A Lefty Writes

Yes, I'm still alive.

Usually, after a long hiatus from posting, I'll talk about how busy I've been and list some of the many things that have precluded any posts. I'll then apologize profusely for being so lazy and promise to try harder from now on. So pretend that just happened and we can move on.

On a random note, was it Gwen or Ben who had the Mormons mail me a DVD about the redeeming power of Christ?

I lied. I will talk about what I've been doing. (No apologies, though.) First, there were the high holidays. I went to synagogue, ate, prayed, didn't eat, prayed some more, and then it was over. So Happy New Year, I forgive you all, etc.

My family came to visit last weekend. I hadn't seen them since... (when? December?) yeah, December (I think). We spent the weekend trying to stay out of the rain. I get to see them again in a month when I head to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. Now that I'm on the east coast, I hope to make family visits a bit more frequent.

I also got to briefly see Ari and Elana, who were in town for the weekend. Glad to have them back stateside and I hope to make it to Philadelphia to visit them sometime in the near future.

This week I've made a list of things I have to do, ranging from registering my car (done today) to buying Bonnie a wedding present (you get a year, right?). I've also been running other various errands. Nothing terribly exciting, but it's nice to be getting done with these things that have been piling up for a while.

I've also been meaning to update my photo section, so hopefully I'll do that in the next day or two.

On the job front, I'm waiting to hear from MA's newest State Senator about a staff position. She's currently in her transitional period, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have more information about that. I'm still keeping my eyes open for other opportunities, though.

And... that's it for now. I know there have been other things that I've been meaning to write about, so if I remember any of them, I'll try to jot them down this time. And if not, then you get to hear about how much laundry I get done tomorrow.

Posted by Daniel at 05:04 PM | Comments (5)

Ah, awake and refreshed. Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself.

As far as work is concerned, I've been speaking with my former candidate about working on her staff. (I can say that out loud now without jinxing the election.) I think there's definitely a possibility that will work out, though I won't know anything for sure for a while and the job wouldn't start for at least a month or so.

In the meantime, I'll be keeping my eyes open for other employment opportunities but also taking the month of October to basically finish moving in. I'm working on a long list of things I need to do/buy/see/etc that I'll work through over the next few weeks.

I'll also probably do some volunteering for some of the municipal elections in Somerville. Nothing as intense as what I did for the Jehlen campaign... just a bit of canvassing or phone calls once in a while.

Posted by Daniel at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

We won. Finaly unoffical results something like 57% us/ 43% them.

I'm going to sleep now.

Posted by Daniel at 10:21 PM | Comments (2)

Flurry of activity today. Last month I spent the entire day in one precinct getting out the vote. This time I'm running all over the district doing anything and everything. I took over for a poll checker whose car broke down. I did data entry at HQ.

It doesn't feel at all like 2:30, probably because I've been awake since before 5am. I got about two hours of sleep last night - which makes a noticeable difference - but I'm still pretty wiped.

Victory party tonight should be fun. I'm definitely looking forward to a beer...

Oh, and I forgot to mention; the weather is absolutely gorgeous today. Of course last election day it was overcast and rainy and I was outside all day. Today it's clear, cool and beautiful and I've spent much of the day in a windowless basement room doing data entry.

Posted by Daniel at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

Last Friday I had a US Congressman in my car!

Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) held a fundraiser for our campaign, before which he and Pat stood in Medford Square waving to cars and holding signs. After the stand-out I had the priviledge of driving the Congressman to the restaurant where the fundraiser was being held. Does it make me a total dork to think that's kind of cool?

He's quite a character, too. I got to hear a lot of stories about when he first ran for congress nearly 30 years ago. (He's been in Congress for 29 years and was first elected at age 27. What have you done with your life?) What's was also interesting was that half the people who he mentioned that worked on his various campaigns are now state legislators.

The general election is tomorrow and we're pretty confident of victory. It hasn't been quite as insane leading up to this one as it was with the primary. (This is a good thing.) I also may get some sleep tonight, which would be a nice change from last time.

Posted by Daniel at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

I'm very interested to hear what the President has to say tonight, because in recent days he's been sounding less and less like himself.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."

"To spread a vision of hope, the United States is determined to help nations that are struggling with poverty. We are committed to the Millennium Development goals. This is an ambitious agenda that includes cutting poverty and hunger in half, ensuring that every boy and girl in the world has access to primary education, and halting the spread of AIDS -- all by 2015."

"I call on all the world's nations to implement the Monterrey Consensus."
(The Monterrey Consensus puts a developed nation's financial commitment to helping poor countries at 0.7% of GDP.)

"The United States is ready to eliminate all tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to free flow of goods and services as other nations do the same."

Who are you and where did you put our president?

Posted by Daniel at 06:54 AM | Comments (4)

I spent today at the State House volunteering for MassEquality. Today was the 2nd Constitutional Convention, where the legislature was voting for a second time on a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman while allowing civil unions. (The rules here for an amendment is that before it's put on the ballot for the people it must get a majority of votes in 2 joint sessions of the state legislature in successive years.)

At the first Con/Con last year the amendment barely passed, but this year it was defeated with only 39 'yes' votes. In part that was because there's another amendment proposal coming down the pipeline to ban same sex marriage without any civil union allowance, so some who would have supported today's version decided to wait.

Massachusetts has been allowing same sex marriages for 18 months now, since the Supreme Judicial Court ruling came down in the Goodrich decision last year. Many legislators who voted FOR the amendment last year (and against gay marriage) changed their minds this year because since SSM became legal "the sky has not fallen, and the sun still shines over Massachusetts." So basically they've seen all of the positive effects that have come about but none of the negative predictions that some have used to argue against it.

Being at the State House, surrounded by people for whom this ruling is more than just a matter of principle, was very moving. There were tears during some of the legislators' speeches. When the final vote was announced, the pure, exultant jubilation in the room was deafening. For so many today was an affirmation of who they are, and this state's elected officials took a stand and said that they would not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Outside the capitol when I was holding signs there were two elderly gentlemen nearby. They had a sign that said "Together for 50 years, married for one." On the reverse were pictures dating back to when they met in 1955.

As many said at the State House, the fight isn't over and there's work to be done. But today is certainly something to celebrate.

Posted by Daniel at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

The federal government took its sweet time getting relief efforts to New Orleans, but when it comes to awarding contracts to cronies, not a spare second is wasted.

