Stimulating Ironman

I Love My Job

dbheli01 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:30:07 +0000

I haven’t felt this way about a job since my first flight in a helicopter. I feel like I’ve been spending the last three years running in a hamster wheel. I graduated from Davidson, I felt charged to spend my life making a difference. Every day I would do something to change the world. Davidson doesn’t just fill your head with knowledge. It uses that knowledge to teach you about the world. You leave Davidson with a sense that you are going to save the world: cure cancer, win a Novel Peace Prize, reverse global warming. I knew that the first 4 years of my professional life would be in a fulfilling career. The Army gave me that sense that I was doing something important and that I was doing my part to make the world better. Of course, I didn’t have any control of what causes I participated in, but I could be an ethical, just leader and take care of my soldiers. When I got out of the Army, I had this fresh chance to save the world. The options seemed limitless. I was psyched to start my first job in sales, and I felt like I was selling equipment that could improve someones life. After a few months on the job, though, I felt like the only thing that was driving me was the money that I could make. The positive impact the equipment could have on someone became a background reason. I felt pressured to do anything to make the sale, and that pressure made it more and more difficult to get out of bed every day. I had a morbid measure for how important my job really was: if I were to die tomorrow, would anyone in my professional life miss me? When Gandhi or Mother Theresa died, they left a gigantic void behind them. Would my clients be able to save lives if I were not around? The truth was that I was exceptionally replaceable. I vowed right then and there that I wouldn’t take a job just for the money every again. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not too idealistic to think that having no money is honorable. I like making a comfortable living and I like contributing financially to my family, but earning money can’t be my only driving force for taking a job. I have to believe in and enjoy what I’m doing.

My job with Alliance might sound like a ho-hum job, but I feel like I’m doing something important. Every day, I get to preach the gospel of JMOs, or Junior Military Officers. I get to talk to Fortunate 500 companies and let them know about this underrepresented group of talented individuals. These are guys and girls who chose to serve their country after college in our all-volunteer Army. These individuals decided to use their talents in a positive way. They are now at a point in their lives where they want to make a difference in the corporate world. They are educated, intelligent, driven, focused, disciplined team players who have received the world’s greatest leadership training. Why wouldn’t you hire them? I feel very passionate about this group not because I was one, but because they deserve a shot. They took the road less traveled and should be rewarded for it. In this economy I hear over and over again that there are 500 applications for every job. If a JMO put his/her resume in for a job, they wouldn’t make the cut. They have amazing skills and are quick learners, but the HR website buzzword finder can’t pick that up. You need to interview these guys face to face to see their immense value. If I can just get a company to a conference, the candidates will do the rest.

See how I get worked up about these guys? I could sing their praises for ever. It is 1230 and I am wide-awake. I’m going to snuggle up with my beagle and watch some bad television. Hopefully the whines of the contestants on “Make Me a Supermodel” will lure me to sleep.

What day is it?

dbheli01 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:53:24 +0000

Is it March already? What day is it? I am loving my job but tend to completely lose track of time during the week. They say that time flies when you’re having fun but it is much more surreal than that. I usually wake up around 0800, grab the dogs, my work laptop and my phones and lounge for a little while with them while researching for the day and watching a few of my old standby guilty pleasures on “Lifetime.” A couple of days a week the Ohio Alliance team and I have a 0900 conference call where we talk about what is working and what is not. I take a shower after our call and then make my long 10 step commute to the home office. The rest of the day is researching and cold-calling. It might not sound exciting, but I love the thrill of the hunt. If I can be successful with this job in this economy, I can be successful ANYWHERE. So far, I have had some success, although I’ve had a couple of weeks of “nos.” Companies who are hiring have their pick of resumes, so if they aren’t sold on a JMO right now, it is a tough sell. This week I plan on sending out a mass e-mail to see what kind of leads I can get before the conference. Right now I have no conference players and that is not acceptable to me! Anyway, enough talk about business. The key is this: I could literally not leave my house for 2 weeks and not even speak to more than 2 people face to face. I am a recluse! If it were not for Kathy coming over to take care of the house and cooking (yes, I love it), I might become a recluse, which is not really me. I usually work until 1930 or 2000, trudge downstairs, brain, body and eyes tired. Jeff and I didn’t get a lot of time together this week and that is my drive to try to achieve balance this week. Balance for me means: the gym and exercise, along with making more of an effort to see and interact with my Sweets.

