Hello everyone.

Sorry I’ve been putting this off but I’m ditching this blog in favor of one over at livejournal.   I’ve been using livejournal for almost 7+ years now and I’m really familiar with the interface and everything.  Thus it just makes sense.  So update your feeds/etc.

Here is the new blog – http://awesomefi.livejournal.com

Thanks!

Still here!

Yesterday, I had a decent conversation with my friend Patrick on our drive down to Fredonia.  Pat is the friend who urged me to join AmeriCorps and who now has a full-time position through them!  He’s doing PR work which involves a lot of media stuff, so it’s right up his alley.  

So our discussion mostly centered around AmeriCorps and what its members mean to it as a whole.  I ended up really excited and hopeful for what I’m about to do.  My interview is on Wednesday and honestly, I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve also been reading some personal blogs of people who have been in AmeriCorps and are sharing their experience. First there is Soni’s blog which was the first one I stumbled upon. She’s been going pretty steady and has a lot to offer. She’s considering writing a book full of individuals and their experience with AmeriCorps. I spent about an hour reading her blog and then found Capitol Rear View. This one reads like a novel. I read it in it’s entirety in one sitting.

But more than anything both of these blogs have just made me feel more confident with my decision and that it’s exactly what I need to be doing right now.

So that’s that! I’ll more than likely post on Wednesday after my interview. After that I imagine my postings will be a bit more scheduled.

There’s some saying that explains how computers were made to help us save time but instead have led us to waste more time than ever. For example, you come home from work and sit down at the computer and check those few blogs you normally check, read those few emails, check your facebook and then before you know it you’re reading about some guy who walked into an emergency room with a screwdriver through his head. And then you go to youtube to find the video.

However computers are the ideal time-saver tool. I can’t tell you how many times a simple google search has saved me a ton of time (and money probably). I almost look forward to problems arising because it usually leads me to learning something new. This doesn’t mean that I won’t take preventative measures though.

Life Hack is just that. Hacks and ideas and mods for you daily life. It was recently just mentioned in Time magazine. At first you might be skeptical with all of the “Top 10 ways to…” or “21 steps to…” but most of the articles are solid. You might even feel like it’s stuff you already know but just arranged in a way that is efficient.

One Minute How-to is fun. It’s a quick podcast (audio only) where there is a new guest every episode that, in 60 seconds, provides vital information on how to do something. From taking a panoramic picture to using twitter to finding the history of a word, the podcast is quite versatile. Some of the subjects might seem trivial but I’m sure they can all be applied in the right situation.

So upon moving to Rochester, NY mid-May, my plan was to get a job with some sort of community work or child advocacy center. Here are a few: 

The Center for Youth

Hillside Family of Agencies

So I struggled with writing a resume for a few weeks.  Eventually sent out my resume and cover letter to a child care agency and had an interview. Never heard anything back. So feeling a tad inadequate (as those who are unemployed usually do), I decided to take action. I started attending free workshops at Rochester Works!. Thus I learned how to write a much better resume, assess my job skills and much much more. Basically they helped me learn how to sell myself. I was also taught the importance of networking. Thus I started this blog and also joined LinkedIn (here is my profile). Right around this time, a close friend of mine recommended that I look into joining AmeriCorps(for the second or third time). It caught me because a week before this I was talking to someone at a party who ushered me to join AmeriCorps here in Rochester.

Basically AmeriCorps deals with placing individuals in community service settings. I would serve for a year but also get help with my school loans and receive a modest paycheck. The nice thing is that the AmeriCorps here in Rochester deals with many of the agencies that I was looking into getting a job at. This is a great opportunity since it will give me a decent amount of experience and also potentially lead to a full-time job. Or at least some contacts for one once my year of service is up.

So that’s where I stand right now. I re-wrote my resume and turned it in along with an application to the Rochester AmeriCorp office. I was told that I was “more than qualified” for a placement and asked to interview at the end of the month. So now I’m just waiting, which is never really fun. But as I’ve noticed lately, things tend to fall into place.

So I started this blog with the intentions of discussing concerns/ideas etc in my profession which is Human Services/Child Advocacy.  I will post stories that I find, my responses to these stories, ideas with major issues, etc.  Nothing special really.  I’m mostly anticipating to use this blog as a tool for my own ideas/thoughts/self-discovery.  It is likely that my hobbies will find a way to weave themselves in here.  But that shouldn’t be too painful.