Hello, my friend. Hello, again!

Back in business! It's official, I've rejoined the workforce. Which means the blog is back from the dead. It's good to be back! (for real this time)

There are a number of reasons getting this job was a good thing. Sure, there's the paycheck and the opportunity to advance my career, etc, etc, but the most important benefit to this job is that I'll finally be able to move out of my dad's house. Being 28 and unemployed and living at home is embarrassing, fine, but quelling that embarrassment is not my real motivation. Not living with my dad is my motivation. I know what you're thinking. "Oh no! That's so mean! It's good that you get to spend all this time with Papa Knox!" Ahem. Yes, I have enjoyed staying there, but you try living with your parents for an extended period of time and tell me how that works out. To say my dad is sorta inquisitive is like saying the ocean is sorta wet. The man will literally interview you with rapid-fire questions. No breaks. No stories of his own interjected to make it feel like actual conversation. Just one question after another after another. He's like a fat Charlie Rose. "How was work?" Oh, it was good. First day and all, so I really didn't have much to do. (before I can take another breath) "Do you like the people you work with?" Yeah. They seem nice. (I pause to consider the people I'd met) "Do you know what kind of work you're gonna be doing?" Good lord! Ease up on the questions, riddles. Do you have a set of index cards I'm not seeing?!? Anyway, it's kind of annoying. And anything that's "kind of annoying" about your parents tends to be magnified when you live under the same roof.

My dad also lives in the suburbs. This is fine except that it takes me one hour to get to work in the morning. And one hour to get home. Not to mention the fact that he lives on the west side of the city. Why does this matter? Well, if you'll remember your earth sciences, you'll know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. So each morning, I'm driving toward the sunrise and each evening I'm driving toward the sunset, squinting and adjusting my visor the whole way. I would probably be blind in a matter of weeks were it not for these amazing sunglasses given to me for my birthday by Kalinda. I should probably buy some new ones. I'm getting looks.

I work here. I'm a New Business Coordinator. What does that mean? Well, I do...ummm...I. Well, I...Here's the thing. Most people think the best part of going to medical school or law school is the money and prestige. I think the best part is that they can answer the question "what do you do?" in one word. Doctor. Lawyer. And people go "ahhhh." At the PR agency I could answer it in four words: "publicist for condom company." It was an oversimplification, but it got the point across. At Apple I needed at least a full paragraph. "I work at Apple." Oh yeah? What do you do at Apple? "Uh, well you see, there are three sales divisions at Apple. Education, Enterprise and Reseller..." What does that mean? "Well, blahblahblah..." It took awhile. So what now do I do? The short answer is "help promote the agency." The long answer is that it's a PR/promotions-ish job where I help the PR team. Doing presentations for prospective clients, sending out mailers, doing awards stuff, and probably a thousand other things I don't even know yet. So. Um. Yeah. That's what I do. But I'm happy because it's a flexible position and it's in advertising. There were some things I liked about PR (the creativity, the writing, the agency atmosphere) and things that I hated (the cold calling, any media pitching, the constant lying about calls that you'd made). Here I get the stuff I like without the stuff I hate. Kinda perfect really. (disclaimer: I'm saying this on day two of my employment. After two months I may be singing a different tune)

So welcome back! Thanks for coming by! Be sure to get in your questions for next week's Mailblog. Holiday-themed questions would be appreciated.