Bush may not have predicted that the levees would give way, but I think pretty much everyone saw this coming.

Posted by Daniel at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)

I just got around to updating my 101 in 1001 list. I've managed to get through a few more over the past months.

Unfortunately, I find myself in something of a pickle. A good few of my goals were rather geography-specific. I wrote them a year ago, when moving from Los Angeles was about the furthest thing on my mind. So odds are I'm not going to make to some of the San Diego or LA landmarks. I also hoped to visit friends who have been living abroad, but I wasn't able to make it before they moved. Some returned back to the States and another just changed abroad locations.

So I guess I'll try to get through as many as I can over the next few years. I'm about 20% finished in ~30% of the time, so I'd better get moving.

Posted by Daniel at 09:28 PM | Comments (2)

The average American has one testicle.

Think about it.

Posted by Daniel at 11:07 AM | Comments (4)

I've become quite frustrated with my cell phone recently. Well, it's not so much my phone that's an issue, but the quality of reception that I've been getting. Basically, Cingular isn't all that hot in Boston. Verizon seems to be the company with the best coverage (friends with Verizon phones get good signals where I get none).

However, I'm stuck in the middle of a 2-year contract with Cingular. I tried calling Verizon to see if they had any financial incentives for me to switch, but according to the sales rep I spoke with they absolutely do not. Heck, at this point if they offered to waive the $20 start-up fee I'd probably go for it.

I can't drive from work to home without getting disconnected at least twice, nor can I travel any other distance in the city or outlying areas for more than 5 miles without losing the signal. It's less of an issue that I get pathetic reception at home because I have the forwarding charger that sends all calls to my land line, but I still can't easily make outgoing calls on my cell.

Within a few weeks/months I'll probably suck it up, pay the $150 and make the change... that is if Verizon has any phones I like.

Posted by Daniel at 02:14 PM | Comments (2)

I want one.

Posted by Daniel at 03:07 PM | Comments (3)

US! That's right, Pat Jehlen is the democratic nominee for State Senate in the Second Middlesex district of Massachussetts.

Sorry I didn't get to post last night when it happened. I got home around 11:30 after being awake for about 40 hours straight. I hadn't quite hit the halucinogenic stage, but I think I was getting close.

Election day went very well (obviously). In my precinct we had about 500 ballots cast and received just under 50% of the vote. I spent most of the day running around the precinct knocking on doors and making sure our supporters made it to the polls.

Based on the unofficial results we won by over 2,000 votes out of about 18,000. I was surprised that the turnout was so high. The weather was pretty crappy, drizzly all day. But fortunately there were no big downpours.

And now... well, it's another month of campaigning. There is a republican challenger. He won't win, but he's known and liked in the district so we definitely need to have a campaign (can't quite coast through it). Fortunately I think it should be a bit less intense than the primary campaign.

Today I slept in (way in) and have watched some tv. It feels very, very nice to be able to relax.

Posted by Daniel at 11:48 AM | Comments (1)

It's currently about 4am. I've just finished prepping everything I'll need tomorrow for election day. Unfortunately, I have to be at HQ in two hours, so I don't think I'll actually be sleeping tonight.

So let's see... Sunday I woke up around 9:30 pacific (12:30 eastern). Since then I've slept about 4 hours, give or take, and it'll be another 18+ hours until I'll have the opportunity to get some rest.

Today should certainly be interesting.

Posted by Daniel at 12:57 AM | Comments (1)

I'm 24 hours into LA and having a very difficult time leaving the campaign behind me. I've been checking all the blogs and comments to make sure no one is getting away with any blatant smears, and I even called the office a few times yesterday to check on something.

Being in LA is... surreal? (I'm Ron Burgundy?) I've only been gone for a little over two months, so very little seems different here (other than Afsheen and Gwen living in a different apartment and Matthew has new office furniture). But at the same time so much has been going on in my life in Boston that I feel like I've been gone longer than that and more things should have changed here.

I hadn't been questioning my move at all, but being back here has solidified even more that it was the right thing to do. Yes, I still have friends here that I miss and wish I could see more often, but aside from that my time in LA was finished. At least for the forseeable future.

... of course, ask me again where I want to be living when it's 12 degrees and snowing in Boston.

Posted by Daniel at 09:56 AM | Comments (1)

In 15 minutes I'm off to the airport for a 4-day weekend in LA. I don't have much time to write about how tired I am right now or how much I'm looking forward to this trip. I can't believe September is nearly here.

Anyways, I'm taking the redeye back sunday night, arriving Monday morning and probably not sleeping until the election is over on Tuesday. So the next 6-7 days should really be quite interesting...

Posted by Daniel at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

Things I've been neglecting over the past couple of weeks:
- Bills (none of them overdue... yet)
- Laundry (underwear status is critical)
- Phone Calls (sorry Mom, Danielle, Matthew, Gwen, & Jason)
- TiVo (Not that the dozen season 1&2 episodes of X-Files really need to be watched, but...)

Life certainly isn't going to get simpler over the next two weeks. The primary election is August 30th, so the campaign will only get more intense until then. To top it off, I have a friend coming into town next weekend and then I'm going to LA for four days during the following weekend (which happens to be right before the election).

As I've said, I'm working quite a bit lately, mostly 10-12 hour days M-F and another couple of hours on the weekends. I've also gone out of town over the past two weekends. I was down in NY for a night last weekend and then on the Cape yesterday. Fortunately I've been able to take some time tonight to catch up on laundry, bills, and TiVo.

The campaign is going well. I'll be happy to write in more detail about what I've been doing once the primary is over. But I've been busy working and in the process meeting good people and making good impressions. Anyways, at the very least I'm feeling good that maybe down the road someone will know someone who will have a cousin who can help me get a job.

So that's it for now. Sorry it isn't more exciting. I'll try to post more regularly, but no promises... at least for a few weeks.

Posted by Daniel at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

Yeah, I've been busy, and unfortunately I don't have the time to update at length now. But you know it's bad when my friends are commenting on my lack of posts and my parents are calling me worried that I've vanished because I haven't called, emailed OR posted!

Life is good; work is going well; things are hectic, but in that energized, good sort of way. Hopefully on Sunday night I'll have a few minutes to talk more about what's been going on.

Oh, and I never found my ATM card, but I did get a new one, so all is well with the world.

