Reflections

With all that has been going on in the last month or so, I've had a lot of time for self-reflection. As pretty much all of you know, I graduated with my bachelor's degree in Law Enforcement about two and a half years ago. Since then, I have been working toward the goal of becoming a police officer, testing for just about any department in the area that I can, and even going down to Springfield last fall.

As most of you know by now, I have accepted a job offer as a police officer for the town of Harwood Heights. It is pretty exciting, because I had not heard from them since I tested for them over a year ago, and then all of a sudden am being whisked through the rest of the testing process. I had my swearing-in Monday night, and it was pretty surreal. I definitely kept wondering if this was real and actually happening.

Looking back over the past two and a half years, it certainly has not been an easy time. Those of you who see me regularly know that I have struggled at times in remaining positive and keeping hope that this would happen. A few times I struggled with a bit of depression, feeling a bit like a failure because I couldn't even get a part-time job. Around anniversaries (one year after graduation, turning 24, two years after graduation), I also felt a little down but managed to power through it.

Sometimes I felt a little pathetic that the only regular routine I had was my workout schedule, but even that has had its positives. I've noticed progress that I've made in yoga, whether it is how long I can hold a pose or being able to go deeper into a pose/go into a more complicated version of that pose. Also, I have made significant progress in my running since I started seriously working on it. My best time for the 1.5 mile run is around 12:52, I've ran a number of 5k races (and won a trophy and medal each), and even completed a 10k race. Some people may think I'm crazy for averaging about two hours a day at the gym, usually six days a week, but I don't. It was something I worked up to over time, and I split my time doing both cardio and weight lifting. I think it has been a good use of all the free time I have. I am proud of the fact the I can do as many sit-ups and run as fast as guys my age have to for the physical test. Also, when we would go on vacation to our condo in Texas, I found ways to make my workout fun. Most mornings I would go run on the beach, and even got up super early a few times to get out and run in time to see the sun come up. Let me tell you, seeing something like that can make even a hard run really fun. Having at least some sort of routine or something to accomplish each day has definitely helped me since I graduated, and sometimes I felt like it was the only thing keeping my sane.

A few lists have even expired without me ever hearing from these towns. Back in February I did have one town contact me and tell me that they would be doing the background check on me. However, I never heard from them after that and then the list was expiring. Since I really wanted to work for this town, I decided to test for them again. At the orientation, I asked one of the commissioners about my situation, and he said that yes I basically have to start all over with them. So I went through with the physical and written tests with them, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was one position higher on the new list than last time, even before my extra points for my degree. On Halloween, I came home from trick-or-treating to see that they had delivered the background check forms for me to fill out. Man, did that make me burst out in laughter. It takes a year and a half to hear from them the first time around, and now I hear from them about a month after testing this time around. After consulting with some people on this, I have decided to go through with this, just to have it as a back up in case anything happens.

I cannot thank my friends and family enough for all of the support they have lent me over the past few years. Without the support of my parents, I would definitely have struggled a lot more than I already have, and certainly would not have been living so comfortably. They've also been shoulders to cry on and ears to vent to when I was upset of frustrated over things. My sister has also been marvelously wonderful, taking me out for meals and treating me to movies. These may not seem like big things, but when you're near broke/feeling down, they really can mean a lot. I also wanted to thank my friends and church family for all their prayers and patience. If they haven't heard me talk about it very much, it's mostly because I had a bit of a superstition that talking too much about any progress I'd made with a department might jinx it.

One thing that I find just hilarious is that I finally managed to find a part-time job and then almost immediately. I'll be finishing out the month at Claire's and then have a little bit of time before I start my job and then at the academy. It has been interesting working there. I've gotten to be really good at ear piercings and customer service, but I occasionally get the feeling that I don't quite fit in with the other girls there. My manager expressed to me that she doesn't feel like I have a passion for the store, and maybe it's because I'm not really a retail person. When she talked about having a passion for the store, I did think that I find it kind of hard to be really passionate about jewelry, make-up, and hair accessories when I'm going to be a police officer. At any rate, probably the best thing that I've gotten out of this job is that it has gotten me back into the groove of going to work and having a job after not having anything for so long.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe this was what was best for me, to at least have some time between graduating and getting this job. They always say that we can never know God's plan for us, and it seems like this was his plan for me. I certainly never would have chosen this path, but maybe I just needed this time to mature and gain some perspective. There have been plenty of tears of frustration over the past couple years, but now I know that I am ready for this. I am ready to step up and meet the responsibilities of this job. I am ready to be a police officer.