I’m still limited in what I can do at the gym, but I am definitely in the worst shape of my life! Yuck! I’m way too smushy, and I need to lose a small child’s worth of weight. One thing that my SCS revision taught me is that I need to take baby steps, instead of the gigantic “bonsai!” steps that I usually take. So this week, starting Monday morning, I am going to start going to the gym in the morning. For me, exercise cleanses my mind and gets me ready for the day. As much as I used to detest getting up early for Army PT, I always felt great afterward. The days of situps, pushups and running are over for me, but water running or walking on the treadmill or greenway will be a nice baby step start. It is also key to getting out of the house once a day for more than feeding my face on fast food. Ick, ick, ick.

Last weekend we were playing in the snow with our neighbors whereas it is almost 80 degrees right now! We went with the Deacons and two of their 3 dogs (Sorry Remy) and all three of our dogs to Fisher Farm Park in Davidson. This place is doggie heaven, because it is this huge farm with walking trails, a creek and just acres and acres of open space for them to run and run. There is a reason Doggie Heaven is considered a farm. There is no greater sight to me than a happy dog, when they run free and smile. It was also nice to get out and exercise, even if we were just walking around a farm. I broke a sweat, got a bit breathless walking up one of the big hills, and spent time with my Sweets and good friends. Does it get any better than that?

Settling In and a Realization

dbheli01 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:01:32 +0000

I seem to be apologizing lots lately for not blogging as much. I have had a lot of big life changes in the past couple of months. I am still loving my job at Alliance and have gotten my feet wet into the world of cold calling. Despite the fact that there are some days I get nowhere and talk to nothing but voicemail, there have been other days where I have great success. I live for those days because it is why sales can be so much fun. So far, so good. I particularly love my 10 step commute to my office, although it is a battle to keep a balance between work and home. Jeff keeps me straight, though. Actually, my sweets has really been putting his foot down lately and I have always liked that side of him. He makes sure I close the door to the home office when I am done for the day, and he has been watching me like a hawk for those motions that I shouldn’t make, like reaching for anything over my head or twisting around. It has only been a few weeks since my last SCS adventure.

Speaking of this last adventure, my 4th one in 2 years, you might have noticed I have not been talking much of training. There is no way at this point that I’ll be able to train for and complete the Half Ironman in Orlando. Really I have been re-considering my desire to resume my triathlon lifestyle. I want to be a triathlete again so much but my body always revolts. If I want to be able to remain upright as the years go by, I’m going to have to adjust the activities and hobbies I choose to do. I think I will try to become more of a swimmer. I love swimming, although my first triathlon was the first time I swam in a competition. I had plenty of opportunity to swim competitively growing up in Florida, but it was so serious that I would have had time for nothing else. I preferred team sports growing up, although the water has always made me happy. Swimming is one activity where I can reach my zen. I can swim forever. My body doesn’t seem to feel tired and my mind completely relaxes. Eventually I would like to start training for a 1 mile open water swim here in NC, but I’m going to play everything by ear. I still have about 3 weeks until I can start swimming again. I can’t wait!

I thought about changing the title of my blog since I have to disregard my plans for the Half-Ironman but Ironman represents too much of me to change the name. I don’t think I’ll ever give up the dream, and having to put it aside this year just represents my overall journey.

I am hoping to keep my apologies to a minimum in the future. Stay tuned for more and more posts as my target swim date draws near.

