Mar 01 2009
So, Aurora is not eating today. She’s not meowing at us, asking for food, or lurking around. She’s just sleeping, occasionally picking her head up for pettings.
I’m really worried about her. This is very unlike her. We’re going to have to take her into the vet tomorrow. I really hope she’s ok! I’m concerned that her kidneys are getting worse. I keep hoping it’s just an “off day” though!
Feb 22 2009
It’s Sunday night, and I’m thoroughly exhausted! I spent this entire weekend with John clearing out our guest room / office. It was NOT easy! My back is killing me, my hands are cut up and dry (from boxes), and my sinuses are throwing a huge fit!
We were able to get almost everything out of that room, barring a few boxes of books and some of my collages that are stacked neatly in the closet. Over the next two evenings, John & I have to clean out our storage bins in the garage and put all of our “non essentials” into storage – where they will live for 6 to 12 months… or more.
Once we get this place really clean, we’re going to start looking for a roommate! If you know anyone who LOVES cats (but doesn’t have any), wants to live in Downtown Glendale, and needs a semi-furnished room (bed, desks, night-stand, and shelves), let me know!
Tonight – while cleaning, I watched the Oscars. It was really good this year! I loved all the numbers with Hugh Jackman! He was awesome – very fun to watch! I’m mostly happy with who won awards. I am so glad Kate Winslet won for best actress! She’s just amazing, and her thank you speech was very heart-felt! I loved Slumdog, and I’m glad it won tons of awards; but, I really really wanted Milk to win Best Picture. I love that Sean Penn got best actor. It almost made up for it with his wonderful speech!
Tomorrow, I am doing a one-day temp job at Universal NBC as an Exec. Assist. It doesn’t pay much, but I hope to meet some great people! I will enjoy being at an office again (even if only for a short time). Home is great, but it can get lonely.
Willy Wonka is on now – nice end to my long night and weekend. Gracie is getting into trouble though (with the bags of stuff for storage); so, I better go pull her away from them now…
Feb 18 2009
Tonight, I went to an amazing Marketing Meet-Up! It was the best meet-up I’ve ever been to! I even signed up for some additional training and consulting for my business!
Here is what I learned tonight:
1. Quattrospace.com is a great place to network!
2. Sales People are actually problem solvers.
3. Problems are defined as a difference between your present state and desired state.
4. Closing a sale is our ability to create an environment where the client comes to the conclusion that our services solve their problems.
5. It’s all about the “opener” not the “close” when it comes to selling.
6. Set up a dialogue with your potential client in advance, lay out the conversation guidelines, tell them what you will be asking them and expecting of them:
a) Set your Mutually Beneficial Agreements to Qualify or Disqualify them quickly.
b) Uncover the problem
c) What is the client’s investment (time and money) that will solve their problem
d) Is the client the decision maker, the one who can decide to spend money to solve the problem? If not, who is? Set a new appt up with the decision maker(s).
e) Determine how the client believes you can solve their problem.
7. Ask open ended questions
8. Show respect and gain report
9. Be curious, authentic, and neutral
If you are the top of your industry, an industry leader:
1. You need to defend your spot
2. Keep up with technology and industry changes
3. Attack: yourself! Innovate, innovate, innovate – make your product obsolete and start over!
4. Have the courage, conviction and cash to innovate
5. Keep your strategy constant, but change your tactics often
6. You are a leader of people perceive you as one (they assume you have the most clients and success).
If you are not at the top, but are trying to get there:
1. Create your strategy to get there!
2. Planning: strategize, create your marketing tactics, then implement your plan
3. Your strategy should be based on your competition, not your internal thoughts about how great you are!
a) Figure out what sets you apart
b) Being the best in quality, experience, and service does NOT make you unique! Everyone thinks they are these things!
The guest speaker was Ike Krieger. He was amazing! He really changed the way I think about sales and clients. I signed up for a consulting session with him. I think I can really benefit from his guidance!
This Marketing Boot-Camp is in Woodland Hills on the 3rd Wednesday of every month from now on. The host, Andrew Sokol is a marketing / branding genius; and, i am really excited to work with him on my strategy!
Recommended Authors: Al Reese and Jack Trout’s marketing books
I can bring a guest for free on March 18th. Who wants to go with me?
Feb 11 2009
My feet are freezing! They’ve been very cold for days, and I can’t seem to get them warm (even in socks). Not sure why my circulation is so poor, but it sucks. I’m really tired of being cold!