Back to Work

As most of you no doubt saw the other day, I now have a job. Yes, someone actually decided to go ahead and hire me for a part-time job (no luck on the full-time job yet, more on that later). I have officially begun working at a Claire's store at one of our nearby malls. Before I get started, I just want to say that I will be talking about my reflections on what happened my first day at work. Nothing I say is meant to reflect on the store or anyone else who works there, just my own thoughts and feelings. 

To say the least, it was quite and interesting first shift. The past few Saturdays had not been that busy, so the manager figured that this one would be a good day to get me all orientated and trained and whatnot. Um, yeah, not really. It was kind of the opposite of slow most of the time I was there. One of the assistant managers even had to come in early because it got pretty busy. I think the best way to describe the day is by telling you what happened right after I showed up.

I walked in, and the manager immediately asked if I could help pierce a little girl's ears, since they wanted to do both ears at the same time. Wanting to show that I was gung-ho and ready to prove that I was a hard worker I said okay. She had me practice on some post-its, with not the greatest of results, but now at least I had an idea of what I was going to do. While I was waiting for her to come get me, the mom asked if I was going to help. Not wanting to tell her that I had literally just started working there, I slowly said that I was new but yes, I was going to help pierce her daughter's ear. So the manager comes and gets me, gives me the piercing gun, and shows me the dot on the ear that is my mark. We count to three together, go, and...... I missed. I pierced her ear, but off of my mark. The manager then had to take it out and re-do that ear. The parents (and the little girl) were not terribly happy, since they had waited a bit until I got there so that it could be done at the same time. The mom was a little more forgiving since she could tell that I not done it on purpose and felt terrible about missing it mark, but the dad was not thrilled. He kind of joked that I had better practice a lot more, but I could kind of tell from his tone and body language that he was not happy with me. I did apologize, and tried to comfort the little girl a bit. The manager ended up giving them a discount, and I said to myself, “Yup, you literally just started and already you lost the company money.” Needless to say, it wasn't the greatest way to start off my new job.

After that the manager got me started filling out paperwork and reading orientation stuff, while also doing checkouts and paying attention to customers. At one point she had me go in the back to fill out and read some of the stuff because it started getting so busy and people would be asking me stuff that I had no clue about. That was pretty much the rest of my day. Once I had filled out all of the paperwork and read minimal stuff that was the end of my orientation and I just went about doing purchases and keeping the store clean until 5 when I got to go home. At one point, I was actually reading a pamphlet in between helping customers and processing purchases. Yeah, that was kinda crazy.

I felt incredibly lame at times, because it felt like every five seconds I was finding someone to answer a question for me or needing them to tell me how to do something. I had no idea where anything was, since we were too busy for the manager to give me a store tour. The best parts were when one of them would move me aside so that they could do something for me in a transaction instead of showing me how to do it myself.

This is a lot different for from my cashier job at LNT. There, they sat me down upstairs and had me watch orientation videos. I then listened to audio instructions and practiced transactions with “play” checks and credit cards and observed another cashier before even starting to cashier on my own. Also, at my new job, there has never been a discussion as to my specific availability or that I am still testing for police departments, meaning that I will need some Saturday mornings/part of the afternoon off. I don't know how long I have to work before I get a break (I worked 5 hours yesterday and no real break). Maybe this will be brought up the next time I work, or maybe I will have to bring it up myself. There is also the fact that have no sort of badge or anything identifying me as an employee. Again, hopefully this will be remedied.

