If I counted correctly, that is.
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom," said King David. (Psalm 90:12)
I'm slated to move to the antipodes of where I am now in about 40 days. And while I have always lived my life knowing what was going to happen two steps ahead, I have to say that the details of the coming adventure are still up in the air, and that this is the most uncertainty I have faced in my young life. Despite this unsurety, I am confident that this great leap into the unknown, regardless of what it holds for me, is exactly what I am supposed to do.
Forty more days to savor the moments with family and friends so precious to me. Forty days to prepare physically, spiritually, and emotionally for a year in Indonesia. My immediate response is the latter of fight or flight when I think about our circumstances. But despite the brevity of my time remaining in Ann Arbor and the United States, I know that a lot can happen in forty days...
Noah experienced a deluge of rain for forty days and forty nights, in which the earth as he knew it and the populace, excluding his family, was destroyed. And subsequently, when the earth had dried, God established His covenant to never destroy the earth by flood again - and gave a rainbow as a sign of this promise. Moses experienced solace on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights with the God who was so holy that no one could see Him and live - so holy that His name was inutterable, and written only as "YHWH" - and descended with his face radiant from having been in the presence of God.
Jesus spent forty days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness, and was tempted by the devil by things like food and the kingdoms of this world. And the best part about that was, though He was tempted, He knew no sin and did not succumb to the desires of the flesh - He overcame for the joy set before Him, and that was you and me!
Airplane ticket for there and back again, a visa for a year (apparently, you have to be 23 years old to get a working visa in Indonesia. Incidentally, I claim that many years!), housing, leaving my family behind, surrendering my physical security and safety, and surrendering the consequences of my imperfect obedience to follow Christ to the ends of the earth to my Heavenly Father who knows that I have need of grace for all of the things aforementioned...it's a lot to think about.
But not too much for Him who has overcome the world!
And, if you are reading my thoughts, I promise to update more regularly once we get to Indonesia!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
a not so comprehensive update in the life of a working girl
"Being confident that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus..."
I started this post with Paul's words in Philippians 1 because I have this uncanny knack for starting posts but never knowing how to continue and finish them. I always feel like I have so much to say, but sometimes can't figure out how to say it - which is the best explanation I can offer for not having posted for a while. (That, and busy season at the Tax & Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters has kept me occupied. Fortunately, April 15 is in sight!)
My life since my last post has taken on somewhat of a routine. Each work day, I endeavor to wake early (emphasis on endeavor) and be ready for my 8:30 am - 5:00 pm workday by the time I walk out the door for morning prayer. I then commute south on State Street and spend 8.5 hours at 880 Technology Drive. The call center has actually slowed significantly since January. February and March, the interns and I found ourselves taken up with accounting software calls. It is a thing of drudgery to ask people over and over again what their renewal plans are for their accounting software. Interestingly, regardless of how non-spiritual a thing is (and I venture to say that accounting software renewal calls are the farthest thing from spiritual!), I am learning how to worship through my work - even if I say nothing about Christ or this faith in which I am trying to abide.
This comes through the attitude of my heart - and it's easy to feel malicious and angry at people I talk to everyday, who release their stress and frustration over the phone into my ears. Having studied fancy-shmancy sounding things at the University of Michigan, I never imagined myself working in Customer Service and dealing with people the way that I do now, every day. Fortunately, this first job out of college has been a wonderful opportunity to teach me patience and how to love people who are difficult to love, especially when they speak in ways that are disrespectful, and even hurtful at times. (Make no mistake, I have not mastered these things - I am only learning and continuing to learn about them!)
While I never saw myself doing something like "Service Reception - how may I direct your call?" and "Customer Service, this is Iris - may I have your name, please?" type of things, the close of busy season has given me the opportunity to do things on the job that would never have been possible had I been in law school or any other job that does not require sitting and waiting for calls. The other interns have a love/hate relationship with Service Reception because the call center is dead these days. Over the past couple of months, I have been able to use the time spent waiting for calls and occasionally routing faxes to knit, crochet (I finally learned a few weeks ago!), make cards, read my Bible, send out support letters, manage my finances, study (occasionally) for the GRE, and learn more about Indonesia (to name a few things). And I am still working while I do all of these things!
March was wonderfully packed with lots of random and spontaneous jaunts (which are to be expected from the author). I wish I would have written about them while they were still fresh in my head. (For example, things like watching YoYo Ma pace around Hill Auditorium and stand about seven feet from where one is sitting are not easily forgettable...)
