CHRISTMAS LETTER
(The Christmas Update from yours truly ...)Have you ever had one of those years when you feel all the fortunes and blessing poured out upon were almost too much to handle? You know, one of those years where there were so many good things that happened in your life, you feel guilty about it. OK, so maybe you haven’t had one of those years yet but that’s been 2008 for me in nutshell. So much has happened that I will probably forget some of the details but, I’ll give it a try …
SAINT MARY’S
Coaching tennis was something that I never thought I would do again but some how I found myself serving as the assistant coach at Saint Mary’s. It was quite the struggle to balance coaching tennis and serving as the college’s Sports Information Director for the second time in three years but I managed to survive the whole ordeal. Working with a team of eight freshman and two sophomores can take years off your life. The season ended with a 13-9 record and a fourth place finish in our league standings. Not terrible but it could have been better.
My time as the Sports Information Director came to a close at the end of July. I enjoyed my time working at SMC. I never imaged that I would spend nearly three years working there. It was a good experience. The people I interacted with at that job made the position what it was.
MARATHON
My first running experience came in June of 2007 when I ran a 5K in South Bend. After those 3.1 miles I remember hitting the preverbal “runners high” and the running thing has had a hold of me since. I started toying with the idea of running a full marathon about a year ago and then decided to go ahead sign-up for the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse, City, MI at the end of May.
It was, without a doubt, the hardest physical thing I have ever done. However, it was extremely gratifying. All the hard work of training those early winter mornings paid off in a big way and crossing that finish was absolutely amazing. Granted I could barely walk for two days but it was worth it and I’ll be doing another marathon soon.
LOS ANGELES
Ever since leaving L.A. after my Mosaic internship in August of 2006, I really wanted to return. This past summer afforded me that opportunity. I really liked my time in South Bend but it was time to move on.
Moving out to Los Angeles without a job can be a pretty scary venture. You need a series of events to work in your favor. Having a plan doesn’t hurt either. Fortunately for me things came together fairly well for me. The first few weeks I stayed with a friend of mine from my college days (big break #1). Of the 60-70 jobs I applied for, I got a grand total of three interviews. Actually, that’s not that bad. Fortunately for me this really good job within the Public Events Office at Caltech was opening (big break #2).
My official title is “customer service coordinator” in the ticket office. They use the exact same ticket software I used while working with the South Bend Silver Hawks (big break #3). Working at Caltech is the first job I have had were I am not working in the sports field. You know, it’s kind of a weird feeling not working in the athletic realm any longer but I enjoy what I do and the place I do it at. One of the best parts of living in the L.A. area is that my apartment is in Pasadena (big break #4) and I walk to work everyday.
I’ve been spending time volunteering among the homeless. I need to be doing more of that. One of the major reasons that I moved to L.A. was to help with the massive homeless epidemic in this area. By no means do I feel like I’ve done a “bad job” at helping but I know I can do more. It’s great to be apart of what’s going on and helping people “revitalize their life” so this next I will be taking steps to increase my involvement in that area.
Lastly, another really nice part of living in L.A. is I get to be apart of a great church community. I absolutely love being apart of Mosaic. They have such a great group of people on so many different levels.
MISC.
As you can see by the picture I “officially” graduated from Bethel with my Masters in Ministries. It was pretty neat experience to walk across the stage and receive a graduate degree. What a good day to celebrate all the work that went into writing and researching seemingly endless numbers of papers that were due during my five semesters as a graduate student.
ALL THE BEST!
SAINT MARY’S
Coaching tennis was something that I never thought I would do again but some how I found myself serving as the assistant coach at Saint Mary’s. It was quite the struggle to balance coaching tennis and serving as the college’s Sports Information Director for the second time in three years but I managed to survive the whole ordeal. Working with a team of eight freshman and two sophomores can take years off your life. The season ended with a 13-9 record and a fourth place finish in our league standings. Not terrible but it could have been better.
My time as the Sports Information Director came to a close at the end of July. I enjoyed my time working at SMC. I never imaged that I would spend nearly three years working there. It was a good experience. The people I interacted with at that job made the position what it was.
MARATHON
My first running experience came in June of 2007 when I ran a 5K in South Bend. After those 3.1 miles I remember hitting the preverbal “runners high” and the running thing has had a hold of me since. I started toying with the idea of running a full marathon about a year ago and then decided to go ahead sign-up for the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse, City, MI at the end of May.
It was, without a doubt, the hardest physical thing I have ever done. However, it was extremely gratifying. All the hard work of training those early winter mornings paid off in a big way and crossing that finish was absolutely amazing. Granted I could barely walk for two days but it was worth it and I’ll be doing another marathon soon.
LOS ANGELES
Ever since leaving L.A. after my Mosaic internship in August of 2006, I really wanted to return. This past summer afforded me that opportunity. I really liked my time in South Bend but it was time to move on.
Moving out to Los Angeles without a job can be a pretty scary venture. You need a series of events to work in your favor. Having a plan doesn’t hurt either. Fortunately for me things came together fairly well for me. The first few weeks I stayed with a friend of mine from my college days (big break #1). Of the 60-70 jobs I applied for, I got a grand total of three interviews. Actually, that’s not that bad. Fortunately for me this really good job within the Public Events Office at Caltech was opening (big break #2).
My official title is “customer service coordinator” in the ticket office. They use the exact same ticket software I used while working with the South Bend Silver Hawks (big break #3). Working at Caltech is the first job I have had were I am not working in the sports field. You know, it’s kind of a weird feeling not working in the athletic realm any longer but I enjoy what I do and the place I do it at. One of the best parts of living in the L.A. area is that my apartment is in Pasadena (big break #4) and I walk to work everyday.
I’ve been spending time volunteering among the homeless. I need to be doing more of that. One of the major reasons that I moved to L.A. was to help with the massive homeless epidemic in this area. By no means do I feel like I’ve done a “bad job” at helping but I know I can do more. It’s great to be apart of what’s going on and helping people “revitalize their life” so this next I will be taking steps to increase my involvement in that area.
Lastly, another really nice part of living in L.A. is I get to be apart of a great church community. I absolutely love being apart of Mosaic. They have such a great group of people on so many different levels.
MISC.
As you can see by the picture I “officially” graduated from Bethel with my Masters in Ministries. It was pretty neat experience to walk across the stage and receive a graduate degree. What a good day to celebrate all the work that went into writing and researching seemingly endless numbers of papers that were due during my five semesters as a graduate student.
ALL THE BEST!
posted by Stephen Hinkel at
2:26 PM
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