Servathon and Tidbits

I figured that I might as well keep bloggin as I'm in the right mood now.

This past saturday was Servathon, the largest single day of service each year in the DC area. Greater DC Cares, a non-profit (duh), organizes a couple thousand volunteers to refurbish and beautify nearly 50 area public schools. The event is huge and only once a year so I figured this would be a good opportunity to try being a leader. I don't get too many opportunities to lead in my job so I seized this and volunteered as a Project Manager for a site. Each school has 1 (or 2) project managers (I was the only one at my site) and 3 to 5 project leaders. The PM is in charge of the entire school site. The PL's report to the PM and are responsible for individual tasks (e.g. landscaping, painting, etc.). Anyway, it was super stressful in the morning when we had to get there early for set up. I was really rather nervous and stressed, especially when the lady at the front desk of the school started giving me attitude because I needed supplies. It didn't help my cause when I spilled paint in the hallway and the janitor had to clean it up. The back of my volunteer shirt says "event staff" and the janitor was exclaiming "you're the event staff because you create events!" Not the best start to my day but I was so busy that I shrugged it off.

In the end, it was a smashing success. 34 of 35 volunteers showed up! It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we luckily had no manual labor tasks (except transporting some supplies). We only had 2 tasks, painting the blacktop (with a U.S. map, boxball, hopscotch) and painting a huge mural. The mural was beautiful and designed by a local artist who was there to help implement it. It was great. Most people had fun too. I sent out 2 emails to about 60 co-workers to ge them to participate but to no avail. I guess my company doesn't believe in community service even though it's the company's Spirit of Service Month! haha, what a funny coincidence. There was even an after-party that was fun. I met someone who plays basketball with me at the Georgetown gym too... we watched the Hornets beat the Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs later that evening too. Good times.

What did the above volunteer event have to do with MBA? Well, being a socially-conscious and responsible human being has a lot to do with being a corporate leader :) Also, big news! Rumors on the street say that my project manager (whom I wanted to get a rec from) is leaving for Deloitte! This is 99% confirmed though it hasn't been formally announced. Oh well. I'll ask him if he'll write one anyway. If not, then I'll just use two old supervisors and write the optional essay explaining that the manager that knew me best had already left. I don't think there's anyone else at my current company who I would feel comfortable receiving a rec from.

I also just wrote a rec yesterday for my co-worker who is applying to a local part-time program. It came out pretty well and I know she was really pumped to get it so I'm happy I could help. She's a really good teammate to have (and coincidentally was the person who leaked my project manager's resignation to me).

Separate note: I have NOT been completely addicted to the BW forums in the past two weeks. Merely scan the posts every now and then. I believe this to be a good thing.

Also, the most recent CBS Follies videos are now online at Youtube... if you can't find them, ask me (I no longer have the link readily available). In general, they're just okay... nothing hilarious except there is a long-awaited follow-up to the "Every Breath Bernanke Takes" video. This time it's a parody on the hit "On Bended Knee" by Boyz II Men. Decent stuff.

Let's hope my doctor's follow-up x-rays on Thursday yield good news so I can start typing more efficiently again.