Small business spotlight!

So I have some exciting news! Today I got my first, sort of, sponsor for itw. You may have read, in one of my former posts, the one of my goals for in the works  is to help facilitate growth in small companies around Bellingham and Whatcom county. And so, without further adieu, my first Small Business Spotlight  will be on, family owned, Quality Auto Care. 

As a, relatively, poor Western student, I'm always on the lookout for great deals at businesses that don't compromise good service. A few months ago, after flipping through WWU's Blue Book and seeing the $18.95 price tag, I decided to go in and have my oil changed (I ended up spending double that at the last place I took it), and I felt like I'd discovered an amazing little secret.

Because I've had such good experiences there, and I know that Quality is a family owned company, I felt the need to spread the good word. After asking the owner/operator, Rashid Mistry, a few questions about the place, I found that the company has been in Bellingham for almost three years now. One of the things they pride themselves on is the fact that they allow customers to "walk out back." Customers are allowed to go into the garage and really see what is happening under the hood.  Before opening his own business, Mistry worked at GM and Volkswagon for the better part of his life. Pictured above is just one of the many plaques he has received as: ASE, GM, and Volkswagon master. 

Anyway, to all you Western students feeling the wrath of this horrible economy, I suggest getting anything car related done here. QAC's open seven days a week, and they'll give you the best service possible. You can call them at 360-733-1280 or access their website. Also, if you mention my name, you get a 20% discount. Come on, $18.95 with 20% off... you do the math.

Alright, well I love you all. Hope you have a wonderful, sunshine-filled weekend!

Running for a cause

If you have lived in Bellingham, and surrounding areas, for a while I'm sure you have heard of all the amazing runs, walks, etc... that are available, but you may not know that many of them are to help local and nationwide non-profits to raise funds for their respective causes.

Seattle Half-Marathon 2008

I just want to spotlight these events for a little bit. If you know me then you know how much I love to run, be outdoors, do awesome things, and so on, and I've always been interested in advocacy work, hence the decision to only sign up for runs that benefit the community in some way. I've felt the need, since my return from Japan, to up the ante for myself and sign up for a few races that really helped me get back in shape for the rest of summer/fall, and so my first race of the summer will be the Dog Days of Summer 10k on the 28th of August. All benefits go to the Whatcom Humane Society, which also means all the adorable little aminals (yes I misspelled that on purpose) are receiving help as well! If you are interested in any of the races in B'ham, or the surrounding areas, you can check them out here! Also, please feel free to comment and let us know of any other races outside of the PNW!

Woman of the night

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back in the working world! Last week, as some of you know from my former post, I went on a serious job hunt that ended in me desperately blogging, begging Bellingham for any sort of job. Surprisingly, the next day I received a response back from one of Bellingham's fanciest hotels on the water, the Hotel BellWeather. I ended up interviewing Wednesday and was immediately offered the job. To tell the truth, I wasn't all too excited about the position, I am now the weekend night auditor, but after thinking it over, I figured it would be a good "foot in the door." Ideally, I would love to work the night audit for a few weeks/months and then move to the wedding/event planning staff because becoming an event planner for a non-profit is pretty much my ultimate dream, but I'll just keep my fingers crossed for now. I've also been keeping my eyes out for other positions around town, I recently applied for a position at the Boys and Girls club and at the Village Bookstore, but for now it seems like the BellWeather is going to be my biggest chance for a future career path. 

I had my first day, well night really, on the job this last Sunday. I was a tad nervous, mostly for the whole staying up and actually being functional until seven in the morning part, so I went on a quick run to de-stress right before starting. Thankfully my worries were basically for naught, everyone was incredibly nice (I actually got to speak with the head banquet/food director for the event planning staff for a bit *crosses fingers*) and the work, although slightly daunting for the first night, was relatively straightforward. There was a giant wedding going on that weekend, so everything was slightly more hectic than normal (i.e. drunken groomsmen calling for taxi's at one in the morning to go do seemingly nefarious things), but thanks to the regular night auditor (to be nameless for now), everything went fairly smooth. The morning was the hardest part, we finished the audit around 4am and everything kind of just slowed down, including my brain. By the time 7 o'clock rolled around, I was ready to pass out, and by the look on my face, everyone else knew it too. But, I made it with, hopefully, no huge mistakes, and so am looking forward to my next shift, and further improvement on my super awesomely incredible customer service skills (hehe). I'm hoping to train my body to not completely shut down at 7am, which may prove to be difficult, but other than that, I think this may turn out to be a relatively decent job.... at least I don't have to babysit.

The real world bites

So I'm back in America now, and basically, it sucks. Yes, I'm glad to be back, and yes I'm having fun with my friends and family, but the logistics of 1) finding a place to live, and 2) finding a job that a) I actually want and b) is actually hiring has been a little more than stressful. In Japan, the probability of me getting a good paying, interesting job was not only much higher, but in fact, people were pretty much placing them at my feet, begging me (and my pretty blonde hair) to be part of their company. Now, the fact that people are so absolutely not interested in me anymore... well, it's a bit depressing. It's especially depressing around Bellingham, where people with masters degrees are working in clothing retail and at the local burrito shop. The people here are just so overqualified that, in order to get any sort of well paying job, I may just have to get my doctorates before I can really start looking... great. Hello America, I want a job, I have the skills, and I'll work till I bleed; hire me!

Introductions

Hello all,

As you can tell by the title, this blog is a work in project. I know I wanted to start a new one, see Life, Love, and Lattes to learn all about my adventures in Japan, but I haven't really decided a direction for it yet.  I am debating back and forth between making it much more personal and in depth or, oppositely, more of a business type blog. I know I want to talk a lot about volunteerism, non-profit work, and possibly job searching, but as for content...well we'll just see how it goes.

I know that I don't want to hash together a mess of random, uncollected ponderings, pictures, etc...  I do, on the other hand, want to keep things interesting, so now comes the challenge of what I like to call "artistic organization." In other words, organizing a comprehensive, yet self (and soul) fulfilling way of updating, and maintaining blog posts.

So, here's to a fresh start, let's all be good friends ok?