Today started out as a day like any other. A day of breakfast, a cup of coffee - your basic productive morning. Sean worked on answering his emails, setting up his next jobs, and preparing for his current one as New York photographer.

And then…we realized the site was down. We tried loading it a few times. Nothing. Intrigued, we wondered if it was a momentary glitch or if we were getting a massive influx of traffic. We had survived the New York Times article that came out yesterday. So why shouldn’t the site survive this current hiccup of visitors?

Suddenly, a friend sent me an email, “Hey just saw the article on the front page of Yahoo.com, congrats!” And the light bulb clicked. (Or “went on”, depending on your metaphor).

Turns out the front page of Yahoo linked to the NYTimes article, which of course, included a link to One Week Job. Hence, the crushing weight of thousands of visitors hurtling down the vast tubes of the internet, attempting to view our site. Unfortunately, rather than step up to the task, our server ran screaming into the night.

Sean and I scrambled to get at least a basic page up. (You may have noticed the sparse homepage morphing with each page reload). We threw a brief outline of the project, Sean’s email, and just in case, his phone number. Within seconds, the phone started ringing.

“Hi! Is this Sean?” “Hey, Sean?” “Hola! Is this the One Week Job guy?”

Sean fielded the calls, but quickly realized it was a lost battle. There was no way to answer every ring with 10 more flooding his call waiting. We made the executive decision and took his phone number off the site. As if in immediate response, his email begin trickling upward with each passing minute. 40. 45. 62. 89. Over 100 and they just kept coming.

What’s an overwhelmed job seeker to do?

The only thing we could - he let the emails wait and headed out to his One Week Job. The show (or in this case, photo shoot) must go on. After setting up the location, and learning the art of photography from behind the lens, Sean was called upon to stand in as a model. But you might say this photo shoot is a little…unorthodox.

As I type now from a loft in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan, NY, Sean is dressed in a pair of pajamas, sitting in a bathtub, pretending to brush his teeth. With two other pajama-clad men. And a woman. I think there’s even a rubber ducky. When you see the photos, you’ll understand.

In the meantime, he asked me to thank everyone for their emails and support (which has been incredible!) and he’ll try his best to send a reply after stumbling home tonight after the shoot.

If you’re brand new to the project, welcome! Feel free to check out the previous weekly episodes, our photos, and Sean’s reflections from the road.

– Ian

I met with James yesterday morning at his apartment in Lower Manhattan. He gave me an idea as to what future photo shoots he had in mind and what kind of location he would need. He said that he wanted a modern, simple, sleek, clean look, with some depth to it.

So I hit the streets with camera in hand cruising the mid-town Manhattan area in search of the perfect photo shoot location. I think that I had a good idea of what he was looking for and took a bunch of photos, though I will find out this morning when I meet with James to go over them. Here is on of them.

If you will be near a news stand today (Thursday), there is a column about One Week Job in the Style section of The New York Times.

This week I am working as a Photographer in Manhattan, NY with James Carmen, Director of Photography. James has worked all over the world, shooting commercials, film shorts, documentaries and features. This week we will be focusing on his role as a Photographer.

We met last night for coffee and discussed what we would be up to for the week. One task will be to scout out locations in the city for future photo shoots. Picture me on a bike, with a camera, weaving my way through traffic in downtown Manhattan armed with a vague idea of what kind of scene he is looking to portray. Should be fun!

He also had some interesting ideas for photo shoots that hopefully we will be able to pull together before the end of the week. I will be sure to post some photos!

-Sean

We’ve had a lot of fun the past few days with Mercedes and her husband Aldo in Margaretville, NY. They are truly great people and have been so incredibly kind to us!

Yesterday at the shop wasn’t too crazy. Helping out customers trying on different outfits was definitely the highlight. They would come out, I would offer them constructive feedback, (given my new found fashion knowledge). I also dressed a mannequin - which was a lot more difficult then I first thought.

Today, I somehow found myself in a charity fashion show in a neighboring town. We went for lunch in the town yesterday to meet with one of Mercedes’ friends who owns a store there. Turns out she needed a guy to be in the fashion show she was organizing today.

So, there I was, the only guy amongst a troupe of 16 year old girls strutting my stuff down a cat walk in front of the town. It was actually a lot of fun and I ended up doing a little bit of dancing on stage because the emcee was egging me on.

Tomorrow we head back to Manhattan, where I still am not entirely sure where I will be working as of yet, though I do have some ideas.

A special thanks to VocationVacations who connected me with my last two One Week Jobs; Baker and Fashion Buyer. VocationVacation allows you to test out your dream job. They set you up with a mentor who is in a profession that you think you would enjoy. The Vocation Vacation allows you to see if it’s right for you over the course of a few days before making any drastic changes.

-Sean

p.s. Here’s a little dance I cooked up at Mercedes shop.

I still haven’t decided where I will be working next week, though I would like to stay in the New York city area for two more weeks. If you have any ideas/contacts, send me an email or give me a call!

Or, if you have any One Week Job offers anywhere else in the world for that matter, send those my way too!

-Sean

I have been put to the test this week, taken out of my comfort zone time and time again and continually being challenged. It’s been great!

