I completed 37% of my 2009 New Year’s Resolutions.

So, if you’ve followed me since last year, then you know that I had some pretty lofty resolutions for 2009. Before I go crazy with my 2010 resolutions…let’s take some time to evaluate how I did in ’09, shall we? Feel free to refer to the original post for more detail, if interested:

• I will be working a job that I enjoy (SUCCESSFUL)
o Got a promotion and started my new role in June 2009!
• Manage finances responsibly and well (WORK IN PROGRESS)
o I’ve created a budget and now manage my money better than I ever have…yet have a lot of room for improvement.
• Physical exercise (SUCCESSFUL)
o Joined a flag football and volleyball league, start dodgeball in Jan
• Smile often (SUCCESSFUL)  That was a gimme.
• Half marathon (FAIL)
• Travel to Philippines (FAIL)
• Travel to Panama (FAIL)  where the hell did that one come from?
• Church 1x/mo (FAIL)
• 10% take home into savings acct (FAIL)
• Work out 3x/week (FAIL)
• Salsa Lessons (SUCCESSFUL!)
• Quit cursing (WORK IN PROGRESS)
• Wake up daily, thank God for my Blessings (SUCCESSFUL)
• Go to Jess’ baby shower (SUCCESSFUL)
• Paint artwork for my place (SUCCESSFUL)
• Keep in touch with fam in Philippines (FAIL)
• Start my own business (FAIL)
• GMAT or LSAT (FAIL)
• List of grad schools (FAIL)
• Write letters to friends/family (FAIL)\
• New friend every month (SUCCESSFUL)
• Order checkbooks (SUCCESSFUL)  huge win!
• Big screen TV (SUCCESSFUL)
• Bedroom furniture (FAIL)
• Cookware Set (FAIL)
• Limit red meat intake to less than 3x/wk (SUCCESSFUL)
• Fruits/Veggies serving in ea meal (SUCCESSFUL over last 3 mo)
• Volunteer 5 hrs/mo (FAIL)
• Sew and wear complete outfit (FAIL) that one was dumb
• Sew pillows for my couch (FAIL)  also dumb
• Set up wireless printing (FAIL)
• Practice spanish (FAIL)
• Start to learn Tagalog (FAIL) bought the cds/book. Darn.
• Always have a book to read (SUCCESSFUL)
• WSJ Subscription (SUCCESSFUL)
• NYC w/ friends (FAIL) Sorry, Alexia! 
• Cruise (FAIL)
• Scrapbook (FAIL)

Typical Collins-Chavez Family Time...

Welcome to Central Pennsylvania!

...I haven't really written any blog posts since I moved up here to central PA, so I figured it was time to get everyone caught up...here are some pictures to give you an idea of the last 4 months of Central PA living...

Hershey Park!

The view from the Ferris Wheel @Hershey Park
Rascal Flatts/Darius Rucker VIP Experience before the Concert (next 3 pictures)...

@ the Mall in HBG (Pro Bass Shop)

Gina...loitering @ the Mall

The most ridiculous Rollercoaster EVER.

Beautiful church a few blocks from my place...

I have finally "arrived"...

The State Capitol...a few blocks from where I live...College football Saturdays @ Arooga's - after Flag Football practice

Welcome to Hershey, PA!!

This is where I work...

Me! Gotta love living in downtown Harrisburg...

Homemade chips from Amish Country. Pretty tasty.

The Greatest Sandwiches in Central Pennsylvania, "Sandwich Man"Eating @ Cafe Fresco in Downtown Harrisburg when Crystal was visiting from FL
Hangin' out with my buddies who work @ Ceolta's Irish Pub in Downtown HBG
In Lancaster, PA...Amish Country...posing by an authentic buggy

Ceolta's!
Aww! Look who it is - Jonathan stopped by on his way through PA!

Chillin' @ my very own "Chavez Bar"Molly Branigan's w/ Crystal. She loves Plaid.

Beautiful State Capitol: Harrisburg, PA

Hangin' out with Patrick when he came to visit me :D The makings of kabobs for my 4th of July cookout

Indian Echo Cavern...oooh very cool!!

National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD with my mom!!

My very first pretzel dog. Delicious.Some buddies and me eating pretzel dogs! Yummy!

A delicious variation of the pretzel dog...bacon/egg/cheese in a pretzel!

My 1st trip to Gettysburg, PA....

Hershey Park w/ Jessica when she came to visit :D

More fun with Jess in Downtown HBG

4th of July Fireworks by the river, two blocks from my place!

It's just a mild concussion. I'll be fine...

I live for the weekends ever since I joined a co-ed flag football team. Yes, I know, that sounds really pathetic. Whatever. It is such a blast! Our team, The Hershey Squirts, (isn't the name endearing!?) has a record of 1-1-1. One Win, One Loss, One Tie...in that order.