Another thing that's different is that they have this on-call thing where I need to call in 2 hours ahead of time to see if I will be working that day. I get the idea behind it, but it is kind of annoying. With my workouts during the week I essentially have to act as if I will be working, meaning that I will have to go in earlier so that I have time to shower/clean-up/get there if I am working, but call in the middle of my workout, and then have nothing to do if I don't. Another example of this is Sundays. Our church has two services – a 9am and an 11am – if I am on-call I have to go to the early service and call one hour prior to my scheduled time (since we open at 11 on Sunday), or I can call in and maybe/maybe not get to go to the late service. The only benefit of our Sunday schedule is that we close at 6, meaning that I will always be able to go to my small group at 6:30/7.

I was also told that I don't just stand behind the registers. Basically, if I'm not doing a purchase I need to be walking around the store cleaning up and whatnot. There were a couple times when everything was clean and no one needed helping so I pretty much just awkwardly stood there. Maybe I'm just getting used to the job or something, but I spent a good deal of my shift feeling awkward /unsure of myself/lame-sauce. Hopefully things will get better and most of this is just me re-adjusting to being employed.

It's certainly not my dream job/a job as a police officer, but at least it is something and I'm not so lame that I still have to say I'm a 2 years+ college grad with no job and nearly broke.

Now, an update on my full-time job search. As I said earlier, I am still actively pursuing a career as a police officer. Most candidate lists that departments draw up are good for two years or until they go through everyone on the list. I have now come to that point where departments I tested for two years ago are starting to test again. This time around I'm trying to be a little more selective and not just going for anyone who is testing (pretty much what I did before). With the application fees (anywhere from $15 to $40), it is starting to get expensive. I recently decided to test for Bloomingdale for the second time but have decided that, despite the fact that it is a town that I would like to work for, I am through with them. They only take the top 30 scores from the written test to go on to the physical test etc., and once again I failed to make the top 30. I have now spent approximately $80 trying to get them to hire me, but apparently I'm not good enough for them, so that's that. I also recently learned that Glendale Heights will testing again, and this makes me just a little bit not happy. As some of you know, I have actually had a little bit of progress with this department and they actually got to the background check on me. That was back in February/March. I don't know if this means that all of it was for naught and I literally have to start all over with them, risking getting a lower position on the list and falling even further behind. This is a department that I really want to work for, though, so I guess that I am willing to risk it.

The other weekend, I tested for Villa Park's police department. What was really funny (at least to me) about this was the fact that the written test was in the cafeteria of my high school, Willowbrook. This was the first testing where I didn't have to look up the location/directions on Mapquest, and knew exactly how long it would take me to get there. It was weird sitting in the cafeteria, because I haven't been to Willowbrook in at least a year, and hadn't been inside since I saw the remodel nearly two years ago. On the way out, I told the Chief that I had gone there for high school and he laughed.

So that's mostly what's been happening in my life recently. A little bit of good, and a little bit of bad. Eh, that's life.

Faster, Higher, Stronger

As you probably well know, the Olympics in London are now over. The 17-day celebration of the world's best athletes had ended once more, with people now looking towards the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the next Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has certainly been one for the history books – an Olympics of highs and lows, of lasts, and – most importantly – firsts.

I do not want to offend any men here (if any read this at all), but I would have to say that these Olympics belong to the women. You have probably heard this other places, but it is something that I certainly agree with. For the first time the countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei had female athletes as part of their delegation, making this the first Olympics where every participating nation had at least one female athlete. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but it signifies huge strides for women in these countries. Maziah Mahusin from Brunei ran 400m and was flag bearer for her country in the opening ceremonies. Sprinter Noor Al-Malki ran the 100m for Qatar, and even though she did not finish the race, she was proud to represent her country. Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar ran the 800m in 2 minutes 44.95 seconds (43 seconds behind the winner), but received a huge ovation from the crowd. She attends Pepperdine University here in the states, but says that she raced to inspire the women of Saudi Arabia. Malasyian shooter Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibi was even 8 months pregnant while competing in her event!