World Series of Poker

dbheli01 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:36:21 +0000

I found a new career last night (well, it might have been this morning). I discovered that I have a talent that has been hiding in mediocrity for quite a long time. My goal in most Sac poker games was usually no to be first out. If I ended up 2nd or 3rd out, I would feel like a success. Last night, I don’t know what happened to me. I won! I have much respect for the people I beat, especially those in the final round. Melissa looks sweet and harmless, but this girl usually wins money playing poker. She is a fierce competitor. I know Amber is tough, and she usually bets aggressively. She often bluffs, too and doesn’t have a tell (that I can tell). The other finalist at the table was a person whose intellect impresses me the most–Jeffie. Jeffie is a whiz chess player and I swear could count cards at Blackjack tables. He analyzes what everyone else could have very well. Jeff and I had a near equal amount of chips, and I figured he would. The game crept progressing and I kept winning hands. Of course, I was dealt some amazing cards, and I finally know what to do with them. Don’t bet too high too early or you will scare this crowd away. I was able to rack up some rather large pots, and I WON! Woo hoo! This is the first in many years of poker playing that I’ve placed first (although these past few years we’ve played regularly). I won $60 bucks and haven’t quite figured out what to do with it. This type of money has to go toward something fun. I have plenty I want, but what do I buy first?

I’m going to have to get a new office chair. I spend so much time in the current chair and I’ve overdone it on my upper back. That’s the part that I had most trouble with after my first permanent implant. If I’m standing up or in one position more than any other, It starts to really hurt. I’m spending this Sunday afternoon resting on the couch so I can physically prepare for a week of closing companies!

A Week that I love sales

dbheli01 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:09:54 +0000

Anyone who has ever had a sales job knows that when you are hot and closing business, you can’t beat the feeling. It is like winning a HS basketball county championship every time. That is the most important win I’ve ever directly been a part of, so I had to use that example. You also know that the closes and failures come in spurts. One day, you might get people calling you for information and wanting to do business. Other days, your loyal customers tell you to shove off. This week I have been on fire. I don’t think it has anything to do with my sales prowess; it is just my week to be hot. Another day one of my teammates will be closing business left and right and I will be in the weeds. I’ll have to keep the memory of how great I feel this week to get me through those bad weeks. I am not going to go into the specifics of the business I closed because spies are everywhere. Actually, most of the companies no one would have heard of unless they live in the towns where they operate. It doesn’t matter to me–they are all interested in hiring JMOs and other specialists and they have chosen us to help them in the process. Now all we have to do is beat our competition to the punch and submit some outstanding resumes.

I have had many people ask me if I am liking my new job. I’m not liking it; I AM FREAKIN’ LOVING IT! I wake up in the morning with a gigantic sense of purpose. Before when I didn’t have a job, I could lounge around in bed the whole morning. All I had to look forward to was Lifetime television, snuggling with my beagle at his gasiest, the gym and chillin’ with Kathy. I desperately miss chillin’ with Kathy every day and still need to find a way to spend time with her. She always makes me laugh and is a fantastic confidante. She is caring and empathetic and appreciates me for the wacky and opinionated person that I am. Actually, she is going to become our “domestic engineer” in order to make some extra cash and lend us a hand with cleaning and cooking.. Even though I work from home, I don’t take any breaks to clean or cook. I treat this job as if I were going into an office every day. I roll out of bed, take a shower, make myself look pretty without makeup, throw on my favorite sweatpants and t-shirt of the day, and commute the 10 steps to my home office. I work from 10-7 and usually eat lunch at my desk. By the end of the day, my brain and eyes are usually exhausted, but this exhaustion is also exhilarating. I look around and think about our candidates. I was in their shoes just a couple of years ago and I want to find them the best job opportunities out there right now. They have served their country with honor and they deserve to work for a top company more than any Ivy Leaguer. I don’t care if you graduated from Harvard Business School. Have you had a mortar launched at your head and the troops that you are responsible for? Have you had to coordinate a live fire exercise safely so no one was accidentally shot? Have you been responsible for managing large governmental contracts to build hospitals and schools for the Iraqi people? You can’t replace that type of leadership experience with a fancy degree.

