Summer camp is just over halfway finished. I’ve survived for weeks of running a site and mentored a fellow new coordinator. I think that part just amuses me beyond all reason. I’m in my first summer with the company, and I’ve mentored another person at my same level. Next week, I’ll be mentoring another new coordinator. I’ve also rather unexpectedly been asked to run a site for the last week or two of camp.
So much for just getting to slack off the rest of the summer, eh?
I really don’t mind it. It’s fairly easy work…just time-consuming. I am really grateful for the people in my life who have done everything in their power to make my life work over the past five weeks. It’s a level of support that is keeping me sane, and a level of support I never really had back home.
Anyway, the title says there should be some links here, so here are a couple that caught my eye this week.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 8:50 AM EDT
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My summer has been incredibly busy. A typical day for me is: Wake up. Read email, web comics, and Bloglines. Respond to anything that needs a response. Work at summer camp for eight hours. Drive across north Seattle to Sylvan and work another three hours. Drive home. Eat dinner. Prep for next day’s camp (clear today’s supplies out of car, watch training videos, make sure supplies are ready). Read email and Bloglines. Respond to anything that needs a response. Collapse into bed.
I then repeat that two to four days a week. No wonder I’m not getting much else done. Everybody is just staring at me in amazement because I’m still standing and still fairly civil to everybody, and nobody is blaming me for things that aren’t getting accomplished around the house or in my business..
With this crazy schedule, I just don’t have (more like don’t take) the time to do the little things I enjoy. In a not-so-hectic schedule, I do yoga almost daily. I dance in my room three to five times a week. I read a book every couple of weeks. I write some random little bit of fiction routinely.
Those things have been lacking this summer, and sadly it took a post on giving yourself fifteen minutes of relaxation time, listing many of the things I normally do to unwind to make me sit here and think, I really ought to be doing that. There’s no real excuse why I can’t.
So I’m going to try to be more mindful of incorporating relaxing creative time into my weeks and see if that helps the feeling of being overrun and hectic.
Found via Curt Rosengren’s Occupational Adventure
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity, inspiration, and motivation at 9:59 AM EDT
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My time as a manager for summer camp has come to its end. Truth be told, it wasn’t bad for a first official run, but of course I am being very harsh with myself for a couple of incidents. Now I’m looking forward to enjoying the next few weeks as an instructor.
I’m also looking forward to having a bit more time to work on JewelryNiche and exploring options for doing little bits of writer. Not that I want to become some famous writer, someone who lives entirely on their writing. I just need an outlet for writing something other than these blogs. Perhaps the blogs are even a bit responsible for reminding me how much I enjoy writing!
The link dump is still a bit wimpy, and will likely continue to be wimpy over the next few weeks while I spend twelve hours of my day teaching (and believe me, after four years of not teaching, teaching for twelve hours a day is like a good rainstorm after a drought).
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 11:24 AM EDT
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I’ve maintained an online journal for well over three years. I’ve maintained a blog (a few, actually) for over a year.
I write my posts. I link to articles I find interesting or useful. I read bloggers I find interesting. I entertain the occassional comment or trackback, and get giddy every time I see either.
There are days, however, when I get an email. Some are just friendly greetings complimenting one of my blogs. Some of them are notices that someone has added me to their blogroll and is hoping for reciprocity (which reminds me, I have one to add this weekend). There have been rare occassions when it’s something else all together, and admittedly, I’m so used to talking to myself in my blogs that I really don’t know how to handle these emails.
They are completely flattering and entirely scary. They also leave me wishing that blogs had some of the same features that my online journal does. I wish for the ability to just post a random cry for advice to those bloggers that I read and respect, without it being publicly available. Of course, I’m also not brave enough to just drop a random email on one of these genuinely kind souls and say, "Hey, can I bother you for some advice?"
I enjoy my place as a small fish in a growing pond, but when Idiscover I am slightly bigger than I think I should be, I’m just not sure how to handle it.
And that’s my dirty little secret this week.
Posted by Rebecca as Skill building at 9:40 PM EDT
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Things I have learned about myself this summer:
I am a good manager. I am able to manage people and logistics. My instructor gleefully took work away from me today to help me because my transportation situation just went to hell. (My starter died Friday.) The park ranger today informed me that he loves working with me because I’m so easy to get along with and will try to make things work to benefit everybody involved. Most volunteers that I have managed have enjoyed the experience and offered to work for me again.
I am a great director for anything children-related. I can successfully learn over thirty children’s names in a very short time. I can build rapport with children very quickly, even if I’m having to spend all of my time repeating the rules. I can problem solve on my feet like nobody’s business! I saw a bumper sticker over the weekend that read, "I can handle any crisis. I have children." Change "have" to "teach" and that’s really how i see my world these days.
I am not a good business manager. I am slowly learning this with my business ventures. I am great at generating the ideas, but don’t have the what-not to successfully produce income from it. This could be a problem as I intend to continue trying to turn my various skills into ways to keep my bank account from crashing.