The male athletes also brought a number of firsts to these Olympic Games. In the 400m, Kirani James won Grenada's first Olympic medal, and it was gold. In a true show of sportsmanship, he exchanged bibs with South Africa's Oscar Pistorius. Pistorius became the first double-amputee to compete in an Olympic Games against able-bodied athletes. Even though he did not make it past the semi-finals in the 400m, he did his country proud and went on to run again in the men's 4x100 relay. Usain Bolt became the only runner to win the 100m and 200m twice, successfully defending his wins in Beijing. Even though he had only started training three months prior, Hamadou Issaka from Niger competed in the men's single sculls rowing event. He crossed the finish line dead last – nearly two minutes after the winner from New Zealand – but he received a raucous ovation from the crowd.

The women of the US team in London certainly did not shy from showing what they are made of, no matter their age. For the first time, there were more women than men in the US delegation, and 29 of the 46 gold medals were won by women. If they had been their own country, the US women would have tied with Great Britain for third in the gold medal count. Katie Ledecky was one of the youngest athletes at the games at the age of 15, yet she blew away the competition in the 800 meter freestyle swim. Missy Franklin is not much older at the age of 17, yet she won 5 medals (4 gold) at her first Olympic Games. Allison Schmitt broke a world record twice – once during the semi-finals, and then again the next day during the finals. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Jennings-Walsh set a record by winning their third straight gold medal in beach volleyball, and in a match in which the silver-winning team was the other female beach volleyball pair of April Ross and Jennifer Kessy. The women's basketball team won its fifth straight gold medal, the first time it had ever been done, and the women's water polo team won its first gold medal. In a reversal of the World Cup, the US women's soccer team won over Japan to take the gold, and had the largest Olympic crowd ever for women's soccer at Wembley Stadium. In women's gymnastics, the US took the gold (the first time since the Magnificent Seven), and Gabby Douglas became the third straight US athlete (and first African-American to win the gold in the all-around competition. In the 4x100 relay, the US women not only won gold, but they smashed the record that had been set by East Germany in the 80's by more than half a second. Tennis legend Serena Williams. In shooting, Kim Rhode set a record by winning her fifth consecutive gold medal in women's trap shooting

The men from the US also did not disappoint. Diver David Boudia won gold in the 10m platform, the first time since Greg Louganis in 1988. In his last Olympic Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time with a grand total of 22 medals, and has the most gold medals at 18.

As the host nation Great Britain did not disappoint. Rather than trying to duplicate the Opening Ceremonies from Beijing, they did their own thing, filling it with truly great moments. James Bond and the Queen parachuting in from a helicopter, Rowan Atkinson, Mary Poppins, Captain Hook, Voldemort, and Sir Paul McCartney all made it an eventful and memorable evening. Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins (who also started off the Opening Ceremonies) won gold for Britain in the men's time trials. In men's tennis, in came down to a rematch of the previous month's Wimbeldon, with Andy Murray once again head-to-head with Roger Federer, but this time Andy Murray came out victorious in the match for the gold medal. The win was doubly sweet for the host country because it was the first win by a Brit there since 1936. On August 4^th, Britain won a total of 6 gold medals. In the 10,000m run Mo Farrah surged at the end to win the gold, sending the entire stadium into a frenzy and even causing the BBC broadcasters to go nuts on live television. The winner of the silver was his fellow training partner in Oregon, US runner Galen Rupp. At the end of the games, the host country had won a total of 65 medals (20 of them gold) – the most British medals in century. The closing ceremonies were a tribute to British music throughout the decades, featuring all manner of legends from just about every decade and having something for everyone to enjoy.

As with anything, the Olympics were not without their controversies. NBC received a lot of flak from the American view for its broadcast choices. They cut out a segment of the opening ceremonies that featured a dedication to the victims of the bombing shortly after London was announced the winner of the 2012 games. Also, because of the time difference, they would often hold off on showing certain events until the prime time broadcast, yet they would spoil the results by posting them on their own Olympics website and even on their own evening news shows. As for the closing ceremonies, they cut out performances by The Who and Muse (who had had their song specifically chosen as the song of the Olympics), among other things. Another controversy to receive quite a bit of attention was over women's doubles badminton. Teams from China, Indonesia, and two from South Korea were disqualified for intentionally trying to lose in order to earn a better spot in pool play. Also, social media played its role in Olympic controversies. A Greek triple-jumper was expelled after sending out a racist tweet, and US soccer player Hope Solo was chastised after she sent out several negative tweets about commentator Brandi Chastain.

