From Clancy's Wednesday Jar pull...

What is your principle occupation and what circumstances led to it?
*Please refer to Clancy's blog and feel free to join in on the fun!

Currently I am on maternity leave enjoying my real job as a Mom! It's by far the most challenging and easily the most rewarding! I am very much enjoying my time away from the office but will admit that I am still logging in and checking on things at the office daily from my laptop. The bottom line is that I would be a stay at home Mom in a heart beat but it just hasn't ever been in my cards so I've always tried to make the best of it, make the most of it and enjoy (notice I did not say I was good at this!).

When I was 17 my brother and I were obsessed with AOL Online and had a blast with it. The internet was pretty new to us in 1994 so it was quite a novely that consumed a crazy amount of time and money. I made a friendonline named Akbar from Pakistan. "Apple Jacks" and I remained friends across space and time. He's an amazing person with an incredible series of stories that make up his life. He's one of those special friends in my life that I will always cherish and carry with me. I love these kind of friendships!

In 2005 I quit my job working in the IT Department at St. Mark's Hospital. I was on call and it was too much for me as a newly single Mom with a 1 and a 2 year old. My Apple Jacks made me aware of some openings at his company. He lives in CA but there was/is an office in the SLC area. I applied, was offered a position and officially began work at Siebel. Siebel was acquired by Oracle shortly there after and hence I currently work for Oracle in the OnDemand Customer Care org for their Customer Relationship Management application as the Solutions Release Manager on the Advanced Resolution team. Say that three times fast and then know that it doesn't make me important!

I started out supporting the application and have evolved into various postions given my performance/advancements (Support Engineer Level I and then II, Queue Manger, Aging SR Analyst, Escalations Manager). I now manage all of the knowledge objects on our internal Knowledge Base and also our customer interfacing resource as well. I liason with various groups around the world (Tech Support, Product Marketing, Hosting, Operations, Training, Customer Advocacy, etc) and also work with our off shore support groups in Romania, China and India.

For me this involves technical writing, analyzing, updating and publishing content. Initially this was a little overwhelming as it was literally starting from ground zero but I have absolutely loved figuring things out, asking questions, defining/documenting processes, working through bugs and providing accurate information to both our internal and external customers. I love that I can measure my progress and have really enjoyed kicking the crap out of deadlines!

I have had the benefit of working from home and the flexability has been invalueable. My boss is in Cali and I really enjoy working under him as he is extremely knowledgeable and very much a perfectionist. I love my work, the people that I work with and the challenges that it presents. In that respect it is extremely satisfying (as satisfying as life gets outside of being with your family).

I will be honest and tell you that I miss the crud out of my kids and as much as I love my job it never gets any easier to be away from my them. Dayton starts 1st grade next week and Ellie starts full day Kindergarten after Labor Day. That puts them both in full time school BUT the very thought of leaving my new baby girl puts me in instant tears :(

On the B Side: I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to pursue a formal education after HS. While it wasn't easy it was definitely worth it (and I could have never done it without Amanda and Krystal!). I love knowing that I am able to support my family and am thankful to be gainfully employed and find it so rewarding. I am determined that if I must be away from my children that I am going to bust my butt and make it count!

I'm also really grateful for precious friends such as my Apple Jacks!

Clancy's Wednesday Jar Pull

What was the first piece of furniture you bought?

I can't totally be sure but I think one of the first items that was purchased as newly weds in 2000 was a table from the Pennsylvania House in Lewisburg PA. It was round and huge and seemed like a deal even though we didn't have any chairs to go with it. We had a glass top made for it and my MIL and my Mom purchased some chairs for it for us as wedding presents, I believe.

We had it moved out to Utah with all of the other stuff that my Dad had sent out. It barely fit in the kitchen in our first apartment and pretty much dominated our living area in the condo. It was solid wood and we were excited to pick something out that seemed affordable and was not from RC Willey!

On the B Side: I am grateful for the beds we purchased for the girls last week! Shell helped us get a killer discount on them and the girls love them! They are white and look like something simple from Disneyland. In time we hope to save us and purchase more of the actual set for them but for now we're glad that they don't have mattresses on the floor (we disassembled their bunk beds and gave them away thinking we were moving a few months ago!).

What is the most adventuresome thing you have ever done?

From Clancy's Jar...(feel free to join in the fun with your own post of the same title!)

I believe it is very safe to say (and likely in agreement by those who know me well) that I am NOT adventurous. I pretty much grew up in a paper bag some where in the middle of Central Pennsylvania and frankly I'm way okay with that. I love home, I had a wonderful childhood and have many memories that still make me smile.

I never had detention, never had to stay after school or even had a teacher yell at me, haven't ever touched drugs of any kind and pretty much avoided most (but not all) trouble. I was always the girl in class who felt terrible if I even thought the teacher looked at me wrong and then I would go home and cry and obsess for days. I am super sensitive and strive to do things, do them well and do them right the first time. Um please note that I fail all of the time and still spend time in tears at the end of the day even as an adult!

I am terrified of consequence, motivated by guilt, pragmatic in most cases, a bit of a perfectionist in some realms, fear 'failure' like there's no tomorrow and have always been far too anxious for my own good. I think these things have kept me from living close to any edge. I'm okay with all of that too.

I grew up living next to my Maternal Grandparents in Riverside, PA. Riverside is a borough (doesn't qualify for a town!) with a convenience store, some railroad tracks and a whole bunch of farm land. We did have a Baptist Church, Post Office and laundry mat now that I think of it. I miss home and also my Grandparents like you wouldn't believe.

As a young girl I remember my cousins coming to visit my Grandparents. Once when I was 5 my cousins Jennifer (2 yrs my elder) and Christopher (1 yr my elder) decided it would be good to go door to door selling individuals cheese puffs out of a bag that they got from Mommom's (my best friend) pantry. I smiled along wanting to be included but specifically remember feeling hesitant and being embarrassed. I stood quietly hidden behind them upon the door steps as they presented their ridiculous money making proposal. When they ventured to cross Avenue G, I declined, listened to them chastise me for being a baby and walked home alone with my tears (we lived on Avenue H).

The point is that I knew that I was NOT allowed to cross Avenue G. It was a busier road (speed limit 35). I felt dumb and was sad walking home and as I got to the front of my home my Aunt Gerre (Chris' Mom) was in her blue Cadillac and she was on fire looking for them. I was not about to lie though I felt torn and didn't want to tattle. I remember Jenny and Chris sitting in time out crying in the dining room at my Grandmother's because they got in really big trouble. On top of it all they were mad at me because I 'told on them' and continued to taunt me because I wasn't 'brave' enough to walk up or cross Ave G.

I realize that this hardly qualifies for an adventure but it something that sticks out in my mind as one of those defining moments from very early on that left a deep impact upon my heart. What I really consider my grandest adventure is my search for self. While I cannot be sure when it started there are some significant milestones that are noteable. Unfortunately that is really a post of it's own and I'm not quite sure that adventure is over just yet!

On the B Side: I am grateful for all of the life experiences that make up who we become. It's amazing to me that we all have such unique personalities that are more innate than we realize. I think of my children and how entirely different they are despite the same circumstances that have surrounded them. We are all these little pre-packaged spirits that come here ready to learn and while we are influenced by the people that surround us and our environment there is so much that already makes up who we are quite naturally