{disclaimer - i cut and pasted this from Word, and it would not recognize it as separate paragraphs... which made for one mean run on sentence of a post. hence, the --- lines between each paragraph... sorry. i really need to learn HTML.}
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On Friday, my new business cards showed up at my office. This was cool for several reasons… for one thing, because of all the office moves (since 2004 I think I’ve had five different offices?) I hadn’t had any cards in over a year. Plus, I’m currently in Arizona rolling out a new computer system to our pilot centers, so biz cards are a good thing to have with me. But, the coolest thing? They’ve got my new position title on them.
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Yep – I got the promotion! It was announced at our department meeting earlier this month and was effective January 14th – I’m now the Training Programs Manager for the Education & Training Department. Rock on! The position is newly created and so the scope is going to be evolving for awhile – it involves designing trainings, compiling our department’s training library and deciding which pieces can be offered as e-learning, consulting with other corporate departments to design and enhance their trainings and – and this is the cool part – developing our company’s Learning Management System, making our trainings more accessible to the field and tracking the continuing education of our 40,000+ employees.
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[FAQ’s]
Does this mean you have to move again?
Nope – the position’s based in the Portland office! I’m staying put.
Will you still have to travel?
Actually, the position only calls for 25% travel – so, once our new system rollout is complete at the end of June, I should see a dramatic drop in my travel...
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You know, as much as I love traveling, there’s a lot to be said for spending more consistent time in one place – specifically, Portland. Seriously, there’s a lot going on here.
Saturday afternoon was the First Ever Harry Potter Fans of Portland meetup. You see, when you’re sitting around at a coffeehouse with some new friends and the conversation turns to Harry Potter (as conversations are wont to do…), and Tiffanie says “we should start a Harry Potter meetup group” and you say, “I want to be the assistant organizer!” – she’s not kidding. That Harry Potter group was up on the meetup boards within days. What does one do at a Harry Potter meetup group, you may be wondering? We aren’t really sure either – and the way it played out, the group consisted of four people who already knew each other from the newbie group and one new person: Sue. Sue’s way cool; we’re hoping she and her boyfriend will come out with us again sometime. No clue what the future holds for the HP meetup group, but I’ll keep you posted.
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On Saturday night, the subculture went bowling. Total blast – plus, I managed to land myself in second place after the first game. By the second game, things started going downhill – I blame it partly on the strobe lights that began flashing at 10:30, when “cosmic bowling” began, and partly on the beer**. No matter – cosmic bowling may mean strobe lights, but it also means cheesy music. The highlight of my night was Tif and I singing to Paula Abdul at the top of our lungs… we are so freaking cool.
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{**Yes, it’s true. I’ve been sucked into the beer culture here. It was bound to happen – seriously, I dare you to move to Portland and not start drinking beer – but it was not without deliberate effort on Doug’s part, to be sure. With his help, I have discovered I like Belgian beers – and with the help of his friend Zach, I now know that I’m that I’m also a fan of amber ale. You learn something new everyday…}
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Check out pics of our latest adventures, including this weekend's bowling extravaganza, on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sreynolds/
[all photos courtesy of Tif.]
