Tag Archives: Work

Half a Brain

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This week’s Challenge to Women is a good one. So good, that I don’t want to give it only the half of my brain I have left after a work day (ha, I accidentally typed “death” the first time) that started voluntarily at 6:15 and spent printing, collating, and assembling 65 160-page binders (that’s over 10,000 pages). I had help from our intern, but any day started that early is long. I’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow, Friday, and possibly Monday.

Truthfully, it’s really neat to see these binders come together, binders that we only started writing last Thursday, and were only thought of a few days before that. I’m thankful that my job isn’t like this all the time, but it’s fun occasionally.

All that to say, check in next week for the next challenge. Thanks for understanding!

To Be God’s Free Agent

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The next part of John Piper’s Challenge to Women is a bit complex when it comes to single women like me. Still, it bears considering:

“That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world. That you not only pose the question: Career vs. full time mom? But that you ask as seriously: Full time career vs. freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom— to be in the employ of someone telling you what to do to make his business prosper, or to be God’s free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God’s business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or yuppie lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the family and advance the cause of Christ.”

Obviously, I don’t have the opportunity to choose between working full-time and ministry. Whatever else I do and however else I use my free time, I must have full-time employment in order to provide for myself. That said, I don’t define myself by my job. It’s something that I do (and try to do well), but it’s not who I am.

I may “have” to spend 40 hours a week doing what someone else tells me “to do to make his business prosper,” but there are over 100 waking hours in a week. Even considering that some of those are spent on the necessaries of commuting, personal hygiene, and chores, I have at least as many hours to spend as I choose in a week as I do hours spent doing someone else’s biding.

And how do I choose to spend those hours?

I want to be able to use my time and talents to serve God and others. Obviously, I’m still working out how that looks like in my life, and probably always will.

But perhaps one day I won’t need to be employed full-time, having a man to provide the necessities of life. Am I making choices now that will make such a transition easier? This is why I want to work hard at paying off my student debt (though this move has made that difficult), the only debt I have. I’d love not to have to carry debt into a marriage.

I’d also like not to have an expensive lifestyle, something that would hinder me now and in the future. I’m working on ways to live on less, a skill that can reap dividends over the years.

Other Posts in This Series:

A Summer of Growth

Peace, Joy, and Strength

Daily Acts of Love

Women of the Book

Women of Prayer

Deep Thinkin’

No More Frittering

Exploiting Not Paralyzing

Keeping Me Honest

Photo by wjserson

5 Things That Have Stayed the Same

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Following up yesterday’s 5 Things That Have Changed since I started blogging 5 years ago, is the 5 things that have stayed the same. For the most part, these are things that I thought would have changed in 5 years’ time.

1. I’m still single. This was not something I expected. I always assume I’ll meet and be pursued by my future husband some time in the next year, but it still hasn’t happened. The good thing, though, is that I’ve gained more joy in my singleness and am less likely to see it as a burden.

2. I still work at the same place. This also was unexpected. After all, I started working at the small non-profit as a part-time secretary while I was in school. Over the years, I have gained more and more responsibilities, morphing my position into what it is now (which is a little bit of everything we do).

3. I’m still a big-time reader. Actually, forgetting the last month, I’m a bigger reader now than I was 5 years ago. For the record, I’ve read 432 books since I started blogging.

4. I still love my church. When I joined in the fall of 2005, I loved it. Of course, I know more of its flaws now than I did then (and I’m one of them!), but I love it even more than I did then.

5. I still live in North Carolina. Of course, this is obvious considering numbers 2 and 4. I have moved 4 times in the past 5 years (it sounds crazier than it was), but every one of those moves have been locally. When I moved to North Carolina I thought I’d be here for school, then move out west. I definitely shouldn’t have moved east if I wanted to move west…

Compassions Anew

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I kinda wish I could give you a humorous account of my crazy weekend, but I can’t. Apart from going to church Friday evening and Sunday morning (followed by lunch out with a good friend), I did nothing.

I do occasionally have lazy days, but this weekend I took it to new heights. Sleeping more than 8 hours in a stretch is hard on my back, so when I started getting over the pneumonia last week (in the early days I woke every couple of hours for medicine), I tweaked my back, since I was sleeping so much. The only way to get it back to normal is to do nothing but lay down, periodically getting up to stretch and wiggle.

