nathan jara

It’s been a busy past week or so. Between being on-call at work last week, preparing for a presentation this past Monday, Olympic-sized distractions, and a new member of the household, I haven’t had a chance to get back to the blogging world. I’m glad to get back to it tonight.

This past Monday was awesome. Two of my past professors from my college invited me to give a presentation to some of their current students concerning my job as a web developer. What a privilege and honor it was! I spoke to a web development class and a web design class. I concentrated most specifically on the amount of teamwork and collaboration with other groups and departments and the types of interactions that are involved in web work. I felt that I was really able to connect with the students. I didn’t catch anyone sleeping, so I must have been at least a little bit interesting :) Throughout my presentation I was able to spark some conversation and dialogue, which made it a lot of fun. The students asked some great questions, and it was very interesting to be on the “answering” side of these questions. Just a few years ago, I was on the “asking” side of the questions. The presentation was such a great experience in this way because I learned a bit more about how much I have matured and grown since graduating college. Thinking of the whole experience now as I write makes me realize how much I have been blessed to have the opportunities I have had to get me to this point. I hope that I was able to encourage the students I spoke with and provide them with some of the knowledge necessary for them to succeed in their pursuits.

I can’t believe the Olympics will be over after this weekend! The two weeks have gone by so fast. I’ve really enjoyed watching all the events and will miss being able to flip to an event just about any time of the day. Of course, with the Olympics over, a lot of my distractions will go by the wayside, which will probably be a good thing. Still, these games have been great. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the result of the men’s hockey tournament, along with curling, and the final speed skating and skiing events. Sometime I wish we didn’t have to wait so long in between Olympics, but I know that’s what makes them that much more, well, Olympic.

The latest and most likely biggest distraction over the past few days is the newest member of the house, Jack. He’s a young mutt my roommate picked up from the pound. He seems to be a beagle, husky, lab mix. So far he’s an awesome dude! Jack is very well behaved and is a ton of fun. He’s starting to settle into his new home and is proving to be quite the companion. He is quite the nosy fellow though. Jack insists on putting his nose into just about everything you do, literally. :) He’s still learning in a few of the discipline areas, but I’m not complaining and I don’t think he is either.