Volunteering Day 7 - Vermont Weekend

Today wasn't one of the usual busy days for me. It was quite the opposite. Instead of interacting with patients and seeing the happy side of things, I was reminded of the sadness. It was a very tough day for me to say the least, but it doesn't deter me from coming back. On the bright side, I found out that all the things we had put aside to be taken to Haiti had been sent. That made the day some what better; knowing that i had help prep things for others to use. But like I said, today wasn't really a busy usual day so there isn't much to mention.

On another note, I took a trip up to Vermont to visit the best couple I have ever come to know during my years at Champlain College. I met them when I was a Resident Assistant and have been friends ever since. It was a pretty fun weekend. I was able to reconnect with some people I hadn't seen since my graduation as well as others who really mean a great deal to me. I did end up having a lot of free time just cause plans didn't work out the way I wanted them to, but it gave me time to think of whats important and take some pictures. I forgot to head downtown at night so I plan on doing that next time I go up. Well here is what you've been waiting for. The pictures from my travels.

Lake Champlain, on a cloudy cold day.


Ducks enjoying the icy water.


Lot's of ice. Come March, all this ice will be overflowing the lake.


Lake Champlain.


It truly is a great view.






I was trying to get more light streams but I guess the day before V-day most people want to be inside or at bars.


Champlain College at night. Lonely but safe.


The most walked area at Champlain College.


I spent most of my senior year here in this building.


Wick hall, I've only had 1 class in here but I always enjoyed that staircase at night.


This is a new addition to the campus. You can't tell but the lake is in the direction of where its pointing.


Windy Burlington


One of the people I came up to see is a good friend of mine. We went out to breakfast to talk about some things that had been on my mind and vice versa. One thing lead to another and we started talking about random stories. She brought one up about how she had seen these heart shaped balloons stuck in the tree. She said, "I can picture it now, a poor guy getting out of his car and having all his balloons just fly out. And having a very disappointed look on his face." Well She told me where the balloons were and so here is the picture.


Thats all for Burlington, VT but more to come when I visit again.

As for the drive home, I was told that it was going to snow so I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Only thing stopping me was saying my good byes. Twelve O'clock came around and had no time for some other things I wanted to do, because that was my on the road time. Well it was all going well until I got to Windsor, VT when I started to see some snow. Let's just say, 7 hours later, I was home. Here are some pics I took as I was driving down.

All fine as of now.


Not too bad just a little flurry.


Here is where it got interesting. Snow had already been falling down south and well the roads were getting slippery. Bad thing was, I wasn't using 4x4 yet.


A couple of miles after this shot I came up to a truck. The truck was being follow by a slower vehicle so I said, " I'm making good time, I will just go around these 2 and continue with my cruise." Little did I know the car was following it because the road wasn't touched yet so there was quite a bit of snow on that side. Still in 2 wheel drive, I started to go down hill and with a slight touch of the breaks, I started to slide a bit. The sliding didn't bother me, I can handle a little fun, it was the huge truck to the right of me that got me worried, more so cause at the bottom of the hill it curved left, and since I was unable to turn I figured I'd be going right in to the truck. Was a good time.


After that scare I stopped, put my 4x4 on and was good to go.


Others were not as lucky as you can see.






When I was driving up, I stopped to get some gas at what I thought was a gas station right off the high way. I was wrong. I took a 5 mile detour in to some unknown place. Well my luck should have it, I did the same thing but on a different exit. Luckily I came across this bridge, which looks pretty cool. Here are my detour pictures.






Back on the road.


Trucks can crash too and usually it's a little harder for them to get back on the road.






Like I said, it was a 7 hour drive down but I didn't mind. I had some music to listen to, some good thoughts going through my head, and I was taking pictures, what more can I ask for? Yeah, probably not the safest thing to be doing behind the wheel but then you wouldn't get these pictures to look at. I believe this is Hartford.




Thats all. Stay tuned for more.

Testing out the new backdrop

Now that I have disposable income, I am looking to further my photography. I am still a beginner but I want to have some fun with portraits. I bought myself a gray backdrop to use, but with no models to test it out on, I had to use myself. I asked my sister to help me with the first picture so she is the female. Something to consider of course is don't judge me on these pictures.

