Well ladies and gentlemen I am completely done moving from my apartment in Lafayette! After two years away from Fort Wayne I officially live here now. It was a lot of heavy lifting and cleaning so now I get to rest up a bit (it's my day off today from work) and heal. Not a ton has happened between my last entry and now but I thought it was time to add a new one just the same.
First of all the new store has been really fun. Everyone there has made me feel very welcome and they all like to joke and laugh so it has been an easy transition and it keeps the energy up when those mid afternoon rushes happen. Drive through has taken some getting used to just like I thought it would but once you get the basics down, you get everything. It's all a matter of multitasking, greeting the customer while counting back change and handing off the drinks to the people right at the window then going back and confirming the new order and calling out the food you might need from your partners. It's not too bad but when there are cars lined up all the way out to the parking lot it starts to take a toll on me energy wise. I believe the next step for me is working more this next week with the manager and having him observe me in action and then hopefully the plan continues to move smoothly with the next step being a promotion back to Shift Supervisor. This should be happening in the next two to three weeks just about so a little bit of excitement coming I think.
Getting used to being back in the city hasn't been a terribly difficult process, once I got the routes memorized for driving to work and any place I like to hang out that was really all I needed. At this point it's more all about meeting new people and/or reconnecting with old friends. It's already been very hot here more often to start the summer and we've had a few storms (not the ones I've been hoping for yet but those will come eventually). I've been spending the rainy days either working or enjoying a coffee on my off days and reading or spending time with the family. I think the consensus is, so far, that it is good to have Jon back in the city.
Now what about my day dreaming of moving to Florida you might be asking. It is still going on, just about every day in fact. I still find a new apartment or two that I save to my favorites and keep looking at trying to see myself sitting in the living room, or making something to eat in the kitchen with that sliding door to the balcony open and the right music blaring. Of course laying by the pool is the next biggest daydream. For me, for some reason, the two biggest criteria for deciding whether or not to keep researching any given apartment is what does the pool area look like, and what does the kitchen look like. If both hold my attention I will then continue researching the rest of the apartment amenities. I'm still looking into the gulf side, mainly the cities or Bradenton, Tampa, and St. Petersburg. My vacation to that area of the state really stuck with me because of the weather and the water. I'll start branching out to nearby cities soon enough, but right now there are a ton of apartments in those three to look at.
Other than that and the usual self improvement that is always ongoing there really isn't a whole lot else to talk about. I feel I am kind of in the holding pattern right now, getting ready for the order to attack and start climbing the ranks at work and eventually take this act to Florida. My goal in addition to my usual reading is to start collecting people around me who will be very outspoken in terms of encouragement for my dream and hopefully people with high energy and who love to laugh and have a good time (not all about partying!). I think where I am at now I am in the very beginning stages of doing just that. I think that'll do it for today ladies and gentlemen. Have a great day wherever you are and, as always, thanks for reading!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Time For Another Change
That's right, I'm back everyone. After yet another long absence from the blogging world I return for what appears to be the last entry as a Shift Supervisor for the Purdue Memorial Union Starbucks. After two years back with the team I am taking a shot to move higher with the company and take one more step towards my goal of moving to Florida within a few years. I was thankfully able to time it so that I still have my apartment for a full month after switching jobs so I don't need one huge move, just a few trips back to Purdue now and then to clean the place out. I also was able to have my last day be the last day that this store is open before remodeling over the summer. Seemed fitting that the last day of the old store that I was a part of for seven years is also my last day here. There is still more I feel I could have done to improve this store, there is always more I could do, but I do feel that I changed this place for the better since coming back. The knowledge that the store I worked at and supervised is better off now than when I came in is really the greatest award I could hope for. It would mean that my studying has paid off and that maybe I do have the tools (tools that still need sharpened) to be a leader, not just a manager.
