Routines and Menus

Real life - it's a rather fascinating concept. One that I am slowly transitioning into. First things first...

Job

I delegate well, and I organize and manage well - I do not deal with excuses, blameshifting, or avoiding responsibilities well. When I say this - I mean that when others try and do anything on the previous list, it tries my patience. Big time. So, I'm trying to remember that it's sugar and honey (as opposed to vinegar) and that I need to remember to build in time to go for a run at least twice a week.

Big projects that are in full swing:

10 Ideas Series distribution - a massive undertaking and one that I'm coordinating. Whoo hoo. This involves: collecting all addresses of chapter leaders (so each school/chapter gets two copies), adding in the right number of extra journals for authors that wrote at that school (and tracking down individuals who were not at a chapter or who have graduated); ordering enough envelopes for sending these all out (mostly done); printing out address labels so no one gets a writers' cramp (so not done yet); getting 200+ sets of journals tied up (six journals per set) with ribbons so they can be set out looking nicely (about 15 are done); and finally, getting them to the damn post-office (and we're shipping media mail which I don't think they come pick up). grrrr. Fun? Well, no. Necessary? without a doubt.

I should note here that our science journal "Catalyst" also needs to be more specifically distributed to chapters and authors - and that this project is also a current shit show. Whip Cracking? You bet.....but seriously, I don't have enough hands for all the whips I'm supposed to be cracking.

Next Years' 10 Ideas Series Action Plan

Happily, this project is largely completed. I had to begin by talking to our policy director and head of the editorial board, as well as our layout specialist to make sure the dates I settled on were agreeable to all teams involved. Then I had to write out what would happen and when. Next came a memorandum on the editing communication between the editorial board and the policy strategists (about the selection and notification process). Then I had to create a submission form for all who submit pieces....and finally, this stuff has to be uploaded into a google calendar (and this last step is the only one that hasn't really been completed). Score.

Annual Fundraiser:

Previously, left something to be desired in terms of coordination, organization and professionalism. Oh well, live and learn. But now, it's my baby (one of many). I've laid out a calendar, thought through all the steps to the process (coordinating between our office and our NY office); what materials we need, who we're targeting, if we should do an email and a hard copy mailing; etc etc etc. This is a huge thing though and it's only going to get more stressful as time goes on. Seriously though, it can wait until after the 10 ideas go out next week. But they do have to go out.

Then there are the various odds and ends, Thursday I send out the internal staff blast, Monday is our staff meeting and my meeting with Hilary - Tuesday is our all office (NY DC and Hyde Park) call at 3:30. Monday I've got to get my bank account set up (yah real life!). I've started going out some and seeing friends who are here. Tuesday I have an NCIS night with the family I've stayed with in the past.

Overall though, I'm finally starting to figure things out and settle in. There are a few new things that continually come up and things that I need to deal with - but all-in-all it's under control.

The menu and eating thing has been the most interesting (I'm sure many of you know that I don't cook)...bake maybe, cook? hahahah. But, although the house always has food (if I get totally overwhelmed and don't have time), I prefer to do my own thing.

Sample menu for this week. Goals? Easy - somewhat well balanced, not time consuming, avoid buying lunch, and for a total eating bill of about 50 dollars. See if you agree (the food bill for today by the way was 41.98).

Monday:
Lunch: Cheese and Tomato sandwich; tortilla chips (10 minutes in the morning to make)
Dinner: Tuna and Potato Casserole (left overs)

Tuesday:
Lunch: Shrimp Caeser Salad (cooking shrimp on the weekend) (monday night prep)
Dinner: NCIS night

Wednesday:
Lunch (Chicken -rice and steamed veggie) - all cooked on the weekend
Dinner: Pasta, salad and garlic bread (probably about 25 minutes to cook, heat sauce, create salad, garlic bread is already pre-made, so good!)

Thursday:
Lunch: (chicken rice and steamed veggie) - ibid
Dinner (Salad and pizza) (oven, rabbit food chopping)

Friday - too far ahead to think about....

So - I think that's about it for now. It's Saturday, been sleeping in the past two days, tonight I'll do some food preparation for this week - do laundry and watch a movie...maybe do some work as well. Last night I went into Dupont, had some coffee and a drink with one friend and dinner and more drinks with another friend at the James Hoban (named after the dude who designed the house over there at 1600 PA Ave).