Posted by Daniel at 04:31 PM | Comments (1)

I seem to have misplaced my ATM card. I had it yesterday when I went to the ATM but couldn't find it today. There are no unknown charges to my account, so I imagine I just misplaced it. It'll be a pain to get a new one, though... I was just getting used to my PIN.

Posted by Daniel at 09:00 PM | Comments (3)

I just got my own campaign email address today! If you have anything to email me in regards to Pat Jehlen's run for state senate, you should direct the email to daniel@patjehlen.org.

Things are going well. We had an even on Monday with Robert Reich, who's an amazing speaker. I really wish I'd taken a class with him at Brandeis when I had the chance. I've also had a chance to meet and network with other people involved with state politics. No lucrative job offers as of yet, but hopefully someone will know someone who knows someone down the road who will be a good person to know.

Other than that, I got my apartment put together more over the weekend. The bedroom now feels like a room where one would want to spend time. Now if only I had any significant amount of time to spend in my apartment...

Posted by Daniel at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)

Geez, I haven't updated in a while. Been quite busy with the campaign. In addition to my usual duties of calling and canvassing, I've been given additional projects to oversee, which is awesome. I'm also one of the few volunteers who's been asked to attend all of the staff meetings. So basically this is all going really well. 40 days until the election and lots to do between now and then.

Oh, and if anyone in the area is interested in attending a campaign event hosted by Robert Reich next monday (July 25th) email me for details. We're looking to get as many people there as possible.

It's been hot as hell this week (80's and 90's and super-humid), which has made canvassing something of a chore. I've taken to bringing an extra t-shirt to work in case I have to change after walking around sweating for 3 hours.

I read the new Harry Potter book last weekend. Definitely worth my time, and I can't wait for the seventh (and final) installment. This book, unlike the previous five, felt like more of a set-up and less of a stand-alone story, but it was still really good. I won't say any more here in case anyone reading this hasn't gotten through the book yet.

I can't believe July is nearly over. The time is really flying.

Posted by Daniel at 02:19 PM | Comments (1)

I spoke with Bob last night and he was surprisingly gracious, agreeing to refund a large portion of the money... HA!

Just kidding. In fact, I started the conversation rather calm, hoping to understand why our charges were so severe in comparison to Matthew's. After I questioned him on a few specifics he got suddenly defensive and irate and asked me "who do you think you are, you son of a bitch?"

The problem with talking to Bob is that you can't ever get him to stay on topic. He rambles from one thing to the next and it's impossible to respond to anything because by the time you can get a word in he's already three topics ahead of you. I didn't initially rise to the bait of his name-calling, and I asked him to do me the courtesy of not insulting me while I was asking him for justification. But things went downhill from there.

He basically told me that Afsheen and I had "trashed" the apartment, called me an "arrogant, self-centered slob" and said I could take him to small-claims court if I wanted to. I responded that no, I knew that we had no legal recourse and that it wasn't worth my time. I said that in the end I was only sorry for having been gracious and complimentary when he was parading potential tenants through the building while I was still there. Then after a few more expletives from him I said that he was just petty, vindictive, and bitter and that I had nothing more to say. Then I hung up the phone.

So in the end nothing has changed as far as the finances are concerned, but I sure do feel better about it all. I was surprised by how quickly he got defensive, and it gave me a nice sense of satisfaction that by simply questioning him I was able to get him to go off the handle like that. I'm still looking into organizations with whom I can lodge a formal complaint, if only to save someone else the hassle of having to deal with him.

Posted by Daniel at 10:32 AM | Comments (1)

For those of you who read this who don't approve of occasional foul language, you might not want to read this post.

Afsheen went through our old apartment with our former landlord recently. This is the landlord who charged our roommates a total of $75 out of their security deposit above the normal fee that he charges for cleaning.

We knew that there would be charges for some of the damage that our pets had wrought unto the apartment. There were some screens and blinds in particular that would have to be repaired or replaced.

But apparently our landlord, Bob, has a huge vendetta and decided that he was going to take his anger (at what? who knows...) out on us. When all was said and done he's charging us a total of around $1600 for repairs to the apartment. Some of the charges are valid, such as the pet damage and some of the more signigicant holes in the walls, but others, such as holes from hanging paintings, are absurd. Our next door neighbors hung paintings but weren't charged for spackling the walls or repainting. We, on the other hand, have to deal with multiple charges for pictures holes and painting to be done.

He's griped repeatedly about how he should have charged the other apartment more for their damage, but instead of doing that at the time, it appears that he's going to be taking a pound of our flesh instead. And sadly there's really very little to be done about it. The wording is vague when it comes to the state's guidelines on "reasonable" expenses. However, that's not going to stop me from calling him later this week (after the money we did get back clears, of course) and giving him a piece of my mind.

Posted by Daniel at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

I've finallly posted pictures of my apartment. I'm still settling in but I feel like I've gotten quite a bit done and now it's just a matter of some final details before the place is completely put together.

I've yet to wake up here feeling completely rested, but I'm also working weird hours, so I go to sleep later than I should and sleep in as well, which is never a recipe for feeling refreshed first thing in the morning. I think it'll also just be a matter of time.

The cats are definitely adjusting. I feel bad because they have less room to run around than they did in LA, and I'm not home as much as I was there either, but I think they're doing okay. They have gotten into the annoying habit of playing in my clothes drawers and have covered my shirts with cat hair (as well as put a few holes in an old sweater).

There are still things I need to buy, like a coffee table and a dining room table. I may take a trip to Ikea this weekend to see what they have. I also need more storage, so I'm looking for a good drawer/shelf unit. I'm not in a huge rush, but it'll be nice to finally get rid of my last remaining boxes.

Posted by Daniel at 07:35 AM | Comments (0)

Last night the campaign had a meeting for the key staff and volunteers so that we could all familiarize ourselves with the campaign strategy and plan. Additionally, I've been given a bit more responsibility now. I'm not going to write specifically what it is here, and it's certainly not a huge deal, but basically I have my own slice of the campaign to keep track of and manage from now until the primary. So things are definitely going well here. I'm still making phone calls and canvassing most of the time, but I at least now feel like I'm getting more responsibility, which makes me happy.

In other news, I had a good 4th. Aliza and I went downtown for the day and watched the fireworks from the Mass Ave bridge. The Boston fireworks show is spectacular and definitely has to be seen up close as opposed to on tv or from a distant rooftop. And now I'm just spending the rest of the week working on the campaign.