I’m off my soapbox. I have been a little too active in the last couple of days and am starting to feel the effects of it. My upper back feels very sore and achy, a sure sign that I’ve lifted my hands over my head way too many times. My left butt cheek burns at the incision site, most likely because I sit on my butt 10 hours a day. I might have to move my home office to the couch tomorrow so I can try to reduce my pain. I’m also heading into Southeast Pain with the hope that they’ll allow me to increase my medicine a tad more for a few days. If I rest for the remainder of the week, my healing should be back on track.

I just had to tell my readers how happy I am with my job. I already feel like I’m part of the team, like I am home. I even enjoy cold calling these companies because I get to think up a new scheme every time. If any of you have HR contacts in your own companies that you would like to pass along, I will happy accept it. I am not an annoying telemarketer. I let the customer talk and I listen and take notes. If you tell me “no,” I won’t bug you for again for another 2-3 weeks. If you say “HELL NO” and are rude to me, I’ll send you an honest “THANK YOU” note thanking you for your time. I want you to remember me and Alliance International when you change your mind about hiring JMOs. If you aren’t recruiting JMOs into your organization, you are missing out on some true talent.

Legendary Paddle Lead Destroyer

dbheli01 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:52:44 +0000

I graduated from high school near the top of my class and was one of the best athletes in my school. I was awarded the “Best All-Around Female Student” my Senior Year. I was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by my peers for the Homecoming Dance, my first and only superlative win. I had a stellar academic career at one of the most selective and demanding liberal arts schools in the country. I gradated from the United States Army Flight School and became qualified in the OH 58D “Kiowa Warrior.” I’ve completed 4 triathlons and a half marathon and I was rated the #1 Captain out of 15 during my stint in Iraq. I have had many accomplishments in my life thus far, but my proudest moment occurred Friday, January 30th around 1339 in the afternoon. On Friday afternoon, my wonderful neurosurgeon, Dr. Joe Bernard of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates cut into a couple of thoracic levels of my back and discovered a hard, rubbery plastic paddle lead, one that is supposed to be indestructible, fractured down the middle. It had completely separated from its electrical contacts and the wire. My neurosurgeon and neither of my Boston Scientific reps had ever seen that happen. I’ve polled several other experienced employees at Boston Scientific Neuromodulation and they had never heard of that happening. How cool is that? There is no actual proof that my high activity level damaged the paddle lead like this, but I am one of the most active patients with this device and easily could have pulled it during my recent adventures. Paddle leads are literally tied onto vertebrae, solidly in place. Whatever I did was something that I should never do again. Wish I knew what it was. . .

I am proud of this feat not only because I am the only one to have done it but it is proof that I haven’t let pain or naysayers stop me from living my life the way I want. I’ve become active and thus happy again because of this device. Not having it for a month while they figured out what to do with it was excruciating. Pain is an interesting phenomenon. If the brain becomes used to feeling it, it will never forget it. Without the stimulator, that nerve pain slowly crept up to unbearable levels. The week before I started my new job, the pain was so bad that it would make me queasy and throw up. I couldn’t even pee right, all because the pain was severe. You know what I did? I sucked it up, downed some Nauzene and drove on. If I relegated myself to the couch all I would really have done was focus on the pain and wallow in my misery. I’ve learned from experience that this type of attitude does not help pain. In fact, it makes me miserable and makes me very miserable to be around. My surgeon scheduled me very quickly for the stimulator revision so only a few days after the conference I went in for my 4th back surgery in about 2 years. We are old pros a this. I spent one night in the hospital for observation, and that whole experience is for another blog entry. Suffice it to say that I will birth my children and have any major procedure at CMC any day of the week. I had the weekend to recover from the surgery and it only took a couple of days to start feeling normal again. I don’t even really have incision pain, despite two incisions: one in the thoracic region and the other on my left upper butt cheek. I worked on strengthening both areas before the surgery and I think that helped with my recovery. I was afraid the recovery would be similar to the first, which was quite miserable. I had muscle spasms and couldn’t sit normally in a chair for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time due to pain and tired very easily. This recovery has been so easy that I forgot I even had the surgery. I am supposed to be taking it real easy so the new paddle lead scars in like it is supposed to and stay put. I’m not supposed to lift my arms over my head (very tough for me) and I’m supposed to stay pretty sedentary (also tough for me). I can walk for exercise but that is about it (blah). Thus far I have just thrown myself into my work, which I am immensely enjoying.