Mercedes had a few clients come in that she handed off to me completely and it was up to me to take care of the whole meeting from start to finish - learning about what stage they are in the design process, seeing the products they have designed, and giving them my opinion on what steps they should take going forward. When she first told me, “Sean, you are handling the next meeting all by yourself,” I was really nervous and thought to myself, what can I possibly tell this person that is going to help them out and not make me look like a complete idiot.

The first meeting was definitely a little awkward as I fumbled my way talking about the belts this guy had designed. They were actually really cool, though my knowledge of the belt market is limited. Here is a guy who recently designed a dress for Whoopi Goldberg and showcased it on the morning talk show, “The View.” Then there is me, third day on the job, giving him my opinion whether I think his product will sell. Not sure if I managed to avoid that complete idiot thing.

We also visited the show room of the Zuccaro collection. The owner showed me the collection for Spring and Summer 2008 and it was up to me to pick out what I would like to buy based on what I learned will sell from my trend forecasting meeting on Monday. It was for a boutique based in Las Vegas. Though she wasn’t happy to admit it, Mercedes was quite impressed with my choices saying that it usually takes much longer to train someone. Now if I could just learn how to dress myself!

We are now in Margaretville, NY for the weekend. Mercedes and her husband Aldo have a home up here and they were nice enough to bring us up for Thanksgiving dinner and escape the city for a few days. Tomorrow I will be working in Mercedes’ retail store “Dig In.” It is the biggest shopping day of the year, ‘Black Friday,’ with many stores opening their doors at four and five in the morning. Should be pretty exciting!

I will be back in Manhattan Sunday evening and am still not sure who I will be working with on Monday or where I will be sleeping. I would like to stay in New York city for two more weeks so if you have any ideas/contacts for potential One Week Jobs, let me know!

-Sean

Hey everyone, here’s Sean’s week as an Aquarium Host in Atlanta, Georgia. Enjoy!

This week I am a Fashion Buyer with Global Purchasing Group in Manhattan. More on that later… right now I am going to be late for my first day of work!

UPDATE:

The subway randomly deciding to stop a long the way didn’t help out matters, though I wasn’t too late getting to work yesterday morning. There were a couple of people waiting for me and as soon as I entered and we got off to a running start. Working in the fashion industry this week I thought twice about what I wore to work. Turns out my worries were justified. The first thing that my boss, Mercedes, said to me was, “Nice to see you dressed up for your first day working with a fashion company.” Yes, she was being sarcastic.

I honestly didn’t think I was dressed that bad and looking at others in the room I felt I fit in. Though now that I know Mercedes better and how nice she is, I think she was simply having some fun at my expense.

We had a meeting shortly after I arrived with two young guys who started their own label immediately after finishing design school, then it was off to meet with Sight Style, a trend forecasting company, to learn about what is going to be “on trend” for spring 2008. They took me through the different styles and color combinations that we can expect to see this coming Spring.

Industry buzz words like “body con,” “retro,” “architectural style,” and “asymmetrical de-construction” have now been added to my vocabulary. It was a lot of information to digest though it will no doubt come in handy over the next few days as Mercedes has a lot of tasks planned for me that I will have to use what I learned to help me out.

If I can’t look the part, at least I will be able to speak the part!

-Sean

The owners of One Girl Cookies, Dave and Dawn, have been great. They have allowed me to get really hands on this week.

So far I’ve made all sorts of things: pie crust, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, and I whipped up an apple pie from beginning to end.

A little girl who is a regular at the shop always has a piece of apple pie when there’s a fresh one on the counter. She came in today and after having her usual piece, she remarked, ” the apple pie is particularly good today.” (Dave would say that it meant the level of “deliciousity” on my apple pie must have been quite high).

I’ve found there is a real creative element to baking. You start with a bunch of ingredients that don’t make up much by themselves, then when you mix them in a bowl, shape them, and toss them in the oven, they come together to create a tasty goodness.

I spent most of today working on pumpkin cookies. I used a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, used the sheeter to make use of the extra dough. When they came out of the oven, I spread the orange icing sugar on top. Here is a video clip of the song I created while icing away:

I arrived in Manhattan on Saturday night - what a great place! There is so much going on, people everywhere, a lot of energy… I am really excited to be spending a few weeks in the area.

This week I am in Brooklyn, NY working as a Baker with One Girl Cookies. Apparently their hand made cookies are quite delicious and have made them pretty famous. I must say that I am looking forward to trying them out to see for myself.

My baking experience is pretty minimal so I am counting on their many years of experience in the business and tried and tested techniques to pull me through. Though, it couldn’t be that hard could it? I will also get to see how they started the business and all that goes in to keeping it operational.

On a side note, I had tickets to go see “Wicked” the musical for Tuesday night on Broadway, though since the stage hands are on strike, the show was canceled. Definitely disappointing, though hopefully they will get it resolved in time before I head out of town.

My job this week was set up by a really cool company called VocationVacations who offered to help out. Basically they allow you to test out your dream job. They set you up with a mentor who is in a profession that you think you would enjoy. The Vocation Vacation allows you to see if it’s right for you over the course of a few days before making any drastic changes.

If you are in the area, be sure to stop in for a cookie and say hi.

-Sean