"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

Recently, I had to focus on some of my professional goals. I had an interview on a job that I've wanted for a long time. I updated my resume, cover letter, and curriculum vitae. Shaved the goattee, and prepped my way through all the answers and making sure my clothes allowed me to look as professional as possible. The interview went very well, but I won't know for another week or so if I landed the job (the biggest knock against me is my age). This is what I wore to the interview (pose was to try to show off the watch as well):

1.) Continuing Education - For those of you looking to improve your knowledge in a wide variety of topics as well as boost your resume I highly recommend the following 2 sites. They provide you with FREE education that results in a certificate / diploma to boost your resume. (Many of the top universities across the country are also providing free courses, but do not provide any certificate of completion from my understanding). I am going to put extra effort to focus on completing some certifications / courses.

a.) http://alison.com/subjects/25/Diploma-Courses - Provides numerous courses leading up to Diploma's in subject areas.

b.) https://www.coursera.org/courses - Provides free courses that give individual certificates of achievement.

2.) Chess skills - I haven't had a lot of time to focus on improving my chess game, but that will change (starting with method- then focusing on actual game play). I borrowed the Book "The Art of Chess" which I will admit has been a bit of a brutal read to begin with. It will be my "down-time" book. The first thing that surprised me is they immediately condemn learning the opener's first (as I had previously been trying to do with a friend) focusing on the points of how are you going to control all your pieces when you can't control/know the theory behind controlling 3. 

3.) Political Involvement - I officially submitted my application to be on 4 local boards (Emergency Management / Environmental Council / Board of Health / Fire Safety), I am not sure how the selection process works, but I included a copy of my resume and references as per their request. In addition, I was nominated to run an event for a national charity charity based off my performance/skill set (Last year the event had more than 15,000 participants). 

4.) Continue Improvement of Style - If I get the job, I will need to be the suave debonair dressed to the "T" at all times. I bought another suit and a cufflink/tie bar set for the next set of interviews or the job.

      


5.) Drawing Skills - I wasn't able to make it to the drawing class last week (cancelled the next 2 weeks due to the holidays), but I have been sketching/drawing when I have a chance to keep improving my skills. In the car I drew the Mad Men Painting that I want to make, though I found the pencils I had made it difficult to produce the effect: