Ken and Lauren's Blog

2006-04-18T21:39:00.000-05:00

Switching over to a new site, mostly because I want to educate myself.

New Link --- www.kenandlauren.com/blog

Ok, so it is the old site, but new format that I will be working on, where I still probably won't post much.

2006-04-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

Rally To Save Darfur or Rally To Stop Genocide?

They definitely chose the right name. Good mass appeal.

Either way, I hope you will join me in DC on Sunday April 30th.

www.savedarfur.org

2006-04-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Four jobs I’ve had…

1. Amusement Park Ride Operator
2. Youth and Family Program Director at a Synagogue
3. Hillel Director
4. Page at a library

Four movies I can watch over and over…
1. Rocky 3/4 (come on they are one movie)
2. Demolition Man
3. Generic Sports movie/ ala Necessary Roughness, Varsity Blues
4. A Few Good Men

Four places I’ve lived…
1. Blacksburg, VA
2. Baltimore, MD
3. Philadelphia, PA
4. Cincinnati, OH

Four TV shows I love…1. Lost
2. Gilligan's Island
3. MASH
4. 24

Four places I’ve vacationed…
1. Generic Caribbean Cruise
2. Wisconsin
3. San Francisco
4. Greece

Four of my favorite dishes…
1. Steak
2. Pizza
3. Fried Chicken
4. Mushrooms with anything

Four sites I visit daily…
1. Haaretz
2. Hotmail
3. My other email
4. foxnews/cnn/slate

Four places I would rather be right now…
1. Israel
2. A warm beach somewhere
3. Asleep
4. With you

2006-04-14T16:23:00.000-05:00

It has been so long since my last post, that all comments have been erased! How cool is that? Welcome to the cyber graveyeard. Let's see who the first person to realize that there is a post here is. My vote is Nina.

2005-03-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

We bought our house!!!

2005-01-20T04:38:00.000-05:00

We have arrived!

Yesterday afternoon we arrived back from Israel. Was that yesterday or today? After a 12 hour flight, where they close the windows on you, serve you dinner after the 10:40am take off, and serve you breakfast before the 3:30pm arrive, you lose track of what day it is.

What an amazing experience Israel was. I am tired, I am sick, and from the time I am writing this, apparently I am jetlagged, and I love it.

Israel is one of the rare places I have been that you can not provide an accurate label for it. It is a leader of First World Technology, but it has water problems, lack of energy resources, and many populations that live in villages. Although I suppose, even the villages are fairly advanced compared to many countries.

It is beautiful, with changing topographies and climates, and a variety of people, most uniting under the banner of the Jewish state. There are definitely problems, depending on which wave of immigration, how much money your people moved with, there are definitely different classes of people. But as they stay there longer (read as they start going into the army) , people are equalizing as well.

The army is a strange phenomenon. I have reached the point where I laugh at the sight of a security person drinking with an m-16 rifle, or whichever one it was, swinging from their back. That is a scary though.

But now I am back, and time to reenter the real world. The world where all my food was kosher, and many get off for Shabbat was a lovely dream one for a while.

2005-01-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

I am loving being in Israel. The weather is now beautiful, it is great being in the culture, and the landscape and architecture put you in a great frame of mind. It has been a whirlwind few days. stayed in a bedoin tent, conducted two Bar Mitzvahs on Mount Massada, and played with Yeminite children. It is now Shabbat, and time for me to get ready for the day of "rest" (I will be working an awful lot for a day of rest). You all need to visit. I need to stay for longer than 10 days, or at least on my own.

The security situation has been fine here. There are guns, metal detectors (ever been checked going into a McDonalds before?) But the overall atmosphere is one of people living their life. We have been with a number of Israeli soldiers recently, and the overall feel that I received from them - is that they want the Gaza pullout. Not sure if it will work, but something needs to be tried. They are also very in favor of the security fence. I am hoping to see the security fence soon, be important to see what exactly it looks like. That is it for now. Talk to everyone soon.

