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I wrote this early this morning, but the internet hasn’t been working – will update more later!

Hi

This week has gone by SO. FAST. I’m trying to wrap my mind around the fact that i’ll be leaving for my third one-week job tomorrow. Hard to do.

Being a rock star is going well. Here’s a run-down of the past few days:

Some things just come easy

On Wednesday, we rocked out. Somewhere around 2:30pm, we all ended up at the basement (Juice’s practice space), and started loading equipment into the truck. The truck turned out to be smaller than expected, so we had to rely on Phil’s Tetrus-esque genius to make as many items fit as possible. It was hot and sort of tension-filled, but we got through it. We ended up putting some items in cars, and we were on our way.

After we packed everything and got to the venue, we had to unpack the truck, haha.  That was a lot faster. A lot of people helped us set up for the show, which took about two hours. It was VERY hot, though i was mostly unaffected, being from Texas. The dangerous bit about the heat is that Juice’s performance attire is all black: Black shirt, black pants, black shoes. Black. Blackblackblack. In nearly 100-degree weather. I’ll say it again: dangerous.

Hi friends! I plan to blog tomorrow with a summary of my week at a Dude Ranch in Wyoming! For now, check out this video that I filmed during the all-day trail ride earlier this week!

-Ki

Man. I love coffee.

The crew at Pennylicks Gourmet Cafe in Toronto – in short – were amazing.  Chris, Steve, Rene, and Diego – THANK YOU!

Even though it was sweltering outside, inside the cafe I learned how to froth milk, deal with crazy customers, and make a mean panini…!

Rene – Hola! At your service!

I spent the majority of my time at the cafe with Rene, a cool dude from Mexico who is Steve and Chris’ “Right Hand Man.”  He’s super laid back, great at milk-frothing, and always willing to help out.  His way of teaching was definitely hands-on – within the first hour, he had me making lattes and washing dishes  Iced drinks were popular thanks to the heat, but a good number of espresso’s were through as well.

Steve would pop in from time to time to check on the cafe in between errands, and speak a few words of wisdom.  When I asked him what he thought the MOST important thing is about making a good cup of coffee – he singled out ‘Consistency’. From the roasting to the brewing, to the frothing and the customer service – each cup of coffee should be as tasty as the one that came before and the one that will come after.

We also chatted about doing business with family, and Steve and Chris are brothers as well as business partners.  Of course there are times when they wanna pull out each other’s hair – but Steve is the first to admit that each brother complements the other.  One is strong when the other is weak, and vice versa.  At the end of the day, they’re still family, after all.

STEAMED!

The time it takes to start up your own business is MASSIVE.  Maybe you’re only physically at the business for a few hours a day, but even your time ‘off’ is spent running errands for the business, dealing with the finances of the business, and planning for the business.  It’s definitely not something to take lightly.  Vacations will be few and far between due to time commitments – not to mention the financial pressure to succeed.

Something I really loved about the cafe, were the customers who came in.  There are a lot of other small, local businesses in the area, and everyone tends to come out and support one another.  I quickly grew to know the owners of the clothing store next door, the restaurants down the street, and the regulars from the neighborhood.  I could see myself running a place like this and getting to know my customers as friends… now, if only they would all write poems like ‘Wunder’…

'Wunder' and his poetry-cape

Wunder came in around 11am one morning…he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but had some sort of cape-like-contraption strung up around his neck to protect from the sun.  He offered a banana muffin in exchange for an espresso, and then threw in a poetry reading as well!  Haha!  The muffin was dangerous (don’t take candy from strangers – right?), the espresso was great (even if I do say so myself!), and the poem was fantastic (even if it was a little racy…)!

Something I’ve really loved about my first two jobs is that the people I’ve worked with have actually become my friends.  I’ve been invited out to suppers, tea parties, and even poker nights!  Steve even stopped in today and dropped off a book for me to read: ‘Achieving Success in Specialty Coffee’ – all about the first espresso machine, the roast, the art of latte making, customer service, and even starting your own business.  It’s going to make some great airplane reading!!

You see, I’m actually writing this from the airport as I wait for my boarding call, as I’m flying to Edmonton, Alberta tonight!!  And believe me – words cannot describe how insanely excited I am to be visiting my home province!!  My cousin is getting married on Saturday, and this will be a family-reunion of sorts.  There will be farm-living, cat-petting, and family-bonding.

