Hello, 2013! (Part I)

[Insert joke about how long it's been since I've posted.]

[Insert sincere apology for my absence and heartfelt promise to write more.]

It's 2013! Time for a fresh start! It's certainly a time for big changes here at the Holtz household! Here's a run down of the last 3 months (over this two part series). Hang on to your hat, it's been a wild ride!

December
I told you I traded in the Runner, but we also traded in Mike's truck for a 2013 Prius 4, straight off the boat from Japan!

The Prius!!

It sort of looks like a spaceship inside and I think it can fly, I just haven't found the button yet....

It's been a really great car and it's already very clear we're saving a lot on gas! It's our only car, but there were only a couple weeks where we had to share it before Mike left for training in New Jersey, but we'll get to that later...

So our first road trip with the Prius was to Louisiana for Christmas! It did really well and we enjoyed having Sirius radio and Pandora on the way! In Louisiana, we got to spend time with Mike's mom and sister as well as our nephew and niece, Landyn and CJ.

Now kids, Uncle Mike is not a jungle gym!

While we were there, a line of storms rolled through Christmas day. To be safe, we brought Mike's mom to our hotel room where we all hung out, took naps and watched TV. When the storms got there, we went outside to watch (of course). Nothing terrible where we were, but I do believe there were some tornadoes further east that day.

Took a picture of this classic SLC (scary-looking cloud) from our hotel parking lot.

After a few days in Louisiana, we drove back home, did some laundry, pet the cat and then boarded a plane to Wichita early the next morning. While in Wichita, we caught up with friends and relatives and in between socializing, we worked on a puzzle that Mike and I got my dad for Christmas.

I think these two were more in to the puzzle than I was, but we all worked on it!

For New Year's Eve, we had some friends over. Sadly, due to widespread illness, our party was a bit smaller than we'd planned for, but it was still and enjoyable evening with Ryan Seacrest, Apples to Apples and some bubbly!

Steve shows off his winnings from Apples to Apples. 

January
On Saturday, January 5th, Mike left for Fort Dix in New Jersey where he would attend a month-long Army training course before his deployment to Afghanistan. I dropped him off at the airport with a tearful goodbye and hopes that it would work out for me to go visit him on the East Coast before he left.

The next day, Sunday, I was the volunteer coordinator for the American Meteorological Society's Weatherfest, associated with their annual meeting in Austin. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough help, but everything went very smoothly and I had a great time. I got to meet several new weather friends as well as meet up with old friends! I also handed off my work computer to a now-former co-worker. My employer had run out of grant money to pay for my position, so they had to let me go. I knew it was time to move on, but I certainly enjoyed my two years working from home. So....

On Monday I started my brand new job with Rackspace, the Open Cloud Company! I've known about Rackspace ever since we found out we were moving to San Antonio. If you Google "Best places to work, San Antonio" Rackspace is one of the first companies you'll see! I was so excited to get hired on as a Content Strategist. Basically, I'm a technical writer as well as an admin for a Knowledge Management System. It seems like a strange jump, but I was doing a lot of technical writing with the National Weather Service, so this is a very natural move for me.

So Rackspace is known for it's company culture, much like Google. There are vendors or food trucks for breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon-Fri. You do have to purchase your own food (we're not that much like Google), but you can choose from things like Freebirds and Rudy's as well as other local restaurants that bring in food! Also, when other Rackers (Rackspace employees) ask where my desk is, I tell them I'm near the slide. Yes, that's right, the slide.

They're also really big on t-shirts. I'm averaging about 1 t-shirt per week!

My first Rackspace t-shirt!

So Rackspace is more than just food trucks, t-shirts and slides. As you can see from their Core Values, they're a great company both for customers and employees. I have a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor every week and I'm on the cycling team and the running team. I'm even looking into joining RaxFit (free CrossFit for Rackers!).

Stay tuned for Part II....

3 Things I Learned at the 2012 Texas Conference for Women

In October, I attended the 2012 Texas Conference for Women  in Austin. It was a HUGE conference with over 5,000 attendees (everything's bigger in Texas...). There were many "celebrities" there (in my book, at least) like Gretchen Rubin, Danielle LaPorte and Cathie Black. I was also introduced to some new rockstars like Brene Brown and Lauren Berger.

That's a lot of seating!

The conference consisted of a morning keynote address, two breakout sessions (each with about 10 options), a lunch keynote and then many different activities in the afternoon. There was also a Health and Wellness Expo with the conference. It was overwhelming to say the least. I got to Austin at about 7am, grabbed my complimentary French Toast Sticks and coffee from the Peached Tortilla food truck, whipped out my conference program and started to map out my day.

