Hi family,
It's been an interesting week and since the blog was badly in need of a post, I decided to share it here. :)
A few weeks ago, one of our friends from the old ward (a fellow HR girl) reached out to me about a job opportunity. One of her previous HR directors was recently made VP of HR at this local company called Jamberry and he found my profile on LinkedIn while searching for possible HR Generalist candidates for his team. He thought I looked like a good candidate and when he noticed that we had Katelyn as a mutual connection, he asked her to gauge my interest in meeting with him. I told her that I was open to it, so we arranged to meet for an interview about two weeks later. It was the most casual interview I've ever had, basically he just asked a bit about me and then I asked a bunch of questions about the position and that was it. This past Monday, I went in again to meet with the other members of their HR team. It seemed like a cool opportunity, probably more relaxed than my current job with an equally as comfortable team. Later the same day, they sent me an offer letter for the job offering me a 12% increase on my current salary, more vacation time, a few more holidays and a shorter commute (more like 20 min instead of 40 without traffic).
The whole thing was a nice surprise since I have not been looking for new jobs at all. It was kind of nice to be sought out as a passive candidate. :) The offer had some great benefits and I was definitely interested in taking the job, but the timing was less than ideal with my injuries and the fact that one of my co-workers just left for a different job. I thought the best approach would be to share the offer details with my boss and see if they would be open to countering. Our CEO was out of town for most of the week, so it took a few days but yesterday my leadership came back with a counter. They decided to match my Jamberry offer for a 12% salary increase and allow my position to stay work from home for at least 6 more months (possibly longer - to be evaluated again after 6 months) plus they offered additional intermittent flexibility to work from home as needed for pain management, additional surgeries, etc. My boss also said that she is willing to approve extended time off, give me flexibility when I need it to travel to see family or when they are in town, and give me the schedule of my choosing.
Anyway, Max and I talked over both options, but ultimately we decided that accepting the counter offer from my current job would offer the most value to us. So this afternoon I accepted that offer and declined the Jamberry one. A happy ending to a unique week!
Love you all,
Corey
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Colorado
As you all know I also just got back from a weekend trip to Colorado with my roommates and other friends. I figured if I'm going to blog about one trip I might as well blog about another while I'm at it.
We had ten people go: Dane, McKay, Rick, Andie, Charlotte, Veronica, Tyler, Trevor, Roo (Andie's sister), and Me.
The trip started off excellently for me. Rick's girlfriend Andie is sort of a stress-case and always tries to be our mom. Welp, we were going to her grandparents' cabin so she was allowed to be in charge. She gave us extensive directions but then told us that there is no way we would find the cabin without her help. So I started driving and about 4 hours into the drive I saw a "Welcome to Colorado" sign. This was of minor discomfort because we had told Andie that we would meet her and the other car in Moab, Utah. In our car was Charlotte, Veronica, and Trevor.
So I had the wonderful experience of calling Andie and saying "Hypothetically speaking, if I ignored all of the directions you had given me and was in Colorado right now, what would I do?" I'm pretty sure she had a minor heart attack but then gave me her Mom's phone number and I called her. I was given concise directions and arrived to the ranch about 20 minutes after the other two cars. I was pretty ecstatic because I was able to arrive in a timely manner without giving up my pride and hatred of being bossed around. Mature, I know:).
Then the weekend was just overall amazing. We went four-wheeling and canoeing and swimming in the pond in their backyard the first day. This ranch is huge and beautiful. Way out in the middle of nowhere which makes it really relaxing. We roasted marshmallows a couple of the nights and did tin foil dinners one night too.
Also, on the first night we played "Body Body." It's like the game Mafia but you turn off all the lights and people wander around in the dark and the killer "slices" someone's throat with his hand to kill them. That person then lays on the ground until someone finds his body and shouts "body body." Then someone turns on the lights and everyone tries to guess who the killer is. Super fun, and it was awesome in this cabin in the middle of the woods.
Then for the Fourth of July we went into Ouray (pronounced Your-A) and their parade. For some reason this city is absolutely obsessed with water on the Fourth. Although they do throw some candy to the crowd, half of the parade is trucks with hoses or squirt guns and they soak the crowd. Took me by surprise. This one truck drove by and the men shouted "who wants to get soaked?" and Tyler stood behind me and pointed at me. We both got absolutely drenched.
After that we went to a park where they were having kids do three-legged, wheelbarrow, sprinting, and other races. Dane, McKay, Tyler, Charlotte and I all stopped there for about an hour and we all made a pick of which kid we thought would win. It felt just like what I imagine a horse race to be, just no money involved. We were all screaming for our kids, so much fun. It's those simple things in life that I just absolutely love.
After lunch we went to Ouray's best tradition on the Fourth: fireman hose fights. They have two people on each side with a firehose, spraying each other until one team drops the hose. We watched from a dry point but there are people that stand right behind each team and just get destroyed. I found a link on youtube, check it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJoSmRU8fJw.
That was awesome! However, the firework show in Ouray was the worst I have ever seen. Bummer, but the day was still great. I always miss you guys on the Fourth.