K

2005-01-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Israel. I am pleased to say that we have arrived safely, and are beginning our amazing journey. I am writing to you from the coffee shop in our hotel, equipt with wireless internet access, and like all of the students I am exhausted, but it is the good kind of exhausted when you know that you have done something really special and worthwhile.

Here is an update of our experiences so far: Everyone showed up early to the airport - I can honestly say it is the first time in my experiences with birthright that I was not trying to track down a student or a passport at the airport. The flight was long, but the students were so full of energy, that they received very little sleep. As we were landing in Israel, we were all treated to a beautiful sunrise. Israel is 7 hours ahead of the east coast of the US, and after a 10 hour flight, people were feeling very tired, but filled with a nervous energy.

We picked up our bags and headed to the bus and went towards our first stop - the Jewish National Fund National Forest. The students got to plant trees in memory and thought of loved ones. Israel is an amazing country, because it is the only one in the area that is covered in green.

Following the JNF forest, we went to a promenade overlook over Jerusalem. This is the spot that visiting dignitaries visit when they first come to Israel. Our dignitaries said the Shehechiyanu - the blessing over doing something for the first time. The students took part in their own blessing, and then loaded the buses to make their way to the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Western Wall. Watching students put on tefillin for the first time, and seeing the joy and love for Judaism in their eyes when they go to the wall for the first time is awe inspiring.

We finished the day by coming back to the hotel for a good meal. Today we had another long day - going to Yad Vashem- the Israeli Holocaust Museum, Mt. Hertzel - the Military Cemetary, and to the Mega Event for all of birthright.

Yad Vashem was a very moving place, make sure to ask your students about their thoughts on the Children's Memorial, and listening to the Holocaust Survivor. Whle at Yad Vashem, we met a strange, familiar face. Mayor Martin O'Malley, of Baltimore, is in Israel touring, and we met him and took pictures with him at Yad Vashem. What a great statement to our students to see him there, supporting Israel.

From Yad Vashem, we went to Mt. Herzel - the Israeli Military Cemetary. Seeing the graves of the visionary of Zionism, Theodore Herzel, as well as former Prime Ministers Yitzchak Rabin and Golda Meir, is a very powerful experience. Arlington Cemetary is the closest thing to this location, but it does not come close to the power of Mt. Herzel, especially seeing graves of 14 year olds, that died trying to bring Israel into existence.

We ended the day at our Mega Event - filled with over 3000 Jewish birthright students, Israel Vice Primiers, and an Israel rock band. There was a battle of spirit between countries, but when push came to shove, the USA won, with the largest contingent in Israel.
Now we are back in the hotel, it is midnight here, and we have another long, beautiful days coming up.

I look forward to writing to you soon, and check out the web soon for photos - www.baltimorehillel.org/israel/birthrightphotos.html

Until next email,
Ken

2005-01-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

Off to Israel on Sunday. It has been a few years since I was last there.

I am interested to see what the mood on the ground is, I have been hearing positive things. We go right after the Palestinian elections, I am hoping that is a positive thing.

If anyone has any questions they want answered about Israel, from Israelis and potentially Arabs, let me know. I will try to update with reflections from my trip there during the trip.

2004-12-15T08:43:00.000-05:00

My Letter to Best Buy

I have always been a fan of Best Buy, even though, sometimes the service has been shoddy. I just had a very disappointing experience at Best Buy last night that is going to affect my shopping there in the future.

I went to purchase a product at the local store in Rockville, MD and stepped onto the line. The line was as long as some amusement park lines, wrapped around the store, and took 45 minutes to get through.

Fine, I can accept that it is the holiday season and there are a lot of people shopping. When I finally make it to the front of the line, I see that there are only 3 lanes open, which is absurd during this season, with so many customers in the story. I get to the register, and the clerk is spending 5 minutes getting all of my address information. I recognize that demographics are important for a company, as is the addresses, but I do not want to shop at a store that has such little concern for their customers time and experience.
The intelligent thing to do would have been to say - "Hey, this line is wrapping around the store and blocking traffic, why don't we stop taking this information so that we can move the line faster, since there are only 3 of us." No one did that.

