Posted by Jonathan on Mar 21, 2009 in
General Thursday, March 19th, was my last full day/night in New York City, and my last day at Apple.
I awoke to the sounds of “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty, a great song to motivate you into tackling something big.
I arrived at work, clocked in for the last time, and went upstairs to the morning huddle. The morning huddle is basically where we talk about the day ahead, and try to get psyched to do a great job.
After a few minutes, Will, one of the trainers I worked with, said “I have two things.”. I immediately thought, “uh-oh, who has two things…”. He talked about some in-store stuff and then he said, ” …and if i’m not mistaken, it’s Jonathan Sears’ last day!”
I smiled, primarily because I saw it coming, but also because I knew it was going to be a good day. They had me walk up to the front of the meeting of 20 or so people, and make a short speech on my plans, semenary, etc. As I looked out on the group and made my brief remarks, I realized that I have been lucky to be with such great people.
I finished by saying it has been such a blessing and a privelidge to work with everyone, and there was much clapping afoot (ahand?). Read more…
Tags: Apple, Christian, Fond Farewell, Fuller, Karaoke, New York, One to One, Seminary, SoHo, West 14th, Wicked Willy
Posted by Jonathan on Mar 5, 2009 in
General So, after my last post about meeting Christians in the City, I thought that was it for this subject!
I was wrong!
I work part time for Apple as a software trainer, or “Creative”, and absolutely love it. I love teaching, I always have and always will. The training program at the Apple store is called One to One, and it is BY FAR the best thing we sell in the store. For 99 bucks a year you get a 50-minute lesson up to once a week in any apple products (with the exception of Server and Coding software, nerd!). I teach a great deal of topics, and so I work with people from all walks of life. In fact, I did the math a second ago, and I’ve probably taught around 2500 sessions in my 2 years at Apple. That’s a lot, to say the least!
As any teacher will reticently admit, I have favorite students. To any of my students, sorry! But chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably one of my favorites anyway!
One of my favorite students is a guy named Kirk. Kirk is one of the nicest people you’ve ever met (though I guess YOU’VE never met him…but I have…), and I always enjoy our sessions together. He’s been coming to One To One for about a year or so, working on a variety of topics. He’s a musician so he started with Logic to work on his music. Later, he and I met, and he decided that he wanted to start working on his music video, so we started talking about Final Cut Studio. Kirk is a pretty sharp guy, and he’s pretty excited about this stuff, so he’s really easy to work with.
I always wondered what made him so enthusiastic and so excited about life. Everytime I heard his thick island accent I knew it was going to be a fun day!
Read more…
Tags: Apple, One to One, training
Posted by Jonathan on Feb 13, 2009 in
General So, I made it! Wednesday during the middle of the day, I received my acceptance email from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA!
I was pretty sure I’d get in, but you know how it is, you just never know ’til you get the email.
I will be getting my Mdiv so that I can become an ordained minister, and start myself a church. My goal (for now) is to start a progressive Baptist church. Baptists have excellent traditions and such, but the politics have become quite muddied over time, and our social justice needs to be revamped too.
March 19th is my last day at work, the moving truck comes the next day, and then I’m gone by the 22nd to Ghana. It’s a little over a month and a week away. It’s all starting to seem quite final. I’m starting to seal off this portion of my life, and it’s quite tough, moreso than I expected.
I realized that New York has had quite an effect on me. Quite a substantial one indeed. I didn’t realize it right away, but I’m starting to.
Read more…
Tags: Apple, California, Fuller, Ghana, Mdiv, Moving, New York City, Pasadena, Seminary