Four Aprils ago, I remember writing in my journal at some ungodly hour of the night something to the effect of, "I want to dig in my heels and fight against time passing me by so quickly..." I think the reason I haven't been writing so much is because of this constant fight for time - experiencing life instead of writing about it. (Don't get me wrong, I love to write!) I guess that wasn't really much of an update, just because so much has happened between now and the previous post - but I guess it was a start. And I am still in this process of learning about things being carried on to completion...
I started this post with Paul's words in Philippians 1 because I have this uncanny knack for starting posts but never knowing how to continue and finish them. I always feel like I have so much to say, but sometimes can't figure out how to say it - which is the best explanation I can offer for not having posted for a while. (That, and busy season at the Tax & Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters has kept me occupied. Fortunately, April 15 is in sight!)
My life since my last post has taken on somewhat of a routine. Each work day, I endeavor to wake early (emphasis on endeavor) and be ready for my 8:30 am - 5:00 pm workday by the time I walk out the door for morning prayer. I then commute south on State Street and spend 8.5 hours at 880 Technology Drive. The call center has actually slowed significantly since January. February and March, the interns and I found ourselves taken up with accounting software calls. It is a thing of drudgery to ask people over and over again what their renewal plans are for their accounting software. Interestingly, regardless of how non-spiritual a thing is (and I venture to say that accounting software renewal calls are the farthest thing from spiritual!), I am learning how to worship through my work - even if I say nothing about Christ or this faith in which I am trying to abide.
This comes through the attitude of my heart - and it's easy to feel malicious and angry at people I talk to everyday, who release their stress and frustration over the phone into my ears. Having studied fancy-shmancy sounding things at the University of Michigan, I never imagined myself working in Customer Service and dealing with people the way that I do now, every day. Fortunately, this first job out of college has been a wonderful opportunity to teach me patience and how to love people who are difficult to love, especially when they speak in ways that are disrespectful, and even hurtful at times. (Make no mistake, I have not mastered these things - I am only learning and continuing to learn about them!)
While I never saw myself doing something like "Service Reception - how may I direct your call?" and "Customer Service, this is Iris - may I have your name, please?" type of things, the close of busy season has given me the opportunity to do things on the job that would never have been possible had I been in law school or any other job that does not require sitting and waiting for calls. The other interns have a love/hate relationship with Service Reception because the call center is dead these days. Over the past couple of months, I have been able to use the time spent waiting for calls and occasionally routing faxes to knit, crochet (I finally learned a few weeks ago!), make cards, read my Bible, send out support letters, manage my finances, study (occasionally) for the GRE, and learn more about Indonesia (to name a few things). And I am still working while I do all of these things!
March was wonderfully packed with lots of random and spontaneous jaunts (which are to be expected from the author). I wish I would have written about them while they were still fresh in my head. (For example, things like watching YoYo Ma pace around Hill Auditorium and stand about seven feet from where one is sitting are not easily forgettable...)
Four Aprils ago, I remember writing in my journal at some ungodly hour of the night something to the effect of, "I want to dig in my heels and fight against time passing me by so quickly..." I think the reason I haven't been writing so much is because of this constant fight for time - experiencing life instead of writing about it. (Don't get me wrong, I love to write!) I guess that wasn't really much of an update, just because so much has happened between now and the previous post - but I guess it was a start. And I am still in this process of learning about things being carried on to completion...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
What started out as a terrible-horrible-no good-very bad day
(Okay, so it wasn't that bad - and the title I stole from a great children's book)
"Am I still good even when everything else is going wrong?"
This morning was a time when I really wanted to tell God "no." The question resounded in my head while I stood rummaging through my purse for my work badge to let myself in this morning. I was already late, going on more late. This morning, I stepped outside to drive to work having not anticipated the snowfall after days of beautiful weather and rain, which melted months of Ann Arbor snow away.
I got up early enough this morning for my overtime shift. Got enough sleep last night, showered and dressed, ate breakfast - and I usually run out the door before eating breakfast, which is eaten a commute later at work - and armed myself with materials to entertain myself between calls for nine hours at work today.
I thought I'd have enough time to drive to work at a nice leisurely pace, but I found myself running and slipping, frantically trying clean off my snow-encrusted car. By the time I reached the State Street commuter lot, I had 6 minutes to 9:00 am - when I was supposed to be on the phone. Better yet, I was stuck behind a car that was driving below the speed limit on the snowy roads - as any competent driver would. While praying that God would hold off the calls until I got there and gripping the steering wheel all the while, I managed to make it to the intersection of State and the entrance to my workplace by 8:59 am - not great, but a lot better than I had anticipated.