Best Buy last night showed themselves to be an unprofessional operation last night, with no concern for their customers. I find this to be extremely unfortunate.

2004-11-15T06:27:00.000-05:00

Been a long time since I have updated this.

Job is going incredibly -- so well that I do not have time to sit and write too often. But I have insomnia now, and been up for a while, so that adds time to the day.

This past weekend was Cheeseday, that once a year occurrence that gets my group of friends together to watch cheesey movies, eat cheese sandwiches (or in my case chinese food). It is amazing that as you go through life you form these connections with people that you can go a year at a time without seeing them, and then fall right back into the pattern and not lose a step.

This year's cheese day movie was xanadu. Damn that movie sucks. THat is about it for this month.

2004-09-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

Anniversary - For Dave

Two weeks ago was our 1 year anniversary. Lauren planned an absolutely fantastic night for us that I would like to recount for you.

She picked me up in the apartment following her preparations. As I got in the car, she asked me to close my eyes or be blindfolded. I opted to close my eyes (and I didn't even cheat). She took me to a deserted park for a picnic. Knowing my love for fancy foods, my wife got me ceasar salad, pizza, fried chicken, and chocolate chip cookies. Damn she rocks.

So we have just broken out the Mike's Hard Lemonade. Finished what we were eating of the pizza and salad. The fried chicken course of the meal was beginning, and who do you think shows up?

The cops.

Now I had finished my drink, so I put it away, but Lauren is a slow drinker and hers was still out. Instead of finishing it and putting it away while the spotlight was on us (I felt like I was on stage) she kept it on the table. I get up after a few minutes to walk towards the police, since they had the light on us and we didn't know what they wanted us to do, but as I am walking the two officers step out of the light, like a scene from the X-files.

The conversation goes something like this: What are you doing in the park?
Having a picnic for our anniversary (had to try to throw that in)
What anniversary?
First
Do you know you are not allowed to be in the part at night and that it is trespassing?
No, really?
Yes, can we see your licenses?

At this point, we had a brief intermission for the police to check out our licenses. What did I do?
That is right, i went back to eating Popeye's fried chicken to Lauren's amazement. I mean really, she never lets me eat that, and I love fried chicken. So as long as I had to wait, what reason was there not to eat the fried chicken? I mean, come on!

So the cops came back and asked what the rules were for drinking in parks was in Ohio (where our licenses are still from) Because we were the major park drinkers in Ohio, with that whopping six pack for the two of us. They said that they could give us a criminal ticket for drinking in public, but instead they will only give us a citation for possession of the alcohol (what an anniversary gift. I bet they knew the first anniversary you are supposed to get paper) Actually when I say us, I mean Lauren. She got the ticket, cause she didn't have the smarts to finish her drink. They were going to confiscate our alcohol, but they let us leave with it.

Now the odd part of this night. There were no trash cans in the park. Apparently in addition to not being open at night, they want you to take your trash home with you. How weird is that?

2004-08-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

Changing Worlds

The college campus is a relaxing and beautiful place to be over the summer. You can walk around, spend time in pretty areas. There is only one problem. It is like a shell of its real self. There is no sense of purpose on the campus. That is why so many colleges rent themselves out as camps, they don't know what else to do with themselves. The campus is just waiting for movein day.

Today was movein day at Towson. It is so nice to be around life again. People are swarming all over the campus, much like the cicadas did a few months ago. There are questions, people searching, people afraid. It basically reminds me of a decision I made a long time ago. I don't want to leave campus. There is a life all of its own that you don't find out in the real world.

And I bought myself a foosball table for the office. Did I mention, I love my job?

2004-08-23T10:33:00.000-05:00

There is something really amazing about going to an old friend's wedding, especially when you like the person they are marrying. I think it is more than just watching a special occassion, although that is a large part of it. We grow up with people at different stages of our lives, and it is just a powerful testament to friendship and endurance that you can move on to the new stages together. Add to that the chance to catch up with old friends who you unfortunately see all too rarely at celebrations and tragedies.

