Jealousy.

I'll be the first to admit it. I struggle from time to time with the notion of bashing flirty female heads in when it comes to my boyfriend. Is it entirely my fault though?

Let's pause a minute. I happen to be with the most faithful man God ever created. He's stubborn as all hell, and is basically too stubborn to cheat when unhappy in a relationship, as if thats the easy way out. He just won't do it. Let's be grateful for that. Let's also be grateful that he thinks my jealousy is sexy.

And YET being that I work in an office of the same 80 people ive encountered on a daily basis for 4 years, (let me sum them up in a quote from a friend "engineers are nature's birth control"), I cant exactly relate to working with the public, as he does, at the mall, with anyone from tweens to cougars hitting on him. Yes i said tweens (read sluuuts).

So maybe jealousy isnt necessarily always based in fear of being hurt but sometimes of an innate need to protect one's territory. Not that my 5'3" frame is about to squash anybody, let's also remember that I'm Latin. And with that comes enormous amount of attitude and passion for all things I love, and that goes for him. So back off beyotches.... he's mine. And yes, he knows how cute his butt looks in those slacks so you don't need to tell him. So go ahead and scrape up the remainder of your self-respect, take your haggard self to the next man, and please...let's try not to have this nice little chat again.

On the work front

I realize I haven't really written about work at all, what it is that I do, what projects I'm working on. Sometimes it's hard for me to even put my job description into words, which hardly makes sense because I spend about 75% of my time writing reports. Speaking of not making sense, not sure how I got a writing profession out of an engineering degree. Still trying to figure that one out.

I work for a multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firm. My group specializes in environmental infrastructure (water/sewer supply and treatment). I don't do much of that, mostly I do water resources (storm drainage, hydrology, floodplain assessments). It's some computer modeling, some AutoCAD, some GIS, and a LOT of report writing.

This week I'm writing a feasibility report on water and sewer supply alternatives for a proposed prison expansion job and when that's not completely getting hacked by corporate politics, I'm writing a water supply assessment for a community that conveys its entire water source for 50,000 people in a 150-year old flume. Should it get taken out by accident, supplies could potentially run out for the community within a week. Pretty scary... but again, local govt politics keeping any back-up supplies from getting constructed to prevent that from happening. So I think it's all pretty interesting, how you can't really get away from politics no matter what side of the job you're on.

Lately I've been really discouraged to see the turnover rate in our industry. Since civil/environmental engineering is heavily dependent on development, once that slows, you'd better either work for a big firm that can move you around, or have a beefy resume to fall back on. In my case, my company is large but office is fairly small and my department tiny. I was trained by someone who made me as self-sufficient as possible, and I'm convinced that's the only reason I still have a job. Very few engineers can work for several depts at one time with little supervision. Oh, and if all else fails, I can write a damn good report.

I suppose my advice to others in this industry is to be adaptable, take initiative to keep yourself indispensible whether that's by getting on a variety of projects (however unexciting) and getting as many trainings, certifications, etc. to stay ahead of the curve. Our education doesn't stop after college, there's even tons to learn from the people who got to their positions w/out a degree but w/ experience alone. It's those people that have all the job security.

I really hope all my dear friends who have fallen victim to the rise and fall of the economy and our industry find that perfect job really soon. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and my eyes out for hiring opportunities!

On the home front

I borrowed this picture from a website called pawsitivepuptraining.com because it best describes the horror I came home to last Tuesday.

As horrified as I was, grabbing the camera and snapping a picture was not high on the priorities list. Normally our dogs (2-yr old puggles, Hazel and Littlest) hang out in the kennel while we’re gone at work. They also sleep in the kennel and occasionally in the bed, though no bed is big enough for 2 (even little) dogs that want to sleep on your feet and legs, so that rarely happens.

Occasionally I’ve thought to myself ‘what would the dogs do if they ever got out of the kennel during the day’… well I found out last week and the answer is: chew up everything they can get their grubby paws on and greedy little mouths around.

Somehow, the boyfriend didn’t properly close the kennel and they roamed free and pillaged our small apartment for about 8 hours. How would a dog remove a cap from a sharpie w/out fingers you might ask? Well I’m not sure, but I know now that it can be done. I will be wondering how permanent that marker is when I attempt to bleach it out of my white blanket.

Try digging out the remaining pieces of your Planet Earth DVD set from their teeth and then tell me again now having dogs is training for having kids? Not sure how that works, or how you can feel justified in punishing the dog hours after you find the poop on your newly shampooed carpet.

