A new summer season with new endeavors

I've got a few updates for life here in Southern Oregon. I start work tomorrow as a Wine Steward in an Albertsons. It is only a part time job, but should be fun. Baseball has officially gotten started. My team is the Expos. We will play approximately 20 games with a tournament midway through the season and playoffs at the end of August and early September. It is fast pitch and competitive, but most of us are out just to have fun. Unfortunately, we lost our first game, but there will be plenty more. I went 0 for 3, was hit by a pitch, and scored a run. Awesome.

In other news, I have taken a second writing position with The Examiner, but on the National page, so I should see a little more traffic to my articles. I'll be writing about the TV show, The Big Bang Theory, on CBS. I've written a first article as sort of an introduction to the show and how I expect it to increase its viewership over the next year. Here's the first bit and the link to the rest. Cheers.

There was a time when every station boasted a decent lineup of comedic shows, and NBC was king with the likes of Seinfeld, Friends, Scrubs and Frasier. Though the times have changed and viewership has waned, there is still a demand for sit-coms. NBC continues to promote their Thursday night lineup as Comedy Night Done Right. And while it may win in the battle of numbers, switching to an unheard of 6 sit-com lineup, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory is the best sit-com on television today. Continue reading on Examiner.com

New Boots and New Job!

Yesterday was full of excitement. Scott put in a full day beginning with a trip to the auto-mechanic for a check up on the Neon. A fuse had gone out and so his dashboard lights and rear running lights had not been working. Thankfully all was easily fixed. Although the fix was easy the trip to the mechanics was a bit timelier. Because I worked in the morning Scott drove by himself to the shop and decided not to wait and so he walked home. I don't know the distance in miles, but it took him a good hour and half. It was long enough to make me feel really bad for not getting up early and taking him before work. Then on the way home from work last night the fuse went out again - not cool Neon!

After picking up the Neon I found a new fun pair of Rocket Dog boots and a huge plus - they were on clearance!! Woo-hoo. But to the more exciting news . . . Scott got a full time position at Costco! He has been working a part time shift in marketing/membership for the past year or so and yesterday he was offered a full time position. Besides the benefit of full time status he will have a very regular schedule, 5am to 1pm, which he seems to be very excited about.

In addition to fixing cars, working and doing homework I had an internship interview for a local NGO, ECTA International. The position is a communications internship where I would be advocating their programs focusing on the use of social media, such as twitter, facebook, and blogging. I am crossing my fingers that I get the position. I think it would be a great addition to my spring term line up of things to do. Plus the organization is great. It is a small NGO working with rural communities in India. You can read some of their stories on their website, http://www.ecta-international.org/.

Okay - it is Friday and the start of a busy weekend filled to the brim with paper writing. I have three papers to complete by the end of the quarter. Just in case you are curious, the first is a comparison of the development of the Central African Republic and Iraq. The second will be a review essay of articles discussing the creation of the most recent Afghan constitution. The third paper I have not quite finalized, but I am thinking I am going to look at the challenge of educating internally displaced people due to conflict or natural disaster.

Now, back to writing about the CAR.