Posted by Daniel at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

As I may have mentioned before, I get crappy cell reception in my apartment because it's underground. However, cingular offers a charger/base that will automatically forward calls to your land line when your cell is plugged into it.

I went and bought this charger yesterday, but after setting it up and plugging it in I learned that it will only forward calls to local numbers (eg not to a 617 number from my 323 number). I'd been putting off changing my cell number, in part because I wanted to make sure people could still reach me and also because it was my last vestige of LA life. But in order to make this forwarding thing work I figured it was time to go ahead and change my number.

I called cingular from home to have them do it, but was then told that they'd have to change my SIM card which was easier to to at a local store. Fortunately, there's one just a few blocks from my apartment. So I went yesterday to have them change my number. That's when things got crappy. In order to change my number, I had to re-sign up with Cingular. That meant re-choosing my plan. Unfortunately, my plan is no longer offered in this market. So I had to choose between a less expensive plan with fewer minutes and a more expensive plan with more minutes. At this point I was frustrated by having to choose a new plan so I went with the less expensive one. It's not a huge loss in minutes and I certainly didn't feel like giving them any more of my money at that point. And to top it off, the guy helping me (and I use the term lightly) was kind of a dick.

Long story short (too late) the forwarding base that I got doesn't even work correctly. It's having issues connecting with my phone. So I'm going to return that and get another one, and if that doesn't work I'm going to try and get a new phone out of them. But I'm certainly not too hopeful that they'll be any more helpful than they were yesterday.

Posted by Daniel at 03:16 PM | Comments (1)

I've been looking for podcasts to listen to during the commute to and from work. Anyone have any suggestions?

Posted by Daniel at 07:07 AM | Comments (4)

Today after the usual afternoon of phoning seniors, I had the pleasure of heading out of the office for a few hours and going to a nearby fireworks show to handout flyers and talk up my candidate. I have to admit that it was definitely great to get out of the office and meet people face to face without knocking on their doors. It certainly feels less invasive to hand out a flyer than to phone someone or visit them at home.

There were also volunteers there representing some of the other key primary candidates, which was a bit bizarre. The main part of this race is going to be the primary and there are 4 serious democratic candidates. Of those four, I could easily see myself working for two of them (the other two are a bit too conservative for my taste), but at the same time we're all still democrats and more or less on the same side. However, while at this event working in the same area as these other campaigns, I found myself seeing them as the enemy. I was still quite polite, of course, and spent a few minutes speaking to the other campaigns, but I still felt very competitive around them and extremely loyal to my candidate. So to summarize, primaries are weird, because you're pitted against people that you really don't disagree with all that much.

Even though I didn't get home tonight until nearly midnight, today was really an awesome day and definitely left me feeling charged for this campaign.

Posted by Daniel at 08:54 PM | Comments (1)

I learned today that reading on the T is not the best idea...

I've taken 2 advil and now I'm hoping that lunch will fix my head.

Posted by Daniel at 10:03 AM | Comments (5)

Here are the highlights from my very first day as an (unpaid) political operative -

- I made nearly 200 phone calls over the course of about 5+ hours
- One woman didn't want to put her husband on the phone because, being from Italy, he wasn't interested in local politics. However, after I broke out some of my rarely-used Italian I had both of them pledging to support my candidate.
- I had one woman ask me to relay a message to Representative Jehlen regarding a bill dealing with state coverage of expenses for hearing aids, because her husband is hard of hearing and they have a difficult time paying for the hardware. This conversation was actually really memorable because I felt like I was actually connecting with a local voter and hearing about an issue that's important to her family. And really, that's kind of what this is all about.

I also helped map out some canvassing routes during the day, which was a nice break from phone calls. So I'd say my first day was a success, and I'm heading back tomorrow!

Posted by Daniel at 06:59 PM | Comments (3)

I have a (nonpaying volunteer) job! I start monday working for the campaign of Pat Jehlen. I'll hopefully be doing everything there is to do, from phone banks to canvassing to office work. The election's in a couple of months so I'm planning to spend that time doing this and then I'll see where it leads.

CORRECTION: I fixed the link... I had made it .com instead of .org.

Posted by Daniel at 08:14 PM | Comments (8)

First and foremost, I got my car back today. So that's good.

Additionally, I attended my first political event! I went to a fundraiser for a local state senate candidate and met with her and some of her campaign staff. She seems like an excellent candidate and the campaign staff said they'd love to have me work for free for the next couple of months, so it looks like I have something to do, which is awesome. I hope to be able to start volunteering next week.

Of course, that gives me until next week (how is it already Friday???) to finish unpacking and organizing my apartment. I still have a lot of boxes of books and misc stuff. But the important stuff is done (aka internet, cable, and TiVo). Oh, and I still need to go grocery shopping. I've eaten nothing but cereal for three days straight now. (Well, not really. I had a sandwich yesterday.)

Posted by Daniel at 08:05 PM | Comments (2)

Sofa! Bed! Dishes! TV!!! I have an apartment full of stuff!

The truck arrived today, a little late but not like in LA, and within an hour it was unloaded and on its way, and now begins the task of putting my apartment together. (Big thanks to Aliza and Josh for helping me carry everything!)

The living room is arranged pretty well and the cable guy is coming tomorrow. Elsewhere, my bed is assembled (but not made), my dishes are in the dishwasher, and I still don't have a clue where I'm going to be hanging most of my pictures. The place is starting to feel very cozy. Once I've unpacked more and it isn't full of empty boxes, I'll take some pics for everyone.

Oh, and happy birthday to Aliza! (Yes, she helped me move boxes on her birthday... am I a lucky guy or what?!?)

Posted by Daniel at 02:02 PM | Comments (1)

Today I rode the T for the first time.
Well, the first time since I got here a week ago, at least.

Aliza and I went for a long walk this evening into downtown Boston. I never before realized just how small this city is. Within the span of less than 2 hours we walked from Cleveland Circle to Copley, Newbury St., and wandered around downtown for a while. It was a long walk to be sure, but really only covered maybe 6 or 7 miles. Still we got through a large part of the city.

I guess I never realized it during college because it was at least larger than the Brandeis campus, and now the contrast is all the more striking because LA is so damn big. I feel like the LA equivalent of this trek in terms of townships would be walking from West Hollywood through Westwood to Santa Monica and back, and that would take a whole lot longer than 2 hours...