It's pretty intense, I cannot lie. Last game...I was basically pummelled by the largest man I've seen. In life. Ever. BUT, the good thing is...i caught the ball. The bad thing is...I proceeded to get tackled. Nice. I had one of those 'out of body' experiences...you know, where everything happens in slow motion...and you can see yourself getting tackled by a large man...or...freight train! Same difference.

I've had a throbbing headache and blurry vision for the last 5 days. My headache finally responded to Advil today...but when it came back, it came back with a vengeance!! Egh!

Practice on Saturday and Game 4 on Sunday. I bought flags so our team can practice how we play...I'm pretty excited about that, too! I'll be sure to provide an update after our game on Sunday! Wish us luck!

Goodbye, Fort Pierce!!!!

It's official!! I'm leaving Fort Pierce...finally!!!!!

After nearly 10 months of living in this God Awful place (which I actually started to really enjoy recently...lol), I am gettin' out of here! I started the application process for a promotion about two months ago - when I had only 7 or 8 months under my belt with the company. I recognized that it was a little early for me to try and earn a promotion...to a higher position, requiring some pretty hefty experience. But, with the help of my manager, I went for it anyway.

I just found out on Monday, May 4, that I was offered the position of Category Development Manager on the Convenience Store side of the Hershey business. (www.hersheysconvenience.com).

As a CDM, I will be responsible for (copies and pastes job description summary):

Responsible for acting as Category Management Consultant to CSE partners and Sales Management Team to drive consistent top-line/net sales growth/share target. Assesses trends, analyzes data and identifies key customer opportunities consistent with overall company strategies and brand marketing plans. Acts as the category/customer expert in co-creating strategic business plans.

I'm very excited about this new position.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll be traveling quite a bit...both on previously scheduled trips, and trips to work toward my new move. I'll start on the 18th for training, but will be back and forth until the first or second week of June when my belongings will be moved up north. I plan on living in Harrisburg, PA, which is about 20 minutes outside of Hershey, PA.

I'll be updating this more as I continue the process...but with all the excitement, I had to update this right away!!!

As Promised...

Here's where the "magic" happens. LOL. Seriously though, this is in my home office/art room. As you can see, I finally took the steps to organize everything. AND I also put a picture on the wall-the one in the frame. The other things on the left (h.s. pencil drawings), are just propped up on a huge, blank canvas that I'm excited to use.


Do you see all of those canvases? I love ART!!!

The picture on the left is 16"X20". I did it in 2002 or 2003. I did it very quickly with watercolor...recently rediscovered it in my portfolio. Jackpot! The painting next to it is on a 4'4' piece of cardboard - using acrylic. The colors are awesome in person!

Here's another 4'x4' cardboard piece. I really like how it turned out.


So, this is my bookcase that I'm very proud of!! It currently has a combination of office stuff and art stuff...but I'm going to buy a matching one to help organize my art stuff. AND I used it to hold some awards, and other things. That square with the star on it...is my cap from my college graduation. I taped a white Star on the top so my family could find me in the crowd! Brilliant.

Guys are dumb. Relationships are dumber. Being alone is the dumbest.

I wrote that to a friend on Google Chat - little did I know, it would be poetic. Don't you think that could be a really awesome title for a bestselling book?

Hmmm...I think so.

Lent was difficult this year =(

As many of you know, I gave up Facebook for Lent this year. I'll spare you the details.
I laughed, I cried, there were sleepless nights, eyes twitching, and many minutes spent on other activities.

Here's how I was able to pass some of my time...

I found a 4 year old in the WM parking lot

As I was walking up to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, as I often do (vomit)...I saw a cute little boy walking out. He was no taller than 3 feet high. But he stood upright and walked so confidently, one might have thought he was SUPPOSED to be there...alone, walking in the Wal Mart parking lot...toting a Turkey Lunchable.

I was still several yards away from the boy - but I kept my eye on him just in case. Sadly enough, the other MILLION people who were walking in and out of WalMart...either walked right past him as if there was nothing wrong with the sight of a lone 4 year old....or they looked at him, whispered to their company, looked disturbed...and kept walking.

Are you kidding me!?! What is wrong with this world?

I walked up to the little boy and asked him where his mom was. He ignored me.
I asked him again, "Where's your mom?"
"In her car", he responded. "Where's her car?"
"Over there", he pointed to the entire parking lot, swaying his arms from side to side, so as to make every parking space an option.

I was able to find out from him that his mom drives a small white car. I learned that he was 4 years old, has a brother who is smaller than me but bigger than him, and that the last time he saw his mom she was INSIDE the Wal Mart.

