Work and a Few Tidbits. . . Here and There. . .

I am not able to post a lot about my job because of privacy and things like that but today we had a staff meeting and they introduced a new out reach campaign to get people to sign up to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.   It is called "Be the Hero your Dog Sees."   We have a lot of animal lovers in our company and they decided what better way to reach out to the community, than with their animals.  Basically, if you have dogs you know that your dog thinks the sun rises and sets with their human.  So our campaign wants you to be a hero to everyone by signing up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor because your dog already thinks you are a hero.  If you are interested or would like more information about organ donation if you are in North Carolina go to Donate Life NC, if you are somewhere else you can go to Donate Life America.

#Betheheroyourdogsees

My job is not easy and many nights I cry on my drive home thinking about the sweet folks that gave so much of themselves for someone else.  I think about that year that my sweet hubby was laid off and how God had a plan for our family and more importantly he had a plan for me.  I do love my job and I am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given to make a difference and to be a hero my dog sees. 

Classes winding down. . .

I am almost through my first semester in school after almost twenty years.   I have to finish my term paper on pornography for Ethics and take a big test  in both classes.  I wasn't the oldest in my classes but I was darn close.   I have signed up for one online class over the summer in security concepts.  I am only taking a couple of classes per session because I still want to be here for my kiddos.  I know it will take me longer to finish my degree but, that is ok with me.  I am not in a race to finish and I think I might want to do an internship with the police department before I finish.  I am enjoying the challenge of school and learning something new.  There is a lot that I did not know about computers and now I am a little more comfortable working in different aspects of the software and hardware I use.  When I have to upgrade my computer I think I will be smarter about what I need and don't need.  

Career Day. . .

We had career day or career fair at school today.  I went around and looked to see who I wanted to talk to and found the Police department.  The officer that was there was very knowledgeable and very personable.   I think that may be my calling, to help the police department fight computer crime.  I am really excited about the possibilities for the future.  I have a year or two left in school for this program but it is going by quickly.  I am going to take a security class online this summer and I cannot wait.
I used to think the medical field was the area to be in and now I think computer technology is where you need to be.  We do so much on the computer and smartphones someone is going to have to be ready to protect us.  There are also many different areas of computer security; you can protect people before the crime or you can investigate after the crime.  I am not sure which area I want to concentrate on because they both interest me.  I guess I have time to test both sides before I make a decision.
To anyone thinking about going back to school, I would encourage it.  I am enjoying my classes and learning so much.  It has been almost 20 years since I graduated College the first time, and it has been 10 years since I have been in the work force full time.  I was really nervous about going back to College but there are about as many older people as younger on campus these days.  If you are thinking about trying something new I encourage you to check out the Community Colleges in your area.

Stay at home VS. Working Moms. . .

Ok, right before I was rushing out the door to get in that car rider line the other day Anderson Cooper came on with his talk show.  He had stay at home Moms VS. working Moms.  One of the working Moms said, "Stay at home Moms are lazy."  So needless to say, I was a little late for the line up.  Those of you that may not know I am a stay at home Mom and have many friends that work and many that stay at home.  I have been on both sides of this argument myself.  I do believe it is quite an assumption for this person to jump, that stay at home moms are lazy.  I admit I have my days when I could be lazy as I am sure we all do. 
I have been on both sides of this argument as I said before.  When I had Jack I owned my own business and Jack stayed with me for the first 7 months in my office.  That was very nice and I am glad I did not have to take him to daycare for those first months.  I am also glad I was able to go back to work.   At 7 months Jack got very mobile and had to go to daycare.  I was sad but he went to a nice place where he was the only baby and got all the love and attention he could stand.  Naturally I felt a little guilty and felt that everyone was judging me to be a money hungry, career oriented, neglectful mother.  These are my feelings and my projections about me.  No one ever said these things to me,  these were things I had floating around in my head.  Once I had Thomas three years later it was too costly for two in daycare so I closed my business and stayed home.  I loved what I did but I believe the choice I made was the best for me.  I am truly thankful, that money wise, it works for our family.  Now I have the other things floating around in my head:  What, you don't work?  Are you stupid? Can you not hold down a job?  Are you lazy?   Once again these are my thoughts no one has ever said these things to me.  Some days I wish I had my resume typed on a card so that when people ask; What do you do? I could just whip it out.  Some days I want to rattle off my resume so that people know I do have a brain and I can do other things besides take my kids to school and do laundry.
I do not judge mothers.  I don't care if you stay home or if you work.  I just hope what ever you are doing it makes you happy.  I think we, as women, put more pressure on our selves than anyone else would ever do.  Just like the thoughts I have floating around in my head  about me.  I am pretty sure no one would ever think those things about me much less say them to my face.