Swollen Glands and New Opportunities

What a week! I have been, in one form or another, on my back for the last 6 days. I must be honest, the duration of time spent on my back has shortened but that is more due to my serious case of "cabin fever" than it is to actually feeling better.

Since last Saturday evening I have spent a majority of my time fighting headaches, a nasty cough and swollen glands. I don't necessarily understand the fine science behind the two Posterior Cervical Lymph Nodes swelling up when you get sick. I do understand that they become enflamed when your body falls prey to an upper respiratory infection. Here I am, swollen glands and all, sitting on the couch watching a bootlegged copy of a movie I don't understand. I hate being sick. It has been rather timely, however.

I moved to Utah in August of 2006. Just a few days after I unpacked my stuff in Utah I started working in the shipping department of Grainger Industrial Supply as a "Warehouse Associate." It isn't some glory job. I wear steel toes on concrete floor all day long; Picking, packing and shipping various and sundry items off of shelves and send them all over the country. Sweet set up, right? Psych! It has been a rough go for the last five years. I have walked away from work with a tired back and sore knees. I took a job that promised me I would be done with work and home to take care of school work by 6:30 PM every night -- A promise left unfulfilled. In fact I have spent a majority of my days at Grainger working longer than expected days and later than expected nights. All the while my homework sat in my bag, or in my inbox waiting to be finished at a less than ideal time of night. My final full-time semester as a student at the University of Utah I worked some of the latest nights of my life. I walked out of work as late at 11 PM some nights, leaving my homework and the stereotypical bachelor dinner for the wee hours of the morning. My grades suffered. I suffered. The time as a whole was a frustrating refiner's fire for me. Nevertheless, all is not lost.

Setting aside all of that gloom and doom, Grainger treated me pretty well comparatively speaking. Yeah, the late nights were tough. Yes, my homework ended up ignored and hurried through. All in all, I learned a lot of practical skills. I was gaining experience that has added to my resume and shaped me as a person. I work through difficult days and deal with difficult peers. I will pad my frustration by grasping firmly to the hope that I am stronger and better for the experience. Luckily, that is all about to change.

May 2 I start a job that has me very excited. That trip to Indianapolis I mentioned in my last entry was a trip to interview with Dow Agrosciences as a Sales Representative. I went. I saw. I conquered. Such an experience can only attest the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who." Luckily I have an insider connection. Not the sort that would land you prison time on Wall Street; A brother. He's good at what he does and provided me with the contacts I needed to see it all through. With enough emailing, phone calling and ol' fashioned persistence, it worked. I was offered the job and I am excited for the opportunities that will come with it, the most immediate one being the company truck that is on its way :)

My rather sarcastic nature leads me to make light at the simple things like a truck and a company phone. However I am deeply grateful for the blessings that I so readily enjoy. I can't go so far as to say that I don't deserve them, but I certainly wonder why. Some day I will take the opportunity to ask my Savior why it is I was blessed so richly when I felt I gave so little. For Heaven's rich blessings I am always and eternally thankful. Here is to the start of a long and healthy career with Dow and to the opportunity for me to give back to so many that have given so much to me.

God Speed, my friends. Until next time.