I love the Olympics. Not only do you get to see the best athletes in the world compete against each other, but you get a chance to see sports that you might not otherwise have a chance to follow very closely. There are stories of victory and defeat, and stories of triumph against great odds. For the many who do not win a medal, they are merely proud to represent their country and show what they are made of.

Loco for Coco

This last Thursday (the 14th) was a pretty great day for my sister and I because we got tickets for the taping of Conan while his show was in town last week. The thing is that they overbook the reservations in order to guarantee that they'll have a completely packed house, so we had to be there between 9am and 1pm in order to guarantee that we would get seats. Also, Conan had set up vending machines around the city with the t-shirts he had been giving away all week, and they were available from 8am to noon every day, or until they ran out. Wanting to guarantee that we got tickets and to try and get a t-shirt, we left the house around 6:40 and took the L in from Forest Park to get downtown around 8:15.

Megan went to get in line for our tickets, while I went to go try and find a t-shirt machine where the line wasn't too long. I completely bypassed the one outside the Chicago Theater, since the line was way too long, instead deciding to go over to Prudential Plaza. I went around the wrong side, but finally found the machine and got in line. Once I got closer, I was able to count the number of shirts left versus how many people were ahead of me, and saw that there were just enough shirts left. Thankfully, I got the second-to-last t-shirt, but I could only get one, so I couldn't get one for Megan. I ran back over to the building where the line for tickets was and started looking for her from the entrance. I wasn't seeing her, so I kept on moving back through the line until I finally found her. For a second there, I panicked that she had already been let in and that I wouldn't get a ticket (since your whole party had to be present so you could get your wristbands), but she said that she would have waited for me outside. She also said that some people from Windy City Live had been by asking if anyone wanted to come be in their audience, which I found pretty funny. Unsurprisingly, no one took them up and gave up their spot in line. After I joined her, the line moved fairly quickly. Within probably half an hour or so, we got our tickets for the main floor and wristbands, and were out. I think that they actually started giving tickets out before nine, because the line was already moving when I got there, and we were out of there before 9:30.

After that, we stopped at a Starbucks so Megan could get some breakfast and went down to the Riverwalk where we hung out for a while. The weather was absolutely perfect, with the temperature just right, the sun not too hot, and a gentle breeze coming off the river. It was heavenly to just sit and read there while drinking my tea. Once we had finished our drinks, we started walking down Michigan Ave towards Water Tower Place and stopping at the Conan t-shirt machines along the way. They were all empty of shirts, but if you checked in on foursquare, the people there gave you a button. As we walked back towards the theater district, we were looking for a Giordano's to stop at for lunch, because I could have sworn that there was one near one of the theaters. We weren't able to find one, so we instead stopped at Potbelly.

On the way to Millennium Park, we walked through Daley Plaza, and saw that there were people there promoting the Just for Laughs festival. We had our picture taken with Conan, and I answered a question about Big Bang Theory, winning a pen. While we were there, a guy mentioned that they were setting up the Conan bobblehead outside the Art Institute, so we hurried over there as fast as we could. We walked around the building, but we not seeing it, so we were about to head back to Millennium Park when we saw a truck turn the corner with it on the back. Excited to have actually spotted it, we followed it until it parked in front of the Modern Wing. Staffers directed us across the street, saying that we were free to watch, but needed to cross the street. There was already a fair-sized crowd gathering, but we still managed to find prime spots right on the curb. I got some really good pictures and video of them setting the bobblehead up in front of the Modern Wing. It definitely took a while, since they had to unload the torso and head, then set up the stand and then assemble it all. In all, it probably took them about an hour/hour and a half to set it all up, but we were able to pass the time just watching the people set it up and chatting with other Conan fans who stumbled upon it (we were able to pick them out with their yellow wristbands). There was one moment that made everyone gasp in horror, though; they were in the process of setting the head down after unloading it from the truck when the guy operating the machine nearly backed up into the torso. Wow, was that scary! When it was finally all set up there was lots of cheering and chanting from everyone, myself included. They then filmed a bit that they later showed during the show, but we didn't stay for that part, choosing to instead go over to Millennium Park until it was time for us to go back over to the theater.