Oh yeah, the open bar doesn't hurt either.

2004-08-07T08:46:00.000-05:00

I love my job.

That is all.

p.s. Why did this quote make me think of - "I love my dead gay son"

Kudos for whoever knows where that quote is from.

2004-08-02T22:22:00.000-05:00

DONE

I have accepted a job tonight, and it wasn't the job that I expected to be taking last week. I am now the Director of Towson Hillel. Tomorrow morning I have to have a very disappointing phone call with the Executive Director of Spark to turn down the job, which is sad because it really would have been a great opportunity for me.

However, this job is even better. I will have the responsibility of setting a vision for an organization and really bringing it up from scratch. I get supervision experience, fundraising experience, creating of a governing board, and do some really cool programs. I will get paid well for it, but there will definitely be a lot of hours involved in it.

Damn, I am a giddy school kid.

2004-07-29T08:09:00.000-05:00

Major News:

Lauren is now in town (and resetting up the apartment).

I have a job offer coming this morning from Spark!

I have an interview at Towson Hillel on Monday, that I might be saying no to after said job offer. They are the ones that keep scheduling me for interviews and postponing them. Not exactly been treating me like a professional.

And that is about it. Life just got a whole lot better.

2004-07-08T10:50:00.000-05:00

Moving Woohoo!!!

It is a strange thing when you hire movers and sit and watch them move all of your shit.

I keep wanting to help, but then realize that I paid for this, so why strain my own back.

But I have the fun of driving the truck. They upgraded me (or supersized me) to a 25 footer. Not an upgrade I wanted, but should be interesting.

Probably won't post to much until I am set up in DC, so have fun everyone.

2004-06-28T10:54:00.000-05:00

Life is about to get interesting, still no job, but still interesting:

Here is my itinerary for the next two weeks:

Wednesday: Last day of work - Play soccer at night
Thursday: Leave for Cleveland (remember to call Joe and Suzanne)
Friday: Leave for Buffalo - Check out a buddies last night before marriage
Saturday: Leave for Boston
Sunday: Go to one of my old friend's weddings, see a whole bunch of great friends from college
Monday: Leave for Jersey - Drop Lauren off at the airport
Monday night: Dinner with the parents
Tuesday: Head to Philly - Show Kevin and Heather the town before they move there.
Tuesday night: Fly back to Cincinnati
Wednesday: Pack up the apartment, and clean the place - Play soccer at night
Thursday: Pick up the Uhaul, watch movers load it, head to Jersey
Friday: Watch movers load the Uhaul at Lauren's grandparent's and mother's.
Friday night: Hopefully hit the boardwalk with some friends
Saturday: Driver to D.C. - Watch movers unload the truck into our new apartment
Saturday night: Return the uhaul, and set up the apartment
Sunday: Drop Lauren off at the airport, she will not be moving for another 10 days
Monday: Keep looking for a job!

2004-06-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

I Hate Job Hunting

Just thought I would share. Hopkins Human Resources have recommended that they interview a 3rd candidate for the process. Totally understandable except for the fact the head of the search committee leaves town until the 12th of July and would have to conduct the interview after that.

Not really in the mood to wait that long, but don't believe I have a choice either.

But it looks like I will be making the move to DC around the 12th of July, give myself a weekend of fun in Cincinnati. It will actually be hard to leave this place, I like my home and all. Job ends next Wednesday though, and I plan on being on the road for a while after that, just for a fun road trip which I have not had in a while.

But I will see some of you in Agawam on the 4th!

2004-06-16T08:13:00.000-05:00

Living, Jobs, and Robberies

So what a whirlwind couple of days.

Got to DC on Monday morning on 2 hours of sleep, spent the day apartment and house hunting. Almost put a bid in on a house, but decided against it (you know it would be nice to have a job before buying a house) Too many appliances and windows and such would have to be replaced soon after moving to get rid of all of our funds in the closing process. Did get a great apartment community though. Rockville Pike, north of Bethesda, block from a metro stop.