In other news, I have a 2nd interview tomorrow for an Executive Assistant position. What scares me the most is that I could end up working in West Hollywood. For those of you who know LA, that’s about an hour to 1.5hr drive each way! I really hope they put me in their Valley office (Oxnard and the 405). I can get to that much easier!
Being an EA again will be ok – steady work, steady pay, fairly easy (albeit an abundant amount of) work. I’ve settled into the idea a bit more, as there really are no jobs out there in HR or Project Mgmt out there right now. The drive, or the possibility of having to move across town, is not as easy to wrap my head around. I really don’t want to leave Glendale. I love it here!
So, everyone send your good thoughts that they hire me at my requested salary and put me in their valley office! That’s my wish!!!!
I hope John comes home soon. I need him to warm my feet!!! 🙂
Feb 08 2009
Every day without a job is a day of many lessons – learning how to live on meager EDD payments, learning how to save money on food, learning how to save money on bills, learning how far I’m willing to go outside of my box to survive…
This past weekend I made some important decisions:
1) I’m not going out to eat (not even Taco Bell) or to the movies until I have a job,
2) I’m not going anywhere that costs money for parking or will cost too much in gas,
3) I’m going to mostly drink water to save money on groceries,
4) I’m making a lot of food at once so that I can spread my left-overs over many days, even if I’m tired of them,
5) I’m not going out for anyone’s birthday until I have a job that pays the bills (and more),
6) John & I are going to get a roommate in March if I don’t have a job by the last week in February
These are not easy decisions for me. I love going out for friend’s birthdays, seeing movies in the theater, getting coffee and lunch while I’m out on photo walks; and more than anything, I love having a quiet, peaceful place alone with John and the kitties! I really don’t want a roommate, but I may not have a choice soon!
I’m not comfortable with any of these decisions yet; but, I assume they will grow on me if I start throwing the ideas around in my head more.
So, on Saturday, I went to downtown to photograph the Chinese Lantern Festival. Adrienne paid for the bus fare. I brought a sandwich, granola bar and water with me. At night, John rented Hamlet 2 and we went over to Greg’s place to watch it.
Today, I went to Elysia’s for a FORM meeting, then came home. I worked on my bio and roommate ad. I’m not posting it until the last weekend in February. I want to make sure I get the apartment really clean first. I also have to box up everything in our office and take it to my dad’s. I made a tempeh sandwich tonight. I have enough left over for two more meals. 🙂
Tomorrow, I’m job hunting all day, then meeting with a staffing agency at 2pm, then I’m going to work on my photography business a bit (I want to get an album of my work done).
I hope I find a good job this week!
Feb 04 2009
So, I had my 2nd interview this morning with the most amazing job: Operations Supervisor of a women’s gym 2 blocks away from my apt! They LOVED me! They were going to hire me on the spot… but then, salary discussion. They couldn’t meet my minimum. The most they could offer me was about $12K less than my bare-bones minimum. It broke my heart to say no, but I just couldn’t accept the position. I wouldn’t be able to survive, even if I cut out my health insurance, prescriptions, cable, and timeshares. That’s how low the salary was.
It kills me that the jobs I would most enjoy have very low salaries that I can’t afford to live on. The jobs that pay well are far above my skill and experience level. The jobs that I qualify for that pay me survival rate + are not showing up in my searches. I am clueless as to what to do next.
I just spent the past hour emailing people I know on LinkedIn asking to introduce me to their connections in HR at other local companies. I’m really trying to network here! I even called all my staffing agencies today to let them know I’m open to Executive Assistant positions. Most said they didn’t have any, some said they had some paying much less than my minimum.
To top it off, I smashed my finger in the computer room door when I was feeding the cats. What a day! I hope tomorrow is a better one!
Feb 02 2009
This past weekend was a very productive weekend!
Friday night – went out with some photographers to photograph Downtown LA at night. Pix are not up yet, but will be soon.
Saturday – went to Chinatown for the Year of the Ox parade with some photographers, then went with John to Corey and Sara’s for poker. I only watched, but had a great night of conversation and chocolate brownies!
Sunday – had an accountant come over to help me refile my 2007 taxes. Turns out, I get money back! Yay!!! Then, I had a last minute headshot gig before John & I went to Von’s to buy groceries. There were tons of deals and the lines were ridiculous! We thought it’d be empty during the super bowl!
At night, John & I watched US of Tara and Kung Fu Panda. 🙂
Monday – Called a local business about where to send my resume, and they invited me in to fill out an application! I have an interview tomorrow! It’s for an operation supervisor position! Wish me luck!
Jan 29 2009
Every day, I hear the ice cream truck drive by.
