Good/"Concrete" News

We did receive some very good news yesterday as my wife was offered a job. My wife has been looking for a job since she got back from New Jersey and the economy being what is this search has been very difficult. I thought she had an inside track on a few positions but this never materialized. It is interesting how things turned out because I thought she would obtain a position through contacts I have had but this was not the case. She obtained this position through my wife’s own set of contacts. She will be working for a local attorney on a part time basis. Yes, she was looking for a full time position but at this point she will take what she can get. It will be two full days a week and if things pick up the position could turn into full time. Of course that is certainly down the road and the local economy has suffered greatly with the housing down turn so we are very grateful for any position at this point in time.

My wife will start the week after next because we are receiving a visitor next week. My mother-in-law is coming over the President’s Day holiday for an extended weekend to see the children for their birthdays. My son’s birthday is on Sunday and my daughter’s birthday is on Wednesday. My mother-in-law arrives on Wednesday and will be with us through the weekend departing on Monday. I think my wife is a bit relieved to receive the position and it will be good for everyone concerned. This is something she has done in the past and very similar to a position she had in New Jersey also it is only a few minutes from the house so there is virtually no commute.

It continues to be interesting how things are working out for the very best. We are making it and I am extremely grateful to have a position in not only this economy but with my background. I do have to embrace my blessings each and every day because without recovery I know for a fact I wouldn’t have any of this. I do believe life is all about personal connections and those personal connections also bleed over to business connections. When we moved to Las Vegas I only knew a handful of people and had to start from scratch in my job search. I was able to land a job within a few months and this was done without and personal connections. From that point in time I only landed one other job without a personal connection and that job lead me to Southern California through (yes) a personal connection.

Early on in my career I didn’t fully understand the concept of networking but now having 20 plus years of business experience this is 90% of all business if not more. My wife landed her job through a personal connection so yes; it does help to “know” somebody. However; just “knowing” somebody is not a guarantee to keep the job that goes to ability. I know my wife will do very well because she is such a conscientious worker and always wants to do her best.

In comparison I may be conscientious but not to the degree my wife has; I always thought my wife to be the model employee. While I was bouncing around from job to job when we lived in Las Vegas my wife remained at the same company the entire time up until we had our son. The childcare expenses were too costly for my wife to remain working which is why she quit that job or quite possibly she could still be there. I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened but my wife does have a huge degree of loyalty and I admire her so much.

I have altered my training this week and haven’t really started a “real” training program. I have been alternating days between riding the bicycle and running. I have found the bicycle to be much more challenging than running. When I first started working out I went from the Stairmaster to the bicycle to running. I have always found the bicycle to be the most challenging and I think it gives me the best/most difficult workout. I have never really cross trained in the past so it will be interesting to see how riding the bicycle adds or subtracts to my running. It does shake up my routine and I did need some shaking up.

This morning was a running day and I did something I haven’t done in a very long time which was to run “negative splits”. Negative splits are running the second half of the run at least 30 seconds per mile faster than the first half of the run. I remember after I failed miserably on my first marathon discovering this training method which made the second marathon so much better than the first. I haven’t focused on this method since then but after reading a recent article I thought it was about time to incorporate them into my workout. This morning was a very good run and I ran the first 6 miles in 45 minutes while running the last 6 miles in 42 minutes. I was “feeling” it at the end but did feel great when I finished.

Once again my day wasn’t what I had planned since I was given another task to complete. Actually I was given two tasks and once again I had to go to my “personal” contact database to help with one of these tasks and of course I was able to complete what was given to me. The second task is more long term and it is one of those things that when it happens I will believe but for now I will continue to take it just like I take life “one step at time”!!!