Of course, the winding and unplowed Avis Drive would prove slippery and dangerous this morning: my car was swerving wildly as I maneuvered around the curves. At the first curve, it appeared that my car was headed straight for the ditch right next to the lake - not a great prospect for a girl late for work, on her way to being even more late, and possibly stuck in the snow.
Once at work, I grabbed a few support letters for my intended trip to Jakarta so that I could send them from work today - and of course, a few of those slipped from my gloved fingers onto the pavement drenched with salty, dirty snow. And once inside the first set of double doors, I couldn't find my work badge to swipe myself in so I could get on the phones - which is why I came into work this morning in the first place.
Got to my desk, logged into my phone, and the calls started pouring in. It's tax season, so even though I'm routing calls, the stress and frustration from people on the other end - however brief our time together is on the phone - pours into my ears. I had managed to salvage the letters that had fallen to the ground with the exception of two, and placed them on my desk to let the wet parts dry. I felt horrible because I was late, because of the people I'd spoken with this morning, and because of the letter fiasco.
But then I heard a voice behind me asking, "Iris, is Sandy here this morning?" It was a technical support representative named Doug, who had formerly been in our department. I had met him once before in the Customer Service kitchen, and we had exchanged polite conversation at that time - I was just grateful to have remembered his name. "No, she'll be in at ten," I told him. "And are you Indonesian?" he asked, referring to the nearly dried letters on my desk. I told him that I was Filipino and explained to him about this trip coming up. I had no idea of his belief system, but told him that if this is what God wanted, He would provide everything that we needed.
Doug proceeded to share with me that he meets with international students in the Ann Arbor area on Friday evenings and they participate together in a time of Bible study and fellowship. I was set to have calls come into my phone while we were talking, which was quite some time, but no calls came in. I realized that the conversation might not have taken place if I hadn't been late, dropped some letters in the snow, and laid them to dry out on my desk. I actually got choked up when I realized this during the conversation, thinking about how God is good even when everything feels like it's going wrong. And, I'm hoping to meet some of these students and learn about what it's like to live abroad - and perhaps even share with them the love of Christ.
So, 7.5 more hours to go until my Valentine's Day dinner plans (the men in my Bible study are making dinner for the women!) - but I won't be counting down. I'm actually excited to see how else God is faithful while I am sitting at my desk today, even when I am so faithless.
"Am I still good even when everything else is going wrong?"
This morning was a time when I really wanted to tell God "no." The question resounded in my head while I stood rummaging through my purse for my work badge to let myself in this morning. I was already late, going on more late. This morning, I stepped outside to drive to work having not anticipated the snowfall after days of beautiful weather and rain, which melted months of Ann Arbor snow away.
I got up early enough this morning for my overtime shift. Got enough sleep last night, showered and dressed, ate breakfast - and I usually run out the door before eating breakfast, which is eaten a commute later at work - and armed myself with materials to entertain myself between calls for nine hours at work today.
I thought I'd have enough time to drive to work at a nice leisurely pace, but I found myself running and slipping, frantically trying clean off my snow-encrusted car. By the time I reached the State Street commuter lot, I had 6 minutes to 9:00 am - when I was supposed to be on the phone. Better yet, I was stuck behind a car that was driving below the speed limit on the snowy roads - as any competent driver would. While praying that God would hold off the calls until I got there and gripping the steering wheel all the while, I managed to make it to the intersection of State and the entrance to my workplace by 8:59 am - not great, but a lot better than I had anticipated.
Of course, the winding and unplowed Avis Drive would prove slippery and dangerous this morning: my car was swerving wildly as I maneuvered around the curves. At the first curve, it appeared that my car was headed straight for the ditch right next to the lake - not a great prospect for a girl late for work, on her way to being even more late, and possibly stuck in the snow.
Once at work, I grabbed a few support letters for my intended trip to Jakarta so that I could send them from work today - and of course, a few of those slipped from my gloved fingers onto the pavement drenched with salty, dirty snow. And once inside the first set of double doors, I couldn't find my work badge to swipe myself in so I could get on the phones - which is why I came into work this morning in the first place.
Got to my desk, logged into my phone, and the calls started pouring in. It's tax season, so even though I'm routing calls, the stress and frustration from people on the other end - however brief our time together is on the phone - pours into my ears. I had managed to salvage the letters that had fallen to the ground with the exception of two, and placed them on my desk to let the wet parts dry. I felt horrible because I was late, because of the people I'd spoken with this morning, and because of the letter fiasco.