Posted by Daniel at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)

I've seen two movies this weekend. Aliza and I went to "Batman Begins" on Friday, and it was awesome. Absolutely great. Then last night we went out with a friend of hers to see Saving Face. It was a cute movie about chinese lesbians in new york dealing with cultural issues, etc. But it was pretty good and hey, it had lesbians. (Jason, I highly recommend you see this movie.)

I got my car back yesterday, but something still isn't quite right with it. It doesn't stall any more, which is a very good thing, but there's still some hesitation on the accelerator, which gets frustrating. I'm going to take it in to a dealership service place this week and hopefully they can figure out what the problem is.

Other than that, not too much going on. My furniture should arrive in two days (yay!) and right now I have internet because a new unprotected network popped up that wasn't there two days ago (4 bars!). The cats are still warming to the place, though they still spend quite a bit of time sleeping under the blankets on my air-mattress bed. I've been trying to make sure that within the business of moving in I still make time to sit with them and give them attention.

Oh, and I also got air conditioning! Of course, since I got it the temperature hasn't gone above 70 so I haven't really needed it yet, but I installed 2 window units and they run well, so once the need arises, we'll be set.

Geez... I've only been here a week and already my blog posts are getting boring. This isn't a good sign. I'm sure that the coming week will bring new and exciting things to write about. Like furniture and cable! Woo Hoo! (No, seriously... I can't wait.)

Posted by Daniel at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

Yesterday the kitties arrived and last night was my first night with them in the new apartment. They're definitely kind of skittish and have spent much of their time there so far sleeping under my blankets. But when they are out and about they seem to be doing okay.

My first night there was a little weird. I had some strange dreams and kept waking up. It was also kind of boring without tv or internet. I had to read, believe it or not. Fortunately I had a few magazines to catch up on. And I was exhausted from picking the cats up at the airport at 6:15 yesterday morning so I didn't stay up too late.

Not much else to report. I opened a bank account today. My car's been in the shop and I'm hoping to get it back this afternoon, but the guy I took it to isn't terribly communicative, so we'll see.

Posted by Daniel at 10:34 AM | Comments (1)

Okay, I've been here for about 48 hours and I've finally posted pictures from the trip.

I think it's finally hit me that I'm actually in Boston and that I've actually moved here and that no, I'm not just in town for a week or so before I head back to LA. It's kind of overwhelming. I'm feeling a very strong urge to get my life together and organized and moved in, which is tough because my belongings don't arrive until next week. But I'm doing what I can in the mean time, running errands and trying to remember my way around the city.

I met up with my college roommate Andy tonight and had dinner with him and a friend, which was fun. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with the people here that I was friends with in college and getting started with the whole social-life thing as well.

And somewhere in there is trying to figure out what to do with myself now that I"m here. Right now I'm leaning towards volunteering for a campaign for a special election for an open seat in the state senate. That would last a couple of months and get me oriented in state politics pretty well, so it sounds promising. I'll start dealing with all of that soon enough.

So that's the news for now. Enjoy the pics!

Posted by Daniel at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post last night. We got into Cleveland late and were ready to just get some sleep.

But I'm happy to report that 4 days and 3375 miles later, we've reached Boston!

The drives of these past two days have been pretty easy and uneventful. We ran into some traffic around Chicago and had to go around, and it was nice to get east of the Mississippi, where the scenery is a bit more varying than in middle America.

It was awesome to get to see Ben (albeit briefly) last night, and also nice to stay somewhere other than a hotel. Today we stopped briefly in Rochester for lunch where I got to see where Jason went to college (RIT) and meet up with a few friends of his for lunch. I also had what was quite possibly the best sub sandwich ever at Dibella's.

And tonight we got into Boston our earliest time yet on the trip... only 10:30! It's a little surreal to actually be here. I can't quite fathom the fact that I'm not getting up in the morning and getting back in the car. But it's very nice to be here and I'm looking forward to getting settled in over the coming weeks. I'll definitely be keeping everyone posted as that occurs.

Pictures to come in a day or two.

Posted by Daniel at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

We let ourselves sleep until 8:30 today since we got in so late last night. Today's drive was far fewer miles, but not quite as easy. Long stretches of nothing and also some windy roads and overly restrictive speed limits in certain areas.

Today's highlights -
- Mount Rushmore! Very cool. Lots of pictures to come.
- Getting stuck behind a cop in Wyoming going exactly the speed limit
- Passing said cop and not getting pulled over
- Driving through South Dakota... a whole lot of nothing
- So many frickin' bugs on the windshield
- Driving through South Dakota leaves me with one less state I have yet to visit.

To answer some questions from yesterday's comments...
No, we didn't eat twice at BK for the toys. In fact, we didn't get toys. I don't for the life of me know why we ate there twice.
Debra, you have nothing to worry about.
Scott, I'm driving with my friend Jason.

Tomorrow's schedule involves getting to Cleveland via Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. 850 miles. 2 more not-yet-visited states.

Posted by Daniel at 10:20 PM | Comments (4)

It's late and we drove for about 17 hours to cover the 1030 miles or so from LA to Denver, so I'll leave you with the highlights -

- A surprise send-off by my crazy friends at 7:30 in the morning.
- Getting pulled over by a Utah cop and not getting ticketed for speeding (because we really weren't...)
- Dinner at Chick-Fil-A
- Lots of awesome scenery
- Getting in and out of Vegas while still ahead (I won $36 playing blackjack at the truck stop).
- Buying new windshield wiper blades that actually work!
- Eating at Burger King not once, but twice.
- Scenic overlooks
- Driving the Vegas Strip

I have tons of pics, but am far too tired to do anything about them now. They probably won't be up until after I get to Boston. I'll try to post another update tomorrow assuming we get free internet wherever we stay. The itinerary for the day includes heading north to Mount Rushmore and then making it to Sioux Falls, SD for the night.

Posted by Daniel at 01:36 AM | Comments (7)

T-minus about 6 hours until I wake up and head out. I wish I had some amazing insight about my time here and the significance of this move and going on to a new phase of my life and blah blah blah.

But when it boils down to it, there's nothing all that profound to say. For whatever reasons, this is the direction I'm headed right now. I don't know if I'll stay in Boston for the next couple of years or the rest of my adult life. I certainly don't know what I'm going to be doing with myself once I'm there. But I'm open to whatever comes.

