The Next Big Thing

Well, I made it through week one without quitting or being fired, so I guess it's safe to consider myself employed. After a whirlwind set of interviews, I've ended up at the Oxbow Public Market, a new facility in Napa, in a position which seems to offer exactly what I am looking for in a job: the opportunity to work in a food-and-wine environment while using my business and management experience. I'm the Marketplace Manager, and I'm responsible for everything from ensuring that the garbage is picked up to scheduling musicians to play on the River Deck on Sundays. Coincidentally, today's San Jose Mercury News ran a story about the Market, and most of what they say is true.

The Market is a bright and lively facility, still in progress, with great potential. I'm excited about having the chance to be involved from "early days."

You know how the first days of anything are, beginning with college orientation: where your face hurts after the first day, because you've been smiling all day; wondering who among all these new faces will be your friends; trying not to lock yourself out of your room; struggling to retain and remember names. I've been doing all that, and memorizing pass-door codes, and learning how to operate the trash compactor. I've also been shopping -- for lunch, dinner, ingredients, and gifts -- from many of the merchants in the Market, with an eye towards becoming a regular customer, as well as a regular presence in the market. "Tasting" is an important part of my job, if only so that I can speak fluently with tenants and customers.

The job has one notable drawback, which is a 45 mile commute. I enjoy driving, but I need to invest in a new Bluetooth phone and an earpiece, so I can maximize my phone usage. It's hard to talk and shift at the same time, and hands-free talking will be a law in July, anyway. The other big challenge is to my whole food preparation routine. I've been spoiled for a long time. In fact, it's been about 8 years since I've worked in a job which required my presence away from home 40 hours a week. My job before culinary school enabled me to telecommute three days a week, so I had the ability to shop mid-day and prepare meals that could be started a couple hours ahead of dinner time. I've got to be much more organized about shopping and meal-planning. I'm also going to have to get used to a Sunday/Monday weekend, but yesterday, sitting on the River Deck with a half pint of Stone IPA, talking with my boss and a major magazine representative talking about possible co-marketing opportunities, work didn't seem like a half-bad place to be on a Saturday afternoon.