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November 30, 2006

Job Offer!

It's funny the way things work out.

I've been applying for jobs working with state legislators. I've pursued every opening that I've heard of and gone after the newly elected legislators as well. And while I wait for that process to work out I've been getting some experience interning for a sitting state rep.

So today I go in to my internship and the legislator takes me out to lunch (a nice gesture, I thought, for the work I've been doing). It turns out that his current aide had to give notice for personal reasons and he offered the job to me!

I haven't officially accepted (I wanted to take a day or two to let it sink in), but there's really no reason that I wouldn't accept this job. Sure, it could be more prestigious working for the new governor's administration, but that was a long-shot at best and even if I did get hired I'd probably be at the low end of the totem pole in whatever office I was working. Working as an aide to a state rep I'd be given a good bit of responsibility and have a wide set of duties. And after two years I'd be in a better position to springboard to something bigger.

Before I officially accept I'm going to at least check in with the legislator with whom I already interviewed and give him the courtesy of knowing what's going on. Unfortunately his office has been delayed in their hiring process because his outgoing aide hasn't gotten a start date yet for her new job. I also have two interviews scheduled for next week. I'll have to get in touch with those incoming legislators and cancel.

Oh, and the other exciting thing is that this job starts pretty much ASAP, as opposed to the others which wouldn't start until January. Gotta love a paycheck.

Posted by Daniel at 11:39 PM | Comments (4)

November 29, 2006

Site note

I've been getting an inordinate amount of comment spam recently. I tried altering the cgi file but that didn't help. So I've installed a plug-in that turns comments off on entries that are over 3 weeks old. I honestly don't think this will be a huge inconvenience for anyone who reads this site. Most comment activity usually takes place within a few days of an entry being posted, anyway.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog-reading...

Posted by Daniel at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2006

I'm just a bill

Today I drafted my first bill!

While I'm in the process of job hunting (2 interviews scheduled for next week, a few more people I've been talking to about jobs), I have also been interning part-time at the office of a state rep who I've known since last summer.

A little background info: Massachusetts has 2-year terms for all state legislators and as such the legislative sessions are also 2-year terms, starting when elected officials are sworn in and ending the day before that happens again. The filing deadline for bills is shortly before the end of the legislative session, which has been coming up.

The Rep I'm working with has accumulated over the last 2 years a list of possible bill ideas and he wants to work through them before the term is over. Right now he has about 40 and wants to pare that down to 10 or so to actually develop and submit. So I'm working as a researcher to help him with that process. It certainly can't hurt to get state house experience, considering I'm angling for a job in the state house.

The bill I've been working on is modeled on a local ordinance in Provincetown, MA that offers property tax breaks to landlords who rent units to low-income families at reduced rates. Basically it solves the problem of there not being enough affordable housing while being more affordable than the voucher system that currently exists.

So I've done a few days of research on the bill and we have it at a point where we know the broad strokes but have yet to iron down the details (how is low-income status measured? how are the rental rates set? how much is the incentive?). Regardless, today I was tasked to write a first draft of the bill and include footnotes outlining the different options we've considered. This way the Rep can take what we have and start discussing it with other interested parties and legislators and get some feedback.

So really it's a small thing but I was very excited to be drafting my first piece of legislation.

Posted by Daniel at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2006

Very cool feature

I have to say that as frustrated as I am with what Verizon does to their phones, I'm' really impressed with Motorola's voice dialing. My last phone had to be trained if you wanted to just say "Call Matthew" and have it work. This phone requires no training and works really well. Bravo.

Posted by Daniel at 11:35 PM | Comments (1)

November 15, 2006

No one has a clue

The last time a Democrat was a first-term governor of Massachusetts was in 1979 (Ed King, serving between Dukakis' first and second terms). So it's really been almost 27 years since there was a Democrat in charge of the transition into the corner office of the state house.

The result of that dry spell is that right now no one knows how this works. I know a lot of people who are pretty plugged in to state politics, but they are as clueless as everyone else when it comes to the timetable and protocol for what's going on right now.

The reason this effects me is because I'm looking for a job, and everything is in transition, but no one knows how, so they can't quite tell me who I need to be talking to or how long this will all take. Additionally, even the offices that everyone is familiar with - state legislative seats - are also in flux because there will be appointments, but again no one knows when or who.

So the job hunt continues...

Posted by Daniel at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006

RAZR-ific

After a few days and many voiding of my warranties, I have now been able to turn my Verizon-crippled phone into one that does 99% of the things I want it to. I have all of my ringtones, some non-standard graphics, and have re-activated some features that Verizon doesn't want me to use (for example, notification if I'm roaming... they'd rather have me talk for hours at a higher rate and not know it.).