Hmm...

He was on the verge of being nervous, so I kept him distracted by acting silly and telling him my name. His name was Joelle. He was "this many", he said as he held up four fingers proudly.

Here's where the story gets sad...I took him up to the customer service desk at Wal Mart - and they had absolutely no idea how to handle the situation. Their first response was, "I wonder if mom left him here?" Really?!? C'mon! That was my cue to stick around.

Joelle started to get nervous - biting on the box of his Lunchable...that can't be good.
So I pulled from deep down and got into my camp counselor mode...lol... I couldn't leave him there with those crazies! I was able to find out from Joelle that his mom was wearing a green shirt and maybe pants, possibly a dress. haha. Joelle also divulged that she was there to buy a lot of groceries, even though she's not so good at cooking. Eeeek. lol.

I suggested that the cust. service people call into security and look for his mom/brother in the store. Yes, I know, that was brilliant.

Luckily they found her, and eventually they found us...waiting in customer service for his mom to arrive. in the 15 minutes that we waited for the "reunion", I kept Joelle distracted by having him count for me...and then nervously participated as he tested MY counting skills, too! lol. Cute kid.

His family was happy that I found him...in the parking lot...carrying a turkey lunchable.

Gyminee!

I found this really cool site, www.gyminee.com

Basically, it allows you to track your progress with working out and eating nutritiously. We'll see how it goes. I've also invited some of my good friends to join me on the site. If you're interested - come sign up and be my friend!!!

My username is achavez85.

I've reached a new low...

So, you know you've reached a new Rock Bottom when a Wal-Mart employee tells you that you've let yourself go. LOL.

So, as most of you know, in my line of work I spend 8-10 hours a day in Wal-Marts/Publixes. Many of my stores, I visit as often as two times a week. So, it goes without saying that I build pretty strong relationships with most of the associates in the stores. The other day I was in store 5455, Palm Bay, FL - when I experienced the worst store visit of my entire life! Yes, my ENTIRE life!

First of all, I was in the backroom (a very exciting place, mind you) and somehow, the young men in the back decided to play the "How old is the Hershey Girl game"...You know, the one where it could end with hurt feelings?! Yep, that's the one. And before I could convince them that that game would not be fun for all parties involved (namely ME), the guesses were fired. "28!" I heard yelled loudly!

Are you kidding me?!?! Seriously?! Really??!?! 28? Shut the F*Ck Up! Clearly he was not paying attention to the game. So, naturally they called someone else into the game. "Israel, how old do you think the Hershey Girl is?". And without hesitation, Israel responded, "between 25-28".

Really!?/!?1?!?!?/!?!?

Ugh. Whatever. I was able to brush it off when I realized the first guesser was only 20 years old. After all, what does he know?! He's just a baby! lol.

But wait - it gets better....so I was leaving the Wal Mart when one of the backroom guys came up to me, and in broken English, asked if I was going to go to lunch. I looked at my watch and quickly responded with, "No, it's still early". He didn't take time to fire back with a "You don't need lunch".

Well - surely his "You don't need lunch" response was lost in translation. Certainly he didn't mean to say that I don't NEED lunch - he probably meant that I don't need lunch so EARLY in the day, right?

Wrong.

After we both attempted to speak in each other's languages - he finally got his point across by sticking his pinky in the air and saying, "You- before". He followed that gesture with blowing up his cheeks like a chipmunk and holding his hands out in the air as if he had a Santa-sized belly, and said, "You - Now".

It took everything in me not to punch him. lol.

I left the store and immediately texted my manager, "You know you've built good rapport with your WM associates when they tell you you've let yourself go."

Bastards.


**UPDATE** For the record...I bought a scale. I weigh the same amount I did 9 months ago when I started this job. So, HA!

An email to a friend...

v

wow

Alex Chavez to Willie

show details 10:40 AM (16 minutes ago)

Reply

from Alex Chavez to one of my friends date Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 10:40 AM subject wow mailed-by gmail.com

So, I was just ripped to shreds on my mock interview. Have you ever done one of those? Holy Moley!!

I interviewed with a self-proclaimed "Simon from American Idol". Confirmed.

We spent 30 minutes on the phone. Here's how the call went:

• He asked me one question.
• I answered.
  
• He offered constructive criticism.
  
• He asked the same question AGAIN.
  
• I answered AGAIN.
  
• He said, "better".

Nice.

That was scary. I called my manager to let him know how it went.

Rob: (very excited to receive a phone call) "How'd it go, Alex?"
Me: (trying to mask the nervous laughter) "Jeff Smith kicked my butt."
Rob: (not able to mask the nervous laughter quite as well) "Oh. Okay. Maybe we can run through a few more questions together?"

FAIL.