This weekend (the holiday one), I'll probably work from home on Monday and I'm headed to the Berkshires on the 15th. Reunion at Middlebury, week working from home and probably visiting a few schools, and then the Yale Fall Conference in New Haven on the 23rd and 24th, I'll fly back to DC on the 26th.

Some Daily Job Details

I had a wonderful time at my friend's wedding last weekend, and a great visit with many professors and friends up at Middlebury. There is something odd returning to the institution after getting a diploma from them; public safety and I will have an epic battle over tickets until the end of time. I have to park in town next time most likely. Go figure.

Anyway, I realized that even though I love the campus, and absolutely loved chatting with the professors I managed to visit with, that I am also an ex-student. I can't go back, maybe grad school, but I couldn't imagine myself back in that world, in any true sense. I've moved on, something has changed, things are different.

I have just gotten back to work again - although I worked while I was gone as well. Things in the office are busy, but I'm so ridiculously productive it almost drives the people I work with nuts. I'll probably slow down after the initial rush wears off. Honestly though, our national office is still getting the hang of what it means to serve students - our hope is clear, but what guides our work is important. If we want to engage, empower and promote students in everything we do - it also requires that we do just that all the time. If we do not respond to them, do not solve their problems, then really - we're just undermining our own legitimacy. I am simply not prepared to let that happen - so a lot of my job involves ensuring that we as a staff are keeping up with the needs of our network. It's a small office, and there is a lot to do beyond that, but our students won't trust us, nor will they participate in our activities or work with us unless we prove that we are responsive. Just as a general context.

My day to day responsibilities thus far have been a mix. I've gone through all our old chapter folders in the office, made cover sheets, updated them and created a new list of chapters in our network. I've taken all our old google documents (shared online docs through gmail) where we kept records of last year's chapter work, formated them, printed them and filed them in the chapter folders. It is the first step towards building a historical record of work and development. A lot of the processes and systems I create and implement will be part of making the office run more smoothly and building institutional memory for years to come. For example, when a chapter orders materials, there was no centralized place for tracking all the information. My first step was making sure that a google doc got created, and then that our organizing team (regional coordinators) got shared on it - so they can update it as they get requests. The office needs to stay on top of the requests. I ask for materials, shipping addresses, quanity, date it is needed by, payment method etc. So far that is ironing out well. If a chapter needs to pay for a banner (the only material we provide that we ask them to cover some of the cost for), they'll send us a check (I needed to create a procedure for processing those so we know they paid) or they ask for a grant (I needed to make sure we have a process for tracking those). So basically, in regards to banners, we know how much money we paid, how much we "gave" as grants to chapters, and how much chapters gave us towards the total cost of those banners. Good times. The grant process applies to anything that a student asks for. By looking in their folders, we can see all the printouts of grant requests (and their approved/denied status) and know how much "chapter service money we provided). So there are things like that.

Then there is the project of building up our alumni network, both for money, but also for the benefits it offers our current students. Another project I am beginning to get on board with this week after work with a group of alumni over dinner (and two other office colleagues).

Next, we're doing our annual fundraiser soon, and it's always been a bit of a mess - I've been asked to tighten up the process and make sure it runs smoothly this year; I think I'll also end up pulling together a 2008-2009 annual report for potential donors.

Then there is follow up from our Hyde Park Summit, I sent out a survey, and I have responses from students that I need to analyze, and make a series of recommendations and observations fairly soon to help guide our work and make sure we're addressing the feedback and concerns of our membership and improving our own performance at the national office.

I'm also in charge of doing lots of website updates, and responding to a number of student questions about the site itself (for those of you who know my lack of computer skills, it's probably funny). http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/
That website does take up a lot of my time though. I'm also uploading resources and whatnot for students for chapter maintance and policy writing. My recent project was to create google web forms for students and embed them in the webpage so students can request materials (a notch above the google doc that regional coordinators enter information into) or request a policy training from us.

I've been taking care of much of the custom banners that have been ordered recently, and making sure students get them.

Another project of mine is doing the internal staff email blasts every week, so that we're all on the same page about big stuff (usually three news items); I take notes on our conference calls every other Sunday evening as well.


I figure those things will keep me busy well into October, but come the end of October, we'll be seeing more student policy work, more success stories and many regional events. I'm sure something will come from that.

As you can tell from the wordy outline above, lots goes on and there is a lot to do - it's never dull.