What I know for sure is that the past 2 1/2 years in LA have been extraordinary. I've solidified old friendships and made new ones, many of which I expect will last well beyond this move. I've discovered quite a bit about myself, ranging from where my passions lie (and don't) to aspects of my character that I didn't even know existed.

It's amazing how 2 1/2 years can simultaneously feel so short and yet be packed with so much. I still don't think this has all really sunk in. But I'm very excited about the next four days on the road and whatever the world has to offer beyond that.

Posted by Daniel at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

The car is mostly packed. All the final details (that I can think of) are taken care of in the apartment. Now it's one more night out with friends and I'm off in the morning.

It's hard to believe it's actually happening. I've been talking about it for a while and thinking about it for a while before that, but still... this is all kind of surreal. I've definitely been dealing with a lot of the sadness of saying goodbye to people, but I don't think the full scale of this has hit me yet.

Maybe once I get to Boston.

Posted by Daniel at 07:53 PM | Comments (1)

the day before D-Day, at least.

Took the cats to the vet this morning for a checkup and travel papers. Frankie, it turns out, has ear mites, which means that they both have to have ear drops applied for a week. Other than that (and the fact that Max is a bit overweight), they're both healthy and ok for travel.

Just a few more errands to run today and then last loads of laundry and packing to do. I can't quite believe that at this time tomorrow I'll be somewhere between here and Las Vegas.

Posted by Daniel at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

Well, as you might have guessed from the 6-month absence of posts, I'm no longer updating this journal. Now that I'm leaving LA and "the industry" there's really no reason to keep this separate blog.

From now on, I'll be posting exclusively at danielglasser.com.

Posted by Daniel at 12:31 AM

Before:

After:

After a long day of waiting for a truck and then a pretty quick loading time, it's done. The vast majority of my earthly possessions are on a truck that will be showing up in Boston in about 2 weeks.

Sitting in my living room, rolling around in a crappy old wheelchair that I bought as a poor man's camera dolly (because we now have no chairs), this is all very surreal. I think the part that made it all more real today wasn't my reaction to loading all of the stuff onto a truck; it was my friends' reactions. Seeing them realize that this is all really happening made it more real for me, and that was pretty sad. Saying goodbye over the next couple of days is going to be very rough.

That being said, I'm very excited for my pending road trip and subsequent arrival in Boston. I know it's going to be frustrating that my stuff's not getting there until about a week after I am. Once I arrive I'll definitely want to start unpacking and getting my life put together.

I have quite a bit to do over the next three days. Many errands to run, addresses to change, etc. It'll probably go quickly.

Posted by Daniel at 09:28 PM | Comments (5)

The moving truck, originally scheduled to be here at noon, is running late. I've spoken with the driver, who hopes to be here in a couple of hours, but I'm not entirely sure when he'll be arriving.

On the plus side, I've had the morning to make sure everything is ready and finish last-minute packing. I've also had a little while to nurse my hangover.

Posted by Daniel at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)

I know it's been forever since I've posted, but I've been understandably busy. I've finished working, started packing, gotten my car checked out and ready for the drive, picked up copies of medical records, done more packing, and yes, more packing after that.

The truck is coming on Sunday to cart all my worldly posessions away, so I have until then to finish everything. I'm not too worried about being ready. I've done 80% of the bedroom, 99% of the kitchen, and am going to spend tomorrow prepping the furniture and large electronics.

It's kind of hard to believe that in less than a week I'll be out of here, but I'm feeling pretty excited about it. Leaving work was bittersweet because I've really liked working with the people there, but at the same time my heart hasn't been in it for a while and I'm looking forward to finding a job that I'm really passionate about. (Still nothing on that front, by the way.)

So that's my life for the past couple of weeks. I'll try and keep up better from now on, but no promises for a little while.

Posted by Daniel at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)

There are times when I know that the words I can come up with here won't do justice to whatever it is I'm trying to convey. This is one of those times.

Tonight I was very surprised to find out that my planned sushi dinner with Jason was, in fact, a pretense for getting me to a surprise party in my honor. Well, in honor of me leaving LA soon.

I have to hand it to Jason - I had no clue. I was completely expecting sushi, but instead I was treated to a very fun evening with friends.

The most difficult part about leaving LA is saying goodbye to the people that I've had the opportunity to meet and know out here. In just a few short years I've managed to surround myself with a great group of people, and while I know it's not goodbye forever, I'm certainly going to miss all of them dearly.

Three weeks from now I'll be somewhere in middle America.

Posted by Daniel at 12:31 AM | Comments (1)

This week has been, well, downright boring. I had a very busy weekend, featuring a baseball game (Braves won!), Disneyland, and seeing a movie with Jason. I even installed a new hard drive in my laptop. (100 gigs, baby!) But since Monday everything's been unusually calm.

It's definitely not going to last. Right now I'm at the lull where I've done all the pre-planning for my move and starting this coming weekend I get to actually begin packing and worrying about all the other details. So I guess I should enjoy the down time while I have it.

Posted by Daniel at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

Today marks one year since my first entry in this blog. In that time I've written 147 posts, received 339 non-spam comments, and had countless people read this page. Well, what's more likely is that a handful of people have read this page countless times. But that's neither here nor there.

A bit of progress on the move - I made the arrangements for No Parking signs to be put up in front of my apartment here for my move. Given that I have an 80-foot truck coming to my street, it's a relief to know that there will be somewhere to put it. I still have to figure out what the situation is for Boston. I haven't yet found the right office to contact.

In other news, I upgraded my computer today. Jason and I replaced my original 40-gig hard drive with a shiny new 100-gig one. This was the first major upgrade I've made to a laptop. Back in the day I did plenty of upgrades to my tower, but this proved a bit more delicate. I'm glad to say that all went smoothly. I also put my old hard drive in a case and made it an external firewire drive. So that should be handy.

Went to the Braves game tonight with Afsheen and Robin. Braves beat the Dodgers 5-1 with 4 home runs. It was a pretty satisfying game. I think this was the first time I saw them here that they've won and I wasn't ashamed to be wearing my braves hat out of the stadium. And if that weren't enough for a weekend, tomorrow I'm off to Disneyland for the day.

So thanks to everyone who reads this for helping me keep it interesting. Plenty more to come in the year ahead, I have no doubt.