My next step in the process is to decide which activities I will continue and which ones I wil keep. Kathy and my Mom vote for knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking and reading. Joanne votes for walking, hiking, yoga and lifting very ight weights. Dad recommends treadmill walking and hiking the Appalachian trail. These are all fine activities that I will consider, but I need something a little more adventurous.

Here are the activities that I hate to lose but have to stop in order to avoid having a surgery every year:

Triathlon

Snowboarding (I’m not mentally ready to give that one up yet)

trampoline jumping

cliff diving

Strongman competition

Pull-Ups

Tae Kwon Do

Boxing

Rowing

Heavy weight lifting

WWE Wrestling

American Gladiator competition

Laundry

Any Cleaning of the house

Vacuuming

Here are a few ideas that I have that are a nice meeting in the middle:

Snowboarding only green and easy blue runs, no tricks

Swimming, swimming, swimming

Pilates and Yoga

Indoor rock climbing

whitewater kayaking

racewalking

Earning my plate on the wall at The Flying Saucer

Creating a butt-shaped dent in the couch from watching Tru TV marathons

knitting/cross stitching

baking

Gardening

Tap Dancing

Muay Thai martial arts

Okay, now it is time for audience participation. If you are still awake after reading this long dialogue, suggest some new activities for me. As much as I like my Pain Management doctor, Neurosurgeon, the stellar care at CMC and getting Blue Cross bills in the mail, I don’t want to have procedure after procedure. I wake up everyday looking forward to my job; I am living a life with much less pain, no painkillers and my social calendar is usually full. I have a good life and enough scars in my back to last a lifetime. My name is Darisse. I am an adventure and exercise addict. God grant me the courage to change the things I can!

I love my Job

dbheli01 — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:35:28 +0000

I started my new job on Saturday and I really love it. I was really impressed with the level of the candidates at the conference and enjoyed meeting everyone again now that I am an employee. I just can’t wait until I get my first close. Now I wake up in the morning (PST), get on our daily conference call and can’t wait to get calling my target list. Some days I feel like a glorified telemarketer, but we have a product that I’m passionate about selling: the Junior Military Officer. The Junior Military Officer is disciplined, focused, organized, experienced leaders, cool under pressure, resourceful, intelligent and often technically outstanding. These are young adults who will not only work hard for your organization, but become the leaders of your organization. I have so much faith in JMOs that I would shave my head if any one of them disappointed one of my potential clients. Can you hear the passion? Do you know how great it feels to feel this passionate about a job. This week I am looking for my first close. I can just taste it.

I had my little SCS procedure Friday and everything went well. If anyone has worked this device any more than me, I would like to hear about it. They checked the battery in my butt cheek and the power source was great, intact. It took an incision to find that out but it doesn’t hurt too much. They went into the paddle lead and what was staring up at them but a linear, frayed crack right down it. How could that have happened? Actually, there is no evidence that my activity level broke the device. Until proven otherwise, my theory is that it was materiel failure. They’re sending it off to their engineers to determine what went wrong. I desperately hope that I get to keep the lead. I saved my hospital bracelet and am going to have my reps put together a certificate of achievement. I need to find a cool trophy case for it. Fortunately the procedure wasn’t too bad. I’m a little sore and absolutely must take it easy for a few weeks but I have my favorite program back and the nerve pain is almost nonexistent. Tomorrow its back to work, but I’m excited to get on the phone and start converting these companies over to Alliance. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid and it tastes great!

