to blog more. Hope you come back.

Wordless Wednesday: 9/26/2007

Hancock
Originally uploaded by Moncrief Speaks.

I drive through elk grove to get to my office but never realized there really was an elk grove until yesterday.

Started my PatioScaping business

I started my business and gave it a try. It’s definitely something I want to do again when I feel like I have more of a support structure.

See more progress on: Start my PatioScaping(TM) business

Registering a Car in Illinois

So, my California tags expired at midnight on July 31. When I got to my car the next morning, I had a ticket. The officer gave me the ticket in the middle of the night at 1:45 am. So that day, a Wednesday, I went to the DMV, which stayed open till 7 pm. I thought that my CA car registration would suffice for registering my car in Il. When I got there I discovered that I needed to have proof of ownership, which meant my loan paper work. So couldn't take care of my car that day.

Went back on Friday afternoon, later that week, I got to the DMV 10 minutes before they closed, where I discovered they didn't take Credit Cards. Only checks or cash or Discover. Who carries checks anymore??

So I left and that Saturday got my second ticket. Tried to leave the office early the following Monday and Tuesday, which didn't work. Then I left work to get there before they closed at 7pm, but didn't make it because of the horrible traffic that night. So finally, Thursday, at lunch I raced there and managed to finally get my license plates! And then finally today I got them on my car. It only took me 14 days.

Now I'm going to contest my tickets. You only need to register cars that are moving and my car wasn't moving at the time I received the tickets. It was in the middle of the night.

Weekend in Dallas

Just got back from a weekend in Dallas, where we celebrated my Mom's 65th birthday. It was a nice celebration with my brother and his wife and kids. The other amazing thing is that my Mom at 65 is starting a business. A friend of mine and my mom have applied for a patent for a medical garment that they invented together. It's pretty amazing that at 65 my mom is a patent applicant and the director of a corporation. I'm helping them with marketing their business. It's fun. Just goes to show you, you can reinvent yourself at any age.

While in Dallas, we ate at Salum on Cole street. It was delicious and the restaurant was teeming with Dallasites, all dressed up for Saturday dinner. It's been a long time since I've been to a restaurant where people actually dress up for dinner. I've missed that.

I did it!

I not only got a job, but I think I’ve landed a dream job. I’m so happy! Having a ton of fun! Working on some exciting projects, with some exciting people. The company is on an upward trajectory with tons of potential.

It goes to show you that waiting for the right thing does pan out. I waited a year. Plus taking a risk for it helps as well. My risk was moving from San Diego to Chicago.

See more progress on: get a job

Quick Update

Hello! I can't believe so much time has passed since my last post. Basically, I received a job offer for a great job, but in Chicago... not San Diego. And I accepted the offer. I have since found a place to live, moved all of my worldly possessions, found a renter for my place in San Diego and have started my new job and life in Chicago. Everything is fantastic. I really, love my job. I've never said that before and meant it as much as I do in this instance.

It's a start up company with a great opportunity. Every employee is on the same page when it comes to focus and mission. It's not like starting at a company that is five or 10 years old and some people are burnt out and bitter and negative. It's great. And I'm working on projects that are so exciting. Like building a brand and logos and marketing plans. I am truly reinvigorated and inspired right now.

I'll write more. The delay was that I just got internet set up at home this past Saturday. Could I have moved more slowly. Don't think so. More to come!

Reinvigorated!

I can't tell you how excited I am about the possibilities of life again! Wow! What a difference a month makes... just a month ago, I was extremely low. My prospects were not good. Since opening myself up, everything has changed. I'm moving to Chicago! And I am so excited. Even the thought of snow can't damper my spirits right now. So, since my last post, I've accepted the position, flew to Chicago and found a great apartment to rent in Lakeview.

I flew in last Wednesday and my Aunt picked me up from the airport. We drove around and the first few neighborhoods we saw were ok. I was pretty underwhelmed. I kept telling myself that it would be ok... I would grow to love it. But then we picked up my cousin and she drove us to Lakeview and I was like, this is it! Love it!