Posted by Daniel at 12:05 AM | Comments (1)

I officially have movers. I booked Broadway Express, a well-reviewed self-load moving company to pick up my belongings on the morning of Sunday, June 5th. It's a huge relief to have finished this portion of the planning, but at the same time I feel like I've just cut the head off a Hydra and three more are sprouting up to take its place.

First, I have to worry about access. I need to make sure that when the 75-foot truck comes to my street it will have somewhere to park. So I need to find out which LA office handles temporary no parking signs.

Second, I have to find packing supplies. I've already gotten some boxes from work and friends who have recently moved, but I need to take the time to get tape and bubble wrap and picture boxes and mattress covers and shrink wrap for the furniture, etc, etc. None of this is particularly difficult, but finding the time is challenging these days.

Finally, when all of the logistics are taken care of, I have to actually pack. So I think I'm going to be pretty busy over the next three and a half weeks.

Posted by Daniel at 11:16 PM | Comments (4)

Went to San Diego over the weekend with some friends. We checked out the zoo (another 101 in 1001 item) and spent some time at the beach and around the city. It was a fun trip and felt great to have a full weekend without work. Pics in the gallery

In other news, I've almost got the moving thing sorted out. I'm going to try and book a company in the next day or so, and I'm leaning towards using the self-pack moving company. For a little bit more work I save a significant amount of money, so I think it's worth it.

Also, I had a phone interview today for a fellowship position with a Boston non-profit organization that specializes in health care advocacy. The interview went really well, I think, and the woman I spoke with said they'd contact me in about a week to let me know if I made it to the next round. The position is working specifically on efforts to increase enrollment of eligible children in the Massachusetts health coverage programs. It involves a lot of community outreach as well as campaigns to promote education and awareness. It's a one-year contract and I think it would be a great experience because I'd be exposed to a lot of different facets of the non-profit/government/advocacy world. So I've got my fingers crossed.

Posted by Daniel at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

(I call this part 1 because I'm confident there will be more headaches to come.)

Planning a cross-country move is the biggest pain in the ass ever. The first thing I've learned is that 90% of the moving companies on the internet are scams. I learned this, of course, after receiving quotes from all of them. It was pure luck that I stumbled across movingscam.com, but I'm glad I did because otherwise I might have ended up in trouble down the road.

But now I'm trying to get quotes from reputable movers and discovering that they're all about 50-100% more expensive than the disreputable ones I was first speaking to. So now I'm recalculating exactly whether or not it's worth it to move my stuff as opposed to selling it all and buying new in Boston.

There are also companies that charge you less because they don't do the loading and unloading. You pack the trucks, they drive them, then you unload them. They're about 30-40% cheaper than the full-service movers, but I'll probably be loading my stuff on a weekday, which means I won't have my cadre of friends to help out (silly people with jobs...)

Has anyone who reads this ever done a cross-country move with belongings? When I moved to LA I shipped a few boxes and put the rest in my car. Now that I have furniture it's a whole new ballgame.

Posted by Daniel at 04:37 PM | Comments (5)

Well, I'm back in town, and I had a really good trip.

First, I went to Atlanta for a few days to see Winona. She babysat me starting when I was 1 year old and then babysat my sister later on. She's basically a grandmother to us, and she just turned 90 years old last week. It was really great to see her, and also good to spend a few days with my family.

Then it was up to Boston, where my goal number one (other than seeing my girlfriend, of course) was to get an apartment. And I was successful.

The apartment is still occupied through May - hence the belongings - but it's exactly what I was hoping to find. It's very open, gets lots of light, and has a good amount of space.

I also met with some of my cousin's co-workers during the trip, where I got some (hopefully) good leads on contacts in the world of non-profit policy advocacy. So there was good progress there. And I also got to attend a couple of Seders and celebrate Passover to an extent that I haven't in a while, which was nice.

For a while I've only been able to see this move in terms of what I'm going to be leaving in Los Angeles. But after this trip I'm finally getting a better picture of what it is that I'm moving to, and that's all very exciting.

Now I just have to plan everything.

Posted by Daniel at 06:26 PM | Comments (1)

I've been reluctant to write about this here because it scares the crap out of me, but it's time to put it out there.

I'm moving to Boston.

There are a lot of reasons for this move, and I'll take some time in the coming weeks to write at length about everything surrounding it. But basically, it's time for a change.

LA has become too much of a shelter for me. I'm too comfortable here. I have a cushy job, little responsibility, lots of friends, and perfect weather 362 days out of the year. As a result, I haven't been taking any risks, and it's catching up with me.

There's also the girlfriend. Being able to live in the same city as her is a big part of this move, but it's one that effects the when and where more than the why. I'd still be moving without the impetus of love, though maybe not right now and maybe not to Boston.

Speaking of "when," I don't know exactly yet. It will probably be around the first of June, though any time between June 1 and July 1 is an option at this point. I'm actually going to Boston in a few days to hopefully find an apartment. Once that's set, it'll be easier for me to determine a concrete moving date.

I also don't yet know what I'll be doing in Boston. I'd like to find a job that has a political element to it, either in government or working with a government-oriented non-profit. Right now I'm leaning more towards policy work or perhaps PR and media as it relates to policy. But frankly I'm open to pretty much anything since I have effectively zero experience in the field. My cousin Michael, who has a good bit of non-profit experience, is helping me find people to talk to and giving me pointers, so hopefully I'll find something before too long.

So... there you have it. For now, at least. This is a huge deal for me, and it's something that's been causing me a lot of excitement/stress/anxiety/elation and pretty much any other emotion you can come up with. But we can get into the depths of my inner psyche at a later date. Right now I have to finish working so I can go home and pack before my red-eye to Atlanta tonight. (Going home for a few days to see the folks and celebrate a birthday before heading up north...)

As Matt Drudge would say, Developing...

Posted by Daniel at 04:57 PM | Comments (6)

Just when you think it's safe to drive in LA...

I was driving down Wilshire Blvd the other evening after work. Traffic was pretty average for rush hour, just stop-and-go. I wasn't on the phone. I wasn't eating. I wasn't playing with the radio or my iPod. But I blinked or looked to the side of the road for a split second, and the next thing I knew the car in front of me had stopped suddenly. I hit the brakes, but it was too late and I skidded right into her.

No one was hurt, thank goodness. And the woman's car was pretty much okay. She was driving an SUV, so her bumper hit my hood and grill while my bumper just went right under hers. She was very gracious about the whole thing, and it's being resolved pretty easily. (Props to Progressive.) But really, not what I needed this week.

