One thing that continues to amaze me about One Week Job is the incredible people I meet and relationships that I make along the way.

Complete strangers openly welcome us into their homes and treat us just like another member of the family. It’s remarkable how in just one week, it is possible to develop such strong ties.

Looking back over the weeks, I’ve found my actual job duties play a small part in whether I have a positive or negative experience. When 52 weeks are over, it is all the great people I met and the relationships I developed along the way that I will remember. Whether I have the “best” or “worst” job in the world for the week is not important - the thing that makes any moment special is the people we share them with.

I am often asked, “What has been your favorite job so far?” They have all been so different and it is difficult to say, though all of the weeks that stand out in my mind are the ones where the experience was as much about learning the ropes of a particular profession as it was making some new friends.

This week was a perfect example of how quickly we can make new connections when among such warm people. The local Cape Cod newspaper came into Sweet Tomatoes on my second day to do a story. After the interview, the reporter asked if I was related to Irene and Darren - based simply on the ease of our interaction.

When this project is over, it is without a doubt that Ian and I will have a lot of visiting to do. Not only that, but I’ll have to make sure that I have lot’s of space for guests to come visit me, wherever I end up.

-Sean

A local news crew dropped by Sweet Tomatoes this week. They were pretty funny and produced quite the quirky video. They refer to me as both Seth and Sean in the same piece. Only on the Cape!

Here it is:

They say everything happens for a reason. Perhaps we weren’t supposed to get on that plane to Florida Tuesday morning, and instead we were meant to come to Osterville Cape Cod. I don’t know. I can say though, I am glad we are here.

I had received an email from Irene and Darren (Sweet Tomatoes Pizza) just over a month ago asking me to come to their small village of Osterville, MA, located on Cape Cod. They sounded like fun, so I put it in the back of my mind.

When I called Irene out of the blue from the airport, explained our situation and asked if we could hop on a bus and work with them at Sweet Tomatoes, she immediately said, “Perfect, That’s great, we would love to you have you.” I knew as I hung up the phone with them it would be a great experience.

They met us with a big hug and kiss when we arrived and away we went to take a tour of the village on route to their home. Ian and I are staying in their guest house above the garage, which couldn’t be more perfectly suited for us. Two beds, wireless internet, unlimited long distance, the fridge was full with cookies, orange juice, beer, fruit was on the table. They have spoiled us.

I am really happy that we are here. It has been really busy this last week, trying to deal with all the emails, phone calls, and figure out where I would like to see the project go. It was overwhelming and I had gotten away from just having fun and enjoying the experience.

Coming here has been really refreshing, humbling, and authentic. It has reminded me that this is what makes One Week Job such an awesome adventure, connecting with people, and learning about why they love their jobs.

Yesterday, I got my first pizza making lesson. How to roll the dough, spread the secret sauce, sprinkle the cheese, and toss it in the oven. The crust is rolled with a rolling pin normally, but I decided to attempt the “spin over the head” move that I’ve always wanted to try. The result? It’s much harder than it looks.

But I was able to serve up some sweet looking pizza pies. Tomorrow we have a special delivery for the local Kindergarten class, which should be fun.

- Sean

Today, Sean and I woke up early. We packed our bags, and stole out into the crisp Manhattan morning, bidding goodbye to our sanctuary for the past 3 weeks.

I hailed a taxi, and we rode out to La Guardia airport as the sun rose behind billowing grey clouds. The plan was to head South - to Atlanta, then board another bus to Fort Walton in Florida. Sean was to be a firefighter.

Instead, a funny thing happened. And by funny I mean, in that retrospective way afterwards once the whole anger thing has blown over.

Basically Sean asked me to book the plane tickets for today, Dec 4, from New York to Atlanta. Somehow I ended up booking the tickets on Dec 18 by mistake. We found this out while trying to checkin at the counter. It pretty much felt like a scene that should be in a “real” reality-show.

After the initial surprise, we tried re-booking our tickets for today. Hmm, the flights today were $200 more expensive than we paid. Any chance getting on standby? Nadda. Well, at least we can get a credit for future flights right? Nope. Turns out there’s a $100 charge to change your ticket (the ticket itself was only $87). Thanks American Airlines.

So after some discussion, we decided the best choice of action was to accept another job offer, this one in Cape Cod. Sean will be a pizzamaker with Sweet Tomatoes Pizza in Osterville, Massachusetts.

It sounds like a pretty fun gig - and Cape Cod we’re told is beautiful area. So, away we go!

- Ian

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, gave the 2005 commencement speech for Stanford University. It is quite insightful and I think re-assuring to those who find themselves in a similar situation to myself.

You can find the entire speech here:
Watch it or Read it

Here are the points that I will take away from it:

On connecting the dots;

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

On finding what you love;

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

On our limited amount of time;

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

On listening to yourself;

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Enjoy!

-Sean

Here it is, Sean’s week as a Baker in Brooklyn, NY. We can honestly say it was the tastiest week of the entire project. Also, a special thanks to Vocation Vacations who saw what we were doing and helped hook us up with One Girl Cookies.

Let us know what you think of the episode!