@ the 'Bux

Currently, I am sitting in a Starbucks close to home. While employed by a small hotel consulting company, this coffee shop was amusingly known amongst friends as "my office". While working from home, I had no other daily social interaction and quickly came to miss the white noise of an office space, the water cooler conversations, and the occasional co-worker distraction. And so, Starbucks came to the rescue.
During my tenure as a pseudo Starbucks super-fan, I have come to recognize a lot of regulars that appear to be putting in office hours as well. The interesting thought that comes to mind is that although we’ve had what everyone wants - the ability to work from home 5 days a week – we have come to miss the traditional office environment that we thought we despised! I’m thinking the adage “The grass is always greener on the other side” pertains to all life situations.
Are we ever truly happy with what we have, or do we take it for granted until it’s gone? If we do take it for granted, what about the influencing factors that drive us to a decision? If certain aspects were different, would we feel the same way and still gravitate towards that same decision? As I drink my last few sips of coffee, I realize that pondering the “what if” doesn’t matter as my mind is made up. Life is about experiences, and for me, working from home can be checked off.

I Like You, Do You Like Me?

As I close out my day, I reflect on just how long and stressful it had been. Today I had a second interview with a firm that I am very excited about. The firm's industry is financial based, of which I knew little about until last week. In the last seven days, I have studied up on the futures markets, and have even spoken with traders in the industry. Today was the big day, and I was prepared.
Getting ready before an interview is much like getting ready for a first date. In the shower, you cycle through the questions you know are going to come, and then you try to think about and prepare for the ones that could completely derail you. As you begin to get dressed, anticipation begins to grow. Have I prepared enough? Do I really like this opportunity, or am I just desperate? I wonder what happened with that other opportunity from last week... By now I think you can see my correlation. Finally, you arrive at your destination and the interviewer greets you. For me, I have found that the first five minutes dictates the overall success of the interview, (the same applies for a first date)! The first five minutes today were a success, and an hour and a half later, the interview was over. The jitters were now gone and I know whether or not I want to see this firm again. The question is, do they want to see me again?

I guess I'll sit by the phone in anticipation...

A Life in Parallax

No matter where you are, life is happening. The beauty of life is that we all see things a little differently, perhaps uniquely, and thus, in parallax. Parallax is about perspective and is defined as the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer. I created this blog to detail the life and experiences of a thirty-something, who's trying to carve his own path. Enjoy.