Q: What percentage of a dollar donated to your organization goes to the people who need it?
A: Good question.  If you’re asking how fiscally responsible we are as an organization, you can go here.  Honestly, though, I’ve discovered that providing aid does have overhead costs.  There’s taxes, transportation, distribution, program design… all of this is necessary to bring a product or service to a needy community or individual.  So organizations who can say “100% of your dollar goes directly to the starving child in Africa,” must have some other source of money (not your dollar) to cover overhead costs.  Usually, larger organizations have greater alternative sources of funding.

Q: What do you do specifically?
A:  As an administrative assistant to the Program Operations and Development Department, my job varies from day to day.  One day I can resemble an employee at Kinko’s while another I may be reading over reports and proposals before they are submitted.  Basically, I’m a gopher.  They say jump, I jump.  Just kidding.  But really, my job duties are not that defined.

Q: Do you travel to different countries?
A: While many of the staff travel, unfortunately I do not.  I wish the “miscellaneous” part of my job covered travel…

Q: Do you send people, like doctors and nurses, to the different countries you work in?
A: We rarely send short term staff to the countries we work in. The staff are usually hired long-term, and even then we don’t hire for overseas positions that often.  We try to staff as much as possible in-country, both to be more culturally relevant and to build the resources and abilities of the programs and staff that can remain in the country when program funds end.

Q: Do you miss friends and home enough to move back?
A: Hey, now, those are two separate questions.  Do I miss friends and family at home?  Very much so.  Often I will see things and wish you were here to share it with me.  Will I move back home soon? Considering that I just started this job, no, I won't be moving back any time soon.  But you can come visit me!

Unfortunately, that thought runs through my head far more often than I would like.  Today it was a trip to the library that occasioned the thought. 

After a long day’s work, I decide to go to the library to pick up some storytime books for the little darling kids I work with (yes, I work with little kids these days!  But that’s a story for another time).  Let it be known that I tend to guard my speech and actions less carefully when I’m tired.  I simply don’t have the energy to think about how others will interpret me.  True, the argument can be made that I am normally the foot-in-mouth type of person, but that characteristic seems to be profoundly magnified when I'm tired.

So today I stroll into the library, headed for the children’s section.  My mission is to find, as quickly and painlessly as possible, a book that would help build the character of my kids.  After looking at the endless titles, I realize that I could stand and flip through random books for an hour or I could enlist the librarian’s aid.  Librarian it is.

The “old man” librarian is the most familiar face to me at the local library.  We are acquaintances who recognize each other by face, don’t know each others names, but somehow feel comfortable laughing and joking about every little thing.  It makes the library experience far more enjoyable for me, and hopefully for him too.  I think I got it from my dad.

Anyway, today was no different.  We joked, we laughed, he helped, I talked to another librarian, we laughed some more, I got my bounty of books and left.  On my way home, however, my mind had time to think and I came upon the horrible possibility that some spectators might actually interpret our playful banter as (big gulp) flirtatious!  I realized with a shudder that we were joking about children’s books verses adult books, where I biked from, blah blah blah.  I totally was not thinking.  Some of our jokes could have been totally interpreted the wrong way!  I mean, why was the other librarian giving kind of forced laughs at our jokes?  And why did he ask about what I did for a living besides teaching kids in the summer?  Why did he walk me up to the check out counter?! 

Goodness gracious!  It was definitely a "Wait... Did I just do that?" moment.  What if bystanders were indeed misinterpreting?!  I could just see them retching silently while enduring our cheesy banter…  I mean, I myself almost retched at the thought.  Oh dear. 

Thankfully, it's a far-fetched possibility.  I have no way to tell for sure and, in all honesty, I have no desire to find out.  But I really need to be careful with what I say, no matter how tired I am.

On several occasions the thought has come to me that this xanga has been around for a while, but existing in the same plain blue skin I had bequeathed upon it from day one.  Being my technologically un-savvy self, I repeatedly considered a makeover out of the question.  No way was I going to pour hours into upgrading the appearance of this dusty little corner of the web world.

Until the other day when I discovered the cheater's way to do it; xanga themes! Woohoo!  A way to "borrow" a bunch of other people's designs (read: no web tech required).  Ironically, I ended up spending quite a bit of time and effort oohing and aahing over the creative stuff people have shared.  After much browsing, I narrowed it down to five, then three candidates... and finally chose this modern, yet clean and refreshing winner you see now.  Yes, I admit I was tempted to use the word chic.

My newfound delight was very short lived.  After I loaded the skin, I enjoyed the feeling that I found a nice refreshing new look that few others had found.  Wow, I'll look soooo cool, and readers will wonder how I managed to find that balance between cool and classy, and even include an eco-friendly side!  Finally, a look that is uniquely me... 

Less than 24 hours later, I click on this. 

Yes, oooooooh the vanity.  Too bad I'm not vain enough to find another skin.