The next day we went and looked at several rentals I found on CraigsList. Again, very underwhelmed. I was getting really worried... (p.s. can I tell you how surprised I am at how expensive it is to rent there... as much or more than when I was renting in La Jolla, CA). Then I put it out there, like in The Secret, that I was going to find a fabulous place to live in. And then we stopped at a real estate office and the next place I saw was it! Right on the main street of Lakeview above a bakery, next to a bar and ice cream shop! Two blocks from Anthropologie! Two blocks!!!! A block from the grocery store. The street is lined with boutiques and salons and restaurants and is very safe. The place itself is charming, hardwood floors, bay window, built in hutch. Kitchen and bathroom old and dated. But wait, it gets better. The next day after signing my lease, the leasing agent calls and says the landlord wants to gut the bathroom and re-do it with granite and marble!! Gut it!!! Woot!!! So excited!!

Anyway, I'm so happy! Yeah for me!

How TO Hire Someone

Well, it's been a year since I was laid off by Dot HELL and the first few months were really enjoyable. The last few months... not so much, very stressful. I've found it really difficult to find the right opportunity here in San Diego. I've interviewed with just about everyone, Sony, PetCo, Intuit, Iomega and many others. Finding the right level of challenge, growth opportunity and salary has proven to be extremely difficult. For some reason, companies here in San Diego don't want to pay for the marketing expertise that I have developed over the years. I've worked for some really big companies, Sprint, CompUSA and Gateway and have managed some really remarkable marketing programs.

Anyway, after one year of searching San Diego, I've come up empty handed. But after a week and a half of opening up my search to outside of San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago to be exact, I have a job offer! How amazing is that!

I've not accepted yet, some details to work out... but looks like I'm leaving San Diego... for the time being at least. I find it amazing that there are companies out there that are willing to pay for my relocation across the country and pay me exceptionally well, yet companies in San Diego are not.

So, this is news to many of my friends out there... I'll send out an email announcement once it's finalized and I wrap up some details personally and with some of my clients. It'll be a couple of weeks so I'll be able to see everyone before I go. Oh, and the opportunity is outstanding. I'll provide more details on that as well.

Thanks to everyone for your support over the last year. When I make the move I'll continue to post to this blog, so you can continue to follow hopefully mostly UPs from here on out!

XOXO
SBG

Boredom...

Sorry I've not posted in awhile. The whole process of being told I had a job offer and then it disappearing really got me down. There were some other factors as well, but I was really in the dumps. I can't say I'm totally better now, but I'm working on it. The fact that I'm alone all day long doesn't help. My mind starts a going and sometimes just doesn't stop.

So, my freelance business is not going as gangbusters as I had hoped and I've not done a thing about my other business idea. I've been experiencing alot of doubt about my abilities over the last few months. I'm also sick with worry about money. So I've opened up my job search to outside of San Diego. Chicago and San Francisco to be specific. And I have been interviewing for a position in one of those cities. The hiring manager today said he wants me to come out for a face-to-face. I'm not over joyed by the idea of moving. Starting over, building new friendships. It takes a while to build strong friendships.

So we'll see... stay tuned.

How NOT to Hire Someone - Part II

So, in part I of this saga, you learned how I'd been back burnered by a company that I had been interviewing with. When I made this post, following my second interview with the CEO, I wasn't sure what to do. My good friend Eydie called and offered me the advice of contacting the VP of Marketing, the hiring manager, to address any concerns that he had and the CEO had again to be sure that he had the ammunition to fight for me. Which I did. I left three voice mails for the VP and sent one follow up email. But I didn't hear from him until two days later when he sent this email:

Got your messages. Sorry about the delay. I spoke with the CEO and let me give you an update.

1) CEO has been asking me about marketing and our long term plan. he wants to invest a lot more money in marketing for a number of reasons in 2H’07.

2) As such, he wants to make sure whomever we bring in for Marketing is a real pro.

3) I represented that I believe you are very good, and your references where solid.

4) The CEO wants me to investigate one other candidate that he has forwarded. We are interviewing them on Friday.

I apologize for the process. This is not how I like to work. However, he’s the boss. I will let you know where we stand on Monday.

So, Monday came and went... didn't hear anything. So Tuesday at the end of the day, I sent a follow up note, just asking if he had made a decision. I've not heard a thing from him. I can not believe that now, after he said there was an offer for me, that he won't even call to let me know that they are going with some one else. No apology or anything. Really can't believe that! A new low for the job search process.