Either way, the child training is only making me more terrified at the thought of children unless they one day come already 4-years old with pottie-skills and a vocabulary. Until then, I’ll let the dogs teach me the virtues of patience (one day I’ll learn it, I swear) and the beauty of having a partner who willing to help clean the mess AND do all the disciplining. The damn things are cute though.

La Professionista

I recently sat through an hour presentation on the importance of having a good brand. Not like a household name type brand. Basically what potential employers might do when considering you for a position. They might log onto google.com and search your name and up pops your "brand" - your online self. The speakers reminded us of the importance of having a good slogan for yourself when speaking to the executives in the elevator AND having a good online presence. Such as not having your mardi gras or halloween sexy kitten pictures on myspace, but if that's how you roll, then child please...set your settings to private. I also learned that facebook is received a little better than myspace in the business world. (Mental note: cross over to the darkside and join facebook later tonite).

But in order to make yourself stand out in the list of resumes (and NO... pink resumes aren't cute unless you're elle woods) will require stepping outside the box by joining professional groups, volunteer organizations, contributing to technical subject blogs in order to get yourself out there and have a presence on the web. Write a blog that employers might want to read, and get your friends to leave comments so that it's clear you're not writing to no one.

All good advice.

And it all made me think what my brand would be. I am a confident person with a sassy attitude who operates more on the relationship-building side of the business to get the job done than managing the small details. I'm Latin so I am social and loud, but an engineer who works best under a deadline. I'm the first one to remember your name and more likely to ask you about how your latest project is going than to shuffle down the hall w/ my head down, unless it's between 8 and9:30am, then i'm crawling (not shuffling) towards the coffee and it's best to leave me alone till 10 just to be safe. I'm the one who appreciates the womanly things in life like a sizable shoe and lip gloss collection (can never have too much of either - can i hear an Amen?). And I can feel just as comfortable in field clothing tromping around the jobsite as I do in 3" heels running around the office.

I guess without even knowing it, I already have a brand. My name is Davina, and my brand is Professionista. That's Italian for professional. Or sassy for a semi-girly, always glossy engineer. You don't believe me? Search me and find out. And comment on this blog please!

Sacramento

I'd like to throw out there to the world, to my dear golden state, to my new hometown - Sacramento is not the worst place to live. I know, I know, I'll let you regain your composure. Sure i live a working class lifestyle - 8-5 job, unmarried, no kids, very little stress in my life outside of this blasted state licensing exam next week. But here's the recap of the last week to show you why this town kicks a$$:

Friday - company seats at the King's game @ arco arena. pretty sweet right? well i didnt go, gave them to my uncle and cousin as thanks for helping me move. instead had dinner at hard rock cafe downtown w/ family.

Saturday - volunteered for a resume and interview skills workshop for the young minds at Sac State University. 17 students from 3 universities came to get our advice. Later had my fill of the pilsners at a local pub, Bonn Lair, featuring some oktoberfest grub...mmm...

Sunday - spent the day in apple hill doing all the fun seasonal stuff (translates into winetasting, picking grapes off the vine and hurredly driving away -- oops i mean having the designated driver hurredly drive away, and gorging on all sorts of gourmet foods)

Monday - worked a whole day in Lake Tahoe. no longer the vacation spot for me after several years of erosion control related projects, but hey no one can complain about having to spend the day up there. hit up apple hill on the way home for carmel apples and cider one of the orchards had sold out of the day before.

Tuesday - bought plane tickets for my vacation/conference trip to phoenix

Wednesday - planned work trip to san diego for the following week

ok so those last 2 things dont have much to do w/ sac, but the others definitely do. sorry, but not a lot of places throw you into the fun and diverse nightlife with plenty of attractions next door to get your hungover butt outta bed like this place. all in 1 days work you can have all the fun right at home hiking or biking along the american river bike trail, shopping in quaint little midtown, or feasting on any of the gourmet food your palette could think up - or drive to the bay or tahoe if you're feeling like some different air.

Growing up in the bay area, Sac was always like another state. wasn't the capitol supposed to be SF originally anyway? well that's the bay area mentality "never been there, dont care". but it's image has changed a lot in the last 5+ years and i'd say for the better. Now that i'll be here a while longer i'm eager to see where the city goes to make itself even better for its residents. the tax-paying ones like me who are pretty eager for a change of leadership locally and nationally.