Oh, and so far I get pretty good service everywhere my old phone used to cut out (like my apartment). Not that I got a new cell phone to make calls or anything...

Posted by Daniel at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2006

Post-election recap

Work and life (and general apathy towards the blog) kept me from posting since about two months ago after the primary, but now that all of the elections are over I have a little more time on my hands, so I'll fill you in.

As you all may have heard, the Democrats won a few elections on Tuesday. I, however, spent the day volunteering for the only Democrat in the country who didn't win. It was a state rep campaign in a district that has always been Republican and we lost by 2%, which in this race meant around 300 votes.

I couldn't stay too depressed, though, because Deval Patrick is my new governor and we took the US house and senate!

And now that the elections are over and done with, I'm on to bigger and better things. Well, I hope I'm on to something soon, at least. I've already started the job hunt and had a few interviews in recent weeks. I met with an incumbent state rep who is looking for a new aide and I met with a progressive lobbyist who's looking for an associate. The aide job is still looking promising. I know they want to bring me back for another interview, but they aren't sure when yet. The lobbyist job won't work out. The guy liked me a lot but he wants someone who's committed to putting the next decade into the job, and that's not me right now. He did give me a few contacts for other opportunities, though, and I'm pursuing them.

I also have some loose ends to tie off at the old place. Things like disconnecting phone lines, processing payrolls, etc. Not too exciting, but enough to give me a few more weeks of paid work, at least.

I feel like I should be working to get a job in the Deval Patrick administration, but right now I just don't know who to talk to for that. I'm working my connections, but things are still in the early stages of the transition, so I think it's a matter of staying on top of things and waiting to hear about what's going on.

And hey, if nothing works out there are always about 30 new Democratic congressmen who will be staffing up in DC...

Posted by Daniel at 01:14 AM | Comments (1)

Bit the bluetooth bullet

Today I am the proud owner of a Verizon RAZR V3m. So far it works perfectly with iSync (for contacts and calendar) and gets good reception in my apartment. I haven't been able to get a good file transfer going, but there are some tricks to work around it that I'm trying. I've only been successful with sending myself a ring tone in a text message, but those will cost me $0.25 each, so I'm trying to figure out how to just do a regular transfer.

I have 15 days to play around with the phone and the service, and if I don't feel like there's a marked improvement in reception, then I may well go try something else. But so far I'm pretty content (and enjoying playing with my new toy!)

Posted by Daniel at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2006

Cellular Indecision

My contract with Cingular has finally ended, and I am free to change carriers and get a new phone. However, I'm finding myself very torn.

First off, the problems with Cingular and my current phone are:
1. Poor, patchy reception throughout Boston, especially at home. Frequently dropped calls.
2. The screen on the phone isn't working properly and is difficult to read.

So my options are as follows:
1. Switch to Verizon
2. Switch to Sprint
3. Stay with Cingular, get new phone

Let's look at the pros and cons of each -

1. Switch to Verizon
Pros:
- Best reception in Boston
Cons:
- Poor phone selection
- They cripple much of the native technology in the phones. For example, if I get a RAZR (the one I'm leaning towards), then I can't transfer files, pictures, ringtones, etc between the phone and my computer. Verizon wants you to pay them to use their services. There are ways to hack the phone and get around some of these issues, but they're pretty complicated and I would run the risk of breaking the phone.

2. Switch to Sprint
Pros:
- Good reception, from what I've heard from friends.
- Nights automatically start at 7pm
Cons:
- Similar proprietary UI issues as Verizon, though slightly less so.

3. Stay with Cingular
Pros:
- Cheap upgrade to a new phone (actually less expensive than buying a new phone and service from one of the other providers by ~$75).
- Many phones to choose from.
- Full functionality of phones
- Nights starting at 7pm is available option
- Rollover minutes
Cons:
- Frustratingly bad reception.
- Frequently dropped calls
- Pretty poor customer service experiences in the past

As far as service plans go, they're all pretty much the same (with the exception of 7pm nights and rollover minutes), so that's not really a factor. My main requirement for the phone is that it works well as a phone. I don't care about the camera or games. I do want a phone that has bluetooth and syncs with iSync.

I'm also kind of entertaining the notion of getting a crackberry or some other smartphone. Verizon has a deal on the Motorola Q and if I stayed with Cingular I could get a Treo or similar phone for about $25 through Amazon if I get a new 2-year contract with them. But really, it's not something I need, especially when you consider the fact that the additional data plan will add about $40/month to my bill.

So what do people think? What should I do? Any experience or advice?

Posted by Daniel at 09:51 PM | Comments (1)