Posted by Daniel at 04:22 PM | Comments (1)

Is it just me or does Pope John Paul II look kind of like Johnny Carson?

Think about it - they share a first name (though the Pope chose his).
They're both loved by millions.
Their deaths aren't too far apart.
They both wore big funny hats as part of their schtick.

I'm just saying... it can't be a concidence.

Posted by Daniel at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

Okay, it's not really that useful for espionage, as the images are at least about 2 years old, but...

Google Maps now has satellite images that you can zoom in and out of just like their maps. Here are some of my favorites so far -

The Hollywood Sign
Dodger Stadium
Turner Field
Fenway Park
Paideia
Brandeis University

UPDATE: Apparently there are people concerned with the privacy issues that this new feature raises. Personally, I think that's kind of silly as the images are hardly current. When I found my apartment the building across the street was still intact, which means that the photo is almost 2 years old at least.

Posted by Daniel at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)

I saw "Sin City" last night and was simultaneously impressed and disappointed. The film was visually amazing. Absolutely gorgeous to watch. The story, however, was very much lacking. They combined three separate Frank Miller stories into the film and I just felt like they could have been better interwoven to create a more cohesive narrative and ideally a better emotional flow throughout. I was also a little turned off by the gratuitous violence, but I should have expected as much from Rodriguez, Miller, and Tarantino.

The movie got me thinking, though, about the idea of heroism. In all three of the tales the "hero" is someone who's willing to go kill and die for the person or people that they're championing. This is certainly a recognizable archetype; look at "24" for another example of a hero ready, willing, and more than eager to die for his cause.

But I'm kind of over the idea of nobility through self-sacrifice. Yes, there are situations where I think it is noble to be willing to die for a cause. But more often in pop culture the death becomes the means to achieve an end. As if the character would be less herioc if he survived. (Note: I use the "he" pronoun because I cannot think of a single example in pop culture where this archetype is applied to a woman... can anyone come up with one?)

Real nobility comes through living. In "Sin City" the three heros go looking for death. They welcome it, and they border on disappointed if it doesn't find them. They see their own martyrdom as a means to go out on a good note, while avoiding responsibility for what they've done and what they stand for. It's easy to say you're willing to die for someone. It's much harder to say you'll live for them. Death is an easy out.

I don't want to give away the movie (some people die, some don't), but I think a large part of what I found disappointing about it was that I'm no longer a 17-year-old who sees nobility and redemption in martyrdom. Courage means facing your fear, and seeking death isn't courage when it's living that scares you.

Posted by Daniel at 03:00 PM | Comments (3)

Upon waking up this morning I literally thought that it was still last night and I hadn't actually fallen asleep. I think I'm still trying to convince myself otherwise...

Posted by Daniel at 10:37 AM | Comments (3)

I had the pleasure Wednesday night of attending a theatrical performance. It wasn't a play. It wasn't a concert. It wasn't a poetry reading. It was 40 Days, an indescribable blend of spoken-word, poetry, storytelling, acting, and music. And it was incredible.

I was admittedly skeptical heading into it. Although I'd been told the performer, Steve Connell, was really amazing, I've seen my fair share of bad performances over the years and I know how easy it is to put on something that, despite one's best intentions, is just not very good. But right from the beginning I found myself pleasantly surprised. The performance was hilarious and honest, asking important questions but never taking the answers too seriously.

I wish I could do it more justice here but I know any description or review I write will fall far short. It runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays until May 1st, and I highly suggest that anyone in LA with a chance go see it.

Posted by Daniel at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

I recently discovered Last.fm - the last radio station you'll ever need (or something like that). It's actually pretty clever. You tell it what songs you like and then it streams to your computer songs that it thinks you'll enjoy based on what it knows about you. And as you listen it keeps track of the songs you listen to and skip and is always adjusting itself accordingly. It's like Amazon's recommendations meets Netflix's rental queue. And it's all free!

Additionally, you can download a program that keeps track of the songs you play on your computer (in iTunes, Winamp, etc) and uses that information to update your profile.

I discovered all of these fun toys browsing the latest Konfabulator widgets. This one lets you control the Last.fm feed without opening up their page and using the web-based controller, making it quite easy to access.

So far I've gotten a lot of music that's kind of random and not that good, but every once in a while I hear something I like that I wouldn't have otherwise ever listened to.

UPDATE: Their ranking system is slow and buggy, but I discovered that one can find other users with similar tastes and listen to their streams as well, weeding out the crap until your own is caught up. After a day of use I can say that the whole thing needs some work on the management end, but it still works really well to just listen to the music.

Posted by Daniel at 01:21 PM | Comments (2)

As I was driving home last night I noticed that there's a new Adidas store opening up a few blocks from my apartment. It stood out because there was a huge set-up of lights and people standing around outside waiting to get in.

Do athletic-wear stores in other cities have grand opening parties? Did the Nike store in Topeka have a velvet rope across the door and c-list celebrities waiting to get in? Or is this just an LA thing?

Posted by Daniel at 10:15 AM | Comments (4)

When I first heard about the National Anthem Project, created to teach everyone the words of the Star Spangled Banner, I thought it was kind of silly. I mean seriously, who hasn't been to a sports game and heard it sung? Who doesn't know the words?

Then I actually visited the site and saw that there are 4 verses... who knew?

Posted by Daniel at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)

I have good news, but there's a catch. Yesterday I got an email from the office of one of California's 2 US Senators (hint: it's not Boxer). The volunteer coordinater apologized for taking so long to get back to me but said she was very interested in meeting me for an interview.

So that's the good news. The catch? I'm working, and I've got work to last me at least another month, if not more. I'm enjoying my job and, more importantly, I'm enjoying being able to pay my bills.

If I could work something out where I volunteered 2-3 days a week and worked 3-4 that would be ideal. I just don't yet know if the project I'm doing at B3 will allow for that kind of flexibility. It's a series of 30-minute tv shows that the company is producing and I'm the only editor on the project, so even working full-time it promises to be a busy period.

That being said, this volunteer position could be a huge opportunity to get my foot in the door, gain some experience, and put a really good credit on my resume. Fortunately I have a few days to think about it all because the woman who contacted me is out of the office until next week, at which point she wants to schedule an interview.

Posted by Daniel at 10:58 AM | Comments (3)

Yesterday I crossed another item off my 101 in 1001 list when I