Long time no see

Hello all! I'm back from the dead of the internet to give the world an update on my job situation. Back in April when I last posted things were dark, I wasn't sure about my future and I was still far away from finding a job.

Fast forward to now and things have changed big time. I've been working since late June for a music company that focuses on teaching children, as well as renting them instruments for their schools music programs. I was brought on to help with the assigning and shipment of rental instruments to children all over Northern New Jersey. It was a busy, crazy, and intense summer but, one that saw many success for myself and the company. I was able to help improv shipments of rentals to kids and reduce the failure rate big time. Overall our success rate was 98% which was a huge improvement from the previous summer.

I was only supposed to stay till the end of the summer/fall busy season when the rentals for the new school year are at there highest. But, I have stayed on and have been working there ever since. Currently my role fluctuates a lot depending on the day of the week from managing the warehouse to helping with improving the companies online presence. It seems like I'm going to be staying here for a while if the money is right.

This job is the first one I have ever had where I've felt an extreme sense of personal satisfaction with my own work. Everyone here works well together and we all work towards the common goal of helping the company provided an excellent level of service to our customers. There were many days where I would come home exhausted but I never felt like I didn't want to be there. The exhaustion I felt was good it made me feel like I had accomplished something everyday I went to work.

The future is looking bright for the first time in a long time. Hopefully this will continue into the new year and hopefully I will be writing more for this blog.

Till then stay positive my friends, you never know what will fall into your lap when you least expect it.

Welcome to 2015!

Hello everyone it's me Christian! I know I haven't said much recently what with the holidays and all but now I figured it was time to check in. Since the last time I blogged a lot has changed at my home. For starters I'm moving to another room in the house, unfortunately it's due to the recent passing of my uncle. He passed away on Christmas morning, from complications related to a stroke and an infection in his heart. For the last year and a half he had been fighting cancer which at this point was in his bones. Doctors never thought he'd live as long as he did and for that we are grateful. In the end the infection is what killed him due his weakened immune system from all the cancer treatments. He passed away peacefully on Christmas morning.

I got laid...off

This a post I didn't think I would have to write but here it is. Since October 10th I have been unemployed. The contracting firm I worked for was contacted by IBM and told that they had to cut contracts by 50% immediately so IBM could save money. It was a sudden announcement and one that took me aback the minute I heard it. For the first time I have no job at all, I'm currently waiting to see if I can get some work at my old job even temporarily and I just started doing a little freelance writing for someone too. The fact I'm unemployed doesn't scare me as much as the prospect of having no income to keep myself afloat. As I've mentioned in the past my loans, bills, and a car payment are always taking a huge chunk of my earning each month. Now there is no paycheck and I don't know how long I can skirt by on just unemployment.

It's a scary time for me, usually I have a plan to keep myself going and to keep the money coming in. This time I don't. There is no plan and for once in my life everything is up in the air. Hopefully that will change sooner rather then later. I can't imagine being out of work for a long time. We shall see what happens next. Till then I'm asking my readers for support or even suggestions for work. It would be greatly appreciated by me. 

Thank you very much,

Christian G. Geisler

Time to re-brand

The new website cgeisler.net

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to figure out the next step in my life. For the longest time I wanted to try to find work in technical writing or publishing. Unfortunately that is harder to get into then I anticipated.
Without experience in either field it was getting harder and harder to find a job. So I started looking at my strengths and see what jobs existed in those areas. Within in minutes I had my answer.

Learning what you excel at!

As I sit at my desk enjoying a small glass of whiskey I find myself thinking what am I good at? What am I good at? It's a question that we all get asked at some point in our lives. Yet for many it is a difficult question to answer. I myself have always had a hard time answering it because I don't usually notice what I'm good at. That comes from being too modest about myself. When you are like that, you usually forget what makes you unique and what skills you excel at. It's only been recently that I have felt comfortable saying to others what I am good at. That is because as I have gotten older I have learned that it's okay to show off your skills. It can lead to more opportunities and even give you a chance to shine in something you never would have thought of before.

 The more I work at IBM the more I have had opportunities to use my skills in writing, computers, and problem solving. My coworkers like having input from me when it comes to new problems and sometimes I come up with a solution that works. To be included in problem solving as well as creating new ideas is something I have enjoyed while working there. It's lead to more work in areas that involve creative solutions as well as writing detailed proposals. I have to admit I missed writing technical information and it's been nice to get back into the groove again. Currently I'm working on new proposal for security upgrades and I feel like my writing has improved dramatically. It feels professional and has all the information that is needed.

Overall I feel more confident in my skill set of writing, computers, and creative solutions. I know I can talk, create, and even contribute in ways I never thought I could before. It's helped me feel more confident about myself and also I feel more confident about the work I create. It only took 25 years for me to realize what I am good at!

I'm a grown up now

The most expensive piece of paper I own!

At some point in your life you have to face the facts, you can't be a child forever. Eventually either by the natural progression of events or through a sudden change in circumstances we all become adults. It's inevitable, we can't fight it no matter how hard we try. For me it was a slow progression to becoming a real adult, but I feel it became reality after I had to start paying back all my student loans.

The mid-week in review: February 28th 2014

I know I haven't done one of these in a long time but to be honest not a lot has been going on recently. Life was in a sort of stand still state for a while. That has changed though in the last fews days. I can now say after a couple weeks of filling out paper work and interviews that I have a full time job! As of 11:00 am this morning I put in my two weeks notice and will be starting a full time position with IBM in March.

As many people know I have been looking for work since I graduated college in December of 2011, while looking for jobs I continued to work at my local computer repair shop. I didn't work long hours there but the pay was good and I liked the people I worked with. For almost seven years I have worked there. That's a long time to spend at a small part time job. In that time I learned a lot about customer service, fixing computers, and working at a small business. It had its ups and downs but overall I wouldn't trade my time here for anything in the whole world.

Looking back to when I first started working here I was new to the whole world of dealing with customers on a daily basis. It honestly scared me to be on the front lines dealing with peoples problems. Fast forward to today and I can't see not being involved on that level with people. If anything I have learned that I like helping people and seeing them be happy when I fix their problem always puts a smile on my face.

Now I will be leaving the world of small business computer repair to work for IBM fixing computers. It won't be a huge change in terms of what I will be doing on a daily basis but the one major change is I won't be interacting with customers like I do now. That will be the one thing I will honestly miss.

So thats that my new full time job will start soon and I can't wait for that to happen!

The mid-week in review: January 23rd 2014

I know the mid week review should have been done yesterday to keep consistency with last weeks but, nothing inspired me to write it last night. But, now though as I sit in my room on a sunny Thursday afternoon looking at the snow covered lawns outside. I find myself inspired to write. This is the first week in almost a year where I haven't had to work in the mornings so I have been taken advantage of it by sleeping later, eating a nice breakfast, and actually keeping up on shows I watch. Sure I would prefer to be working right now, making extra cash to keep up with the bills, but for right now it's nice to slow down for a little bit. This week is my recharge week. Next week will have more structure to it and more job hunting as well.

Time to rework the old resume

As I mentioned last week, I just finished up a contract job I had as a technical writer for a local alumni insurance company. For the first time in a long time I am looking at my resume and saying to myself it's time to rewrite it completely. This past year as a technical writer has given me experience that I hope to translate into more work in the future. It has also given me a ton of sample work which I was lacking before. I put together several samples from that job of all different sizes and types. They will help me show I can do the work at any technical writing job I apply for.