But then I heard a voice behind me asking, "Iris, is Sandy here this morning?" It was a technical support representative named Doug, who had formerly been in our department. I had met him once before in the Customer Service kitchen, and we had exchanged polite conversation at that time - I was just grateful to have remembered his name. "No, she'll be in at ten," I told him. "And are you Indonesian?" he asked, referring to the nearly dried letters on my desk. I told him that I was Filipino and explained to him about this trip coming up. I had no idea of his belief system, but told him that if this is what God wanted, He would provide everything that we needed.
Doug proceeded to share with me that he meets with international students in the Ann Arbor area on Friday evenings and they participate together in a time of Bible study and fellowship. I was set to have calls come into my phone while we were talking, which was quite some time, but no calls came in. I realized that the conversation might not have taken place if I hadn't been late, dropped some letters in the snow, and laid them to dry out on my desk. I actually got choked up when I realized this during the conversation, thinking about how God is good even when everything feels like it's going wrong. And, I'm hoping to meet some of these students and learn about what it's like to live abroad - and perhaps even share with them the love of Christ.
So, 7.5 more hours to go until my Valentine's Day dinner plans (the men in my Bible study are making dinner for the women!) - but I won't be counting down. I'm actually excited to see how else God is faithful while I am sitting at my desk today, even when I am so faithless.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
green lights; or thoughts on how I ended up here, writing this post
Sipping lukewarm Biggby hazelnut coffee with the ever essential hazelnut creamer and sugar in it - I never drink coffee black - between calls. This is significant because on the rare occasion that I drink coffee, the coffee available to me is either straight from the work coffee pot or from the 60 cent cups in the vending machine next to the coffee pot (my favorite flavor is the chocolate mocha raspberry...)
It's lukewarm because Wednesdays are my "late shift" day. Work starts for me at 10:00 am, as opposed to 8:30 am. This morning, the Renewal Services team hosted an appreciation breakfast for everyone in Customer Care and Retention (the internal name for our department). I missed the initial warmth of the coffee because I was having breakfast with my friend Steve at Panera on North Campus.
Breakfast with Steve is significant also because I think the last time we saw each other was probably this time last year. We met through mutual friends as seniors in high school. Steve played in a jazz quartet with some friends of mine, and I was a regular at their gigs. At their last gig before we all left for college, I finally introduced myself to Steve because I found out through the grapevine that we would both be attending the University of Michigan that fall. Found out that he would be in the Engineering School, and that he'd be living on the Hill Campus. I was a liberal arts kid living on the Central Campus, so I figured we'd never see each other once we got to school - was I ever wrong!
My first Sunday as a student at Michigan, I slept in and woke up close to noon that day. I was horrified about the prospect of missing church - a part of my Sunday mornings since the day I was born. Fortunately, some people from New Life Church defied the solicitation policy in the dorms and put an invitation to attend their church service on my door. I threw some clothes on and rushed to the Modern Languages Building (MLB) to catch the service at 12:02 pm. After the service, I watched the lecture hall go from a sea of unfamiliar faces to just a few unfamiliar faces - except for one.
I knew the face behind the glasses under a mop of curly, dirty blonde hair. We ended up talking about church and played ultimate frisbee at a welcoming lunch after that. I didn't think I'd see him again, but when I walked into my Musicology 341 lecture the next day in the MLB, I saw Steve sitting in one of the rows towards the back of the auditorium. We decided to "church search" together that week, and spend the rest of the semester counting the "um's" and "uai's" uttered by our lecturer (who was a very learned man! But I think we counted about 125 in one lecture, which means at the very least that we were paying attention...)
One day, Steve said to me at class, "So, there's this church I think you would really like..." I asked him to describe it to me, and I realized that it sounded very similar to a church that some of my international student friends had told me about. "What's it called?" I asked him. "Harvest," he replied. Upon hearing about this particular church body initially, I recoiled at the thought of attending a church that was predominantly Asian demographically. But here was this this non-Asian friend of mine offering to check out the church with me on Sunday, and should he meet me in front of my dorm? Sure.
Ironically, I was the one who ended up staying with the church called "Harvest" and Steve ended up becoming very involved with the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry. After our class together, we barely saw each other due to studying different disciplines, boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and our various scholastic and church-related commitments. Despite the never-seeing-each-other that I had anticipated prior to our college days, we managed to pick up where we left off each time we saw one another.