As I mentioned earlier, our seats were on the main floor of the theater, which was pretty cool. They were on the right and a fair ways back, but our sight wasn't really blocked by anything, and we were pretty much just excited to be there at all. The warm-up comedian was Jimmy Pardo (apparently from Oak Forest), and he was really good. He gave a couple of general instructions, did a couple jokes, and made fun of a few people in the front rows. Then the band came out and started to play before Andy Richter came out. Both of them got big cheers, but obviously the loudest cheering/biggest standing ovation was reserved for Conan once he came out when the show started. Everyone, us included, went absolutely crazy, but he finally managed to get us calmed down so that they could get on with the show.

I've always known that Conan was tall, but it really is different to see someone in person. It's crazy how leggy he is – he's about 85% legs! Anyway, it was so cool to see everything firsthand and all of the different behind-the-scenes stuff of how they ran the show and moved things around during the breaks. Our seats were behind the cameras that panned over the crowd, but we still gave it our all in cheering and waving. During the breaks the band continued to play, keeping the crowd energized. I was surprised to learn that Jimmy Vivino, Mark Pender, and La Bamba (band members) could all sing really well. Also during the breaks, Andy and Conan would drink water/get makeup touch-ups, but they also interacted with the crowd a fair amount, waving and such. A couple people even tossed Conan a few things.

During the monologue they showed the video from that afternoon of setting up the Conan bobblehead. They showed footage of the crowd watching them set it up, and I think that we are on camera for about a split second. Kinda lame, I know, but to be on TV at all is pretty cool to me. :-D One of the big surprises was Scottie Pippen showing up during the monologue for a short bit. Also, Nick Offerman showing up for a segment was a surprise. That made me really happy because I love Parks & Recreation, and Nick Offerman is just fantastic. We saw the taped segment that Jack McBrayer and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog did at Wiener's Circle, and.... oh my goodness. The crowd was roaring with laughter so much that sometimes you couldn't hear the audio from the video. Personally, I was alternating between laughing so hard my abs hurt and covering my mouth in pure shock. That was definitely a wild ride. I felt so sorry for Jack McBrayer for getting berated like that because he genuinely is such a nice guy. The CBS bit was really funny – gotta love those guys. Adam Sandler was pretty good – he's a funny guy, but not really my type of humor and I just find that voice he does kind of annoying. TJ Miller was hilarious as always. I absolutely loved the bit he did at the end with the two Italian beefs from Portillo's – it was great to watch him chase Conan around the stage and then watch them clean up afterwards. To close out the show for us, Conan brought out his guitar and sang a song that he played on his tour called “40 Days” that involved some call-and-response with the audience. I just have to say – he can really sing and play the guitar! He then ran up the right aisle (about 5-10 feet from us) to the back of the auditorium, down the left side, and back to the stage.

On the way out of the show, I bought a Conan Chicago t-shirt. It was $25, but I think that it was worth it, and that will be my splurge for the next several months. Afterward my voice was extremely hoarse from all the shouting/cheering/yelling, and I could hardly talk, but it was so worth it to have had such a great day full of fun and spontaneity.

That evening, we watched the show when they broadcast it on TBS. True, we had just seen it a few hours ago, but we wanted to see what they edited out/tweaked for the broadcast. They cut out the crowd chanting “Scottie! Scottie!” after Scottie Pippen came out and tore the jacket off of Conan, as well as some extra cheering, but I'm sure that was mostly just for the sake of time than anything else. Also, the clip that they showed from “That's My Boy” was just a little bit longer for us. The other thing that they pared down was the segment with Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. After they introduced themselves, Conan went on to report the news using ridiculous gestures but remaining totally serious. They also did not show Conan playing/running up and down the aisles at the end. I'm pretty sure that is was mostly for time, but I was kind of glad because it was something special just for those of us who were there.