During the day, Towson called saying they couldn't organize the people for an interview (it was a last minute process when they knew I was coming into town) but that they will call me on Wednesday. I have my doubts, they have been very disorganized, but here is hoping.

Finally got to be my hotel at 10:30 at night ready to pass out. So of course I stayed up for a few more hours.

The Applicant

Next morning, got up went to get breakfast and a shoeshine sponge (shines shoes up to 100 times) Made it to my interview, checked out Levering Union. Damn that place has changed. There is a coffee stand when you first walk in, union desk is to the right of the main entrance, ELevel (soon to be called Levering Lounge or L Squared) has couches, the game room is now offices.

The interviews all day were actually fun for me. Saw a number of familiar faces who kept walking in and saying "Oh, I know you" Apparently they didn't recognize the name from 7 years ago, but they do the face. Not sure exactly what that is saying. But I prepared well enough, and actually reread my student development theories and got to use them in one of the interviews.

I am really excited by that interview though. I think they will be payin in the right range, commute will be a little annoying, but not too bad, and worth living in a cool place. I think I would be able to do it in an hour each way based on traffic from the past few days.

Break-ins

Got home last night and Lauren called me. Our neighbors were out of town, and apparently someone through a brick through their window and broke in. Our pet nanny (yes we have a pet nanny, but dammit my dog needs walks. Are you going to do it?), who is also their dog walker, found the place. So Lauren was there with the police officer so that the open house was not left alone. I got home and sent her home to be with the two dogs (their dog was at our place) and I spent the evening their til they got home at midnight. Cleaned up most of the place for them. It would suck, not only are you robbed, but you then have to clean the entire place up. But it is important for everyone to note, when you throw a brick through a glass, it spreads out extremely wide and far. There is probably some physics principle that I don't remember, but there you have it. Other important note for any future burglars, glass leaves finger prints.

But the person got in the house, and to our knowledge, saw the dog, got scared and left.

The only thing they took? The DVDs. At least the person had taste.

2004-06-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

I leave for Baltimore/ DC in 3 and a half hours. Why the hell am I still up? This mild insomnia thing sucks.

Theoretically I have two interviews down there. I say theoretically because Towson called me and asked to speak with me, was cool enough to tell me that they do have a frontrunner for the position with 5 years more work experience then me, but it is not a lock, but have not called to tell me a time.

Hopkins is all set for Tuesday and that is really exciting.

Lauren and her Mom looked at a townhouse for us to buy today. I will look at it with my Dad tomorrow night. Even once we finally rent/buy a place, I don't know if we will have our final decision, the way we go back and forth on these things. But I would love to buy.

And I had another call Friday afternoon to talk with an organization, Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute They are checking on my references now, and then we will talk about real interviews. So life is picking up.

2004-06-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Go Towne Properties

Our apartment community is writing us a check for $300. For the past 3 months, I have been complaining because the end of my balcony looks like it is about to fall off. They have kept putting me off (for normal logistical reasons, but as the property manager stated, that is not my concern). The last time I talked to them, we talked about a temporary fix, and compensation.

So I am now going to get a check from them. Of course little do they know that at the end of the month, I am going to put in our month's notice to leave, so glad we got this out of the way now.

But it is a lesson. Complaining works (at least when you are justified). I am well past the point of not getting service, if I pay for something, I want what I order. Much like being at a bar recently, when I ordered a hamburger with mushrooms, and they brought me out a cheeseburger because that is what comes with mushrooms. To the nasty look of the waitress, I sent it back asking for my hamburger with mushrooms.

Didn't get anything off of that bill though. And the sad thing is, I hate being a pain in the ass (no comments) but it does work.

2004-06-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

A question for all of you Hopkins people (or anyone else if you would like to answer about your own student union)

So as I have written, I am interviewing for the Assistant Director of Campus Activities at Hopkins, basically in charge of Levering Union and the programming there.

So my question for you is, what could have made Levering cooler for you? What would make people actually want to hang out there in the evenings?

And when you answer, please realize that they closed down E-Level and probably will not let me serve alcohol there again except on special occassions.

