Wednesday, March 11, 2009

On the job search

Now that I have returned from another international adventure I am searching for a full-time job. I had a very positive experience being Executive Director of the Utah Lacrosse Association, a non-profit organization, for 3 years before I left to Africa. That opportunity helped me greatly with my overall professional development and ever-expanding skill set.

Recently I have been working with a brilliant Career Coach, Mary Cosgrove of What's Working Well
http://www.whatsworkingwell.com/. She has done a wonderful job helping me determine that I want to utilize my organizing and implementing skills in the field of event/logistical management.

My professional network profile is available through Linked In at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paullarkin. If you have any suggestions for job leads or organizations I should look into please let me know.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. I may be contacted at
plarkin9@hotmail.com.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Africa Final Photos are Online

As you can read about in my previous posting I am back in Utah, US of A. I had a wonderful 3 1/2 months in Africa visiting my good friend Chase and connecting with new friends. I met the challenges of learning to scuba dive, figuring out how to spend 12 hour days on physically uncomfortable buses, reading a book all day long in the intense heat and humidity, traveling by myself for three weeks over thousands of miles, and climbing the tallest mountain in Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,330 feet to name a few. Success!!!

A special thank you to all that left comments on my blog and emailed me directly while I was traveling. It was always nice to hear from someone back home and feel the energy in their writing!

I have created a website for my photos and have placed the direct link below. I put together a Best of Photos album with 557 pictures pulled from the other albums. I did my best to limit that number down as small as possible. I was working with more than 3,500 photos for the whole three months I was there. Around 1,000 photos per month, 30 photos per day average.

http://www.laxin.net/paul/photos/2009/09Africa/

I have now spent over 9 months of my life abroad. I have been fortunate enough to have visited 23 countries and 6 of the 7 continents, all that's left is Antarctica. All of this before the age of 30, which I will turn in June of this year. How is this possible some of you may ask? Because I made it happen and international traveling has been a priority of mine.

If you haven't traveled internationally I encourage you to do it! There will always be plenty of excuses not to go (I have a great job, my kids are too young, the economy is horrible, timing just isn't right, I just lost thousands of dollars in my investments recently, I struggle with a road trip in the states how would I handle traveling abroad, what about my mortgage, etc.) but you can figure out a work around for every excuse if you have the desire to MAKE IT HAPPEN!

I am very willing to share travel tips and ideas with you or anyone that has the desire. What you will gain from traveling: adventure, new experiences, an appreciation for other cultures, an appreciation for home, confidence from overcoming uncomfortable situations in languages you don't understand or speak, meeting new friends around the world, and bragging rights about your international adventures. You may contact me at plarkin9@hotmail.com. -Paul