Friday, October 14, 2011

Awesome Work Perks - Classes, Concerts, Food Galore!

Hey bloggers!

I wanted to take the time to just update you on some great opportunities I have had while working at work.  There are many reasons why I love working for Disney, but one of the things they are great at are offering activities to their employers.

Disney is really big about educating and enhancing the knowledge base of their employees because the smarter they are better business will result.  Since I have started two months ago, I have had so many cool things come my way.

First, I am interested in being responsible for acting or responding if an emergency, like an earthquake, were to happen.  In order to become that responder, I need to take certain training classes that vary from CPR and first aid to knowing how to use a fire extinguisher.

Since things have been relatively slow lately, I have been able to take advantage of my time and take some of these classes.  I already got certified for Adult CPR, X-ray radiation awareness, and this week I took the fire extinguisher class.  I literally went to the top of our parking garage and went after a fire and just sprayed it out!  That was awesome!  I was going to take First Aid, but conflicts arose.  I am registered for about 5 other classes like Bloodborne pathogens as well.  Other classes within Disney are computer training classes like Excel, Word, and Power Point.  I haven't taken them, but it's great to know they are there.

There are also really cool treats at work.  We have a cereal bar that contains about 10 types of cereal from sugar cereals to healthy ones.  I just concocted a recent mix of Cocoa Krispies and Honey Nut Cheerios this week.  Delicious!!  On Wednesdays during the summer, there were summer afternoon treats.  These treats varied from Jamba Juice to weird flavored ice cream trucks (i.e. Donut Flavored and Bacon Pancake flavored).  We also have bagel Fridays every week.  Bagels are not that good out west, but these are really decent!  So in all, I really do not have to pay for food for breakfast, and it has helped my grocery bill a lot!

Weekly movie screenings have also become a great perk!  This week I watched Ryan Gosling's Drive in our local theater room.  That movie was really intense but good.  Two weeks ago, Lion King 3D was shown, and next week will be Moneyball and Reel Steel... for Free!  I have also had the chance to check out some movies from the movie library.  I have seen Touching the Void, A League of Their Own, and a few others.

For the duration of October, we have had the "Studio Close-Up" program.  These classes are taking some executives in various departments of the company giving lectures about what they do and how it effects the company, so we can learn more about the various roles.  For example, this week someone from Walt Disney Imagineering talked about their process of Innovation and Creation within their future projects and work environment.  I also took a Pinhole Photography class as it is one of the animator's hobby and he showed us how to make them and take the picture.  We are developing our three photos on Monday, so I hope mine turn out alright.

Even within animation, there are weekly drawing classes available to anyone who wants them in the company.  I have not yet attended these classes, but I would certainly love to try.  They are usually a costume drawing class and a live-model class.  I hope to take one soon.  We also have guest speakers that come through.  This week, we had an established book publisher speak, and I listened to a man named Dr. Snow give a lecture.  He had his whole career based on the patterns snow, so he was able to describe its behaviors, textiles, and appearances for every situation and it was fascinating!

Then finally, there are concerts.  Last summer, I saw the Plain White T's perform (Disney signed band), and this week I saw Gizmo in person, and they were just recently on late night I believe.  These are small intimate concerts with bands that are within the Disney family or are just trying to spread word out.  I liked Gizmo a lot, so I hope to see them become successful someday.

So yea, this is a pretty awesome place to work.  So even on a slow day, one can always be entertained. I love how I can learn awareness of other fields, departments, industries all within the same company.  It almost feels like being able to take advantage of opportunities around you is its own job because you cannot keep up with it all.

Anyway, maybe next week I will take a drawing class?  Hmmm... :D

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