THIS DOG WON'T SIT DOWN.

But she insists on sitting in my lap and sniffing around on my laptop... and it doesn't help that she keeps trying to "help" me type... Then she looks at me like this:


What can I say, I fall for it. =3 She's too cute!

Anyway, Mr. Jackie Hendrix, owner of Party Pros and president of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce talked to us on the 15th. He started out by giving us a booklet and stating rather proudly that all of the people featured in it were volunteers. Mr. Hendrix told us that he has been volunteering since he was 19 or 20 years old (whoa, I'm that age right now...), and that he learned to network through his volunteering, which has helped him greatly throughout his life. In fact, his networking is what has brought him all of these positions  and jobs that he has held. All of his volunteering really looked well on his resumé, too.

Mr. Hendrix really encouraged us to give some of our time to volunteer, though it is tough. He explained about the 80-20 Rule, in which 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Sucks, if you ask me. If this world were perfect, 100% of us would do 100% of the work... right? (I am NOT a math person, but that seems right... and fair, too.) So other than to help out the 20%, we should get ourselves involved because:

• We have a social responsibility.
• It will advance our career, what with networking and all.

What was cool about this speaker was that he taught us how to make connections with people. He asked some of us where we were volunteering, and for pretty much everyone he asked, he knew someone in their organization. Example: when he asked me where I was volunteering, I answered with St. Vincent du Paul Thrift Store, to which he commented that his wife frequently donated items there. THEN... Vince said I'm Hugo's daughter.

BOY, did that start Mr. Hendrix up. He talked about how Dad is one of his great friends (something which a lot of people tend to say), an how he had been very supportive of the alcohol-for-sale-on-Sundays thing that passed several years ago... I remembered that time from Dad's point of view and just nodded along as Mr. Hendrix told his tale. 

 Many times, I tell people I'm my father's daughter and BOOM, celebrity-status-feeling to the MAX. Everyone knows my dad, it seems like. Honestly, I'm jealous that Dad's such a "celebrity." But when Mr. H talked about networking, I began to realize that instead of being jealous, I should be very grateful! I can definitely use my dad's connections to my advantage!!!