So that’s what I did Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, my back was normal again, but I did continue to rest, only taking time to make breakfasts and lunches for the week.

And now that it’s Monday, I think I’m ready to take on the world again.

I’m ready for a normal week, one without taxes, tornadoes, and disease.

Keeping Up and Other Ramblings

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I apologize for wasting your time if you read this.  I’m sure there is something (anything) else that is a better use of your time.

I love this time of year, truly, but it is exhausting.  Some people have jobs that have stress throughout the year, but mine seems to pile up in the first 4 months of the year.  But that’s where all the fun and joy seems to fall, too, so I wouldn’t change it.

Since I’m tired after working a 11-hour work day (I’m writing this Tuesday evening), I’m going to write about the first thing that comes to mind.  Technology.  Perhaps this comes to mind as in the last month or so I’ve gotten both a Nook and a Windows 7 phone (yes, my 6th cell phone in 9 years).  Plus, I’m currently listening to the chapter on media from Thom Rainer and Jess Rainer’s The Millennials.

(Side note: Jess talks about how his journey with media began with Oregon Trail…didn’t it for most of us older millennials?  I loved that game, especially since it counted as “school!”)

When I got my last new phone a year and a half ago (I had to get another so soon as I’m switching back to AT&T for work…4th company switch!), I talked about how much cell phone technology has changed.  My phone is, of course, not only my only phone and how I primarily communicate (via text), but also my mp3 player, GPS (haven’t used it yet, but will the next time I need directions), and the camera I use more often than not (to film video, too).  If I wanted, I could use it to check email or watch videos, but I haven’t done that, yet, either.

I love the all-in-one-ness of today’s cell phones, and I assume it will continue.

Interesting statistics (sorry, that’s what you get for me writing while listening!): 13% of my generation (born 1980-2000) write blogs.  Millennials like me (with graduate degrees) are most likely to use social media.  Ha, am I just a statistic?

So what are your thoughts on the technology trends?  What are your hopes?  Your concerns?

Ready, Set….

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Today’s a big day for me.  While many people may not have school or work today, I have what is usually one of the busiest work days of my year.

We open our main tax site on Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  I suppose it doesn’t have to be on this day, but we usually start on the first Monday after January 15th, which is MLK Day.  It’s just how it lands.

But even more than that (though the first day of tax season would be busy, regardless), today is busy because it’s also the MLK Day of Service through our United Way.  I love that they do this–in high school, I participated in and even helped plan a Youth Day of Caring, which is the same concept, just over Spring Break (and just youth).  I think it’s a great way to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.  MLK Day is perfect timing for us, too, as we use the wealth of volunteers to stuff bags that we hand out to all of our tax clients.  Without the volunteers, I’d have to spend at least a couple of weeks doing it myself.

And without our tax volunteers, we couldn’t help even half as many people as we do.  I’m very thankful that people readily give up their time to do boring things like stuffing bags and doing taxes.

So with that said, it’s time to…

Go!

This 28-Year-Old Body

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Well, my body is definitely showing it’s age.  Or really, it’s showing it’s age plus 40.

Saturday, as I was bending sideways to set an empty laundry basket on a chair a pain akin to being stabbed hit my lower back.  This isn’t anything new, as it happened Labor Day 2008, but it wasn’t like I was expecting it, either.

By limiting what I did and taking Tylenol at regular intervals, I was able to tolerate the pain with a slow, limping gate.  I thought I was on the mend, but then after a night of waking up every time I wanted to roll over because I couldn’t (I’m a very active sleeper, apparently), I realized that I had a problem.

It took everything I had to get out of the bed in the morning.

Perhaps I would have continued to wait it out on a normal week, but knowing that I’m scheduled to board a plane in the wee hours of Wednesday morning (can you imagine walking–let alone hauling luggage–through the airport like this?), I had to seek treatment.

So instead of heading off to my Sunday school Christmas party, I headed out to a nearby urgent care.  The doctor was great and easily detected the muscle spasm.  I’m now on a course of steroids and have muscle relaxers that I only plan on taking to sleep.

With the muscle relaxer, I was able to sleep well last night and even could get out of bed when the alarm went off.  Though under the influence of the drug (at least that’s what I’ll blame it on), I decided to push back my wakeup alarm 3o minutes.  Not sure why I made that decision, though I do remember doing it.