Congratulations Judge Bowden

dbheli01 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:42:13 +0000

I am sure you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for my latest blog post, and I apologize it has been so long. Jeff and I traveled to Jacksonville last week to celebrate my Dad’s retirement as a Circuit Court Judge. He has been in the legal profession for about 40 years, first as a well-rounded lawyer and then as a respected Circuit Court Judge. The ceremony was really cool. They opened it like they were opening court, and the family got to sit at the lawyer’s table. Then, the active judges walked in and sat in the jury box, which was kind of intimidating. Dad had several friends speak on his behalf and I learned some things that I never knew. My Dad was known in his early career for being an excellent cross-examiner. I looked over at my brother and got a knowing look–my poor brother always got the brunt of that cross-examination as he was a bit of a troublemaker as a teenager. He didn’t have a chance under that kind of pressure, and usually crumbled! I was also pleased that my Mom received a lot of the credit for his success. She has supported him throughout their 32 years of marriage and deserves high praise. At the end of the ceremony, we unveiled an oil portrait of my Dad. It look really great, although it was a bit odd to see my Daddy in an oil portrait. His portrait will hang in the ceremonial courtroom for many years to come. The ceremony was followed with a small reception at Epping Forest Yacht Club in the very same room Jeff and I were married. It was cool to go back there. Epping does a spectacular job at any event. They take care of all the details and we will always use them for special events like this.

We spent the weekend in Jacksonville and are still recovering from the quick trip. I forgot how long of a drive it is from Charlotte to Jacksonville. My back is still killing me, but I’ll survive. I get to see Lisa in a couple of hours and she will get me straight again. This is a big week. It is my last week of laziness before starting my new job with Alliance. I am psyched to get started and am already brainstorming some potential leads. I’m heading to Raleigh on Saturday for their hiring conference and to learn more about my job description.

Tomorrow is an especially big day. I’m meeting with the neurosurgeon to see if this SCS need to be fixed. It won’t be a big deal if it needs tweaking but my triathlon goal will have to be put aside for a long while. I’m slowly coming to grips with it, although I also feel a little heartsick. For now I am going to focus on my swimming fitness. I swam just under 1000 m last night and felt great. I am going to throw myself into lap swimming for now. I know I can swim long-term and even while rehabbing after my new SCS.

It has been downright frigid in Charlotte the past couple of days. Everyone freaked out yesterday because we had a dusting of snow. If you ask any native North Carolinian, they will say that we had at least 2 inches. Take it from a NNY veteran–it was a dusting. The temperature is still in the teens, though, which is out of my comfort zone. Good thing I have a license to be lazy this week. I have a back log of shows saved on DVR and I think I’m going to make my way through them today.

Did anyone else get chills yesterday during the inauguration? I think the protocol before, during and after that ceremony is so cool. It reminds me of why our Republic is different than any other. The peaceful transfer of power is accomplished even between two different political parties. The sight of all of those people at the Mall made my heart flutter with excitement. Can you imagine the energy in the air? Let’s pray that we will look back at January 20, 2009 as the day that we started again in this country. Maybe this day will be the beginning of an upturn in our future.

Pilates Burn

dbheli01 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:55:36 +0000

Did you know that Joseph Pilates created Pilates to help WWI veterans rehabilitate injuries? I have a much deeper respect for Pilates now, although I’ve always known it is a killer workout. Lisa had the idea to start going to Saturday Pilates classes together and I jumped at the chance. I need to develop better workout habits to protect my back and I need someone else to keep me accountable. The Pilates studio recommends that we go to at least 1 private lesson before attending group classes, so each of us went today. I’ve never been to a legit Pilates studio, so the contraptions were a little intimidating. If you were to observe the workout from afar, it looks like granny exercises. If you do the exercises correctly though, you will quickly develop a sweat and feel that your core or “powerhouse” is getting strong. I was really impressed. I was especially impressed that the instructor kept my back into consideration. She seemed to have good knowledge of the multiple surgeries I’ve had and how to protect my crippled back. I’m looking forward to learning this technique and developing abs of steel! I have an appointment with Lisa in the morning and I expect her to be fired up about Pilates. I am in trouble!