I must work on this third one…or find someone willing to take over that part of my entrepreneurial projects.
Posted by Rebecca as Leadership and management at 5:12 PM EDT
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What a week!
In one week, I worked three 12-hour days, survived a very bad week at camp and a visit from my parents, and turned 30. I’m beat!
What with not being home much and all, this week’s link dump may be a bit lacking.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 12:52 PM EDT
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Camp starts back up on Monday for my site, and it sounds like I’ll have work after the sessions at my own site are finished!
Next week is going to prove a long one between long work dys and my parents visiting next weekend. I hope I don’t work myself into a cold!
The link dump seems to be moving itself into the weekends more, and I’m just letting it. It’s also slim since I actually had the week to look through everything carefully.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 10:04 AM EDT
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Sorry for all the posting this morning. Yesterday was a very busy day.
I woke up and went out to this new import shop someone told me about. (If you are anywhere near the Seattle area, the shop is called Wordly Goods and it’s over in Maltby by the big espresso cup). The shop is fabulous! The woman imports items from Egypt and Asia and then sells them at dangerously low prices. I made it out with two pieces of jewelry, and the only reason i didn’t pick up a papyrus is because I couldn’t find one that spoke to me.
I got to talking with the owner, and she also beads so I showed her my necklace and gave her my business card. She and a friend make many of the beaded pieces in the shop using crystals she imports, and I asked her about possibly joining in the fun. She looked at my website last night, and i’m just waiting to see if I get a "Your style will not work with my shop" email or phone call. I really hope it works out, because this is a neat store!
This comes on the heels of pursuing network connections to possibly teach or tutor with a local home school coop and grade with the local school district. I think I’m finally getting the hang of networking and seeing as something not evil. (Now if I could just hit that point with marketing, although I think authentic marketing is helping a bit with that.)
I then spent yesterday afternoon reading over a manuscript sent to me by a friend. I’m about 2/3 through, but it’s got a lot of potential. I’m really looking forward to seeing her pursue it through to publication. Of course, i had to cage up my technical editor because that’s not the read-through I was asked to give it. I will be recommending, however, that she have a technical editor go through it.
This comes on the heels of sending off an entry to a short story contest.
I also spent time dealing with a few crises running around my summer camp and giggling at those helping to count supplies for next week. They came up with the most interesting uses for some of our supplies and accused me repeatedly of teaching bad things at camp. Of course, then we went outside and ate raspberries straight out of the garden, so I think it was good.
Strangely enough, I’m now trying to find out the job specs for one of the cmap positions becasue the two who helped me yesterday have both expressed an interest in assisting with camp. They have that much fun counting out supplies every week, and i always let them play with completed projects when i bring them home.
Yep, it’s official. I’m learning how to be a useful give-and-take member of a network, and it feels great!
Posted by Rebecca as Networking at 9:19 AM EDT
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I thought i had already written on this topic, but I can’t find the post. This week this topic has just hit home in a rather personal way.
I run a summer camp site. I have one employee woking with me. Because of our enrollment next week, a part-time employee was assigned to work with us. Her email confirming she would work the position was forwarded to me, and I emailed her to set up her assignments and set up a time to get supplies to her. She never responded. The next evening, I called her and she told me she was actually trying to get a different placement.
Well, after we got off the phone, she resigned from the company saying she needed a full-time job. My manager is mad. I’m annoyed. And you can be almost certain that her personnel file was labelled DNR. She completely failed to communicate that she was unhappy with the position until things were too far into the process.
I wouldn’t be nearly so annoyed if she had responded to my email and let me know she was talking to my manager about a new placement. I actually was cringing at the thought of working with her, knowing that she doesn’t communicate well. Now, I can only hope she’ll find some place more suited to her worldview (and hope that she won’t be needing a reference in the process).
Burning bridges is bad. Even if you don’t like where you are working (not unlike my departure from Harcourt). Even if you have to leave for situations beyond your control (not unlike my departure from Spherion). The best way to handle leaving is to give your two weeks notice, put up with the bad stuff for those last two weeks, and leave with some measure of dignity still intact.
All right, so in the case of my leaving Spherion, I had to leave immediately due to a medical request. Not the best example, but you see what I mean.
Posted by Rebecca as Changing careers at 9:07 AM EDT
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In my first two weeks of summer camp, I have learned that the first rule of "real" management is the same as "volunteer, club" management: be flexible.
I’ve survived my first two weeks as a "real" manager by embracing flexibility. It’s amazing how many times over the past two weeks my instructor and I have just shrugged and said, "Oh, well," when things didn’t run the way they were supposed to. I guess this is also why it’s incredibly useful for a good manager to have strong problem solving skills.
I have only two more weeks to get through in my new role, complete with acquiring another employee and changing how things are going to run for the next two weeks. At least I can say that my management style does not resemble something from a Shakespearean tragedy!
Found via Slacker Manager
Posted by Rebecca as Leadership and management at 8:01 AM EDT
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