The next day we did some horseback riding and more four-wheeling. Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting with just us at the cabin then we drove back and Char and I had dinner with Max and Corey. It was a really great trip.
We had ten people go: Dane, McKay, Rick, Andie, Charlotte, Veronica, Tyler, Trevor, Roo (Andie's sister), and Me.
The trip started off excellently for me. Rick's girlfriend Andie is sort of a stress-case and always tries to be our mom. Welp, we were going to her grandparents' cabin so she was allowed to be in charge. She gave us extensive directions but then told us that there is no way we would find the cabin without her help. So I started driving and about 4 hours into the drive I saw a "Welcome to Colorado" sign. This was of minor discomfort because we had told Andie that we would meet her and the other car in Moab, Utah. In our car was Charlotte, Veronica, and Trevor.
So I had the wonderful experience of calling Andie and saying "Hypothetically speaking, if I ignored all of the directions you had given me and was in Colorado right now, what would I do?" I'm pretty sure she had a minor heart attack but then gave me her Mom's phone number and I called her. I was given concise directions and arrived to the ranch about 20 minutes after the other two cars. I was pretty ecstatic because I was able to arrive in a timely manner without giving up my pride and hatred of being bossed around. Mature, I know:).
Then the weekend was just overall amazing. We went four-wheeling and canoeing and swimming in the pond in their backyard the first day. This ranch is huge and beautiful. Way out in the middle of nowhere which makes it really relaxing. We roasted marshmallows a couple of the nights and did tin foil dinners one night too.
Also, on the first night we played "Body Body." It's like the game Mafia but you turn off all the lights and people wander around in the dark and the killer "slices" someone's throat with his hand to kill them. That person then lays on the ground until someone finds his body and shouts "body body." Then someone turns on the lights and everyone tries to guess who the killer is. Super fun, and it was awesome in this cabin in the middle of the woods.
Then for the Fourth of July we went into Ouray (pronounced Your-A) and their parade. For some reason this city is absolutely obsessed with water on the Fourth. Although they do throw some candy to the crowd, half of the parade is trucks with hoses or squirt guns and they soak the crowd. Took me by surprise. This one truck drove by and the men shouted "who wants to get soaked?" and Tyler stood behind me and pointed at me. We both got absolutely drenched.
After that we went to a park where they were having kids do three-legged, wheelbarrow, sprinting, and other races. Dane, McKay, Tyler, Charlotte and I all stopped there for about an hour and we all made a pick of which kid we thought would win. It felt just like what I imagine a horse race to be, just no money involved. We were all screaming for our kids, so much fun. It's those simple things in life that I just absolutely love.
After lunch we went to Ouray's best tradition on the Fourth: fireman hose fights. They have two people on each side with a firehose, spraying each other until one team drops the hose. We watched from a dry point but there are people that stand right behind each team and just get destroyed. I found a link on youtube, check it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJoSmRU8fJw.
That was awesome! However, the firework show in Ouray was the worst I have ever seen. Bummer, but the day was still great. I always miss you guys on the Fourth.
The next day we did some horseback riding and more four-wheeling. Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting with just us at the cabin then we drove back and Char and I had dinner with Max and Corey. It was a really great trip.
Welp, here are some pictures!
I think everyone has seen this picture, but here's Char and Me.
Veronica has been one of my best friends at BYU.
Trevor is a major homophobe, I'm shocked he even took this picture.
Me, Veronica, and Charlotte.
The campfire, about 20 minutes before Dane flicked a burning piece of wood onto his face on accident. It's going to be a sick scar!
Tyler, Dane, McKay, Trevor, Char.
Andie, Rick, and Trevor.
Trevor, Veronica, Char, and Me fourwheeling.
And finally, the view that we had. Loved the trip!
I love you guys! Can't wait to see you all next week.
Bolivia!
So,
I decided that it was finally time to give you guys the recap all about my trip
to Bolivia. I’ve told you all bits and pieces and I will certainly answer more
questions about miscellaneous parts of the trip but for now this is just a nice
overview for you all to know what I was up to for almost three weeks.
We
flew into La Paz (the capital city) on Thursday, June 12 at about 7 AM. We were
all pretty exhausted but I slept a lot on the flight to be prepared for the
day. After taking way too long at Bolivian customs (filling out forms promising
we’re not terrorists, etc.) we were picked up by our tour guides in La Paz and
taken to the hostel where we were going to stay in La Paz. We got to the
hostel, dropped off our stuff, then took a 2-3 hour bus drive (my timing is a
little shaky in hindsight sorry) up to Copacabana, a little touristy town on
the shore of Lake Titicaca. We then took a boat out to an island, Isla del Sol
on the middle of the lake and hiked up to a hostel where we spent the night.
This hostel was by far
the most ghetto accommodations I have ever been in. It wasn’t terrible; it had
electricity but beyond that it was extremely primitive. The water for the
hostel was brought up daily by mule, making it frigid and utterly insufficient.
I think the whole place ran out of water for showers after like 5 people had
taken a thirty second hypothermia-inducing-ice shower.
