Work Update

Jeepers.

It's been a long while since I posted something here. Whoops. I promise it's for good reason, namely that I have been working like crazy and still  haven't gotten Comcast to install internet in my apartment. Though it's done wonders for my reading list (newest recommendation: "The Human Stain" by Philip Roth...really excellent), it hasn't really let me be online apart from when I'm here at work.

I still get plenty of online time, because work is pure craziness. I was told yesterday by Carol that I should take this and next Friday off, because I've been working too much. I peg my hours at about 60/wk., especially if you count my speeches for the campaign (more on that in a bit). 

I'm still loving almost every minute of my job. There are times when I do bitch work, as with any fellowship or first post-college job, but that stuff has become really minimal. Basically, the only crappy stuff I do everyday is organization so that we can have a better communication strategy. Simple stuff: we didn't have a master contact list for the organization, we didn't have a YouTube account, hell, we didn't have a Facebook page. That's all done now, and we move onto the more "fun stuff".

What is that fun stuff, you ask? Really, it's just awesome. We received both of the grants I applied for, giving us $25,000 for a new media campaign. Our first goal was to produce a set of 10 videos to engage in sort of a viral video campaign, using YouTube, blogs, outreach, social networking, etc. We decided this last Tuesday and filmed this week, Tuesday and today. It was amazing. We got 12 people, including college students, teachers, administrators, doctors, school counselors, and then, to top it off, Andrew (Speaker of the House) and Cary (State Treasurer). The videos are going to be done by Sept. 27, a full five weeks before the election, and they'll be our first campaign commercials. w00t. I was so thrilled. I'm not in the video (Carol and I decided not to be) but I'm doing the narration. I'll post it here when we finish. Should be awesome.

Second big thing that happened is that I've been trained as a speaker for the campaign. SAFE wanted about 20 surrogates who could travel around and get the word out. I apparently am pretty decent at this, because I've done three already and no one else has done more than one. I basically own Littleton when it comes to speaking...I've already hit each of their state house districts. It's a pretty fun thing, too. I give a 5-10 minute stump speech (no notes now) about SAFE and why it's good for education, who's supporting it, and what people can expect CO to look like if it passes. Then I take questions and schmooze people into volunteering. Last night I was asked to go to the HD 38 Dems meeting, and to prepare for 20 people (normal size). Well, I get there and there are 75. So I don't have enough materials, but I get to be WAY more engaging and outgoing with my speech. They seemed to love it, and we got 15 volunteers (which is impossible here, because of the Obama and Udall campaigns taking everyone). Rep. Rice, who is a great moderate Dem here in Denver metro, and his campaign manager were there too. She told me that I was about as vibrant as the Speaker was at these things, and that I should keep doing this around the state and I'll get a job in communications with no problem at the state house or senate. Sweet action.

Personally, life has been tougher, but still great. Lots of drama, as I guess is the case whenever you leave people and move to a new place, but I've met tons of people. JRs and Cheeky Monk have become my two "hangouts" if anything, and it's been great to see people from CC and new faces all around the city. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have friends while here, rather than a group of friends, and I'm kind of happy about that. It means I get to experience more people. Not too bad a deal. 

My official end date with COFPI is now July 31, 2009. Almost perfect timing (hell I might be able to go to the beach this year if Nana moves the week back to the start of August...hint, hint). 

I've almost completely decided that I'm going to do something radically different after this year though. Right now, I'm checking out language immersion programs in Germany and Mexico. Ideally, I'll be able to spend 4 months in each country, learning Spanish (getting proficient really) and then getting back to fluency in German. Cost-wise, I doubt that's a viable option (each program is about $5,000, not counting airfare and spending money). Right now, I'm going to start saving for Mexico I think, and probably take out a loan for the tuition money for the program. I've always wanted to learn Spanish, and I think spending 4 months there could be really awesome, despite being frightening. Who knows, I might bear down and go for broke, spending 9-10 months learning language and traveling. I probably only have one chance to do that, so may as well go for it. 

That's it for now. I have a presentation to our trustees about 5 ballot initiatives, which I'll post on later (my own mini-voters guide for progressive-minded people).