I mention all of that because I found out last week that Steve had remained in Ann Arbor after graduation, was working in a lab, and got engaged last July - so I made him have breakfast with me this morning before I went into work. We still couldn't be more different from one another, other than the fact that we are both living in Ann Arbor post-graduation. I'm not engaged, and I'm planning to move to Indonesia in July.
Steve mentioned this verse in his prayer over our breakfast: "Help us to 'Trust in the Lord with all of [our] heart[s], to not lean on our own understanding; in all of our ways, acknowledge [You] and [You] will make our paths straight.'" (Proverbs 3:5-6) After that, he said it was his prayer for this season in his life. I guess one other thing that we have in common is the fact that, though trials and difficulties come up (a lot of things are up in the air for this move to Jakarta; Steve is wedding planning with his fiance while job searching), I see how God has sovereignly directed our paths, however they differ from one another. And He still is.
When I dropped Steve off at his home after breakfast on my way to work, he said that sometimes when he drives down State Street (my route to work), he gets all green lights and the trip goes by really fast. That has never happened for me before, but today it did! I am not saying it's because Steve said it - and perhaps it is; regardless, I saw it as God knowing that I needed the time to get to work on time (which I did, with time to spare). It was a reminder to me that God really does care about the little details in my life - and if you're reading this, He cares about the details in your life, too.
It's lukewarm because Wednesdays are my "late shift" day. Work starts for me at 10:00 am, as opposed to 8:30 am. This morning, the Renewal Services team hosted an appreciation breakfast for everyone in Customer Care and Retention (the internal name for our department). I missed the initial warmth of the coffee because I was having breakfast with my friend Steve at Panera on North Campus.
Breakfast with Steve is significant also because I think the last time we saw each other was probably this time last year. We met through mutual friends as seniors in high school. Steve played in a jazz quartet with some friends of mine, and I was a regular at their gigs. At their last gig before we all left for college, I finally introduced myself to Steve because I found out through the grapevine that we would both be attending the University of Michigan that fall. Found out that he would be in the Engineering School, and that he'd be living on the Hill Campus. I was a liberal arts kid living on the Central Campus, so I figured we'd never see each other once we got to school - was I ever wrong!
My first Sunday as a student at Michigan, I slept in and woke up close to noon that day. I was horrified about the prospect of missing church - a part of my Sunday mornings since the day I was born. Fortunately, some people from New Life Church defied the solicitation policy in the dorms and put an invitation to attend their church service on my door. I threw some clothes on and rushed to the Modern Languages Building (MLB) to catch the service at 12:02 pm. After the service, I watched the lecture hall go from a sea of unfamiliar faces to just a few unfamiliar faces - except for one.
I knew the face behind the glasses under a mop of curly, dirty blonde hair. We ended up talking about church and played ultimate frisbee at a welcoming lunch after that. I didn't think I'd see him again, but when I walked into my Musicology 341 lecture the next day in the MLB, I saw Steve sitting in one of the rows towards the back of the auditorium. We decided to "church search" together that week, and spend the rest of the semester counting the "um's" and "uai's" uttered by our lecturer (who was a very learned man! But I think we counted about 125 in one lecture, which means at the very least that we were paying attention...)
One day, Steve said to me at class, "So, there's this church I think you would really like..." I asked him to describe it to me, and I realized that it sounded very similar to a church that some of my international student friends had told me about. "What's it called?" I asked him. "Harvest," he replied. Upon hearing about this particular church body initially, I recoiled at the thought of attending a church that was predominantly Asian demographically. But here was this this non-Asian friend of mine offering to check out the church with me on Sunday, and should he meet me in front of my dorm? Sure.
Ironically, I was the one who ended up staying with the church called "Harvest" and Steve ended up becoming very involved with the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry. After our class together, we barely saw each other due to studying different disciplines, boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and our various scholastic and church-related commitments. Despite the never-seeing-each-other that I had anticipated prior to our college days, we managed to pick up where we left off each time we saw one another.
I mention all of that because I found out last week that Steve had remained in Ann Arbor after graduation, was working in a lab, and got engaged last July - so I made him have breakfast with me this morning before I went into work. We still couldn't be more different from one another, other than the fact that we are both living in Ann Arbor post-graduation. I'm not engaged, and I'm planning to move to Indonesia in July.