Instead of picturing this:
I picture this:
Jan 29 2009
I watch a lot of TV. I don’t have a lot of shows on my schedule, but I leave CNN on almost all day when I am home job hunting. I don’t leave the house much as I can’t afford gas or food out.
My issue: commercials… they depress me! I see commercials about investing, planning for your retirement, buying a new car, taking a Caribbean vacation, or buying diamonds for your loved ones. Ugh! It angers me so much! I understand why they advertise, but it really depresses me. I want to say, “how dare they? don’t they know how many people wish they had money to invest or buy a car?” It is a small reminder of the money I don’t have and the future that’s on hold.
What I want: if I have to deal with commercials, they should be tailored to me! For instance, when you get laid-off, you should be able to update your personal account on your cable provider’s website stating that you’ve just been laid off. You should also be able to put in things like hobbies, relationship status, food preferences, environmental preferences, passions, likes and dislikes. Then, advertising could be tailored to you, just like it is online (based on your internet searches and bios on facebook).
As an unemployed person, I want to see commercials about deals at grocery stores, trailers of new shows coming up this season, job fairs coming to town, good deals on oil changes, discounts at hair salons, etc. Stuff that will be useful to me and not make me feel depressed.
When will this happen? Why hasn’t it happened already? Isn’t this 2009!
Jan 26 2009
This past Friday, I had an interview at the exact department of Disney that I had been wanting to work out since I started working for Disney in 2006! It’s Brand Management – for the whole company! Not only do I meet all of the qualifications and have the experience to do the job, I know Disney! I also know my Tween properties (which is the division I’d be working in)! This is perfect!!!!! The interview did go very well, and I should know on Wednesday. Visualize me getting this job, please!!!
Saturday was a fun day! John & I went to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was fantastic! I think it will win Best Picture! After, I took headshots of Ryan, then we all went to Josh & Jul’s place for Ryan, Josh, Jul & Michael’s birthday party! It was an awesome party! Lots of yummy drinks, great conversations, new friends, played Taboo, chilled with old friends… it was all around great fun!
Sunday – I headed to Elysia’s for a FORM (O3 World) meeting. We planned out some strategies to find some great sales / marketing people. We’ll be putting ads up soon. Lyse is doing great on FORM, losing weight fast! My aunt is kicking major butt too! FORM is pretty impressive, so I am hopeful (being the first distributors in California) that we can grow this as a business together!
In the evening, John & I watched the Pursuit of Happyness. It was a good movie. Janis had me watch it to help me get my head together. I can see why.
Later that night, John died my hair a brighter shade of red. It’s not bright enough still, but it’s MUCH closer! I am feeling more myself now. 🙂
Today, Lyse is hosting auditions for the FORM infomercial she’s producing. It will be a busy day, and hopefully a successful one!
Jan 21 2009
Holy crap, where did the week go? I have so much to do, yesterday! I can’t even figure out how to go back to Monday and get more shit done. It’s not like I am working!
I really need to get some photos edited and some post cards made to market my photography. I also need to write down some of my goals and plans for this year (immediate and future).
Today was very productive, however. I woke up at 10am, which was pretty late; but, I got laundry put away and dishes done within 30 min. I then started job hunting, while watching CNN. Almost no jobs posted today – boo! At 1pm, I did an intensive workout on my elliptical: 10 min on level 4, uphill, as fast as I could! It was intense, and I had to slow down after 8 minutes. I still burned a ton of calories and sweated a lot! After, I did some upper body strength training. I really pushed myself. After seeing the informercial for Chalean Extreme, I am totally motivated to increase muscle!
At 3pm, I went to Elysia’s to learn about FORM and to be a part of her get-together to grow her team of FORM distributors. I will become one as soon as I can get the starter kit. This stuff is freakin’ awesome! My aunt (who is a doctor) lost 10 lbs in two weeks, and she’s never lost weight before; and, she’s tried everything under the sun (that’s safe). She also has many patients on FORM, and they are all doing phenomenal! She’s making bank on this, and people are losing weight… it’s pretty damn cool!
Elysia lost 5lbs in one week! It’s not an appetite suppressant. It’s a natural hydro-gel that fills your stomach, convincing your brain that you are mostly full. It’s like gastric bypass without the surgery! This hydro-gel is in many of the foods that we eat each day. The amazing thing is that it is totally safe and doesn’t contain harmful or weird ingredients – like so many others! It’s ONE simple ingredient!
