Save the Post Office!

Has anyone else been paying attention lately to the plight of the U.S. Postal Service? It's a bleak picture, folks: they're looking at default!

I legitimately feel sad hearing this news. I love mail! I know sending letters isn't that popular these days but I've been involved in several little projects to keep my the mail people busy.

Anyone who's friends with me on Facebook has probably seen my occasional offers to send out "fun" mail. I love to create postcards, stationary and cards of all kinds to send to friends and family. Here's the latest batch:

Anyone who loves getting mail is welcome to send me their address to get some awesome mail in the future!

Then there's www.postcrossing.com. This site is simple but so much fun. You can send up to 6 postcards at a time and when the receiver registers that they've received your card you start getting cards in return. Here are a couple of the fun ones I've received from all over the world:

www.swap-bot.com takes Postcrossing's idea a step farther and includes opportunities to send art and packages. I made and sent this little book to someone in March:

I get excited at the end of the day when I come home from work to find something other than bills in my mail box and I know the recipients of my creations do as well. Sending letters might take longer than e-mail but it's nice to be able to hold a tangible greeting and know that someone took the time to step away from their computer and send it. I think we'd lose a valuable service if the post office closes.

I know that sending more mail won't solve the postal service's budget problem but I'd like to at least increase the trend of sending hand written greetings. Check out Post Crossing and Swap Bot, write a letter to a friend, or visit some of these other websites for mail opportunities:

Letter Writers Alliance
Save NYC Libraries!
Make A Child Smile
The Letter Exchange
Hugs and Hope
Post Pals

Any suggestions?

I work for a non-profit agency in a department that may no longer exist in a few months. The contract with the state for this part of the agency has expired and we're currently in a bidding war of sorts to be able to renew the contract. If we aren't awarded the contract my position will disappear.

With this in the back of my mind I've been looking through job openings in Tucson this week to see what my options are if I need to start applying come November. So far I haven't found anything promising. A lot of what I'm interested in requires a degree and experience that I don't have. A lot of what I'm actually qualified for is in the field of behavioral health and requires a level of in home services that I'd like to avoid.

I need some help brainstorming ideas. And so I present to you my list of characteristics for my ideal* job:

• Involves teaching of some sort
• Allows me to be creative
• Involves making art of some sort
• Flexible schedule
• Minimal amount of driving and any driving that I do have to do is done in a company vehicle
• At least $30,000 a year (I make less than that now and am doing okay financially...but I know I deserve more!)
• A decent amount of time off (Right now I accrue about 14 hours of vacation time every month. I don't expect to find that anywhere else but...something close would be awesome)
• Being able to leave my work at work...no paperwork to catch up on when I get home
• Something that doesn't drain my energy. It would be nice if I didn't feel like going to bed at 8pm most nights
• Meaningful- I'm contributing to society and/or being proactive and preventative in some way
• Teaches me new skills but doesn't require me to return to college
• Continuing to work with youth (13-20s)
• Makes me smile

Any suggestions? 

*My truly ideal job would involve laying in a field of wildflowers, surrounded by friendly rabbits and kittens while eating cupcakes and reading poetry and then getting paid to paint my experience afterwards. I haven't seen a job posting for that yet so in the meantime I'll try to focus on something more realistic.

Look at how smart and qualified I am!

Tucson: A Love Affair

I love the city of Tucson. Sometimes it seems that every day that I'm here brings something new to love. This weekend Paul and I explored some more awesome aspects of Tucson:

The Tucson Botanical Gardens. I am amazed by how much can acutally grow in the desert!

CACTI! I think cacti are so interesting. There are so many different types and most of them have beautiful flowers in the spring and summer.

Historical sites. There are many here with interesting stories. Yesterday we found two more!

El Tiradito Wishing Shrine

And a park that used to have a well and public baths.

Murals

Authentic Mexican food!

And the bright colors painted on many of the buildings in an effort to combat the brownness of the desert.



Tucson has a rich culture and an interesting history. Plus, it's surrounded by some incredible mountains and has over 300 days of SUN a year. I love this place and I can't wait to do some more exploring!