…BOTH of those bags are mine…

I. Cannot. Wait.

I’ll be doing my next One Week Job in my hometown of Beaverlodge, Alberta – as…get this…a butcher. !!

More to come from my cafe experience – but I think I have to board my plane now…

In the words of the great Matt Mays:

“Good-bye girl gone to see the world,
Out to see every thing you choose
Now it’s becoming so clear
That your feet are planted deep
In your travellin’ shoes”

See you on the other side of the country folks!!

MWA!

-Amanda

The View in Cody Wyoming

Hey everyone!

Long time no blog!

After wrapping up a incredible week as a coffee roaster, I flew over to Wyoming for a unique adventure! I am currently in Cody, Wyoming on vacation with my family. The day after I found out I got to be part of the One-Week Job Program, I got a special email. The email was from an outdoor retailer called Sierra Trading Post. It explained that I had won their Wild West Getaway trip for the week of July 4th. I hated to take a break for a week, but who could turn down an all-expenses paid trip to a dude ranch! The sweet thing is that I got to take my parents and my brother too.

The schedule here is pretty packed with family meals, 2 trail rides daily, swimming, excursions, and hiking.

Riding my horse named "Dusty"

My family and I arrived in Cody on Saturday night and woke up early Sunday to get a spot downtown for the 4th of July parade. The parade was mighty festive and I enjoyed seeing peoples’ pride about their town.

I will be back to the One-Week Job Program next week. What’s next you ask?

I’m flying across Wyoming to Cheyenne, home of Sierra Trading Post’s headquarters. I’m not going to say what my job is yet so check back next Monday to find out!

Hope everyone is having a splendid summer and enjoying life!

Blessings,

Kieley Best

Have questions or job leads for me? Email Kieley here: bestweekjob(at)gmail.com

I have had a few companies back out last minute and am looking to work in the interior design field, culinary chef field, or something with photography. Please contact me via email with details if interested.

Hey from Ann Arbor, Michigan!

This week’s job has resulted in my first bit of traveling during the One-Week Job Program. i’ve now gone 2,162 miles by bus! Here’s a visual for you:

For all You travelers out there, i strongly suggest using Everlater as a journal for your adventures. It enables to you to blog, upload photos, embed videos, and do it by every stop you mark on the travel map. There’s also an iPhone app. Check it out!

This week, i’m working with a 9-person musical percussion variety group called Juice.

Brandon, one of the members of the group, contacted Sean twice: Once during his 52-week Project, and again before the Program started. When Sean released Brandon’s information to us, i responded to the email with one statement after doing my research:

“I love Juice.”

Man…I don’t know why I always get the urge to write these things so late at nite…but here I am…1am on a Monday…blogging.

Toronto’s going through a major heat wave at the moment, so it’s not like I’d be able to sleep anyway, and with the humidity it’s more like I’m going to “swim” to bed…

BUT!  That’s not gonna stop me from talking about Day 1 of Week 2.

Helping a customer inside 'Pennylicks'

Today, I found myself at ‘Pennylicks Gourmet Cafe‘ – a cute little coffee shop in Kensington Market, Toronto.  This is a totally bohemian area of the city, with plenty of graffitied walls, screen-printing shops, and hipsters riding bikes.

The shop owner, Steve, was interested in the OWJ program right off the bat – stating that it was something he wishes he’d had the opportunity to do 20 years ago!

I spent the morning with Steve’s brother (and shop co-owner), Chris – getting the shop ready for the day.  We went over the basics of coffee making, brew strengths, taste, and some important points of small-business ownership.  Steve came in for the afternoon, and very kindly sat down with me to chat.

WATCH Steve discuss his tips for finding a career that makes sense HERE: “Life Points with Steve”

The brothers have owned the shop just over 2 years.  Steve has worked his other job as a Mechanical Engineer for years, but coffee has always meant a lot to him. During his teen years he often found himself working in cafes, and eventually the thought of being his own boss really started to appeal to him.