I trust Vivienne (my aunt), as she is very particular about what she puts in her body and offers her patients. She’s a nutritionist and focuses on herbal health care; so, I know this stuff is good! Another cool thing is that Heather Hanson, of the Biggest Loser, is the spokesperson for FORM. She had to leave Biggest Loser to have a baby, but still needed to lose the weight. Somehow, she found FORM (which was released in October 2008) and she’s already lost tons of weight! Lyse talked to Heather today… she’s very excited about FORM and very sincere about her progress. I’m super excited about it! It’s not that expensive either! I think this could actually be a good network marketing business – for once!
After the FORM get-together, I went to a Networking Meet-Up to network my photography business and meet new people. It was a great meet-up. I ended up staying so late that I missed the new Tim Roth show: Lie to Me. I really love good meet-ups! I met a marketing guy who really got me thinking about how I’m marking my photo business. I am going to go to his Marketing Boot Camp in Feb.
Tomorrow, I have my 2nd interview with CPO. It is to meet the COO, not really to interview for the job I applied for. I was told that I am not the perfect fit for that position, but that I am an excellent fit for the company. So, once I meet the COO, she’ll be able to call me when they have an opening for me. I sure hope something opens up soon: like next week! I really like it there!
It’s 11:37pm now, and I feel like today was a good day. Israel left Gaza, Obama signed in an ethics policy to help discourage lobbyists, and I feel like every day will be better than the day before as long as Obama keeps up his hard work and promises to be an honest and good President!
Jan 19 2009
Today is MLK Day, and the day before Inauguration Day. I can’t believe that we finally will have a new President tomorrow! Though times are really rough right now, but having a great President in office will mean that intelligent decisions will be made that will help people in the long run! I’m so excited!
Okay, recap time…
Friday – Had an interview in the morning. It was a good interview, but I was not remotely qualified for the position. The posting was vague and it looked like a good match. Once I met with one of the owners, we could both tell I did not have the background they were looking for. I wish companies would be more particular in their ads. It’s always good to interview, but it’s annoying to waste their (and my) time and energy. On the plus side, they were very impressed with me; so, that’s always nice!
I spend most of Friday job hunting, editing photos, running errands, etc.
Saturday – Woke up early, went to the North Hollywood (NoHo) Metro station to meet up with the Soul Stealers Photo group. It’s a meetup.com group! There were tons of people there!!! We took the Metro down to Hollywood & Highland, spent some time there, moved on to McArthur Park, then to Pershing Square, then Civic Center, and ended up at Union Station. It was so much fun! I spent the day with my friend Chuck and my new friends, Adrienne, Arzu, and Leslie. We kept up with most of the group as much as possible, but split up a few times. I really enjoyed this outing! It was a perfect day too!
Sunday – Woke up early again and went to Mike and Brooke’s place. I took some pix of them for a bit at a nearby city overlook. At 2pm, Allie & Ron met me at my place, and we walked around Glendale. I got some nice pix of them too! It was way to freakin’ hot on Sunday!
At night, I made a super yummy Tempeh sandwich. John & I hung out and watched TV for a bit before bed. It was a busy photo weekend, and a lot of fun!
Now, it’s Monday, time to job hunt again. Aurora’s at the vet getting X-Rays. She is having some IBS issues right now, and we need to see how to treat her. Poor girl! I don’t want my babies in pain. 🙁
This Thursday is my 2nd interview at CPO. I’m looking forward to that! I was told that I am not likely the best fit for the position (he said it was a compliment, so I guess I’m more skilled than that position calls for); but, they want me to come in to meet the COO to see if there’s another fit for me as they believe I would be a great match for the company’s culture! That’s pretty awesome! I hope there’s something soon!!!
Jan 18 2009
I made this amazing sandwich tonight! I am super full now too! Most of you know that I don’t eat meat. I also hate onions. I rarely cook with garlic these days due to the overwhelming after-taste. I like my food to be yummy, full of flavor, filling, and contain lots of nutrients. I am not saying this is low-fat, it’s not. It’s really freakin’ good though!
Ingredients
1/2 Patty – Tempeh (LightLife), I used Garden Veggie
3 – Small Mushrooms, I used white button (hand-picked from grocery store mushroom section)
1/2 – Green Pepper
10 – Spinach Leaves
1/3 Can – Pineapple Chunks
2 Tbsp – Light or Fat Free Mayo
1 Tbsp – Brown Mustard
1 Pinch – Sage
1 Pinch – Thyme
1 Pinch – Basil
1 cm Slice – Velveeta Cheese
5 inch – Sourdough Bread Roll (like a small Subway or Quiznos sub)
A little bit of butter / spread – enough to coat the mushrooms and green peppers (less than 1/4 inch slice)
Directions
Tempeh
* Boil Tempeh in water or veggie broth (or combo) for 10 minutes. Make sure the water covers the tempeh and that it is actually boiling before you put the Tempeh into it.