Vacation Already

I know I'm spoiled by my new job, in the sense that I get a vacation already. Honestly, it's a perk for accepting far less monetarily than I'm worth, and I won't be saying that often. I'm home for a wedding, as the maid of honor (best friend from high school is getting married), I wanted to be around for her as moral support. Good news? I can do that, and work from home, and relax a little and regroup. The first days of work went well, and although some whip cracking had to happen, for the most part things are peachy.

Hilary, our executive director, is going to Spain for ten days, so I'm trying to keep up with key things out of office, and we have two staffers there right now. It's going to be a bit hectic, but I'm busy making a list of things (in addition to Hilary's) that I can do from here.

They include: backing up all of last years' chapter records and filing them in hardcopy when I return to the office, continuing to update the new website for when we go live in a few days, make sure chapter swag materials are shipped to students asap, doing an analysis of the feedback we're getting from our hyde park summit in August and writing up a series of recommendations for the national office for the fall, designing google web forms so students can easily request trainings and materials online, solidifying processes for dealing with incoming checks, grant requests, material requests and travel reimbursements, and putting out fires as they (frequently) arise.

So considering I'm working Tues-Thurs and then am out of touch at the wedding this weekend, I'll have plenty to do. I wouldn't have it any other way, but still.

Then on Tuesday, I have an event I've been invited to, and provided I can make it back to DC in time, I'll begin to do all that "networking" and trying to establish myself within the DC progressive network itself. I'm finding when I pitch and discuss the organization these days that I believe in it even more than I used to. Perhaps it's being on the national level, and seeing how interactions with students empower them and make them believe that they have true power and potential. Roosevelt is a great compliment to classroom work, and it certainly was that for me for all those years. I never imagined that what was a student extracurricular that sounded a bit off the wall would result in an opportunity like this - apparently hard work and some faith do go a long way.

Friends are headed back to Midd and started classes today - the fact that I'm not going is weird and slightly unsettling, but on a general level, it was time for me to move on and I know this. That doesn't mean it's easy - but it does mean that I am ready to do this, in most ways.

My mom and I hosted our annual labor day picnic for all the farms' employees and their spouses and some alumni as well. We ate delicious food, grilled, picked blueberries from our patch and played hours of badmitton. It was so relaxing and wonderful to catch up with individuals who are really part of our greater family. I'm very lucky.

The First Day, was His Last

Senator Ted Kennedy inspired respect - from countless people. That much is obvious. The night before my first day at work, I had trouble sleeping, and I fell asleep around 2AM feeling oddly unsettled. But I assumed that it was because I was starting work - and honestly, who wouldn't be a little weirded out?

Well - I woke up to my alarm, and a New York Times News Alert on my blackberry that Senator Kennedy had died. I start my own journey in DC, in politics, as this great public figure passed on. It keeps hitting me differently as these first two days pass. I keep wanting him to be around, because even though his critics cry out at him driving off a bridge,with a young woman who drowned (and I mean no disrespect to her here), I always felt like there was someone powerful that could truly speak for those that did not have that ability or luxery. In a country where not everyone is represented, not every group is as powerful as the next, Senator Kennedy fought for others. This has been rehashed in the news constantly - so I suppose I am being repetative. So instead, I want to focus on two things here.

The first is despite my incredible fortune, how difficult things can seem in the wider scheme.
The second is what hope is.

I'm incredibly lucky to be where I am right now - considering all of the things that are stacked against our individual selves, our friends and family, our livelihoods, our future generations, our country and the general world at large. The challenges are dauntingly high - and they seem overwhelming to many. Even with a 200,000 dollar education (and then some I suppose), I do not have many answers. What I do have is the strongest support system imaginable. I was raised by a village that is behind me 100+%. I head into work outwardly ignoring those who sit (who are homeless and poor) by the side of the road, my heart cringes painfully; I hope in a way it never stops. The work in front of our society, our world wide cultural diversity, is ridiculous.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream will never die." This statement, this claim is really about hope, not just for that day, as his supporters watched him conceed. It's about a longer kind of hope, and the work he did after showed that perhaps he was able to fulfill the pledge he made. I read this over and over again, and I wonder who will carry his work on. I am not a superstious person, not really -but I believe in a bit of symbolism. Walking the front door, headed for Dupont circle - I prepared myself for the unknown, for the work ahead. I hope to make a difference, in the cares and concerns of others. It is a goal I won't always live up to - everyone makes mistakes. He wouldn't want us to take more than a moment out of our day to mourn - there is work left to do - lots of it.