Steve and Chris found the cafe (formerly a furniture store), and snapped it up.  After gutting everything and rebuilding it up to city codes and standards, they opened Pennylicks.  Apparently the name comes from an old ice cream cup that was called a “penny lick” because of the price and what you had to do to the cup in order to get your money’s worth of ice cream…an interesting precursor to the ice cream cone.

My first soy latte – burnt milk and bitter espresso. Needs more work…

Now the cafe serves gelato, sandwiches, and COFFEE!!

Ever since I traveled overseas, coffee has become very dear to me.  To me it means comfort, community, and inspiration.  The feeling I get from sitting down with a great cup of coffee can’t really be paralleled. Whether my company is that of a good book or a good friend, a good coffee can lift my mood after only a few sips.

I even got to try my hand at making a few drinks, although I wouldn’t really recommend anyone actually drinking them…;)

And even though it’s almost 2am now, tomorrow I’ll be up bright and early to head to work…good thing I’ll be at a coffee shop!

Nite!

- Amanda

Where in the world is Kieley?

I am no longer in Athens, GA since I wrapped up my week as a roaster on Friday. After driving 4 hours home to do a quick round of laundry, I packed once again for more adventures!

Right now I am sitting in Cody, Wyoming since I am taking this week as a vacation. I know it seems early in the One-Week Job Project to be on vacay, but here’s the scoop: I won an all-expenses paid trip from this cool company called Sierra Trading Post.

How? I simply took 20 seconds to fill out my name, address, and email about 2 months ago on their website for the contest. I must say it was worth the time! This week will be different as I will post updates about my vacation at a Dude Ranch. It’s not technically one of my jobs, but I still want to show what life on a ranch is like!

Before jumping into horse stuff and western adventures though, let me share the highlights of my week as a roaster for Jittery Joe’s Coffee:

I worked with Charlie Mustard and had a fantastic time!

Charlie Mustard, my coffee roasting teacher all week. Officially, he's the head roaster for Jittery Joe's Coffee

In 5 days, I…

-Learned what stages coffee beans go thru during roasting

-Observed Charlie roasting for lots of hours

-Roasted coffee with an Air-Popper (usually used for popcorn)

Roasted coffee beans with an air popcorn popper. I used the light to watch the raw beans change color throughout the roasting process.

-Packaged coffee with Christian

-Delivered coffee to local Jittery Joe’s shops

-Learned how to create coffee “blends” (multiple types of beans combined)

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE…

-Roasted my own coffee, packaged it, and even created a custom label

Here’s a Video to express my excitement: Final Coffee Test: Kieley Roasts Her Own!

I chose Ethopia Yirgacheffebeans since I have a new cousin from Ethiopia. The name, “Smiley Kieley” was an obvious choice since I’ve been told it’s impossible for me to not smile.

Overall, Jittery Joes set the bar very high in regards to being amazing people with sweet jobs and kind hearts. I was blessed to get lots of hands-on experience, meet many Athens locals, and even take home a case of my very own coffee!

Special thanks to Charlie Mustard, his wife Allison, Christian, Seth, Michael Ripps, and everyone else on the Jittery Joe’s Coffee team.

Before I launch into an Academy Awards-esque thanks speech, I will cap off this post. Tomorrow will be a full day that starts early with a cowgirl breakfast and horse lesson.

Follow the One-Week Job blog for more adventures all summer. I am still looking for jobs for August so email me or comment please if interested or if you have a connection.

bestweekjob(at)gmail.com

Yee-Haw,

Kieley B.

Hi

i Hope You are having fun right now! It’s Sunday, so i’m getting this post to you much later than I prefer, but it couldn’t be helped. I’ve been traveling by bus (33.5 hours to be exact!) to my next job and unfortunately, buses don’t have wireless Internet connection. I’m sure Amanda, Kieley, and I may find blogging to be difficult depending on the job location, travel length, and the amount of Internet we have access to in general. Why have I never thought about this until now? Nevertheless, more challenges! I’m ready for them.

So, about my last two days as an account executive. They were pretty low-key. I’d characterize the entire week as low-key, but the last two were moreso because they didn’t bring any official shadowing opportunities.

On Thursday, we had a date with Chicken Express. Jeremy and I decided to have lunch with his friends Dennis and Josh, whom I mentioned in the previous post. We also had lunch with another one of their friends, Julie. Julie is the Editor for the paper that Josh and Dennis are Art Directors for. Everyone works so closely together! The meal was great because it was free. Okay okay, it wasn’t great for that reason alone. It was also great because I (here I go again) got the chance to “deeply discuss.”