Steve mentioned this verse in his prayer over our breakfast: "Help us to 'Trust in the Lord with all of [our] heart[s], to not lean on our own understanding; in all of our ways, acknowledge [You] and [You] will make our paths straight.'" (Proverbs 3:5-6) After that, he said it was his prayer for this season in his life. I guess one other thing that we have in common is the fact that, though trials and difficulties come up (a lot of things are up in the air for this move to Jakarta; Steve is wedding planning with his fiance while job searching), I see how God has sovereignly directed our paths, however they differ from one another. And He still is.
When I dropped Steve off at his home after breakfast on my way to work, he said that sometimes when he drives down State Street (my route to work), he gets all green lights and the trip goes by really fast. That has never happened for me before, but today it did! I am not saying it's because Steve said it - and perhaps it is; regardless, I saw it as God knowing that I needed the time to get to work on time (which I did, with time to spare). It was a reminder to me that God really does care about the little details in my life - and if you're reading this, He cares about the details in your life, too.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
contentment
I have to be at work in about 7 hours and I am writing at this ridiculous hour of the night because....
my heart and tummy are full (after a weekend which started with The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis, discussing the idea of suffering, breaking fast with community, learning more about Indonesia and Islam, chatting with friends on the other side of the world, two Superbowl parties, and an hour-long episode of The Office!)
my mind is racing at a million miles an hour thinking of everything to do, and how little time I have left here (but soon I'll have to learn how to convert that to kilometers - and also account for the traffic in Jakarta...)
my body will likely be tired once I set foot on the Thomson Reuters "Kinesis" logo rug immediately after the two sets of double glass doors of 880 Technology Drive, Suite B
but "while outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."
And if this is all confusing to you just know that I have learned how to be content with my circumstances, and am trying to learn how to be content in all circumstances - whatever may come. (And if this is confusing, it's probably because I have neglected to post on recent significant developments in my life, which I guess means subsequent posts to come!)
my heart and tummy are full (after a weekend which started with The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis, discussing the idea of suffering, breaking fast with community, learning more about Indonesia and Islam, chatting with friends on the other side of the world, two Superbowl parties, and an hour-long episode of The Office!)
my mind is racing at a million miles an hour thinking of everything to do, and how little time I have left here (but soon I'll have to learn how to convert that to kilometers - and also account for the traffic in Jakarta...)
my body will likely be tired once I set foot on the Thomson Reuters "Kinesis" logo rug immediately after the two sets of double glass doors of 880 Technology Drive, Suite B
but "while outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."
And if this is all confusing to you just know that I have learned how to be content with my circumstances, and am trying to learn how to be content in all circumstances - whatever may come. (And if this is confusing, it's probably because I have neglected to post on recent significant developments in my life, which I guess means subsequent posts to come!)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Late shift and random thoughts on our Facebook society
One new thing in my work schedule in this new year is working the late shift every Wednesday. On these days I start work at 10:30 am instead of 8:30 am. (And for the past three Wednesdays I have been auditing my friend Dr. Matt's 9:00 am class on the Holocaust at Washtenaw Community College. First experience in the community college setting, so I'd like to write about that in another post and will probably do so eventually).
As soon as 5:00 pm hits, my partner in crime Katie and I hit the phones as "Service Reception - how may I direct your call?" We're still in the thick of busy season but there are less calls in the queues once the clock strikes 6:00 pm. The Customer Service queues have significantly less people calling as well - which makes for lots of time for the late-nighters to gab about things they divined from their fortune cookies (for example: tonight, we ordered Oriental Express and one person got a fortune that said, "You have 365 days in a year; may all of your 365 dreams come true!" She thought it was a terrible fortune and wanted to return it. Mine said something like, "Service to many leads to greatness" - which, depending on how you read your fortunes, is nice for a person working in Customer Service currently). (Yes, they also talked about end taglines for fortune cookies - but we won't get into that right now...)
We also started discussing the Opportunities Weekly e-mails sent from Human Resources with internal job listings because apparently one person who left a vacancy got escorted from the building. Two of the late-nighters, Linda and Trent, were discussing the events surrounding the dismissal. Trent eventually ended up walking over to Linda's cube - which is diagonal from mine on my right-hand side - and I heard him say, "Do you have Facebook up?" almost in disbelief. I figured right then that she was caught in the act (I should explain that Trent, a young twenty-something, is a senior representative, and Linda - while considerably a few years Trent's senior - is a product lead but has only been with Thomson for one year. Generally, Facebook is blocked and marked as a "restricted access" page).
"No-ooo," she replied haltingly.
"Okay - can you log in for me?" I heard him say over my cube wall.
