Trina's Journal/Blog

A Little Thought, A Little Tumoil, A Little Education

First and foremost, I want to extend my deepest sympathy to the family of Brandon Crisp. This is a very sad case where it's becoming more obvious that it was a tragic story that ended in a horrific accident. Teenagers are head strong and I know in my experience, I've seen Christina stomp out my door and head down the road. Fortunately for me, she always returns within minutes.

This has been an ideal example to speak to your kids about. Myself, I didn't sugar coat it and I will continue to be open and honest once the autopsy results are disclosed. Your relationship with your teenagers is as delicate as your relationship with your spouse. If the two wheels are not finely aligned, then it's your responsibility as a team to get it back on track. I think honesty is an important aspect. We can all say "If I were the parent's, I would have done this or that." but until you are placed in that situation, no one can say what they would do. The disgusting things said on some Facebook Groups in memory of Brandon Crisp is truly disgusting.

So on another note; I've decided to barter my time for a gym membership. I am doing Child Care on Thursday mornings. Yesterday was my first day. I was in a whirlwind. After having two children that are sixteen months part, I was shocked with myself. I was overwhelmed with the seven children between the ages of 6 months and 4. Yes, there was another person with me, but I felt as if I landed on the planet Zoron and I had never had any interaction with this age before. It truly was a weird experience but I love it. God, I would love to go back to that age group as it was so much fun.

Lastly, I've found a job and have received quite an appealing offer to go along with it. I have been offered to go for an On the Job Evaluation and this is the point where I will finally decide if it's for me. It's at McDonalds as an Assistant Manager. If anyone has any experience about being a manager at McDonalds, please give me some feedback as it will be appreciated.

I think of McDonalds as a stepping stone for teenagers to find their way in life. It's a great place to work as it teaches them discipline and strong work ethics. It also enables those teenagers who are not interested in the latter to buy the jeans they want or those expensive shoes that your parent's won't buy you. I guess I'm being somewhat stereotypical here.....should a 35 year old with a vast amount of experience take on this venture?

The majority of my mind is saying "Why not?" I've been offered to work as Assistant Manger on the 401, as well as an Administrative Assistant position where I will input all of the daily numbers for all of the McDonald's in the KW Area. In my mind, I would be learning the basics of McDonald's but also working with the corporate group a little more closely by interacting with all restaurants. It actually sounds more of an opportunity than "just a job".

What makes McDonald's a step down? I truly don't see it as one simply because McDonald's is worldwide and any other job I've held hasn't been anything close. In fact, I was proud of what I was doing despite the fact that no one had a clue how to advertise and get the word out about Energy Savings and the benefits of having an Energy Audit to your home. The Government program went from a complete in-house education program for homeowners to a data collection model where someone else (who hasn't even seen your home) inputs your house data into a computer and spits out a report to the homeowner to figure out. That is the main reason why I jumped and took this risk to join the House Whisperer's in April. I liked the way that they presented the program completely in the house, to the Homeowner, at the first visit. It was like McDonalds versus Kelsey's.

I worked in Renovation as well. I loved it because I was in the Window industry; the most innovative and smartest marketers in my eyes. I learned so much about marketing, but I also learned that I wouldn't want to work in the industry because there are only a select amount of Window Manufacturer's who can differentiate the quality of their window from another. Those windows require high pressure sales while they are in the consumer's home because the price is much higher. I always supported the higher end window because it was sold and manufacturered by the same company, not to mention, the window could be installed in the North Pole according to the Energy Star Ratings. As well, I also supported the companies who were family owned and much smaller than the big box advertisers. Fewer headaches when you had issues with the window.

Window testing is a very intricate process. It actually takes 2 separate testing to quantify the window. If you ever want information, please feel free to ask as I have spent hours at Enermodal and Bodytech to educate myself on what I was promoting. As well, the installation is just as important as the window you purchase. But that explanation is best left for anyone who wants to know more. Furnace, well I also have opinion about that, but I'm not as educated in that field. I would say go High Efficiency. I've saved hundreds of dollars the past 3 years by purchasing a high efficiency furnace coupled with a high efficiency A/C.

So here I am, an extremely educated woman within the renovation and energy market thinking about taking a leap of faith to work at McDonalds. What should I do? I think I should give the two days an honest effort because one never knows until they try. I like the idea of the two day trial despite the fact that most of us will probably "love" it because it was only 2 days. If I'd be working 1/2 restaurant and 1/2 corporate, wouldn't that provide to me an edge in the promotion game?

I'd love to hear anyone's opinions or experience.

There are so many things I would like to discuss about World News. Proposition 8 is one of those that deeply concerns me....but I'll leave that till another day.

Take Care,T