Week One – Photographer

It all started off with a whim and a worry,

Not knowing who, where, or how hard to hurry.

But the woman I met put my worries to rest,

She explained the whole thing, without any stress.

She called clients and agents, models and friends,

She figured and triggered and spared all expense.

On shoot day she shot and she shot and she shot,

And she laughed the whole time, without getting caught.

It’s all about attitude, knowledge and trust,

Knowing your f-stops, your lighting, and just…

Believing your skills, and doubting not one,

Do your job well, but know when to have fun.

And so ends Week One, filled with photos galore!

Henrieta’s to thank, that girl I adore.

Go out and take pictures, and love what you do,

The great thing ’bout Week One, is it leads to Week Two!

-Amanda

Check out Henrieta’s Website: www.henrietahaniskova.com

Henrieta and I at her photo showing – celebrating Week One!

Kieley here! I am having an amazing week here in Athens, GA and the past four days have been filled with fun, learning, and lots of free coffee!

I apologize for not posting yesterday as I had planned. To make up for it, I will recap the first few days and post a video tomorrow with various clips from the week and a summary of my week as a coffee roaster.

In case you are new to the blog:

My name is Kieley and I’m a young lady traveling around this summer in search of my passion. In 8 weeks, I will try working 8 different jobs and blog about the whole adventure here at Oneweekjob.com. The first week has already been so helpful in confirming that coffee is something that fires me up!

Charlie Mustard has been such a great teacher this week and allowed me to see many facets of his job. It’s wild to hear how he went from getting an undergraduate degree in Biology to veterinarian school to pursuing a master’s in nutrition. How in the world did he  become a roaster? That’s a fair question and I wondered this myself. To make a long story short, Charlie spent time at the local Jittery Joes coffee shop while he worked on his Master’s thesis. After hearing the company express interest in roasting their own coffee, Charlie had a eureka moment and realized that his science background would be a great fit. After extensive reading and research, Charlie bought the equipment and began to roast. The great coffee he roasts today has been developed over time-it required logging his results, lots of experimentation,  and even making some so-so batches in his early days as a roaster.

What’s the lesson to be learned here?

“Just because you have a degree in something or don’t have a degree in something does not mean you have to or can’t do a certain job.”

Charlie and his wife relaxing on the Jittery Joe's Roastery porch.

I loved hearing Charlie’s interesting path because it shows that

(1) a person is not bound to stick to a job that matches their degree & (2) it shows that a person should be open and ready to take risks because it often produces a great result! In Charlie’s case, he now has a super fulfilling job that’s fun, flexible, and allows him to hang out with his wonderful family.

I will share more about his daily life in the coffee business on Friday, but for now, let me bring you up to speed on the roasting process.

To get your coffee beans for your cup o’ joe, there are many steps:

1. The roaster orders green beans (raw coffee beans) from various farmers all over the world

2. Batching the coffee (scooping & weighing a certain amount of coffee to be roasted) *Charlie usually puts in 26 lbs. of raw beans for one batch. When the roasting is finished, the batch weighs less due to the beans losing their outer membrane.

Green (raw) coffee beans, weighed precisely and ready to be roasted

3. Roasting the coffee (The coffee is poured into the roaster and transforms as Charlie adjusts the heat, air flow, and controls the time. Charlie has certain markers to watch for:

-when the green beans turn “straw” color – goldenish color

-when the beans change to “cinnamon color” – medium brown color

The coffee beans being emptied into the cooling chamber after roasting

-1st Crack- when beans crack for the first time (obvious since you can hear the beans cracking!)

-2nd Crack- A few minutes later, the beans crack again and about this time, it’s time to release them from the heat into the cooling section. After cooling,it’s on to packaging!

So that is basically coffee roasting 101. After spending all of Monday helping Charlie and learning the basics, I spend the next day packaging with another Jittery Joe’s employee, Christian. He is the man behind the packaging and shipping for all of their coffee. After Charlie Mustard roasts the coffee and separates it into 5 pound bags, Christian pours the coffee beans into metal cans, seals them with a fancy gizmo, attaches a label by hand, and packs the cans into boxes. Jittery Joes not only roasts coffee for their own shops; they also ship their coffee all over the U.S.!