French Toast Sticks and Sbux!

I really think I optimized my experience. I won't give you a blow-by-blow, but here are my top three takeaways:

1) Vulnerability = Strength

I think many people hear "vulnerability" and think "weakness." Brene Brown suggests that is actually shows strength. She currently has the 2nd most watched TED talk ever about The Power of Vulnerability. In her book, Daring Greatly, she talks about how vulnerability (at the right time and place, of course) can really help us move forward in relationships and other undertakings. She talked about how giving good feedback puts us in a place of vulnerability, but often is much more effective and productive. Good communication also requires some vulnerability. One thing that really resonated with me was when she said when you do something brave, your are almost always being vulnerable. Think of a time when you were brave. Were you also at a place of vulnerability?

2) Be Clear on How You Want To Feel

The second breakout session I went to covered defining success in your own terms and included a panel of four women: Alyce Alston, CEO of CultureMap Austin; Laren Berger, the Intern Queen; Danielle LaPorte, author of The Fire Starter Sessions; and Wilka Toppins, attorney and founder of The Corporate Latina. Here are the highlights:

• "If you feel like you're faking it more than not, you're in the wrong place. Don't fake enthusiasm." - Danielle LaPorte
• Alyce talked about she made the move from a really swanky job to a position at Reader's Digest. Some of her friends and family questioned the move, but in the end the position at Reader's Digest  better used her strengths and she enjoyed her work more. Lauren added that she worked for a talent agency in LA which represented many high-profile celebrities. Her friends all envied her job, but all she talked about was how she wanted to be the Intern Queen. Sometimes society's image of success doesn't align with what makes us feel successful.
• Wilka talked about how sometimes we make decisions that lead to imbalance in our lives. We need to forgive ourselves for these decisions, learn from them and then do what needs to be done to regain balance. 

3) Outer Order Creates Inner Calm

I've been a firm believer in this for several years now. Having a neat and orderly home really does put your mind in a better place. Gretchin Rubin addressed this in her keynote speech at the beginning of the conference and talks about it more in her books The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. She suggests making your bed and purging your possessions since the project our identity into our environment. When purging, it's good to ask yourself "Do I use it? Do I need it? Do I love it?" If you don't answer "yes" to one or more of those, ditch it!

Gretchin talks about Happiness at Home

Of course I learned a lot of other great things throughout the day and I took several pages of notes! It was a great experience and I'm so excited to attend the Massachusetts Conference for Women next year!

17 Days Under the Heat Dome

An opportunity came up for me to spend 2.5 weeks in July in Oklahoma teaching some material for a workshop being held at the National Weather Center. Ten Korea Meteorological Agency forecasters were coming to Oklahoma for 2 weeks to learn about precipitation forecasting, nowcasting, and tropical cyclones.

So the day after the 4th of July (sometimes referred to as the 5th of July) I loaded up the Runner and I was northbound 35! I got in about 6pm and checked into my 2-bedroom, student-housing apartment. I picked that location because it had a pool and offered access to the OU pool and OU gym. 

The first weekend I went up to Wichita (I was so close, why not?!) to see family. On the way I saw this:

A dust devil!

While in Wichita I saw my dad (of course) as well as my Uncle Greg, Aunt Margaret, cousins Donovan and Drew, my Grandma Farney, and "Uncle" Terry. I also got to catch up with my friend LeighAnn and her boyfriend, Mike, who's recently back from a 4-month deployment. (She found herself an "Air Force Mike" too!) Wichita was experiencing some record heat so much of my time there was spent indoors.

The workshop went really well. The Koreans asked excellent questions and were able to see how things work in the US National Weather Service. Only a couple of them spoke English well, so all our lectures were translated by two Korean OU Meteorology students. Those girls were GOOD! I was amazed at how hard they worked and what a great job they did!

10 KMA meteorologists (all men), 2 translators (OU shirt, center, and pink shirt, 2nd from the right), Dr. Snow and Andrew (center) and Miss Lee, the HR manager (center).

I never thought that I would be excited to get back to San Antonio to escape the heat, but that's exactly what happened while I was in Oklahoma. I saw temperatures like 106 and 107 daily while I was there. San Antonio was a good 10 degrees cooler. Unbelievable.

When I got home I was very excited to be with Mike again and meet the newest additions to our family.....

....to be continued!