So it is back to Fort Wayne, my hometown, with me. A new store, new people, new challenges, but also new opportunities await me. What I do have going into this new endeavor is momentum. There is essentially no break between this job at Purdue ending and the new one beginning. At 3;30pm this Sunday I will have the car already loaded up with a lot of my belongings and I'm driving to Fort Wayne where my first shift is beginning Monday at 1pm! Good to have no gap so there is no time to get rusty or stagnant, the drawback being the same thing (no time to rest). I work four days I believe and then I have three days off which will be used to relax and get used to being back home. Toughest thing I think for me will be moving back home after being on my own for two years. It'll throw me off for sure, but only for a while. The positives far outweigh anything that could be seen as a negative. I'd say the biggest positive, even more than saving money, will be being near the family again (almost all of them live in Fort Wayne). There will be no shot at me being alone with my thoughts with nothing to do, therefore anxiety levels will plummet.
So here I am this last week on campus saying my goodbyes to the new friends I have made, but I am still within driving distance so it's more of a "see ya later" kinda deal. I'm not really too depressed about it because I had the luxury of knowing when my last days were here so I planned accordingly and so far I've been able to see everyone I wanted to say goodbye to. I can now go back home knowing that I have a couple dozen people here still pulling for me and that means a lot. At the moment, other than being on campus on a Friday, my days off have been a lot of the same but with a different feeling. It's been definitely more a feeling of excitement rather than anxiety. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to a new store and showing people what I can do. Over the last few months I have been talked up by a lot of people higher up in the management chain than I and so far they say I have definitely lived up to the praise. Now I get to show them back home that even though I've been at this company for almost eight years at a very busy store, my motor still does not stop. I hear they are very excited to have me on the team (and another store in Fort Wayne contacted me early on in the interview process and wanted to steal me away) so this should be a good time.
At the same time I know this won't all be about work. I am also looking at this as an opportunity to finally take more care of myself mentally and physically. I plan on getting a diet to gain weight started as well as a workout routine I can do at home and hopefully by the time I come back to visit Purdue to see the new store I'll be at a healthier weight and look pretty good which I know I can do I just need consistency in other areas of my life in order to focus on weight gain. There are some folks I want to hang out with that I know in the city (that I really didn't talk to as much as I would have liked until I moved away to Purdue). That should prove to be exciting as well in many ways I hope. Not going to get into why in this entry, I'll save it for a newer one down the road.
That's really all I got this round ladies and gentlemen. Other than a pretty good bout with anxiety the last few weeks I am finally getting back to my old self just in time to enjoy the next stage of my life. This stage, if my plan holds, will last three years at most before I am ready for the jump to Florida. Knowing that everyone I have worked with knows I am already ready for it, I can finally let myself believe that at the end of my time in Fort Wayne I will be ready. I have motivation, the network, the support system, momentum, the skill, and optimism. What more can I ask for? Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen, this is going to get interesting. As always, thanks for reading.
So it is back to Fort Wayne, my hometown, with me. A new store, new people, new challenges, but also new opportunities await me. What I do have going into this new endeavor is momentum. There is essentially no break between this job at Purdue ending and the new one beginning. At 3;30pm this Sunday I will have the car already loaded up with a lot of my belongings and I'm driving to Fort Wayne where my first shift is beginning Monday at 1pm! Good to have no gap so there is no time to get rusty or stagnant, the drawback being the same thing (no time to rest). I work four days I believe and then I have three days off which will be used to relax and get used to being back home. Toughest thing I think for me will be moving back home after being on my own for two years. It'll throw me off for sure, but only for a while. The positives far outweigh anything that could be seen as a negative. I'd say the biggest positive, even more than saving money, will be being near the family again (almost all of them live in Fort Wayne). There will be no shot at me being alone with my thoughts with nothing to do, therefore anxiety levels will plummet.