Lots of murmuring in hushed tones and then Linda said, "oh, I thought you were going to have me log in because he posted details about leaving Thomson on his Facebook."
"Oh no," said Trent. "I just wanted to see if you were able to see some pictures that my girlfriend tagged of me...but I guess you can't." Trent's voice started to sound more distant - I gathered that he had walked away from Linda's desk. "I guess it's because you're not friends with her. No - you are not her friend."
Any bystander not understanding that the two had just logged into Facebook would think that Trent was a heartless soul, coldly stating that his girlfriend was not Linda's friend. The thought of how Facebook has transformed our culture into referring to electronic connections through a social networking website as "friends on facebook" or just "friends" made me laugh out loud literally. Linda understood this immediately and let out a big "wahhhhhh."
"No Linda, that's not what I meant!" was the belabored response.
Between calls, I heard Linda telling me, "My sister just posted on my son's wall...so-and-so just joined the group 'I love guts...'" All the while, I was "thomcom-ing" (Thomson's instant messenger) Katie about how funny it was to listen to these people - who four years ago didn't have access to Facebook when it was just Facebook for college kids - and their fascination with status updates and notes posted.
Our conversation looked something like this:
imm [at 7:25 pm]: Isn't this hilarious?
kcm (Katie) [at 7:25 pm]: I wonder what technology will be like for us in about 20 years
So do I...
As soon as 5:00 pm hits, my partner in crime Katie and I hit the phones as "Service Reception - how may I direct your call?" We're still in the thick of busy season but there are less calls in the queues once the clock strikes 6:00 pm. The Customer Service queues have significantly less people calling as well - which makes for lots of time for the late-nighters to gab about things they divined from their fortune cookies (for example: tonight, we ordered Oriental Express and one person got a fortune that said, "You have 365 days in a year; may all of your 365 dreams come true!" She thought it was a terrible fortune and wanted to return it. Mine said something like, "Service to many leads to greatness" - which, depending on how you read your fortunes, is nice for a person working in Customer Service currently). (Yes, they also talked about end taglines for fortune cookies - but we won't get into that right now...)
We also started discussing the Opportunities Weekly e-mails sent from Human Resources with internal job listings because apparently one person who left a vacancy got escorted from the building. Two of the late-nighters, Linda and Trent, were discussing the events surrounding the dismissal. Trent eventually ended up walking over to Linda's cube - which is diagonal from mine on my right-hand side - and I heard him say, "Do you have Facebook up?" almost in disbelief. I figured right then that she was caught in the act (I should explain that Trent, a young twenty-something, is a senior representative, and Linda - while considerably a few years Trent's senior - is a product lead but has only been with Thomson for one year. Generally, Facebook is blocked and marked as a "restricted access" page).
"No-ooo," she replied haltingly.
"Okay - can you log in for me?" I heard him say over my cube wall.
Lots of murmuring in hushed tones and then Linda said, "oh, I thought you were going to have me log in because he posted details about leaving Thomson on his Facebook."
"Oh no," said Trent. "I just wanted to see if you were able to see some pictures that my girlfriend tagged of me...but I guess you can't." Trent's voice started to sound more distant - I gathered that he had walked away from Linda's desk. "I guess it's because you're not friends with her. No - you are not her friend."
Any bystander not understanding that the two had just logged into Facebook would think that Trent was a heartless soul, coldly stating that his girlfriend was not Linda's friend. The thought of how Facebook has transformed our culture into referring to electronic connections through a social networking website as "friends on facebook" or just "friends" made me laugh out loud literally. Linda understood this immediately and let out a big "wahhhhhh."
"No Linda, that's not what I meant!" was the belabored response.
Between calls, I heard Linda telling me, "My sister just posted on my son's wall...so-and-so just joined the group 'I love guts...'" All the while, I was "thomcom-ing" (Thomson's instant messenger) Katie about how funny it was to listen to these people - who four years ago didn't have access to Facebook when it was just Facebook for college kids - and their fascination with status updates and notes posted.
Our conversation looked something like this:
imm [at 7:25 pm]: Isn't this hilarious?
kcm (Katie) [at 7:25 pm]: I wonder what technology will be like for us in about 20 years
So do I...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
license transfers
I haven't posted in a while, mainly due to the fact that the holidays involved a lot of driving - over 1000 miles in about two weeks time (more on that in another post). I also haven't posted in a while because we're in the throes of busy season here at the Tax & Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters. These days, I am either sitting at my desk on a call - or up and running getting more information.