The view on that island
was BEAUTIFUL though. We were so lucky to have a full moon that night, and when
you’re on the highest lake in elevation in the world you feel like the moon is
right next to you. The kids got some amazing pictures, I’ll upload them once
the kids send them to me.
We hiked across the
entire island the next day (beautiful hike, about 2 hours long) and skipped
stones on this absolutely breathtaking beach. Then we drove back to La Paz for
the evening and did some souvenir shopping the next day. I really love La Paz,
it is a cool city. So packed, way too much for me to live in but fun to visit.
The altitude is really killer though, I think it’s something like 14,000 feet
elevation (I don’t have wifi as I’m typing so I can’t verify). A ton of people
got altitude sickness, I was feeling pretty good though.
So Saturday night we
flew into Santa Cruz, where we were to spend the majority of the expedition.
That evening we were picked up by Brigam Barrientos, one of the greatest men I
have ever met. He’s 30, the first counselor in the stake presidency, and our
local coordinator down there. That means he arranges the obtaining of supplies,
dinners, pretty much helping out with anything to make the trip leaders’ lives
easier. He was such an amazing guy. Definitely a spiritual giant, but more of
an Ohio style one. Like he cared so much about the gospel and wanted to share
it, but he was also a normal person. You felt like you could connect with him
as friends. I don’t know if I’m explaining this adequately, I’m just trying to
say that there are some church leaders that don’t seem like human beings.
Brigam is truly a great friend.
We
went to church the next day and had some of the greatest talks I have ever
heard. One man talked about the restoration and it was so powerful. I hadn’t
heard the First Vision told in Spanish since my mission. As I listened to this
man testify of the prophet and the gospel I was truly overcome with the spirit.
I can testify with all of my heart that Joseph Smith truly did see God the
Father and Jesus Christ. It’s miraculous yet undeniable to me.
After
church we went on visits to less actives in the ward to invite them to a
fireside that our kids were putting on. They ended up getting 17 less active
kids to the fireside! Such a great missionary opportunity for the kids. One of
the girls in our group was not feeling so hot and didn’t really want to go to
the visits or the fireside but we convinced her to last minute. She ended up
going and absolutely loving it!
So
the next day we finally started work on the school. It is in the countryside
just out of the city; a super impoverished area. We were attaching a room onto
a school that other HEFY groups in the past had built. We worked at the school
every day from 9 to 4 and the kids finished the majority of the foundation by
the end of the trip. The next groups mainly just have to do brick laying now.
Every
evening we did different activities with the ward to help reactivate the less
actives. We had a game night, sports night, dance, talent show, so many amazing
things. 10 of the less active kids came to church our second Sunday too! The
ward was so appreciative and our kids’ testimonies grew in countless ways.
Then
our second weekend we all flew to Cochabamba to go to the temple. I had a
layover with two kids and the mom that was on the trip so I just emailed Jack
and skyped Mom and Dad and Charlotte. The temple is absolutely gorgeous though.
The town it is in is super hilly and just has a wonderful setup overall. They
also have a giant Christ statue like the one in Rio. They say it’s bigger than
that one (I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to Rio). It’s fun though, when
you’re at the temple you can see the Christ statue and it just makes me think about
how wonderful He is. Truly our Saviour.
Overall
this was truly one of the best experiences of my life. I would love to tell you
guys about every single kid and how much I love them. I love these kids so much
and want to help them for the rest of their lives. It was an amazing
experience; I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Temple trip.
Top Row: Jon, Me, Dema, Josh, Kyle.
Second Row: Haylee, Rebecca, Mady, Bobie, Cassie, Essy, Alyssa, Sam.
Bottom Row: Isaac, Aly, Madison, Rachel, Mems, Anna, Regan, Parker.
Dancing with Danova, one of our youth's favorite Bolivian youth. She was such a sweetheart.
All of the youth and Mary (one of my co-leaders) in the Miami airport on the first day.
Top Row: Parker, Kyle, Isaac.
Second Row: Mems, Cassie, Alyssa, Sam, Dema.
Third Row: Aly, Haylee, Rachel, Madison, Josh, Mady.
Bottom Row: Regan, Essy, Mary, Rebecca, Anna.
(Bobie, a girl, is missing from this picture).
Sunset at Lake Titicaca.
Me and my boys: Parker, Josh, Me, Sam, Isaac, Dema, Kyle.
Our adult coaches with the trip leaders: Jon, Mary, Trish, Julianne, Me.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
This One Goes Out to the One I Love
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Three promised links
Third time is a charm!
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant http://youtu.be/aZZRYUV3tDU
Hang on Sloopy/River of Dreams http://youtu.be/ZuiOcyb8FAM
Summer Highland Falls (sorry Max) http://youtu.be/l5eh8OxSRMg
I love you all,
Dad
Billy Joel Concert Memories
Sorry the links from last night didn't work. I have included three tonight in this and the next two posts - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Summer Highland Falls & Hang On Sloopy/River of Dreams.
This is just to give you a flavor of what a great time we had. Billy is still an amazing performer and I only wish that all my kids could have been with us!
Maybe Madison Square Garden all together in the future...
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Last Billy Joel Post for the night
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant with Lexi, Soph, Luke and Timo.
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