So, here’s to getting better!  Between the bum back and the end of the cold, I think I’m ready for work…where I am going to be filmed for a video to play in our waiting area.

Let’s just hope I still have my voice.

FQF: Food and Hammer

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1.  What food did you used to dislike but now enjoy?

Just the other day a friend made me pizza that I used to hate–I disliked all veggies on pizza. This pizza had spinach, tomato, feta, chicken, and the like on it…and I loved it. I’ve been more and more adventurous with food, and for the most part, I’ve been liking what I eat.

2.  Where is your hammer, and what did you last use it for?

In my closet. I used it to hang up some pictures, when I moved.

3.  What are your ideal working conditions?

When I hear that term, “working conditions,” I think of The Jungle. Glad I’ve never had to work under conditions even 10% that bad.

If I had my way, I’d work in a warm office (check) with a window. Lamps (check) instead of florescent lights. In my pajamas. With a Diet Dr Pepper tap. So yeah, my “working conditions” aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty close!

4.  When did you most recently have ice cream?

I plead the 5th. I am Game On! Okay, Tuesday.

5.  How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews on books?

I don’t enjoy it, but I do it as necessary. I prefer NOT to review a book I didn’t like, unless I feel like I need to dissuade others or make a point about the book.

Outta Here

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I’m in the mountains.

Or what passes for mountains here on the East Coast.

Thanks to some so-boring-my-eyes-will-fall-out work training today through Wednesday in this “exotic” location, I’ve decided to take the rest of the week and spend it in my friend’s mountain cabin not too far away.

And I do mean in it.  Except for the hilly walks I’ll *have* to take, since we’ve started a new round of Game On! this week.

I’ll be joined by several families this weekend, but for the first 48 hours there I’ll be alone.  I’ve never been alone alone before.  I’m looking forward to the lack of distractions, and the time to read (ha, haven’t gotten enough!), worship, and reset my priorities.

So with that, I’ll see you all back here, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Monday, October 18th.

With pictures.  And maybe video.

This picture is what it looked like at the cabin the last time I was there, this summer.

Out of Oblivion: Turtle Showdown

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Snippets from posts about the summer I moved from Oklahoma to North Carolina:

Saturday, July 16, 2005

I went to the mall today and actually ran into people I know.  I wasn’t expecting to do that this quickly!

Tuesday, July 25, 2005

I need to lay off the Pepper. I don’t feel good after drinking it…but it tastes so good!

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

I’m excited for classes to get started. Can I start this Thursday instead of next Thursday?

[And now, the story you want to hear:]

Friday, August 12, 2005

Sorry I’ve been posting so much recently, but this story I really can’t pass up. I don’t want to draw attention away from the more serious elements of my blog (wherever they exist) but I really got a kick out of this. One fact that might help you understand the story is that I really don’t like being around animals of any kind, though in high school I did do nature events where we had to identify different species and stuff.

Yesterday, as I was going out to my car (I park in a parking garage) from a glance at a distance I saw something in front of my car. I thought, “great, a cat. I don’t like cats.” Well, it wasn’t a cat. Guess what it was? When I asked that to a couple of friends, I got various responses including a beaver and a dead body, both wrong. A turtle! Okay, so that’s not that exciting necessarily, but this was a particularly clever turtle, and rather large too, about 10 inches in diameter.

So, as I contemplated this turtle, I thought about what turtles are known for: their cowardice. Okay, so if I start backing out, the turtle is just going to go inside his shell, so if I can just stradle him with my tires, I’ll be okay. Not that big of a problem, since he was about halfway between the tires. So I back up just enough to where he would almost be under my car, and got out to look to make sure that he didn’t move to where I would run over him. Like a turtle, he hadn’t moved. Well, I just didn’t feel comfortable with trying not to hit that little sucker, so I decided to try to move him. “Be brave, Ronnica!” I thought. So I tried to grab the turtle to move him to safer spot with my bare hand. I wasn’t about to touch him anywhere except on his shell, but with one hand I couldn’t lift him like that because he was too big. However, I did scare him so he started running away (pretty fast for a turtle)…right under my car. He’s smart too, he went right in the middle where I couldn’t get him and couldn’t scare him out the front (which I can only assume he thought I planned on eating him: turtle soup anyone?). So, knowing that he now was deathly afraid of me I got in my car quickly (in case my moves turned him into a fighter) and drove out of the parking space successfully without the slightest crunch.