But is there any activity or object that would have been cool? A starbucks or something (remember that Xando just opened up next to campus as well)

Any input or ideas would be useful before next week.

Some things I have been thinking about (not sure about their feasability yet):

Iron Chef Nights - Different members of student groups compete against each other, almost like an intramural

Quizzo or game show type nights

Television watching parties (American Idol, etc)

Hopkins Idol, or other such parody of reality television

Comedy nights

Pool tournaments

Any other thoughts? Are these ideas that you think Hopkins kids who you can't get out of their rooms would even go for?

Thanks for your help.

2004-06-08T14:20:00.000-05:00

Heading to Baltimore next week for an interview at Hopkins. Still working on the details with some other places, it is very frustrating when jobs do not have their acts together. But it is also a learning experience, for when I run job searches to always be in communication with people as well.

Waiting is the hardest part, but we are in the home stretch.

2004-06-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

Apartments, houses, weddings, old friends, and cicadas...

Drove to DC on Thursday. Looked at apartments in Columbia, Silver Springs, and DC. One thing about living in Cincinnati, it is hard to move back to the pricing on the east coast. We want a house, but timing wise can't get it done (not without me having a job yet, Towson will hopefully be calling today) But we might have found the next best thing... a house to rent.

It is in Silver Spring, about a 15 minute walk to the downtown area. 3 stories, big yards, nice fire place, basement. It is great. Now if only I knew where I was going to work, but I think I will just suck up the commute, even if it is an hour drive to Towson. The house is too nice. And besides, I want to be able to take my grill with me, where I go. Priorities here people.

As for buying a condo in DC, damn, 2 bedrooms in Rockville go for 350,000. That is a condo where you have to pay association fees. What are people thinking? This housing market is way too inflated right now.

Got to go to a wedding this weekend, which was really nice. It was very nice, but I have come out of it with a realization.

The hora needs a time limit. Now for anyone that doesn't know, the hora is a traditional Jewish dance, and it is simple to do. At every Jewish wedding, there is a point where they band plays this klezmer type music (just think Jewish here), everyone joins hand and circles around the bride and groom. Now what usually happens is at some point, people pick up the bride and groom in chairs (anyone ever a part of this process on the sidelines, if you see a very small person holding a chair, Jewish or not, it is ok to step in and help hold up the chair. Just a note for you). While it starts off with everyone circling, it usually stops very shortly depending on the lack of room on the dance floor and evolves into everyone clapping. This gets old fast, not only for the bride and groom who are getting very dizzy, but for the people standing there clapping. Thus the time limit. This dance has a tendency to go on for ever. I say 5 - 7 minutes is an appropriate time period. Just my suggestion.

On the drive from D.C. to New Jersey and then on the very long drive back from New Jersey to Cincinnati, Lauren and I got to stop by and visit different friends. As much as I love my new friends, there is something to be said for people that you have known and loved for close to 10 years. Even though I don't see or talk to some of them very often, there is a sense of peace, coming together, like no time has really past. You don't find those connections regularly, and they take time to grow, so just a thought to treasure some of your friends.

Cicadas are back. Well more to the point, we are back. You heard them in DC and Maryland, but they didn't come out too much. The car rides they ran into us. Did you know cicadas are blind? This is by the expert testimony of one of the apartment showing ladies (I think that is a technical term). They were nonexistant in Jersey. But now they are all over again. They form a carpet all over the ground. Lauren and I have dubbed them DABs. Dumb-ass bugs. And thus they shall forever be called, to go along with the BABs (Big-ass bees) outside my apartment.

2004-05-21T06:25:00.000-05:00

Saying Goodbye To Work

Sometimes people surprise me. My last job, when I left, the entire staff got a set of those wine glass rings (whatever the hell they are called), the ones that tell you whose glass it is and go for 10 dollars.

This job is completely different. The synagogue board gave me a $100 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles at our annual meeting on Wednesday. I was a kid in a candy story yesterday. Simpsons and Philosophy is the first on the reading agenda, followed by a Bill Bryson book (Sunburnt Country).

