So the fall job search is complete (mostly). And the summer internship is almost over.

First on the calendar this fall is a 10 hour a week gig at the local Chamber of Commerce (I’ll have to tell you that hustle story later).  This job is going to be so cool because I’ll have the opportunity to network with business AND government leaders (rather than just elected officials), which will give me a bigger base of people to ask for jobs next Spring when I graduate.

AND I just found out that I got an Reseach Assistantship in the UNC MPA program, working for one of the professors. YAY, me! I think the RA-ship comes with student health insurance, which will come in handy since I have been buying my own Blue Cross Blue Shield for the past year, and THAT has not been fun (or cheap!).

Additionally, since I wasn’t sure the RA thing was going to happen (it didn’t happen last year)  I have been sending out resumes and cover letters to other local business and non-profit organizations that I feel would help me gain a new perspective (not public sector!)  I’m still going to follow up with those people, make some new friends/contacts and maybe get some consulting/writing action started. So that, hopefully, I’ll be able to make a little extra money if I can write RFPs or grants for a couple of agencies or get to contribute on a projects. And if all else fails, I can think of it as practice for marketing myself in a field that isn’t intuitively MPA territory.

On a different note, my up-coming place of business is planning a networking trip to Ann Arbor in September. As I love trips and networking, of course I want to go! But, it is an expensive outing and I’m not sure that it’s in my budget. But they are offering (and I have applied for) partial scholarships and the Chamber is starting this new thing that they are calling Community Leadership Council (or something like that) and they want me to apply for it.  Admission to this Council means that I will be involved with planning objectives for the trip and leading meetings on the trip and most importantly it includes the trip for FREE. It’s a win/f*cking win situation.

Also, I was reading a new blog today and came across this article

Sounds like they bought a guilty verdict. I mean, if I’m hungry and homeless (not saying that this guy is), I’m facing jail time, I can’t afford a good lawyer and I’m probably going to jail anyway regardless of my guilt or innocence……and the DA and the judges are willing to give me good food for the duration of my prison stay (that I wouldn’t be able to afford on the outside)?!?!?! I’ll take that sh*t in a heartbeat! Just like he did.

What do you think?