Well, I’ve already slipped my “I’ll post every Monday thru Thursday” promise. Given my track record this should come as no surprise.

The last three days have been spent learning how much the School of Print Media (SPM) and RIT have changed since I graduated. This will most likely go on for a while. I attended my first faculty meeting and met most of the SPM staff. One of the things to file in the “it’s a small world” category is that my former upstairs neighbor, Dr. Franziska Frey, is now on the school’s staff. Interestingly, it was another upstairs neighbor from 195 Merriman St who unknowingly set this entire process in motion. I with hence forth refer to this pattern of serendipity as the “195 Effect.”

Today’s theme will be reading and research. Yesterday I raided the RIT Library and returned with a stack of books on the 15th century European evolution of print. I’m interested in learning a bit more about Messrs. J. Gutenberg and A. Manutius (both the Greater and the Younger).

Ok… things went really well. I’m just waiting on a final call to make sure things are set before letting it out of the bag.

Sorry for stretching out the cliff hanger of Thursday’s post. I found out early Friday that all grades are in and I will be graduating! The relief of this is tempered by the latest news on Dre’s dad. In order to prevent the infection in his foot from spreading the decision has been made to amputate his big toe. This is what is known as a metatarsal amputation. While it is drastic, the other option are even more so. So we are hoping for the best. The operation is tentatively scheduled for Monday. That will be followed by healing time and physical therapy.

So this Thanksgiving will be especially eventful for the amount that (hopefully) we will have to give thanks for.

Still waiting to see if my prof’s get the grades in. This is really frustrating.

Also we had to take Dre’s dad to the hospital for problems with his remaining foot. I’m not sure where this is going to go this time.

There is job news, but I’m not sharing until things are a bit more official. There’s still a number of contingencies at play.

oops… had an issue with my hosting company… all resolved now!

Hey,

I know that I don’t have a wide readership, but if you know of any college students effected by the Hurricane who are looking for some way to continue thier studies, pass this info along to them:

If you have connections with college students unable to attend fall classes
at universtities in Louisiana & Mississippi, please pass this message on!
Ok, so in perhaps the saddest or the funniest moment of the job hunt so far, I was told last night that I don’t have enough qualifications to work at a coffee shop. Oy. She was nice enough about it. Its a funny feeling to learn that for all one’s professional and academic achievements, you may not be quite ready to make a good cup of joe. Either that or they fear some type of epic espresso machine disater… “the goggles… dey do nudthing!”

I’ve also made a lot of progress in updating my resume, which was in sorry shape. This came out of one of those moments of realization. On Friday I looked at my resume, the one I was so proud of, and suddenly noticed that it sucked. I was trying to make the poor thing try to convery WAY too much information. So I’ve split it into four tighter and sleeker targeted resumes. I’m looking forward to see who will bite!

Before anything else, a big thanks to my brother Paul for pointing me to this phenominal blog entry. I’m sure that it’s either already huge or about to be huge.

A direct English translation of the the Chinese translation of Revenge of the Sith. It reminds me of a running futurist idea from Phillip K. Dick’s Intergalactic Pot Healer.

I also managed to make it into the local 20/30something paper: The Insider, there’s a shot of myself and Damir from Auragen at a Digital Rochester networking event.

Speaking of photos, yesterday I went for tacos with the kodak.com folks. LJC and I decided to take pictures of each other as our cameras are similiar models. What can I say, once the Kodak yellow gets into your blood, it doesn’t get out. Either way, here’s my half of the pair:

Ok enough with the posting and back to the social sciences work.

things are progressing, I guess. I’m writing, or at least plotting my writing. i’m also close to wrapping up on McKinsey application. all that remains is a cover letter, but that’s going to take a day or so. i’m currently trying to figure out how to address the darn thing, as I haven’t been given a specific name and I don’t want to fall back on “dear sir-or-madam.”

drea’s doing better. which is all good.

and that’s about it. not too much to report.

Ok… before anyone else goes into a tizzy about my retail applications, allow me to explain. This is NOT a full time pursuit.

At all.
No way. No huh.

However, what I am looking for is a short term, part time source of income while I engage in a more extensive job hunt. There have been a few full time opportunities that have arisen. But currently none of them have been what I am looking for. And, for the moment, I’d prefer not to commit to a full-time position that isn’t right. Especially since the Rochester Scene doesn’t really allow for taking a full time position for only a few months. Plus full time would make it difficult for me to finish my writing tasks, and therefore my Masters. And finishing the Masters is the most important thing right now. Well, both that and being able to cover expenses.

So that’s why I’m currently looking at temporary retail jobs. And a few other avenues (TW I don’t have your current e-mail addy… could you drop at line to “mbernius at gmail.com”).

My goal is to have full employment by mid fall.