A Look Back

So today marks the first full month in my new position at Hero-Web.  (Sweet!  That's almost half my stay at my old job!).  I have nothing against my old position and it was unfortunate that the economy affected their situation, laying off 5 others that same day.  I was starting to get comfortable with my work and co-workers, so the timing was bad.  I had a budget down, paying off bills, and starting to save.  And 3 months was not enough time to build effective experiences (all those significant, measurable results that job descriptions ask for).

But luckily for me, 3 months was also a short enough time that my job-hunting skills were still fresh in my mind.  I went to action the day after I got laid-off.  I went to the career center in the business school at UO, I updated my resume, and began looking for new jobs.  I had severance to live off and was willing to take part-time work.  

Sometimes it was stressful, especially getting laid off knowing that my girlfriend's lease was up and we were still looking for a place to move in together.  It took me a while to find anything, and I was even starting to look in Portland.  Fortunately, I was able to find this new job on Craigslist.  It looked like a good opportunity for me to stay in the same field of work.  

My first month at Hero-Web has been very interesting.  There is a huge world out there to the internet marketing industry.  This job is going to give me great first hand experiences and I know that I am going to be learning a lot.  I get to work directly with clients (small business) - improving their search results, increasing the ecommerce revenues, and eventually working on social media campaigns if they choose.  Even in these tough economic times, it is great to see that small business are looking to the internet and hiring marketing services.  Hopefully things turn around and everyone is doing better.

Weekend Update

So the past four days have been really good.  It all started with the home opener for the Ducks baseball team, the first in 28 years!  It was an awesome game as it came down to a ninth inning walk-off single by Andrew Schmidt to win the game 1-0. Then they won again on Saturday 7-1. Who did they defeat?  Only the defending national champions Fresno State.  PK Park is not complete yet, but the field looks really good.  It will be beautifual next season once the full stadium is finished.

On Sunday I took Morgan to her first Blazers game ever.  We drove up to Portland and visited her nana in the hospital first, then met my mom, aunt and uncle for lunch at Red Robin.  The game was against San Antonio, who had beaten us only 5 days before by 15 points, in Texas.  This time the tables were turned and we completely controlled the entire game, up by as many as 29, and won by 18!

I have to thank my brother for the awesome seats, as they were a birthday present which was all the way back in November.  It just took me a long time to pick a game, but man was it a good one.  And it was great for Morgan because it was her first Blazer game ever – a big win over a good team and free Chalupas…what more could you ask for?

How about a Civil War victory?  We got home just in time to see the highlights from the Ducks beating the Beavers!

By Monday it was the start of my new job at Hero-Web in Springfield.  I am a sales and marketing assistant.  the company has a whole suite of web design/e-commerce services tailored for small business.  I feel very fortuante to have found a job in this tough economy, and it only took me two months after my first lay-off.  This is a great opportunity to work for a really great company and develop my skills and experience.