Need a new avatar picture for one of your social media accounts? Maybe you need a more professional looking picture for one of your online profiles? What ever the reason, I am currently looking for anyone in the Greenwich, CT area to pose. I will be taking free pictures for anyone interested. I just want to get better with portraits.

Snowy Greenwich, CT

When I don't find myself reading Marketing trend articles, applying for jobs, writing cover letters, fixing my resume, and twittering useful job search articles that could help others land a job, I find I need to address my creative side a little more. And thus, I go and take some pictures

As it turns out, the snow storm that hit the Midwest came over to the East Coast to say hello. I decided to greet it the best way I knew how. Pictures! When I was going to go out and take pictures a friend of mine called me up and asked if I could take some of his car in the snow, since it was a Subaru and they are awesome cars, I agreed. And we were off on our adventure. We were in search of a road/driveway where the snow wasn't plowed. Being Greenwich, we had to go pretty far back country to find one of those roads. Back country is where all the big/private estates are. It's pretty far away from the center of town but there are some nice looking houses back there. Well, we took a ride out to investigate and here are some of the things I found. Side note: Nothing we did was illegal.


























Hope you enjoyed. Comments welcome.

Day 6 Volunteering

Today was a great day. Like a kid in a scavenger hunt, I was given a list and told to go find patients. Unlike yesterday, where I only had 2 patients the entire time, I was constantly on the move. My list of 5 slowly expanded as the time went on, growing by 4. One of the more exhausting days I have experienced thus far.

During the entire time I was volunteering, they were having a small gathering at the recreation room. They were playing music for them by piano and having them join in if they wanted with some small instruments. It was great in two ways, they were having a great time enjoying the music and getting involved instead of sitting there just looking at a tv or listening to the radio. The other way came in the form of an older lady in a walker standing in the middle of the hall way. I was bringing a patient to the therapy room when I am blocked by this lady. I thought she was moving but very slowly. I can't do much besides let her go on about her business so I take my time. After watching her for a little while, I see she starts moving backwards slightly with ever forward progress she makes. I notice she's moving her shoulders and legs, than I realize she's full on dancing. Well, as full on as you can be at that age. A HUGE smile went across my face. Just seeing her having a great time made me happy.

I've decided to start going out and taking pictures when ever I can. It relaxes me, takes anything I have going on in my head and just makes it disappear. You will most likely be seeing more pictures as the time goes on.

Bruce Park pictures around the main pond.






Signs on not feeding the birds in the order they are shown.










Hope you enjoyed.

Day 5 Voluntering

Today wasn't as busy as the other days have been. I only had to bring two patients down. Usually there would be at least 5, not including the ones that are there already when I arrive.

Site note: I arrived today and was greeted with food. Turns out there was some sort of meeting going on and they had been catered for. But that's not the point of the side note, the point is that a majority of them thought I was still in high school. I guess they have a lot of high school "volunteers." I quote volunteers because in high school we are made to volunteer somewhere for a set number of hours. Oddly enough I volunteered at Nathaniel Witherell when I was in high school. Go figure

One of the patients was a lady who could manager herself around fairly easily with out the wheel chair, but I insisted on letting her relax. Something that struck me as odd was that we had a small conversation as if we knew each other for years. Small jokes here and there, she would say something, and I would fire back with a witty comment. Little things like that made her smile and chuckle. I even got a "You're alright, Alberto" from her. Sort of like what you hear in the movies.

After her therapy, she took charge and decided to walk instead of having me push her. The only thing task I had to do was carry her tea because she was going to be pulling her oxygen tank in a small little trolley. So as we walked back, she decided that she wanted to stop by the small gift shop they have. She bought some snacks and some thank you cards, which turns out are for people all over the world. She worked in a hotel where visitors from all over the world would come, most being students. She stayed in contact with them and was telling me how some are having kids now and some are getting married. It was interesting and I can relate having studied abroad myself and living with a family. I carried her gift shop treats up and took her to her room. She pulled out a chocolate lollipop from The Little Chocolate Company(Picture at the end) that just opened up here in Greenwich, Feb 2nd and handed it to me. She thanked me for helping her out and keeping her smiling. I will be seeing her during my volunteering again tomorrow due to her having the same appointment.

I find a lot of random little things that I consider to be inspirational I guess you can say but here is a sign that was hanging around the fridge in the physical therapy room. I thought it made a good deal of sense. Thoughts?