Happy Earth Day

Today is the 22nd annual Earth Day celebration. The earth's atmosphere continues to get warmer and warmer, which will ultimately turn many green areas into deserts; stories have been written about lack of snow in the coldest of locales. But how can one person make a difference? Here are some facts, and figures from the April 16th, Newsweek.

• If every household in America switched out one compact fluorescent bulb, it would reduce energy consumption as much as taking a million cars off the road
• Production of bottles for bottled water consumers over 1.5 million barrels of oil a year. Even worse is the energy squandered on shipping water halfway around the world. As a result, you pay more for a bottle of water than equivalent amount of gasoline.

This fact is from the ABC 20/20 broadcast on Friday.

• If everyone in the U.S. started getting 30 miles to the gallon we could end our dependency on foreign oil by 2025!
  

Imagine. There are many ways to make an impact and if you just made one little change, it would have a snowball's affect.

p.s. Today, Home Depot is giving away 1,000,000 Compact Flourescent lightbulbs today! Here is your chance to make a switch.

Wordless Wednesday

Quiver tree sunset
Originally uploaded by Jumbo22.

Fun San Diego Event

Here is something that falls into the best kept secret, do that again category! Saturday night I headed over to Ray Street in North Park for the monthly Ray At Night event with some friends. Basically, Ray Street is home to several art galleries and the second Saturday of the month all the Galleries celebrate the opening of an artist at the same time. They close the street off and there are bands and DJs, wine, cheese, beer and of course Art! All sorts of art, good art, bad art, mostly very contemporary art. Something for everyone. Make sure you save the date for May 12, and check it out. Lots of people, very social and entertaining. Great people watching.

Anyway, afterwards, we headed over to Apertivo for dinner. Apertivo offers Italian Tapas and wine. A very small place, with great food. With small plates you can try many different tastes. The wine selection was great and service was good. Kitchen got busy... as the restaurant filled up. We waited about 20 minutes for a table... it flew by. Definitely would go again. Finally, after that we headed over to Heaven Sent Desserts for some rich indulgence! We tried four desserts and the thumbs up winner among all of us was the Apple Tart. Delicious!

The only thing that would have made the night better would have been some actual art purchases or some shopping at the fabulous boutiques in the area... maybe next month.

How NOT to Hire Someone

As you know I was laid off last May from my job with Dot Hell. I interviewed actively from June to December, early January, when I decided to really focus on building a freelancing business and work on my other business idea. But back on Friday, March 9th I interviewed with a software company here in San Diego. The opportunity came about through networking which proves that networking does work... however, I'm so disenchanted with the hiring process I want to cry.

I interview with SIX people in a four hour time frame March 9th, including the CEO. I did my due diligence following up once a week with the hiring manager. On March 27th, I get this email:

thanks Sarah. I made a recommendation to the CEO to bring you on board. He is in NY today and I should hear from him later. Let me talk to him and I will give you a call later today or tomorrow.

Will need references – I assume you have them. Just 2 please.

Then don't hear from him, even though he said he would call. So I follow up a week later and receive an email from him to call him. So I do, thinking this sucks that I have to call this guy to hear that they are going with someone else. But when I do call I hear from him that he wanted to talk salary and would craft an offer letter. I get this email Monday of this week:

We are close. I setup the offer letter. Our CEO has to review and when he gets it back to me, I can send over.

Then on Tuesday, I get a call from the CEO's assistant requesting a follow-up phone interview for Thursday. She calls on Wednesday, asking to re-schedule for a face-to-face interview on Friday. So, went on the interview today and now I hear that there are a couple of additional candidates they want to meet with before making a decision. That I'm the only one they've brought in for a second round, everyone likes me... and they'll get back to me.

I'm so F'ing sick of being on the back burner. At this point I want to tell them step off. This is crap! I am so over the job interview process. It's clear to me that my future manager can't get decisions approved by the CEO.

This is my life too. This is a horrible experience from my perspective and really gives me doubt about working for this company. I really want to opt-out. I'm going to give the weekend to think about it and if I feel the same way on Monday, I probably will.

