Dawn Barela:  

Life I currently work at Bright Ideas Promotional Products. I track all of our clients orders, do shipping and data entry. I started here as a temp here in mid July, and got hired permanently in October. Prior to this I spent the last two years working temp positions and being unemployed which was a bummer. I spent twenty years working in the optical business making prescription eyewear. I started working for my Dad at Sears Optical in 1984. (Two years after graduation.) I was there until February 1998, when Sears discontinued our contract-we were a concession and my dad was the owner. Sears replaced us with the company that owns the opticals in Sears stores nationwide. We moved on to our own little store near Souper Salad at Wyoming and Menaul. That lasted five years, but by the end of that time we just could not stay open. We just could no longer compete with the chains.After that I spent a year and a half working at Muller Optical. Unfortunately, I was laid off at the end of November. Outside of working, I have been active in Albuquerque Science Fiction Fandom for the last 16 years. I have been on the planning committee for Bubonicon-the local SF/Fantasy convention for 9 of the last 12 years. I have also traveled to other regional SF/F conventions. Such as Mile Hi Con in Denver, which is one of my favorites to go to. I also went to the Worldcon (the World SF Convention, held annually-this year 2007 in Yokohama, Japan-but I am not going. Way too expensive!) in San Antonio, Texas in 1997. I do intend to start attending future Worldcons. Maybe starting next year in Denver. But first I need to start to save money for such trips. I also would like to travel to other places world wide. Epecially to Great Britain and New Zealand!!! I also like to go to Highland Games, Celtic Festivals and Renaissance Faires. I got to...Expand for more