This Could Be Earth-Shattering

I’m sure one of the following big announcements will be earth-shattering to someone. Thanks to everyone who listened to me examine and vent about my options over the last few weeks, especially those of you I called just to talk about myself. Brace for impact:

1. After a few agonizing weeks full of deliberations and choices, I am changing jobs. Having wanted to leave the wilderness of the hotel world, I now have a unique opportunity to begin working in the nonprofit arena. I have wanted to explore this sector for quite a while (wanting to make sure I was really passionate about nonprofit work and that it was not just a whimsical escapist fantasy that got me out of the land of concierges and buffets), and I now have the chance to see what it’s all about. Effectively immediately, I am employed part time by both the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the Oasis Center. Although two completely different nonprofits (in every way imaginable), the next year will let me see the ins and outs, ups and downs, budgets and boards of the whole shebang. It will be a year of learning, mistakes, rewards, connections, dreams, and insight. I’m excited.
2. I also got into Vanderbilt University’s Masters of Divinity program. While I am grateful for the exceptions made to me in the admissions office, the sizeable scholarship offered, and the benefits of the program, I am choosing to defer my admittance for a year in order to do the two jobs above. I originally applied for the program, trying to write my own ticket out of the hotel. My hopes were to combine it with an M.B.A. from the Owen school, and I may still apply there to see if I could do both beginning next year (and taking four years to get two degrees). If that works out, I’ll be faced with a summer of decisions yet again, but I have learned to relish the open doors. If so, I would be standing on the other side of 29 with two master’s degrees from a world class school with a sackload of experience from two world class organizations.
3. I will still be pulling a shift here and there at the hotel for a few reasons:
   a. The money’s pretty good.
   b. I only have to work once every six weeks or so to keep my discount (mainly for my dad) - which means I'll work for Marriott in some capacity for the rest of my life.
   c. As Hagos, the Ethiopian bartender, told me: “Why you leavin’ us, man? We get like family here and then somebody’s gotta go.”
4. I got a Gmail account. My new jobs will have me running all over town, working from my house, two offices, a few Starbucks and who knows where else. Email communication will be crucial, so I broke down and went with ssdavidson@gmail.com. We’ll see if the features everyone applauds are really all everyone says they are. If so, I will slowly make the transition from Hotmail to Gmail, and my conversion will be complete.
5. With the new jobs and work style they demand (flexible, on the go, sporadic, lunch meetings, etc.), I need either a PDA or laptop to keep everything straight. The laptop offers many more advantages than a PDA, but the cost reflects such advantages. Please weigh in with your recommendations.
6. Today I am wearing my red Marriott blazer because we have a corporate auditor coming in and I have to look the part. I feel like a schmuck. I can’t wait until I walk out of here and into my two new positions, sans coat, sans nametag, sans headaches, sans 5 AM wake-ups, sans wishing I was somewhere else, sans waiting for my ship to come in, and sans not being able to tell people they’re idiots. But sans tips? Well, maybe I’m not ready for that.