Wordless Wednesday

Fuerteventura beach - before sunrise
Originally uploaded by @t..

What's it going to take?

I wanted to share with you an editorial featured in the April 10, 2007 issue of Business Week about an organization called Catalyst, titled "A Little Shame Goes a Long Way".

The article in Business Week was about how the organization has stopped naming companies that don't have women in the top ranks of the company. The reason:

President Ilene H. Lang says it takes too much time and there's little value to publishing the data by company.

When I went to their website and read the press release about the 2006 Census of Women in Fortune 500 Corporate Officer and Board Positions, I was shocked by a prominent statement:

Corporate Officers and Top Earners: At the current rate of change, it could take
women 47 years to reach parity with men as corporate officers of Fortune 500
companies.

The mission of Catalyst as stated on their website is:

Catalyst is the leading research and advisory organization working with businesses and the professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. As an independent, nonprofit membership organization, Catalyst conducts research on all aspects of women’s career advancement and provides strategic and web-based consulting services globally. With the support and confidence of member corporations and firms, Catalyst remains connected to business and its changing needs. In addition, Catalyst honors exemplary business initiatives that promote women’s leadership with the annual Catalyst Award. With offices in New York, San Jose, and Toronto, Catalyst is consistently ranked No. 1 among U.S. nonprofits focused on women’s issues by The American Institute of Philanthropy.

I don't really consider myself a feminist, but since moving to San Diego and during this job search, I'm frustrated by the lack of mentoring among the women of San Diego and frustrated with the low pay that company's are offering me for my experience, it sort of drives me towards that position. In Dallas, I considered one of my former managers my mentor, but since moving to San Diego have lost touch with her. When I was at Gateway, I had high-hopes that Sanders might fill that role, but the Kernel, has become a joke amongst several of my peers based on her poor management and leadership. It's such a shame, because she could have really been a fantastic mentor had she not been so Bi-polar. And on the salary issue, I know that there are men in marketing roles out there that are being paid plenty and I have the same or better experience! It's so frustrating.

This story just really hit home and I agree with the author that perhaps Catalyst should start humiliating the male corporate leaders to facilitate change. It seems to be working in the Don Imus situation... really don't understand why there is name calling in this world still. Haven't people learned their lesson. I do find it sad that in order to facilitate change, men have to be bullied and shamed in order to make it happen.

But what gets me about the article is this last statement:

That Lang insists nobody cares about such specific information-"except for a couple of people in the press" -may say much about the mindset in today's corporate suites.

What are your thoughts?

Bayside Concert

Last night I went to see one of my favorite performers, John Legend, at Bayside venue by Viejas at the Embarcadero Park South. I'm a huge fan of John Legend and his opening act was Corrine Bailey Rae, who is also a terrific performer, so I was really excited to see this show. I'd never seen a show at this venue and really didn't know what to expect.

The location is really great... right behind the Convention Center on the Bay facing west. So as the sun set, the clouds were all pink and purple and you could see the marine layer float in. However, once the sun went down it got really cold, really fast. I really felt bad for this girl in front of us who just had on this tiny little cotton top and shorts!!! It was probably in the 50's last night. Typically, they don't have seating at this venue and people just bring blankets. But last night there was seating, which was great... but last night it seemed like the speakers weren't loud enough. I kept looking around and noticed people just sitting around like they were at a lecture... not at a concert. I was dancing and singing... I think that perhaps they kept the speakers low, because of recent complaints from the millionaires that live on Coronado. Apparently the music in the past has disturbed their peace. Anyway read more about that here.

John Legend put on a good performance. He had some new re-mixes, but very little new material since I saw him perform at the HOB in November. As we were walking out we discovered you can sit outside the fences and here the music. There were people with picnics and blankets. Seemed fun.


I took this photo of the back of the Convention Center as we were leaving. It's pretty neat. (Neat is such a weird word... can't believe I justed used it in a sentence.) But the stairs light up and reflect back on the bay. Its kind of small, I took it on my cell phone.

Check out a concert at Bayside sometime, fun experience!

Wordless Wednesday

The perfect wedding.
Originally uploaded by luisa_m_c_m_cruz.