Here is another that I thought was fun.


Lollipop!




And just for fun. I think I need a hair cut. Maybe tomorrows goal. This picture was taken this morning, I was out of it, don't judge.

Consistency, focus, and change

Being an unemployed college graduate, I am in constant search of advice on how to land a job. From interview tips to resume ideas to what to wear, everything is a crucial part of the process. There are many things out there that can help, but one thing that I have come to read on a regular has been the New Grad Blog, which gives tips that range from interviewing to networking. It has been a great help so far, and has lead to a better sounding resume. It's most recent post "3 Golden Keys to Job Hunting for New Grads" has reinforced what I have been doing.

I get up, grab a snack to start my metabolism, and off I go. I have a list of sites that I tend to go to and search for jobs. These sites are:
Media Bistro, Indeed, iHispano, One day One Job, idealist, Craigslist, Tweet my Jobs

On top of all those sites, I use my twitter account. For those of you familiar with twitter, there are third party programs which allow you to better organize what is going on on your feeds. I use tweetdeck, which allows for search columns to be laid next to each other. My columns are All Friends because you never know who is going to say something that will lead you to success. My next one is my marketing column, this one allows me to hear what people are talking about in relation to marketing. This may include trends, techniques, new things going on, etc. Most job posts on twitter will have a location name to allow for anyone listening to know where the job is. That's why I have a couple other columns designed to locations. I have New York, NY - Chicago, IL - Greenwich, CT - Stamford, CT.

I'm still trying to work on the networking part of it, but I have confidence I will make some connections. Anyone reading this that would like to connect, let me know. Here is my LinkedIn.

The second part of it was finding something that you want to do. It talks about being picky so you go where you want to go, but with the small job market there currently is. This although very smart for you to enjoy your job, is something that I can't accept. There are already a limited number of jobs out there, so being picky isn't really an option, for me at least. I tend to apply to jobs that would allow me to learn, grow as well as challenge me because if I am not challenged, I don't feel I am doing my best work. With that being said, the second part also talks about tailoring resumes, something I've been doing for a while. After tailoring the resume, I tailor the cover letter to the resume/job posting. I address what I have done in a manor that allows the person reading to see why I would be a great fit for the position. I don't lie, I don't stretch the truth, I just explain what I have done and the results it has had.

The last part is the change part, which pretty much explains that you need to see what your doing and relate it to the results. The only problem with that right now is that the time it takes for the companies to get back to you is at least a month at best. So I play the waiting game.

If you are in the same situation as me I would recommend staying tuned to the blog. It does provide insightful posts. It has definitely helped me along the way so if you're in my situation, take some of the tips I gave you and see if anything works for you.

A smile a day

I have done a great job so far trying to make people happy. My motto of a smile a day is really working wonders. Just seeing peoples reactions to things they don't expect is something that makes my day a lot better. I am not going to make a list of everything I do, I just want to promote good behavior in people. I feel there is a rush in everyone's busy schedule even when they aren't in a rush.

For example, today my friend Bridget told me that while she was on her way into the gym, a little 14 year old boy saw her walking, so, he ran past her and opened the door for her, saying, "Here you go." Something completely unexpected and from a young boy non the less but it made her day. Actually, it didn't just make her day, it reinforced her withering belief that there may be a nice guy out there. She has been meeting guys who haven't treated her with respect. Something that is hard to find at this day in age and it doesn't help that early 20's guys just have 1 thing on their mind.

While I am on this subject, it has come to my attention that it's not just 20 something year olds having trouble with guys. During my volunteering, I am always walking past a group of ladies. They seem to always be talking about guys in the building. I thought it was funny cause whether it's, "they are too old," or "too young," or just "not being any good guys out there" they always come to the conclusion that there aren't any good guys out there.

But enough about that. I recommend you go out, going about your day, and if you're about to enter a building, look behind you and see if someones going to be coming in. Wait the extra 10 seconds it takes for the person to reach the door, and most likely they will hurry. Just mention it's no problem and tell them to take their time. They will still rush to get to you, but they will be most appreciative that you took the extra couple of seconds to hold the door open. It might be a small thing but it does mean a lot, more so when there are things in their hands, or its just cold out. Wouldn't you want someone to hold the door open for you if you had your hands full or didn't have gloves in single digit weather? Just something to think about.