Monday, September 30, 2013

Hubby Cubby Buddy

Two weeks later, I can report that me and da mister have survived sharing an office.  I never thought I would be a couple that worked together, lunched together, and spent our evenings together.  We are both getting used to each other’s daily routines and office habits; mainly, he is getting used to me talking to myself and playing music too loud.

Carrizo Springs is about the size of the USAA home office and I enjoy walking around the town or riding my bike to run errands.   In our free time, we have been building the new office.  There is not much of a gym here, but carrying two-by-fours, from the truck to inside the office gets my heart pumping.
For today, this is a short post.  I am off to go run a business…

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

USAA

My fifteenth anniversary of working at USAA was on September 14th and I reflect on my career and how it has grown over the years.

I stared work as a co-op and was ever thankful to my college friend, Korosh Shetabi, who passed my resume over to my hiring manager.  It was a nerve wreaking month before graduation, but I was offered a full time position working at the Bank Help Desk, a week before I walked the stage. It is not like there were floods of job offers, only one other. My life would have been different if I had moved to Houston, to work for a petroleum company, where I would have coded, developed applications, and maintained databases.

After taking a year off from the college world, I returned to the rigors of late night reading and cramming for exams to receive a Masters in Business Administration.  Back when USAA offered a four- day-a-week work week, I would find my way over to the E building classrooms.  The Incarnate Word College would bring their instructors over for class.  This was also the time that USAA paid tuition in full and had not yet caped the education expense at $5000 a year.  At the time, G and H building did not exist.  Today, those E classrooms do not even exist.
My co-workers have become my forever friends and confidants.  I have seen them date, get married and watched their children grow- in their bellies and in school.  Through the years I have meet fitness buffs, runners, and bike riders.  I was part of starting the Employee Cycling Team and enjoyed spending evenings and weekends riding with many cycling friends.  USAA has seen me through two marriages and one divorce, and I have seen USAA change three CEO's.  USAA will always be the place where I was when 9-11 occurred.  It is where I was when my father called to tell me my mother was taking her last breaths.

USAA allowed me the freedom to ride my bike to work and do yoga on my lunch break.  My managers have been flexible with my time, when mom was on hospice and when I used all my paid time off to roam across America, by bike.

USAA is the place where I worked for the past fifteen years, but it was also my home away from home. USAA is always the place where my co-workers are my lifelong friends and where I feel honor knowing that with each day I went to work, I was supporting our military.
It has been a privilege to work for a company that honors the military and supports their employees.  Only fond memories of USAA will echo, as a member and former employee of USAA.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

New Job

These past few weeks have been difficult to post due to our pending custody case.  I do not want to blog about what could be used against me in court, nor do I want to let the ex-wife’s mama drama suck all my energy.  I am moving on to bigger and better opportunities in my life.
The biggest news these days is: I resigned from my employer of 15 years. USAA has been good to me and has taught me about honor and respecting our military.  Integrity has been instilled and a strong foundation of work ethic will follow me through my professional and personal life, for many years.
Me and da mister have started Premier Optical Group and are making lenses for eye glasses.  With my smarts and his good looks, we will be working together.  It is debatable if it is my smarts and good looks. For the next few weeks, we will be sharing an office and he will be showing me the ropes.  That is, if we do not get on each other’s nerves first. All I am saying is that we have perfected the eye roll.
Not only is my work going to be different, but our home base will change.  As the dust settles, we may find that home base changing.  We will still have our homes in Carrizo and Hollywood Park and go back and forth.
Some things will never change, like me riding my bike.  My next goal is to ride my bike from Carrizo to Eagle Pass, 44 miles away from the house, with a border patrol stop half way.