So here I am this last week on campus saying my goodbyes to the new friends I have made, but I am still within driving distance so it's more of a "see ya later" kinda deal. I'm not really too depressed about it because I had the luxury of knowing when my last days were here so I planned accordingly and so far I've been able to see everyone I wanted to say goodbye to. I can now go back home knowing that I have a couple dozen people here still pulling for me and that means a lot. At the moment, other than being on campus on a Friday, my days off have been a lot of the same but with a different feeling. It's been definitely more a feeling of excitement rather than anxiety. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to a new store and showing people what I can do. Over the last few months I have been talked up by a lot of people higher up in the management chain than I and so far they say I have definitely lived up to the praise. Now I get to show them back home that even though I've been at this company for almost eight years at a very busy store, my motor still does not stop. I hear they are very excited to have me on the team (and another store in Fort Wayne contacted me early on in the interview process and wanted to steal me away) so this should be a good time.
At the same time I know this won't all be about work. I am also looking at this as an opportunity to finally take more care of myself mentally and physically. I plan on getting a diet to gain weight started as well as a workout routine I can do at home and hopefully by the time I come back to visit Purdue to see the new store I'll be at a healthier weight and look pretty good which I know I can do I just need consistency in other areas of my life in order to focus on weight gain. There are some folks I want to hang out with that I know in the city (that I really didn't talk to as much as I would have liked until I moved away to Purdue). That should prove to be exciting as well in many ways I hope. Not going to get into why in this entry, I'll save it for a newer one down the road.
That's really all I got this round ladies and gentlemen. Other than a pretty good bout with anxiety the last few weeks I am finally getting back to my old self just in time to enjoy the next stage of my life. This stage, if my plan holds, will last three years at most before I am ready for the jump to Florida. Knowing that everyone I have worked with knows I am already ready for it, I can finally let myself believe that at the end of my time in Fort Wayne I will be ready. I have motivation, the network, the support system, momentum, the skill, and optimism. What more can I ask for? Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen, this is going to get interesting. As always, thanks for reading.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Jonny Mac is Back/Anti-Stagnation
Well after yet another extended hiatus from the blogging community I am back. I probably should have read my previous post as to not risk repeating anything but I think so much has occurred since then that I needn't worry about using old material. Let's get to it, then.
Well first of all Winter is already almost over. This is weird because Winter was supposed to be the season I set aside for myself to do the bulk of my writing. It helps with anxiety and all that. While there were a couple anxious moments peppered here and there I largely was able to get through them by simply bugging those closest to me until I felt reassured! While it is still cold outside I know that the Vernal Equinox is right around the corner.
The biggest change in terms of dominating my thinking, however, came in mid January right before classes started back up for everybody here and the new semester of work was about to begin. The student loan company upped the amount per month that they want from me and even though I technically can afford it on my budget, I can't sustain it over the long term and still afford those important things like food and gas. With a quick discussion with family I made the decision to start the wheels turning towards getting back to Fort Wayne to save some money. I didn't just stop at that. I got in contact with my District Manager for Purdue and set up a meeting to get a recommendation and see what kind of doors could be opened. Turned out she was fairly close to the DM's in Fort Wayne and put in a very strong word for me and now they are excited to meet me back home. I have already set up an interview with a Starbucks near the downtown area with the Store Manager AND District Manager at the same time. I was not officially told what the interview was for but I like to think they wouldn't bring in both heavy hitters unless it was for an Assistant Manager spot (which is what I specifically said in the emails I was interested in going after if at all possible). Late this month I have the interview set up and then I have a little getaway to Florida the day after for a week so that's not a bad set up. This is proof that when I turn on my focus and really go after something I really want I can really close in on it quick.
Here's the happy byproduct of all this: once I had the meeting with my DM now and then set up a meeting back home and heard how much I am needed in stores anywhere in the state (I was told I should be a Store Manager and if I was hired as a shift supervisor like I am now and I'm kept at that position it would be a major waste of potential and I would be the most underutilized supervisors my DM has seen) my confidence shot up. I noticed when speaking to my store manager I still defer to her as usual and run the important things by her but I started feeling more like an equal skill wise. I feel like now even though I am a shift supervisor it's like having a manager in the store almost every day. Long story short I guess you could say I am finally believing more in my own abilities after 7 years with the company and now I feel like maybe I can actually manage a store like people have been telling me I could for a while now!