* Pour out liquid and put the Tempeh on tin-foil and throw it into the fridge until it’s cold. I left mine in the fridge overnight. The boiling will take the bitter taste out. The fridge will help firm it up. Boiling is a MUST, but you don’t have to firm it up if you don’t want to.
Veggies
* Chop and dice mushrooms and green peppers. Add them to a large saucepan. Add a little bit of butter or buttery-like substance to the pan. Turn on heat to medium-high.
* Once the mushrooms start to cook, turn down the heat to low. Add Thyme, Sage, and Basil, stir well. Add Mayo and Mustard, stir well. Turn up the heat to medium, stir all ingredients for about a minute.
* Add spinach to the top of the mixture, then cover.
* While mixture is steaming, chop up Tempeh into small cubes, then add it to pan. Stir all ingredients together (mixing in the spinach). Cover and let steam while you prep the bread.
* Microwave pineapples in a small bowl.
Bread
* Cut about a 4″ or 5″ sub-sandwich length roll (however much you think you can eat). Cut bread in half, like they do at Quiznos or Subway.
* Cut the Velveeta into thin slices.
* Lay slices of cheese on open-faced bread (both sides).
* Microwave bread / cheese for about 40 seconds (or until melted).
Combine
* Layer 1/2 the bread with pineapple chunks.
* Scoop Tempeh / Veggie mixture onto the other 1/2 of the bread.
* Close sandwich and chow down! Yum!!! This is messy, so use a plate and bring a fork!
Jan 11 2009
Over the past year, I have been trying to learn how to cook more vegetarian items. Sadly, I’ve encountered much failure, though I have come up with a few great meals. What I really want to learn is how to cook tempeh, firm tofu, seitan and quinoa without soy sauce or having to pan fry! I don’t want fried food every night, nor do I like soy sauce all that much.
I much prefer comfort food sauces: mushroom gravy, veggie broth, cream sauces, marinara sauces, and the like. I love thanksgiving food and italian food. I wish I could make a fake-meatball sub, a cheese fake-steak sandwich. I don’t want the flavor of soy or sweet/sour sauces. I don’t want sweet bbq either. I don’t like onions, and I don’t want to cook with them.
Do you guys have any suggestions? I have veggie cookbooks, and they are great; but, none of them teach how to cook without soy sauce, onions, or bbq sauce when it comes to veggie ‘meats’. Bah! I have had amazing ‘steaks’ and ‘burgers’ at restaurants, but they don’t share their recipes. I would really love to learn to cook protein-rich, low-fat meals with substance!
On a similar note, when I do cook, I make too much. Recipes call for 4 or 6, but I always cook just for me. John & I eat very differently. He likes chicken and asian flavors. We cook for ourselves. The thing is, I can’t eat the same meal 4 days in a row. I buy ingredients for the recipe, and am left with fresh veggies that never get eaten. I am left with left-overs that never get eaten, and I feel like I am wasting food and money. I made great egg salad, but only ate it 3 days in a row. I had enough left for another week’s worth of lunches, but I didn’t want it; so, I ended up tossing it after a week.
I made veggie stew, I used tons of fresh veggies, made enough for a family of 12 for two nights… I only ate it three days in a row, then a week went by… I tossed it. I am afraid to eat food after a week of it sitting in the fridge, untouched.
How do I make food for one? Cutting recipes into single or double servings is easy, but buying ingredients for one is hard! I end up with fresh stuff that goes bad, and I am terrible at planning other meals with those same ingredients. Bah!
Maybe I should just eat mixed frozen veggies and frozen meals more often… seems easier. I just wish it were cheaper! What I’d really love is a personal chef!
Jan 11 2009
I shot a reception tonight, and it went very well. I got some great shots, but having to use 800 ISO in low light conditions with a 40D is just not giving me the quality I want! I really want a Canon 5D Mark II. I know that I could easily use 800 with that camera and have beautifully clear pix without much grain at all! Here’s hoping for some extra bookings and funds in 2009!
In related news, my back is killing me! I was carrying a camera, bracket, and flash for 5 hours tonight. I really really want a massage! Sadly, John is still in NY (and he’s drunk right now); so, there’s no hope for my back until Tuesday. I will just take an advil before bed.
Right now, watching Sweeney Todd for the 5th or 6th time. I never get bored of this movie!