Tonight, I have my End of the Year Banquet for USY. I just found out last night, that the assistant rabbi (the guy that conducted my wedding), sent out an email to our community inviting them to come tonight as a say goodbye dinner to Lauren and me. So much for being lowkey, but that is really touching as well. It is nice knowing that you have made a difference and people want to say goodbye to you.

2004-05-19T16:25:00.000-05:00

Cicadas

I am starting to believe they are a myth that Cincinnatians tell newcomers as a hazing ritual, and to sell beekeeper style hats.

Sure there are some cicadas out and about. But this place made it seem like the plague. I was expecting the cicada equivelant to fire and brimstone, blocking out of the sun, slaying of the first born. Ok, maybe that one is taking it a bit far, but you never know what a supposed 5 billion (plus a few extra million that were added) can do to a person. Yet they are barely here. You see shells, more than you see cicadas. This is wimpy.

Wagers on how long it takes me to eat my words since this is only the first week they are supposed to be here?

2004-05-13T06:44:00.000-05:00

Job Application Role Call (reverse order of application I believe):

Program Director - Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute Assistant Director of Campus Activities at Johns Hopkins Project Manager, Jewish Civics Iniative - PANIM
Assistant Director Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington
Events Manager at Human Rights Campaign Special Events Coordinator at Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Soref Director at Hillel International
Director of Hillel at Towson University

Have a few more jobs to apply for, but I was starting to lose track.

2004-05-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

Return to Hopkins?

Could life really come this full circle? I was looking at different job information, so I started to peruse my alma mater to see what jobs they might have and this is what I saw:

Assistant Director Campus Programs/ Levering Union

Anyone that has known me for a while, knows that this type of job is what got me excited about Student Affairs and sent me to graduate school. What am I talking about? Doing this same exact job in a student version is what sent me to graduate school.

So I have sent out an email to my old boss and friend who is still there. Not even sure when the job begins or application deadline is.

Could life really come full cirlce like that? Just in case, I think I better call their human resources right now.

2004-05-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

My plan of sending out a resume a day is working. I have another one set up to send out this evening.

I wonder what half of these companies are thinking when they look at a time stamp of an email sent to them for a job, and see 1am. Leads to the question of what type of stuff makes an impression on people.

In other areas, it seems that most of our friends are now gathering (and keep moving to) in 4 places, which is really cool: Chicago, Philadelphia, D.C., and of course Jersey still.

One of our buddies from here just got a job at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, Dave and Nina have just moved there, Rachel and Jon have moved to the Northeast where Scott and Kathleen live.

In D.C., Josh and Jenny are moving there around the same time that we are, my father started his job today, and then my brother is already there.

I like this bang for the buck style of visiting people that we will get to do. Visit one area, see a whole bunch of people.

2004-05-07T01:02:00.000-05:00

So my father has a new job and is now moving. (Coincidentally to Washington D.C., so not only will we be near my brother but also my father). This means that he will sell the house I grew up in. I have known this was coming for a while, but it just hit me this evening while Lauren and I were taking the dog for a walk.

My brother and I had a strange conversation tonight about it. He started quoting Billy Joel, stating that home is wherever the family is. (just for a pause, on Crank Yankers they are saying the Mourner's Kaddish, a Jewish prayer, that is a little bizarre) 8 years or so ago, when our parents got divorced, he was hit hard by it. I was perfectly content knowing that the divorce was necessary. But I always kept the connection to the house as my connection to family and home. I have friends that still give a call when they see my car in the driveway.

And now my real substantive connection to home is going away, and that is just weird. Not good, not bad, just a lot of memories. It is a good thing that I think my brother is right. Home is wherever the people that you care about are and wherever you are happy, which is probably why I have been able to make myself feel at home pretty much whever I have moved.

2004-05-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while. Not as much to say while the job hunt is in full gear. Lauren has now received a job in DC and my search is in full throttle.

Which leads me to two dilemmas that I am currently facing:

Dilemma 1: I have two jobs that I am extremely interested in. One is located in DC, good hours of work, good job for me, lots of management experience to be gained, and it would make my life much easier in terms of seeing friends and family and doing the all important happy hours. Taking MBA classes while actually seeing Lauren would also be much easier.

