One of my best friends always invites me out to play golf, but I don’t go.  You see, I have never played the game (besides mini-golf), and I don’t know where to start.  But for me, part of the challenge I have is most of the people from work play, and quite often we have business meetings while playing a round.

I just found out the other day that the rest of the office has pooled together to come up with the money to get me a set of golf clubs.  In fact, they presented them to me on Friday’s board meeting.

I was shocked, and I didn’t know what to say.  It was one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone had ever got me, but I had to ask if any of them would give me some golf instruction.

As it turns out, the clubs were not the only thing they bought me.  They have also lined up a spot in the Arizona Golf School that I will attend in a couple of weeks time.  At the Academy of Golf there, I will be introduced to golf and learn how to play.

It will be so nice when I am done to be a part of the team – I have felt left out not knowing how to play golf.

I once had a job where I would travel to different university and college campuses with student credit card applications, trying to promote the company and get students to sign up. It was a fun job, and since I never had the opportunity to go to college, it gave me a little taste of what campus life was like.

I had always thought that credit cards for students was a great idea because there would never be another time in their lives when they would be as broke as they were at that moment. It would give them a short term fix, but could cause a long term problem and that concerned me a little bit. But it was my job to promote, so promote I would.

I was actually really good at that job and I handed out a lot of college student credit cards. I was at the top of my team for quite awhile and I earned some great rewards. Perhaps the greatest reward of that job was the experience of fitting in with college students and pretending, if only for awhile, that I was young and carefree like they were.

I have always thought that the job of referencing tenants would be boring, until I actually did it. I am not saying that it is never boring, as often it is, but it can be highly amusing as well. For instance, I can tell the fake people that use their relatives and they are just too good to be true.

I also get to hear funny stories about prospective tenants from previous landlords. I mean, why would these people use their previous landlord as a reference after burning the house down. Go figure. I will not even pretend to understand some people.

The worst part of my job is when I have to actually go through and check tenants. This is when I go through the tenant’s actual home to do an inspection. They always seem so nervous and treat me like I am some evil monster or something like that. It makes me uncomfortable as well. But, we do what we have to do.

My cousin went to Europe for a six week vacation and didn’t end up coming home for almost four years. He ended up getting a work visa and staying. He started out working for a cheap car hire Portugal company and he loved it so much that he thought he would see more of Europe this way.

He worked there for a year before he moved on to drive for a cheap car hire Greece company. He loved this one most of all and he stayed there for two years, much to the dismay of his mother, and me, as she thought I could be his replacement and she drove me crazy.

After that he moved on to work for a cheap car hire Austria company. He stayed there for only six months and then decided he better come home for awhile before his mother ended up disowning him. He does plan to go back permanently and I am considering this as well.

When I finished high school, I decided to take classes at an online business academy. I do not regret this decision and I got a really good education. It was a bit harder not being in a classroom setting, but I loved that I could work at my own pace.

I am thankful for the school every day when I am sitting in the office, doing a job I never would have gotten without that diploma. It has been a fantastic journey and I have a better job than most of my friends.

Recently, I have been writing insurance reviews for an outside company. It is our slow months, so we take some outside contract work, on top of our regular office duties. I have been finding this both challenging and fun.

Last week we did some store reviews and they were impressed by how well I did. I have to admit, though, that I do love to shop and that may be one reason I was pretty knowledgeable with most of the stores we reviewed.

My uncle works as a Manhattan traffic violation attorney and he is really good at his job. He pretty much wins every case that he decides to take on and I have decided that he is going to be my mentor. I have always wanted to be a lawyer and I may as well pattern myself after someone who is great.

He recently won a case against a tough Bronx traffic violation lawyer. I got to have the pleasure of sitting in on the whole proceedings, from the time my uncle first met the client, to the time the judge decided on the case. It was a wonderful learning experience.

I had never actually thought of being a NYC traffic violation attorney. It sounds like a rather boring title, but now that I have been involved with it a little bit, I find it more and more fascinating and am aiming to head that direction in my career.

While at an electronics store the other day, I decided to drop off a resume.  I really didn’t expect a phone call, but I did receive one yesterday, and I found myself at training today.  What I had not counted on was the lack of staff at the store, and their need for sales clerks.

Part of the training program today was about iPod video conversion.  Having never owned an iPod in my life, I made sure to pay attention to the lessons.  We were told that most people would ask us how to convert a DVD to iPod Nano as well as how to convert a DVD to iPod Touch.

After spending about half an hour on these topics, we touched on how to convert iPod Classic video.  Even though these iPods were no longer for sale, there were a large number of our clients that owned iPod Classics, so we needed to know about them as well.

Well, today’s lesson was thorough.  Tomorrow we will be looking at computers and digital cameras.  I will have to read up on my notes and get ready for tomorrow – I am sure it will be another long day.

Well I was a little worried about reading the business memo that was in my email box this morning.  You see, there have been some rumors that our company was doing a little restructuring and that there may be some job cuts.  This is not very exciting news, and it is even worse during the Christmas season.

I eventually mustered the courage to open it and read the words.  It went into detail on how the company was going to use a human resources outsourcing company to eliminate the HR department.  There were also some details about how they were going to outsource the Ecommerce services division as well.

Thankfully, I do not work for either of those departments, what a relief.  I kept reading and found out that they were going to help those employees affected by the layoffs, to get in touch with a recruitment firm, so that they could find a new job quickly.  It is really nice that they would do that instead of just throwing them on the street.

I am currently employed by a company that produces designer inspired purses. It is the best job I have ever had. I am a sales rep for the company and it is not work at all, as the bags pretty much sell themselves. They are high quality and low cost, which makes a great combination.

My supervisor recently asked me how I felt about the company expanding to also sell imported hand knotted rugs. I was impressed that they wanted my opinion, but was unsure as to how I should answer. I don’t know much about selling rugs, but I suggested that we talk to some of our current clients to find out if they thought this would be a good business venture.

I was doing some marketing at a small men’s active wear store and mentioned the rugs to the manager I was speaking to. He didn’t think that they would sell in his store, but thought the prices to be very reasonable and thought in the right environment, they would sell just fine.

I am not sure whether it is going to happen or not, but I am happy to be a part of what might be a whole new branch of business for our company.

I have been looking at various employment opportunities in my area.  I haven’t decided if I really want a new job or not, but it doesn’t hurt to look.  It is good to know what is out there, and be able to see opportunities when they arise.

Now, there are your usual jobs such as restaurant help, office help, and manual labor, but those are not really for me.  I would be interested in something involving technology and money – two of my favorite things in life.

Strangely I am in luck.  It seems that a local ATM rental company is in need for salespersons to sell and rent their mobile ATM machines. 

I have to admit, I don’t know much about the technical aspects of an ATM, but I sure know how to use them.  But my lack of knowledge is only a search away – I will go online and do some research on mobile ATMs and learn everything I need to know.

This definitely sounds interesting, I will have to do a little more research on the company and go down there to check it out.  Maybe I have found a reason to switch jobs – we’ll have see what my searches turn up.