Project Advent II, Day 3: KTTZ

If you've ever been a consumer of public media, you know how to complete this sentence: "This program was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the support of..."  Go ahead and fill it in, folks.

"Listeners like you."

I'm a big fan of NPR's news programming.  When you have a radio on your desk at work, what's playing on it makes a big difference in how your co-workers approach you.  If it's on music, they'll just come right up and start talking.  If it's on talk radio, they may may stop and listen for a moment before going on to tell you whatever they want.  But if it's on news, they tend to think, "Oh, he must want to hear that," and they will leave you the hell alone.  But also, it's really good programming.

When I called KTTZ, Lubbock's NPR station, and asked to speak to their volunteer coordinator, I was connected with a really friendly lady who asked if I'd be interested in helping to get out a fundraising mailing.  It's the start of the month, and close to the end of the year, so they were sending out pledge reminders.  So that's what I did today: visited the station, set up shop in a conference room, and stuffed a big ol' pile of envelopes.  It's not sexy, but it's got to be done.

That's not an entirely true statement, by the way.  I mean, it's still me stuffing the envelopes, so it's actually pretty sexy.  OK, really sexy.

Affirmation Project:  Who have your professional mentors been?  The people who have guided and led you in your career?  When I graduated from college, David Baucum took a chance on me and hired me as a software developer at his company.  When the IT bust of the late 90s took place, and he had to downsize some positions, including mine, he referred me to one of our clients, where I went to work next.  Every job I've had since I graduated has followed from those initial connections, and I owe them all to him.