Want to make some noise at next year’s GRAMMY awards? You can with a career in audio engineering, says a brand new article at CollegeSurfing.com.

Learn more about how to make (sound) waves in this tech-driven profession that’s expected to see lots of job growth in the coming decade. If you love the music biz, but have an American Idol-reject type singing voice, a behind-the-scenes audio engineering career may be the big break you’re looking for.

Thanks for listening (sorry — couldn’t resist!).

Photo: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

When I saw the press release for the 2008 Shoprite “Best Bagger” Annual Contest, I chuckled. And then I realized — who am I to laugh? Being your best at what you do — whether it’s bagging groceries, writing blogs (a-hem!), treating patients, fixing air conditioners — whatever! – is super-important.

Oh sure, every industry has its criteria for being the best — in this instance, it’s “Speed, proper bag building technique, distribution of weight between bags and style-attitude-appearance” — but it’s all equal in the world of work.

Start thinking about what it is that will earn you top professional honors. Is it staying an extra hour to put in time on an important project, helping a new hire settle in, or enrolling in a certificate program to boost your skills? Do any one of these, or another career-boosting thing, and you’ll have advancement (sorry…) in the bag!

Before I go, I must share one more tidbit this blog inspired: How come when I go to Shoprite, I have to bag my own groceries? They’re holding out on me…

-Gina LaGuardia

Photo: Stephen Coburn

This is certainly the month for counting calories, comparing gym membership costs, and turning down a square of co-worker birthday brownies (all of which I spied during lunch today, as I ate my Lean Cuisine pizza and carrot sticks).

While well-intentioned when motivation is new and fresh, all of that pressure eventually comes to a head… usually right around the time you’re surrounded by buffalo wings, cheezy (yes, the “z” is on purpose) nachos, and deep-fried pot stickers on Superbowl Sunday. And soon after that, you’re drowning in the chocolately goodness of Valentine’s day candy. And who can resist those post-Valentine’s bargains at Duane Reed, when you can get a chocolate covered peanut-butter heart for 18 cents? You get the point, right? (I hope so, because this analogy is making me hungry, and I need to stop!)

Just like dieting, when it comes to the workplace, it’s easy to forget that eager, gung-ho spirit you once exhibited as a new employee, and fall into an unhealthy binge-fest of deadline procrastination, negativity, and doing just enough to get by. And before you know it, those corporate dress down jeans are squeezing you tighter and tighter each month as you grow to loathe the daily grind.

But guess what? Sometimes all it takes is what the WeightWatcher folks like to call a “jumpstart” to get you back on track. A “cleansing,” if you will, like the South Beachers do to eliminate carb cravings from their system. In other words, there’s nothing like a new challenge or a new role to get you excited about working again. And it doesn’t only have to happen in January! Here are some ways to get that going:

- Throw your name in the hat the next time a new project comes in. Showing initiative is a good move for you (others will notice!), and it will give you a shot at the groundfloor of something new that can become huge. Plus, it’ll break up the boredom. What would you rather do, take a hip-hop workout class or pedal for a half hour on a stationary bike?

- Give your brain a workout, too, by learning a new skill — and maybe your company will even pay for your career training! If you do your job the same way everyday, you’ll most likely be doing that same job next year. But bring it to the next level — like adding a podcast to your blog (one of my ’08 goals, coming soon) — and who knows where it can take you?!

- Find strength in numbers. My collection of exercise DVDs are collecting dust. Why? Because I have to count on myself to pop one in and do it. But if I had a gym buddy or a regular class to attend (like my boss Gina’s kickboxing one — soon, G, I swear!), that healthy peer pressure might be just what I need to make it part of my routine. Likewise, professional affiliations will keep you abreast of networking events, and you can stay in the know by checking in on industry message boards and blogs.

If all else fails, you can always try something completely unconventional until you find your fit. Not everyone can give up carbs, right?

Feeling the burn yet? I hope so. Take care of yourself… I’m off to refill my giant water bottle and (hopefully) resist the brownies.

So now the latest news reports include allegations that Mary J. Blige, along with rap musicians 50 Cent, Timbaland, and Wyclef Jean used performance-enhancing drugs to boost their bodies. Sheesh. What’s a buff lovin’ athlete/rap star/musician to do?

Maybe hook up with a personal fitness trainer whose worth his/her weight (muscle mass weight, that is) in education, maybe?! Thanks to top-notch training programs that combine biomechanics and fitness training with anatomy, physiology, and the prescription of legal exercise supplements, it is possible to work with a fitness instructor who can help you flaunt rock-hard abs, throw a 90 mph curveball, and have sick biceps in time for the next Grammy Awards ceremony!

Sound like a field you’d be interested in jumping into? Programs like those offered at American Academy of Personal Training and the National Personal Training Institute will put you in the gym and on the road to a lucrative career (if you stay away from the steroids, that is) in under three months.

-Gina LaGuardia

NBC Photo: Virginia Sherwood

We’re a couple weeks into 2008, and I’m making a different kind of resolution this year: to embrace the unexpected. Because life never goes quite the way we plan, does it?

Take your career path, for instance. A path is just that–one of many roads you might take. There’s no telling whether you’ll backtrack or walk the straightaway for miles. Because, unlike my street and countless others in NYC, a career path is not a one-way trajectory. You can go back and forth and in circles, too. It’s messy, just like the rest of life. Even if you have an idea what you want, it can still end up looking a lot different than the way you initially pictured it.

I was an interpersonal communications major in college because I like people and I like words. Did I know where that would take me? Not at all. But it’s been an interesting journey.

My first job out of college was waitressing; I needed a way to pay the bills while I figured out where I was headed next. Turns out I was headed to a microenterprise development organization, then a ministry to mothers of preschoolers, then an alumni office of a college I didn’t attend, then a law office, then a business forms company, and then I was out of work for a little while. Call it a breathing period.

In the midst of all this I applied to a graduate program in counseling, thinking therapy was where I was headed (as the practitioner–not the patient!). I wasn’t accepted into the program, which was a bummer at the time. I didn’t know which direction to go next.

But that closed path opened up a handful of new opportunities. I began writing for a small magazine, then editing, and it wasn’t long before I knew that I had found my niche. I didn’t wake up with the dread I had felt going to other jobs, and I was learning so many new skills.

I’m still writing and editing today, six years later. Maybe I could have known where I was headed years ago, but it’s OK that I didn’t know. I’ve had fun along the way. Like the Dixie Chicks, I’ve been taking the long way.

I don’t know what 2008 will hold for my career and my life, but I do know that the journey will be full of surprises.

Which path will you take in 2008?

-Robyn Tellefsen