Job Hunt: Infinity

I took a look at my Twitter timeline recently and realized that I've been doing a lot of re-tweeting and not using my own voice. So, I've been thinking about it. Mainly because when I look at other people's timelines, when I'm deciding whether or not to follow them, I consider their number of retweets.

I presented during #NASPA16. My presentation did not focus on what I do professionally or my research area. I didn't propose the session, my name wasn't listed with it. But there I was, in front of a room talking about what it means to be authentic and professional while using social media. But here's the rub: I'm having a hard time personally curating my Twitter feed in the past several weeks. My job isn't very difficult, it's basic support staff stuff. But it does become hectic and chaotic with a lot of moving parts. The past few weeks we had many visitors through my office, I worked on multiple projects with people from other offices, and I had meetings of my own to attend. And I got frustrated. There were days when I was angry. There were days that when I got home I wondered why I should go back the next day. Normally, I would tweet about these things as ambiguously as possible but I don't feel "normal" online at the moment A few weeks ag...

I really like the people I work with. My entire department is friendly, respectful, collegial, and amazing. The faculty members I work with are brilliant. They balance research and teaching. The advisors I work with work hard to keep up to date with their students, providing exceptional customer service. I am really good at my job. I support 15 faculty members, 2 professional academic advisors, 2 other staff members, about 500 undergraduate students, and 60 graduate students. I build class schedules, support faculty, create and support events, process all graduate student paperwork, admissions documents, and graduation documents, and I do most of it with a smile. This week has been filled with planning multiple faculty interviews along with getting ready for orientation and planning guest speakers. Yep! It's all going on at once. And today, shit hit the fan. Actually, it's been most of the week (yes, it's only Wednesday). I also have a lot going on personally. In one ...

My last tweet was April 29th. Well, the last one you probably saw, because I did respond to one person who tweets mainly about baseball and hockey. He's also our local Single A baseball team radio announcer, you likely don't follow him. Anyway. I took part in a conversation that I found really interesting. It was also full of assumptions. So, I did what I did in grad school: I challenged those assumptions. I treat Twitter like a giant grad school class. I respect you as a person, I probably follow you for a reason or follow a conversation for a reason, and if you're participating it's probably also for a reason. So, if I disagree with someone in a conversation, it's likely that I don't actually disagree with the person. I probably disagree with their opinion/answer/tweet. I might even agree with whatever was said, but I'm trying to poke holes into it so I can learn more about it. I like to consider things in their entirety, and I believe that your idea...

I have a jumble of thoughts inspired by a few different conversations on Twitter the past few days. They're a loosely linked, so I figured it would be easiest to just get it all down in one post. Let's see if anyone can follow this mess... Opinions Twitter is a place where we share opinions. Sometimes they're part of a larger, planned discussion. Sometimes one person's thought(s) can cause a flurry of ideas and conversation. We share a lot of opinions. Some people share opinions as if they're facts or as if their experience is the only experience. Anything else is wrong or nonexistent. X is the only way to find a job. Y is the only way I can do Z to be authentic to myself. Going through A and B is the only path to take. My problem with these: everyone's path or story is true to them. We can't devalue someone's path because it's different. My favorite ones have to do with valuing our knowledge and skills: If you don't identify with X, you...

From what I've been told, dinner at my parents' house can be difficult. Not because the food is bad or there isn't enough wine. It's how we talk, how we connect conversations, how we link things or ideas together that most people don't understand. My husband has told me that during the first few family dinners, he strategically kept his mouth full so he wouldn't have to participate. Now that I have a lot of alone time, I've realized I have those same dinner conversations in my head. The topics don't always line up in a logical way, but they make sense to me, and would probably make sense if I spent the time explaining how they are linked. Here's a fun example of the past few minutes of thinking (in the order in which it was thought). I've removed some of the really off-hand stuff, like it's almost time for bed, I need to fill and freeze the kongs, and I wish Washington would calm down already. I read " Congratulations Graduate; Elev...

As this year comes to a close, I want to share some reflections on 2013. I’ve worked hard to make them positive. Some of them were harder than others to make positive. I’ve also added in a few “hopes” (not resolutions!) for 2014. This isn’t an exhaustive list (nor is it in any particular order), just some of the items that made 2013 the year it was. I miss using my brain, but when I started reading for fun again I remembered what it was like to relax. I hope I can continue to make progress on and time for things that make me happy. The universe talks to us, we just have to listen and be brave enough to take the jump.  I’m hoping to listen to it more. I still love watching student succeed. I might not be a professional in Student Affairs, but I love the field and the work we do. I love the change we can make in this world. My husband is a kind, hard-working person who cares a lot about me. We’ve had a seriously questionable year, but we’ve made it through it. We joke ...