He spoke to children on Capitol Hill one afternoon while I was working in his office. He told them that although he was glad they came to Washington, and saw government at work - the real work was in their communities. He encouraged them to go home and give back. Give back. I know I don't do enough - but I hope to do more, as soon as I settle in. Each of us in our little way can give, a little is more than none. We don't all believe in one cause, or the same cause, but for Ted Kennedy, it seems as though he triumped over everything in one thing that really mattered - working for those who couldn't always find a place in politics, in policy.

My work with Roosevelt is diverse, hardly glamerous for the most part, but I am dedicated to making the national office efficient, streamlining our communication and building the strength of our network in the most detailed and technical ways. The bigger point is that we need a national office that is completely able to devote itself to students and their work.

Our new mission statement is: The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, a student policy organization, engages a new generation of students in unique progressive activism that empowers them as leaders and promotes their ideas for change.

We want a new generation of future leaders to be thinking about the big problems now, be voicing ideas, for the changes they believe we need. Ted Kennedy was one man - a brilliant leader, and dedicated public servant - but if he continue to inspire as the cornerstone of his legacy, that is as powerful. We hope that in many ways, there are other Ted Kennedys out there - perhaps not of the same celebrity, but with the same drive and passion. His death leaves an unavoidable hole for many, and in numerous ways. Step by step, we can all begin to fill it, for he alone could not possibly have accomplished all he dreamed of - that could happen. The dream did not die with Ted Kennedy - and in my own way, I hope that our organization this year, my work with it, and our determination can help continue to fulfill the dream that belongs not just to him, but to so many others.

So, new life in Maryland/DC. I'm excited to be here, it's a bit surreal in a way, but I can't wait to get it started.

I spent today riding around with the lovely hostess (a couple is putting me up out of the generosity of their hearts) - she showed me where everything was so I am well oriented to start out my life tomorrow. Good times. I bought enough food for a few weeks - lots for the freezer. I've started to collect recipes and create weekly menus to keep the diet well balanced, and also to remain easy and do-able after a day's work.

There's a tred mill here at the house, which I will be using to stay in shape (and a gym at work for a more intense workout if I want) - and a hot tub to relax in after a long day. All in all, it's sweet.

So the evening was spent unpacking, doing work on the new website, and communicating with people. Half my life will be on email now - horray!

Tomorrow, the am is going to be preparing for the afternoon. Have to check bus times, make a mini shopping list, (for my own test run using public transport instead of a car), and get work stuff and banking together.

Then to Metro Center for my commuter pass, (cheaper than smart trip), to the bank, to the office...and saving the library for another time. Then it's back to the house to learn how to cook Tilapia....and preparing for first legitimate day of work.

So far so good.....I keep meaning to post pictures from the Seattle trip. We'll see if that ever happens.

~T

Oops - shameful. Almost a month since my last update; which is why at this moment, most of you don't have this link yet. Good news since then though on several fronts, one is that I finally came home from Seattle! Although real life called, it wasn't entirely easy to wrap up life there. On the other hand I was well rested and ready to face post-grad reality.

In other news, I will be moving to Washington DC very soon to begin a year long position with the Roosevelt Institution. The work between now and then includes cleaning my room out completely (and maybe the attic), packing, and of course moving. I also have the Hyde Park annual conference, the staff retreat and a bachelorette party right in the middle of that. Plus, I am hopefully flying to DC next week for two days to familiarize myself with the office and HP agenda/staff retreat.

Real life begins - more later.

camping

Just came back from a two day camping trip - yes I went outside. It was in Eastern Washington where the landscape is vastly different, the sun beats down, and it is about 100 degrees. I certainly got a bit of a tan - and additionally, tons of bug bites. Damn those stupid misquitoes at our tent site- damn them.

Other than that, it was great. We saw a wonderful play (Steel Magnolias) and went on a beautiful walk into Rany Lake (short) - saw some great vistas and visited some towns. Twisp (where I got a famous cinn twist(p), watched the 4th of July parade, and then went to Winthrop (pictures forthcoming) had ice cream, went wine tasting, etc. Winthrop has building codes that ensure it looks like an old frontier town - kind of awesome.

Back in Western Washington now, starting to think about going home and so on. I'm reading three books now simultaneously and it's simply awesome.