My brain is tired.

Wow! I now know that the kind folks at ABI were easing me in yesterday by allowing me to get settled and go into office organization mode.  Today, we tackled multiple projects, many at the same time.  We talked over specific event planning details for the upcoming Leadership Iowa session, which included but was not limited to: ordering food from caterers, printing name badges, packing supply bags, finalizing speakers, deciding who would be where at what time, and so many other little things.  Three large sticky notes later, I think I know what I'm doing. 

This quick meeting was followed by a conference call discussing more details and logistics.  Even though this three day event will mean about a 12 hour work day each of the three days, I am so excited for it.  The opportunity to have an inside look at Camp Dodge, the state Capitol, the Judicial building, and the World Food Prize is going to be so awesome!

After this, I met with a coworker who taught me how to change and update articles and wording on the website, run off registration reports using the event management program called Cvents, and how to print out name badges using a Microsoft Word mail merge.  Yeah, you guessed it, even more pages of notes were taken. 

By this time I was ready for some lunch.  I threw my steamer veggies in the microwave and munched on an apple while they were cooking.  I decided to stay in the office for my lunch hour because it was so freezing cold out today.  Sorry, this is supposed to be about my work experience, not a food blog. :)

Today, I learned that if you have more than a two second question to ask a coworker, you should probably ask to set up a time with them.  Almost everyone in the office is booked solid and it is sometimes rude if you walk in and ask for their attention to an issue that doesn't need to be solved ASAP. 

The people I get to work with at ABI work so well together and are always willing to help eachother out.  I am glad to have an awesome group that works hard but has fun too.  They treat me like one of their own already, which I am very thankful for.  Not to mention I feel right at home with coworkers from Carroll, Manning,  and Denison all in one office, and multiple other ties to BV. 

Tonight after a busy second day of work I went out for Mexican at Monterrey in West Des Moines  with my aunt and uncle.  It was so good! I think I've found my new favorite mexican food destination.

I also started reading a book that I found yesterday while I was organizing the office.  It's called The Adversity Paradox: the unconventional guide to achieving uncommon business success.

"Why was it that the candidates with the flawless resumes, top grade point averages at the best schools, all the right internships, prestigious awards, sometimes prove to be the most disappointing hires.  Why was it that candidates who didn't look so good on paper sometimes turned out to be invaluable team members or employees?  Of course there are exceptions, but I began to suspect that there was one trait above all else that reliably predicted that a person would be successful.  It was experience in overcoming adversity."

The whole idea of this book is that adversity ultimately makes you more business savvy which makes you more likeky to achieve success in business.  What adversity have you overcome that has made you more successful?

Have a happy weekend!