Have you heard of a Boomerang? No, not the curved piece of wood that comes back when you throw it but similar.
At Greencastle, a Boomerang is an employee who leaves Greencastle and then ends up returning. Andrew Parise is one of a handful of team members in this category. If you’re looking for the real scoop on what it’s like to work at Greencastle, talk to Andrew!
He’s now a remote worker, but he makes the five-hour drive once a month for our monthly professional development day. (And with free food, free drinks, guest speakers, and sports competitions—who wouldn’t make that drive?!)
Today we spent 5 minutes asking him everything from his favorite way to spend his birthday to what phone app he uses most. Read through and maybe you’ll find your next favorite TV show!
Ideally, how would you spend your birthday?
I’m a big outdoors guy so it would be doing something like hiking or skiing in the mountains. I’d love to go to Banff in Canada. It’s one of the top places on my list to try, I can’t wait to hit the backcountry there. My favorite birthdays have always been ones that I’ve gone on a fun trip or adventure somewhere
What was your favorite vacation? And why?
My favorite vacation was when I went to Ireland in 2018. First off, Ireland was in my top 5 list of foreign countries to visit – I love checking off bucket list items. We flew Air Lingus from Philly to Dublin and spent the week touring the southern half of the island. I went with a fraternity brother whom I hadn’t seen in a few years, so it was great to catch up with an old friend. We toured castles, learned about the Irish independence movement, and listened to traditional music and dance, while eating and drinking our way through Cork, Limerick, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, and Dublin. What made the trip was the great company and trying fresh homemade foods at small inns.
What’s the phone app you use most?
I’m a minimalist and organized guy so I keep my iPhone to just one screen and all my apps are organized into folders, so it fits on the one page. I have a few apps I spend the most time on like All Trails, iTunes, and the NHL.com app but if I had to pick just one it would be YouTube. I find when I’m bored and start to play on my phone, that I’m always going down a rabbit hole of food, history, politics, travel, and hockey videos.
What career advice would you give your younger self?
There are a few options here but if I must just pick one it would be: to get to know yourself earlier. I’d recommend figuring out what I did and didn’t like careerwise earlier in my life. I’d use this information to find Greencastle sooner and then use my earnings to maximize savings to invest in real estate before I turned thirty-five. I’d tell myself to look for a duplex to invest in and live in half while renting out the other side of the home.
What’s the best part about your job?
There are many parts of the job at Greencastle that are fantastic. Trust me, I would know, I’m a Boomerang, meaning that I worked at Greencastle for a year and half before leaving to move closer to family; I’ve been back at Greencastle for two years now and am very glad to be back. One of the biggest draws for me is having Adult Rules. Adult Rules mean that you can focus on your work and provide great customer service while not being micromanaged, being able to work remotely if needed, and having the flexibility to deal with life’s emergencies when they come up.
How many streaming services do you have? What’s your favorite TV right now?
Currently, I have three streaming services, Netflix, Apple, and Tubi. Netflix may have the most options when it comes to content, but Apple blows them away with casting, production value and quality. I recently finished Ted Lasso starring Jason Sudekis, which was both hilarious and uplifting. I can’t recall the last time a tv show had a positive or uplifting message each episode. Now that Ted Lasso is done forever, I’ve started watching the Foundation series on Apple tv. If you’re a fan of classic sci-fi this series is for you!
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