My work post-holidays involves our cash cow, UltraTax, and making sure that users who are new to the program are happy with their investment. In any case, this liberal arts kid is learning more about the world of tax. This morning, I ended up eavesdropping on a conversation that had nothing to do with everything I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing during my eight hours at work every day...
"We would need his signature to relinquish his rights to the software..."
The conversation took place between one of the Seniors here at work and a user about a software license. When our users purchase our software, "we license individuals and not firms" (a common phrase thrown around the department). The individual who agrees to sign the license agreement is legally bound to the software as its owner. The license transfer takes place when the licensee - or software owner - is no longer with the firm but the software is. The most common reasons for a licensee leaving a firm include retirement, firm splits, and death. If the software remains at the firm without the licensee, a license transfer is necessary in order for the firm to stay current on their software through renewals. In other words, the licensee relinquishes ownership rights and responsibilities to the software and transfers them to someone else over which to preside.
Eavesdropping on that conversation a few feet away made me think about how beginning and living a life founded on Christ is much like a license transfer. Upon agreement to abandon one's life to Christ, the individual relinquishes it in their heart by transferring it to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Of course, the individual is still in charge of natural faculties - but they have surrendered the desires of their hearts and their lives to something greater than themselves; to One familiar with surrender, who willingly laid down His own sinless life to take away the sins of the world.
Often I encounter people in this life who state that of course they would go to heaven because they are a good person, they go to church on Sundays, they believe in God...but often "Western Christianity", and those who commit to it verbally, is soured unfortunately by the lack of demonstration of a life abandonned to Christ. Inevitably, Christians are not perfect - but when I think about those who say but don't live, it makes me wonder if they have truly engaged in a license transfer: resolving in ones heart to sign over one's life in order to "take hold of the life that is truly life" in Christ (1 Timothy 6:19).
If you do not share in my beliefs, please do not interpret this as something I would try to force upon you. Why would anyone want to relinquish the rights to their own life to the lordship of some amorphous entity? I would venture to suggest that it would be signing off from the futilty and purposelessness of life in order to sign onto something greater - life and love everlasting. This is something that I am learning about everyday, and it's difficult to describe without getting emotional/technical/verbose.
Here's the license transfer concept in a sentence: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
No more words - I hope you can experience a license transfer for yourself.
My work post-holidays involves our cash cow, UltraTax, and making sure that users who are new to the program are happy with their investment. In any case, this liberal arts kid is learning more about the world of tax. This morning, I ended up eavesdropping on a conversation that had nothing to do with everything I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing during my eight hours at work every day...
"We would need his signature to relinquish his rights to the software..."
The conversation took place between one of the Seniors here at work and a user about a software license. When our users purchase our software, "we license individuals and not firms" (a common phrase thrown around the department). The individual who agrees to sign the license agreement is legally bound to the software as its owner. The license transfer takes place when the licensee - or software owner - is no longer with the firm but the software is. The most common reasons for a licensee leaving a firm include retirement, firm splits, and death. If the software remains at the firm without the licensee, a license transfer is necessary in order for the firm to stay current on their software through renewals. In other words, the licensee relinquishes ownership rights and responsibilities to the software and transfers them to someone else over which to preside.
Eavesdropping on that conversation a few feet away made me think about how beginning and living a life founded on Christ is much like a license transfer. Upon agreement to abandon one's life to Christ, the individual relinquishes it in their heart by transferring it to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Of course, the individual is still in charge of natural faculties - but they have surrendered the desires of their hearts and their lives to something greater than themselves; to One familiar with surrender, who willingly laid down His own sinless life to take away the sins of the world.
Often I encounter people in this life who state that of course they would go to heaven because they are a good person, they go to church on Sundays, they believe in God...but often "Western Christianity", and those who commit to it verbally, is soured unfortunately by the lack of demonstration of a life abandonned to Christ. Inevitably, Christians are not perfect - but when I think about those who say but don't live, it makes me wonder if they have truly engaged in a license transfer: resolving in ones heart to sign over one's life in order to "take hold of the life that is truly life" in Christ (1 Timothy 6:19).
If you do not share in my beliefs, please do not interpret this as something I would try to force upon you. Why would anyone want to relinquish the rights to their own life to the lordship of some amorphous entity? I would venture to suggest that it would be signing off from the futilty and purposelessness of life in order to sign onto something greater - life and love everlasting. This is something that I am learning about everyday, and it's difficult to describe without getting emotional/technical/verbose.
Here's the license transfer concept in a sentence: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
No more words - I hope you can experience a license transfer for yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)