All in all, a fantastic day was had, and I don't think that I'll forget about it soon.

If you are interested in watching the show that we saw here is the link for it: http://teamcoco.com/video/full-episode-thurs-6/14-adam-sandler-and-comedian-tj-miller

It's Been A While

*shuffles in the room* So, um.... hey there. Say what? It's been more than four months since my last post? *looks down at feet, embarrassed* Yeah, about that....

Okay, so sorry to those of you who read this that it's been so long. But, to be honest, not a whole lot of note has happened to me since last time. I did turn 24, but that was pretty low-key and not much occurred other than a lot of self-reflection and thinking about how I'm nowhere near where I thought I'd be when I turned 24. It was a bit of a rough patch for me, so I didn't really feel like coming on here and weighing you guys down with my negativity.

There has been a little bit of movement in the job department,but it's almost so miniscule that it's not really worth talking about it. I haven't been telling lots of people about it, mostly because it is so miniscule, but also because I feel like talking about it too much will jinx it. Basically, if we see each other and you ask me how the job search is going I will tell you about it, but it's not like I'm shouting it from the rooftops and telling everyone I know.

You may have noticed that I changed to name of my blog. Well I did warn you, haha. I just kind of felt like the previous name didn't so much fit what I am using this space for, which is mostly to get out my rants and ramblings. Hopefully, this one fits a little better.

Sorry if this was kind of short, but I just wanted to do a quick update and explain while I changed the name. Stay tuned, though, for a long one (or broken up into two or more) about my vacation adventures.

Another Year Older, And A New One's Just Begun

Well, as you all no doubt know, the new year has begun and it is now 2012. At this time of the year, a lot of people take the time to reflect on the past year and what they may or may not have accomplished. I am certainly one of those people, and thought that I would use this post to look back on the past year of my life.

It certainly has not been an easy year for me, as I am still struggling to find a part-time job, let alone a full-time position as a police officer. I have continued to test with just about any department in the area, but villages don't have the money in the budget to hire more police officers. It has certainly been discouraging to be a year and a half out of college without a job, but I am really trying to stay positive and hope and pray that I will be able to find something soon.

In the meantime, I have continued to workout at the gym regularly in order to maintain and even improve my physical fitness. At the beginning of April I ran my first 10k race, along with my friend Donna, and even finished under my goal time of an hour. I wasn't able to run very many 5k races this year because of money constraints, but still managed to run two. The first was in the next town over in May, and was a lot of fun because I ran it with two friends from church. I didn't place in my age category, but I swear that I was thisclose! The other 5k that I ran was the Alumni run during Homecoming weekend at WIU. As I already mentioned in my last post, I got second place in my age group, and was pretty darn pleased about it! Another fitness goal I achieved this year was decreasing my time on the mile and a half run that I have to do as part of the physical testing for jobs. For my age a gender group, I have 16:21 to run it, but have been slowly decreasing that time to around 12:52. Essentially, I am even faster than the guys my age have to be! I have continued to lose a little but of weight, which is always a good thing, but it hasn't been my main focus. I've been trying move away from being so conscious about the number on the scale, and focusing more on just eating healthier and keeping in good shape.

A couple days before Christmas, I did a ridealong with the police department that I interned with. It was good to get back in the saddle so to speak and see a lot of the officers and other employees. Needless to say, a lot of them were surprised to see me and did a double-take. The officer that I rode with was not one that I knew because he is in the National Guard and wasn't there when I interned, so it was nice to get to know another of the officers. He is also a field training officer, so it was also still a bit of a learning experience for me. When he was away with the National Guard, he was over in Afghanistan for a while, so there was some minor bonding over our affinity for middle-eastern music. All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable evening and it was a nice way to break up some of my monotony.

Overall, though, it seems like it has been a pretty uneventful year for me, and I am pretty close to where I was a year ago. It certainly is not for lack of trying, though. I keep checking websites for news of more villages testing, and have been looking high and low for even a part-time job. Hopefully, 2012 will be a different year, and I'll be able to make some progress in the various areas of my life that have not had any sign of progress. So, here's to a new year and new beginnings!