Other than all that I am trying my best to manage the relationships in my life here while continuing to work hard and play even harder. Still continuing to self-assess and learn exactly how I work in order to better relate to others, I feel a very worthy goal and one more people ought to strive for. Over the last three months I believe a big piece that was missing has been discovered in what has come to be dubbed a "Writer's Personality". My feeling of being on the outside looking in is merely my proclivity for observing everyone and everything around me in order to better understand things. I may well be part of the group but I hardly ever feel like an important piece of the group and that is why. I am studying in order to re-tell an account of the fun nights out later. Once I can internalize this fact it will solve a long time problem I've had with myself.
Well gang I think this pretty well covers most everything new that I can think of. A lot to digest I know, definitely the most movement I've had in my life in quite some time! Hopefully I can remember to come in and make more entries now, maybe not every day or every week but hopefully more than one every 3 months! Thanks for hanging around and, as always, thanks for reading.
Well first of all Winter is already almost over. This is weird because Winter was supposed to be the season I set aside for myself to do the bulk of my writing. It helps with anxiety and all that. While there were a couple anxious moments peppered here and there I largely was able to get through them by simply bugging those closest to me until I felt reassured! While it is still cold outside I know that the Vernal Equinox is right around the corner.
The biggest change in terms of dominating my thinking, however, came in mid January right before classes started back up for everybody here and the new semester of work was about to begin. The student loan company upped the amount per month that they want from me and even though I technically can afford it on my budget, I can't sustain it over the long term and still afford those important things like food and gas. With a quick discussion with family I made the decision to start the wheels turning towards getting back to Fort Wayne to save some money. I didn't just stop at that. I got in contact with my District Manager for Purdue and set up a meeting to get a recommendation and see what kind of doors could be opened. Turned out she was fairly close to the DM's in Fort Wayne and put in a very strong word for me and now they are excited to meet me back home. I have already set up an interview with a Starbucks near the downtown area with the Store Manager AND District Manager at the same time. I was not officially told what the interview was for but I like to think they wouldn't bring in both heavy hitters unless it was for an Assistant Manager spot (which is what I specifically said in the emails I was interested in going after if at all possible). Late this month I have the interview set up and then I have a little getaway to Florida the day after for a week so that's not a bad set up. This is proof that when I turn on my focus and really go after something I really want I can really close in on it quick.
Here's the happy byproduct of all this: once I had the meeting with my DM now and then set up a meeting back home and heard how much I am needed in stores anywhere in the state (I was told I should be a Store Manager and if I was hired as a shift supervisor like I am now and I'm kept at that position it would be a major waste of potential and I would be the most underutilized supervisors my DM has seen) my confidence shot up. I noticed when speaking to my store manager I still defer to her as usual and run the important things by her but I started feeling more like an equal skill wise. I feel like now even though I am a shift supervisor it's like having a manager in the store almost every day. Long story short I guess you could say I am finally believing more in my own abilities after 7 years with the company and now I feel like maybe I can actually manage a store like people have been telling me I could for a while now!
Other than all that I am trying my best to manage the relationships in my life here while continuing to work hard and play even harder. Still continuing to self-assess and learn exactly how I work in order to better relate to others, I feel a very worthy goal and one more people ought to strive for. Over the last three months I believe a big piece that was missing has been discovered in what has come to be dubbed a "Writer's Personality". My feeling of being on the outside looking in is merely my proclivity for observing everyone and everything around me in order to better understand things. I may well be part of the group but I hardly ever feel like an important piece of the group and that is why. I am studying in order to re-tell an account of the fun nights out later. Once I can internalize this fact it will solve a long time problem I've had with myself.
Well gang I think this pretty well covers most everything new that I can think of. A lot to digest I know, definitely the most movement I've had in my life in quite some time! Hopefully I can remember to come in and make more entries now, maybe not every day or every week but hopefully more than one every 3 months! Thanks for hanging around and, as always, thanks for reading.
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