Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Quarter Life Crisis - Resolved

Ok, so following up to my last post.  I still can't say I have it totally figured out, BUT, seriously, why am I in such a rush to move on?  I mean, I have a kickass schedule, travel a ton, and I see all my friends plenty anyways.  If I move, I risk giving up all of those things.  Granted, I can't keep things the way they are forever, I need to promote myself eventually, but I might as well live it up while I can.   Also, Flagstaff is an awesome place.   Its beautiful, four seasons, plenty of severe weather to entertain me, nice location, I love my job, and my management has been so good to me, why run away from all that???   So my plan is more or less, stick it out in Flagstaff, and only consider applying for jobs in highly desirable locations.  In the mean time, I'll continue to build up my resume to be top notch, so I'll be as competitive as possible when time comes to apply for something else.

My greatest fear would be moving somewhere less desirable, with a less flexible schedule, and crappy management.  Then I would really be upset, so, I might as well be picky, may mean I'll be here longer, but hopefully I'll end up where I really want to be long term.  It's still weird being the kid who always had a plan, and not having one now, but I guess that just keeps things interesting!

And as always, a music video post.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ahh Life

So this is kinda of a personal rant I really don't expect anyone to read.  Just words on paper mostly.  So I'm at a weird point in my life where I seriously have no idea where it's going.   This really bothers me, seeing as how I've always had a plan.  I applied for a job back home, but unfortunately didn't get it.  All good, but I have a feeling the odds of getting back to the Rogue Valley are pretty slim for the next few years.  So plan B???  I have no idea. 

I love the Pacific Northwest, and would love to get back to it, but getting into Portland/Seattle/Spokane won't be easy, and competition is fierce.  I'm not sure that's a plan worth waiting on, seeing as how there is no guarantees anyways, even if I did wait for openings.  I would love to get back to the Front Range region where I have a large of network of friends, though I wouldn't want to live there forever, and friends scatter over time. 

Then there's the midwest.  If you had asked me 5 or 10 years ago, that would be exactly where I'd want to go.  Tornado Alley!  But anymore, I'm not sure that alone would make me content living somewhere.   Ideally I'd end up a place where I know people already.  But, if I stuck to that rule exclusively, that'd be like 5 offices. I don't want to be tooo picky and risk never getting promoted to forecaster.  Argh. It's so complicated. Why can't I just pick a place to transfer to and that could be it! I really wish it was that easy.

And finally, how eager am I to get out of Flagstaff? To be honest, I kinda love Flagstaff. I hated it when I first moved here, mostly because I felt so isolated. But things have improved and I've learned how to manage my time to still keep in touch with people.   Flagstaff is fantastic, 4 seasons, college town, good location, storms, lots of snow, what's not to love?!?!  I also have wonderful management and a killer schedule which is very forgiving in terms of time off, I can not complain at all.  So wherever I go, I would want to trade up, as I'm I'd be giving up some pretty awesome stuff here.  So I don't know what to do.

That is all, my little rant about my career path. I love my job, I just wish I had a little more power to dictate where I end up.  I guess that's the real world for ya.



On a brighter note, I'm really loving this song right now.  Later.