Jeff and I are heading to Jacksonville tomorrow to attend my Dad’s retirement ceremony. He has served 19 years as a Circuit Court Judge and has served in every division: family, civil, felony and juvenile. He has had an illustrious career in law and I am sure he will miss it. He plans to get into arbitration, though, so he won’t be away from it for too long. I was 11 when he became a judge! Where did the time go?

Dr. Heil hooked me up with a few injections yesterday to stave off some pain until my SCS is fixed. He is making me promise that I will alter my physical activities and protect this “delicate equipment.” I’ll try!

Jeff and I are watching another “Operation Repo” marathon. This show is so bad. I can feel my brain cells dying with every second of watching the show, but I can’t stop watching it. Is that drool forming on my lower lip? I don’t care. Must. Watch. Operation. Repo.

Oh Screw It

dbheli01 — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:02:28 +0000

What a week! First I reach near nervous breakdown levels if I had to face one more day with no job prospects. Then my persistence pays off and I land not only a job, but a job that I can’t wait to start. Next my Gators win the National Championship (what a game!). Finally, I convinced Lisa to let me try to run. There is a lot to cover in today’s blog, so try to keep up. I made a last ditch effort to get a job with Boston Scientific working for their military outreach program but they aren’t quite in need of my services full-time. I subsequently made a last ditch attempt to get a job with Alliance International. Alliance is the JMO (Junior Military Officer) Recruiting company I went through for my first job out of the Army. There are a ton of these type recruiters, but Alliance is the best all-around. They make a point to pick solid, quality companies to attend their hiring conferences and their interview prep is unparalleled. Having used their competition recently, I can honestly say that they blow the competition out of the water. Especially after my most recent experience flailing around in the job market, I want to help veterans find great jobs after they transition out of the military. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know my frustration when companies do not value military experience. I sent an e-mail to the CEO of Alliance and essentially said: “Here are 6 reasons why you should hire me right now.” To his credit, he called me within 15 minutes and set me up with a phone interview the next day. I am their newest Account Executive and will be in charge of finding qualitiy opportunities for their candidates in the Western territory. I’ll be working from home and working on California time. I am ecstatic and can not wait to jump in and get started! I officially start on January 24th!

It took me approximately 2 months to convince Alliance to hire me, but it took me 4 months to convince Lisa to let me try running. I know she cringed every time I walked in the door and started asking questions because every single visit included at least 1 variation of the question: “when will I be ready to run again?” I love running. I love how I can get into the zone and clear my mind. I love the runner’s high. I love to feel my lungs burn. I even like the soreness I feel in my legs and joints the day after. I am surprised that she gave me the “okay” to run because my left leg neuropathic pain is worse than ever. My SCS is still broken, despite multiple attempts to reprogram it. My logic is this–no treatment except the SCS has ever worked in treating this pain. I’m stuck with it, so I might as well enjoy life as much as possible. This is where today’s title comes in. I’m going to feel this leg pain for the rest of my life, so screw it. I’m going to do what makes me happy! Tomorrow morning I see Dr. Heil, my beloved pain management doctor and I expect we’ll make a decision on our next course of action. Currently my left leg is wracked with that familiar shooting and throbbing pain that I’ll never get rid of, but at least I have the memory of a recent good run. I am definitely out of running shape, but I made it a whole mile down the Greenway! Victory!

In other more important news, my BFF Dr. Emily Lampp is engaged to her sweetie of over a year, Matt. He surprised her with a ring yesterday afternoon and I am honored to be one of her matrons of honor. They are a great match and I could not be happier for them. Matt just finished hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail, 2650 miles of massive elevation changes from Mexico to Canada. What a feat!

We are heading to Jacksonville this week to celebrate my Dad’s retirement as a Circuit Court Judge. No more speeding ticket passes for me! They’ll have a nice ceremony and then a swanky reception at Epping Forest Yacht Club. This is also where Jeff and I were married, so it will be cool to go there again.

Wish me luck tomorrow at Pain Management. I am ready to have my SCS back!

GO GATORS! What a game! I was pacing the floor the entire evening. I should have had faith that Tebow would pull the team through, but even Superman can have his weaknesses. I am so proud to be a Gator fan!