Working with Christian was fun and I enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with his speedy pace. It was interested to hear the route he took to end up in the coffee industry as well.

I have so much more to share so tomorrow I will blog yet again!

One added incentive to make the most of this project is hearing feedback from friends and people I meet. Hearing about this crazy program makes people think about what jobs they desire to try. I would love for this blog to be interactive so here’s the question of the day:

“What job(s) would you like to try for one week?”

If you’re really ambitious, work on this follow-up question:

“What can you do today to make your desire to try this job a reality?

So often it’s easy to get caught up in “What-ifs” and think of money, time, and other barriers, but if Charlie had been bound by these things, he would be missing out on his sweet job: roasting coffee!

Think about it friends and comment away!

Want to email me with a job proposal for a week or just say hi? I love emails!

bestweekjob(at)gmail.com

Love,

Kieley B.

So, Wednesday was the big day.  The day of our photo shoot.

The studio was sweet, the models were hot, the crew was organized, the agency was happy, and and the photos were fantastic!

Setting up the studio, the night before the shoot

The day started at 8am when crew members started arriving.  We had stayed late at the studio the night before, and set up the basics so that we didn’t have to worry about it the morning of.  There was a role of white-seamless paper serving as the backdrop, which was then highlighted by 2 sets of strobes, and a huge strobe out in front to highlight the models.  Watch Henrieta and her assistant Zach set it up here:  Shoot Set-Up

The shoot flowed like this: A model would come in, get their hair and makeup done, Henrieta would talk with the Creative Agency about how they wanted the model to pose, and then tweak any lights based on the positioning of the models.  Then there was about 45 minutes to an hour where the actual shooting would happen.

Henrieta was constantly chatting to the models, encouraging them, cracking jokes, and basically setting the tone of the shoot.  That’s what amazed me the most, I think – how calm everyone was!!  I’ve been on film and television sets where people seem almost frantic.  In the end, that’s not going to prevent any heart attacks – and Henrieta knew her stuff, so why by worried?!  One of my favorite quotes from her is referring to the set up as (ear muffs!) ”Dog Shit Simple.”

Models in place, and some last minute instruction from Henrietta

Even when the clients of the National Canadian chain store arrived to check everything out – Henrieta never wavered.  That really impressed me.  Even when my eyes were starting to bug out a bit from the constant flashing, and I was getting tired – Henrieta was in her element.  When I asked her about this later – she admitted that she would definitely be bagged later, but that in the moment you just do what you have to do!  And Henrieta obviously loves what she does.

I did what I could to help out – clearing dishes, making coffee (with the sweet studio espresso machine!), and learning from the camera assistants and watching the shoot go down.  Everyone was incredibly kind to me – and really interested in the One Week Job program!  I love the team atmosphere of shoots like this…I definitely enjoyed that about television production and can see myself continuing to work in this kind of environment.  Everyone has a job, but they help out where they can.

Some other gems I’ve learned from Henrieta so far include:

- Pictures with people in them, are much more interesting than those without.  When doing travel photography, Henrieta would often wait until her shot of the beach or garden was free of people.  When she got back she says it looked like there wasn’t anyone living in that country…!

Henrieta behind her camera

- It’s all about connections.  If you’re a photographer’s assistant just starting out, and you’re a hard worker and gain the trust of established photographers, you can often access their studio space or equipment – for FREE.

- As a photographer, you’re also often a psychologist.  You’re dealing with emotion constantly, and have to be able to listen and read people just as well as you direct them.

- Be persistent!  Find the people who can help you get work – and bug the crap out of them until they get you work!!

The day finished an hour or so EARLY! That’s how organized this crew was…insane.  I helped Henrieta back to her house with the left over craft services, where we hung out on her patio and snacked on left over sandwiches and drank some delicious beverages…;)

BUT!  I should make a move…I’m meeting her for afternoon tea!!

Tonight, we’re headed out to a show where Henrieta’s showing off some of her prints – sounds classy.  I’ll be back with a full report!

Love love love

Amanda

Check out Henrieta’s website: http://www.henrietahaniskova.com/