The other job would give both Lauren and I a 45 minute commute (we would have to live inbetween Baltimore and DC), and it seems like a great career move. I would get supervision experience, fundraising, budget control, and vision setting. Great for my future career goals of nonprofit management. However, I would have evening programming that I have to do, erratic scheduling, and especially if I took Business school classes not nearly as much set quality time with Lauren.

So the dilemma: Short term personal happiness vs much better career possibilities for the future. Couple this with the fact that I believe if I went up to either job and told them that this is the job that I really want, it would improve my chances.

Dilemma 2: Apartments or house/condo - This one is much more dependant on dilemma 1. If we live in the DC area, do we get a condo or an apartment? Is the cost of the apartment comparable to the hassle of moving into an unknown neighborhood and settling down? Or do we wait a year (or half a year) and then buy a place.

Aye, decisions, decisions. All I know is someone better offer me a job soon.

2004-04-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

Save me Jebus! (Yes the Simpsons were just on)

I am currently reviewing cd-roms to show for an Israel Advocacy presentation I am organizing for Friday.

The one I just viewed, Seeds of Hatred, a 10 minute propoganda laden piece about the way the Palestinian Authority educates its students always effects me. So first, the film is very blatant in trying to draw out fear as an emotion, the entire beginning shows children walking around with the sniper's aim site on them (like you were looking at them through a rifle). Anyone watching can see the propoganda in it, and sadly it takes away from the rest of the short. Which is extremely sad.

It is actually an excellent piece otherwise, showing the translations of interviews with children, songs that are popular, and what is taught at summer camps and schools. And it is scary. It is no wonder there are so many children involved in the Palestinian uprising, when they are being taught death as a way of life.

Israel is trying to win the propoganda war that they have long been awful at, and the ironic thing to me, is that I believe the facts speak for in favor of the Israelis but no one is willing to pay attention to the facts, they just want the propoganda.

2004-04-01T23:38:00.000-05:00

It is always good when the stock market surprises you. Midafternoon, when I looked, the market seemed down today. When I check tonight, it was a decent day.

Of course, I could just be remembering yesterday. I do that sometimes.

Slowly working on that website, need to edit much more, and as Lauren says, add graphics, because it is boring right now. For anyone that stumbles across this, check out the new domain name. www.howtoraisefunds.org

2004-03-30T12:12:00.000-05:00

In the midst of not being able to do my job search because of the endless waiting game, I have undertaken a new project.

I am creating a webpage, a How To Fundraise webpage, for those people that need it.

But Ken, there are tons of fundraising resources out there, what makes your different?

Great question, there are several differences. 1. I am not trying to make money off of it (but it might look nice on a resume or to create an idiot's guide later, hey gotta be practical). 2. Most fundraising resources are for non-profit organizations or for profit organizations, there are very few resources out there for individuals. 3. This is specifically targeted at those people that have undergone some kind of hardship and are looking for community support; i.e. need to raise money for a van that is wheelchair accessible after an accident.

For anyone that stumbles upon this, I need testimonials of people that have actually had success in fundraising, and am always looking for extra fundraising programs to join the how-to guide.

Hey, it beats worrying about a job.

2004-03-24T14:17:00.000-05:00

This is a test for Dave

2004-03-18T18:41:00.000-05:00

Let's see if this works. Ken is now posting as Lauren in bizarro world to make sure that this works.

2004-03-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

So this is frustrating. Blogspot is not letting me add on Lauren as a user yet.

This is an interesting phenomenon, this blog thing. You type out messages without the faintest knowledge if anyone will ever read them. If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

If a blogger blogs, and no one reads it, is it really a blog?

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

2004-03-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

I just uploaded comment software to the blog. Let's see if it actually worked.

2004-03-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog and our first post. Actually it is Ken's first post here. Lauren really doesn't know that I am doing this at the moment, since she is in D.C. for a job interview.

Here's seeing you in cyberspace.