5 Comptencies for a Volunteer Administrator

-          Ethics
-          Organizational Management
-          Human Resource Management
-          Accountability
-          Leadership and Advocacy

My AmeriCorps Lifelong Service Story (abbreviated)

What started off as a cool part time job my senior year of high school changed my priorities to move beyond my own self-interest and give back during and after college. Upon graduation I joined NCCC and what was initially a one year of service became 7 years and counting.

Since my first year of service I have engaged in a long term meaningful way with 14 different service organizations and participated in dozens of one day service projects (including one with my wedding guests following the wedding ceremony in 2012). My life is focused on community service professionally and personally. I cannot envision a future that I am not serving.

 http://twenty.americorpsalums.org/#share

Charity salaries

Is one charity automatically more respectable than another just because its leader is paid a lower salary? Not necessarily, says Charity Navigator, a website that evaluates and compares the financial health of charitable organizations.

"While there are certainly some charities that overpay their leaders," the site's FAQ page explains, "Charity Navigator's data shows that those organizations are the minority. Among the charities we've evaluated, the average CEO salary is $150,000. ... These leaders could inevitably make much more running similarly sized for-profit firms. Furthermore, when making your decision [about where to donate] it is important to consider that it takes a certain level of professionalism to effectively run a charity and charities must offer a competitive salary if they want to attract and retain that level of leadership."

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_charities_salaries.htm

Breakfast at the Big Texan

 Work brought me to Amarillo (see post on Cadillac Ranch). On my way into town I instantly took note that I was in the home of the Big Texan. Being a vegetarian I was excited to see they are now open for breakfast and saw my opportunity to experience this legendary eatery.

On my day off I went and gave it a try. My feelings are that visually its everything you want, big, gaudy, and stereotypically Texan county.

My host had the rotting/ missing  teeth you see in the old county westerns.

My waitress had the floor length skirt and a true Texan drawl , my table cloth was made to look like a cow and large dead animals and animal parts were proudly displayed on the wall.



Keeping with the visual appeal my breakfast looked perfect but in no way tasted worthy of the $10 it ended up costing me. If you are in Amarillo this is one of those must do stops but perhaps you can go in and have a sweet tea and continue on, Amarillo has much better restaurants for actual eating.

Cadillac Ranch

Work brought be on a very long road trip, about 9 hrs of driving to Amarillo Tx. While the majority of my two weeks was focused on supporting the community of Fritch Tx,

I was able to get away and check out Cadillac ranch twice!

The second time was after it had rained and the photos were stunning. It was very cool to see how much the landscape around the cars had transformed. 

Also interesting was the opportunity to see this live art with several days in between my first visit and my second the whole surface of the cars had been re painted by visitors.  On my first visit i noticed the very visible dumpster outside the fence and was dismayed to see the abundance of spray cans littered around the Cadillac s. 

If you happen to be in Amarillo its worth the 10min drive to see this attraction and if your feeling a bit rebellious stop at the hardware store and pick up your favorite spray paint and make your contribution to this live art; just please put your empty can in the trash bin not in the field around the cars.

Kilgore Film Festival

During the spring of each year the 4 star cinema in Kilgore brings non block busters to an East Texas screen each day for the duration of the festival. The Kilgore Film Festival of Kilgore, Texas began in 1998 under the sponsorship of KTPB, the former public radio station of Kilgore College.[1] Each year a festival is held in the Spring and Fall offering moviegoers a chance to see unique and award-winning selections. The festival is held at Kilgore's 4 Star Cinema. - Wikipedia The prices are VERY reasonable for tickets and snacks. The screen, seats and sound is of a higer quality than you might expect based on the vintage facade. Ian and I went to The Great Beauty on Saturday night 7:15 showing and had 6 other people in the theater with us, we loved it! We plan to go back on Wensday night for The Wind Rises. Check out the theaters web site, FB page or keep an eye on the Longview News Journal to see if you can take advantage of this opportunity in East Texas. http://www.foothillsentertainment.com/theaters.aspx?ID=1

Casa Ole

Ian and I like to go out to eat. Lat night we wanted Mexican and thought we would tray something new since we have been disappointed by the ones we used to frequent.

Casa Ole, has decent reviews and two locations in Longview. We selected the one on the loop by the mall.

I had a cheese Chimichanga that was delicious, fried rice not so great. Service was good price about $10 per dish.

The most note worthy thing about the restaurant was the overwhelming large percentage of staff and customers who are large.