The Unemployment Rate Fell Just A Little Bit

...even though I don't think I was counted in those numbers anyway...

Yep, you guessed it- I got a job! After a good amount of time networking and interviewing and looking for a family-supporting kind of job, I was hired by the School Improvement Network in March!

I've been there about a month now and it's been great. Everybody's been nice a helpful as I learn about everything that I'm responsible for. And I even get to go to New Orleans next week for an education conference. It should be a fun week.

I included a picture of my desk name sign thing for proof...

Weekend Project

My parents had these chairs sitting around and said that we could have them. As you can see, they were dated and in bad shape (this picture flatters them). After months of procrastinating refinishing them, we finally buckled down last week and worked on them.

Work in progress...

Complete!

We are super excited with how well they turned out and I already have plans to work on an old cabinet from my grandma's house.

Now I just need a place to commute to...

I've been working part time at the University of Utah for the past few months as I search for a full-time job. Last Earth Day around the student union building where I work there were some activities and booths set up dealing with ways to be a better citizen of Earth and stuff like that. Coca-Cola had a table promoting their "Live Positively" campaign where they were giving out t-shirts. I walked by and they handed me a shirt along with a scratch-off card for a bike giveaway.

Now, I'm a sucker for free stuff and easily-entered contests. So I scratched off the card, entered the code online, and practically forgot about it. Then almost two months ago I received an email telling me that I was "a potential winner" in the Coca-Cola Give It Back College Sweepstakes. After sending back a signed and notarized affidavit I received another email letting me know that my prize was on it's way.

A couple weeks ago I got the call: my prize was waiting for me at the local REI. I won a limited edition, Coca-Cola red, 8-speed Dahon folding bike. Yes, you read that right-- it folds. (See below.)

I've taken it out for a few rides and it's pretty cool. I hadn't heard of the brand before, but Dahon makes high-quality folding road and mountain bikes. It's pretty amazing how they can make a full-functioning bike that can fold down so it's easily carry-able and store-able.

Now I just need a nice place downtown to ride my bike to every day...

Virginia is for Lovers... and a job?

Hi everybody! Yes, our blog was still working--there wasn't anything wrong with your computers. The lack of blog posting-ness was on our end. We haven't felt that we've had anything excitingly newsworthy to post. If you've been following either of us on Facebook, you might have seen some of the random bits of news, but nothing had felt big enough to make it to our blog.

Until now...

Two or three months ago I found out that someone I had worked closely with in NYC last summer (my AE from Y&R) had moved to The Martin Agency in Virginia last fall. She was able to help me get a phone interview there. One morning I talked to someone there and I felt that it went really well. But in the weeks following no position at my level had opened up yet.

Until now...

Two weeks ago I got an email from another contact I had made at The Martin Agency informing me of an open position in his department. He helped get the ball rolling and the next morning I got an email and a couple days later I got a call about when I could fly out to Richmond to meet with some people there. In the next couple days I received an itinerary and last Thursday I found myself on a flight to Atlanta (and then on to Richmond).

I had such a great time! I met with 7 different people and I really enjoyed talking with them. I came expecting more of a classic "interrogation" kind of interview series, but it ended up being a "getting to know you" set of meetings. Everyone was really nice--I'd love to work with them. And the agency building was beautiful!



Richmond was beautiful, too. I'm really excited to find out how this will turn out. They said I'd hear back in a couple weeks, so by the end of next week I should know something.

Thanks for everybody that's been supporting us for the past few months! We're crossing our fingers for Virginia!

Shakespeare in the Park

Every year there is a free Shakespeare play in Central Park. There are always big stars in the shows and the tickets are handed out the day of, meaning super long lines. Tickets are distributed at 1 and so Wednesday I got to the park just before 9 am. The line was already over a half mile long and there was little hope of getting tickets. We were determined to see the show, so the next day I got there before 7. The line was long even then, but I was close enough to be guaranteed tickets. All that was left was to wait and wait and then wait some more. I endured boredom and rain storms, but was successful! 6+hours= 2 tickets to Twelfth Night staring Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald.

We didn't have the best seats, but it was still an amazing show! Yay for live theater!
You can't take pictures in the theater, so this is view from the back. We were sitting on the upper right side.

Free things save us money

Hey we have some more pictures of things we've done here in NYC and we thought we'd share them with you! And we're not even waiting for a couple months to do it! We're going to try out how the real bloggers do it...

During the summer here they have the River to River Festival, which includes a lot of free concerts and activities and fun things. A couple weeks we went to a fireworks show on the East River featuring music by the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Two nights ago we went to a free concert of Mozart's The Magic Flute by the New York Opera at Rockefeller Park. It was a lot of fun to sit in the park in the beautiful weather and enjoy the concert.

Waiting for it to start...

A couple weeks ago a group of us went to the famed Apollo Theater (We lived about a 10-15 minute walk away...) for Amateur Night. That's when you can actually boo the performers off the stage. They encourage it! It was a cultural experience and a lot of fun.

I also wanted to include this because Michael Jackson performed here early in his career. I can't find any sources to back that up, but it does make it cooler that we went there.


(UPDATE: I found out when Michael Jackson performed at the Apollo Theater. The Jackson 5 won the Apollo's Amateur Night in 1967.)

Internship Update (and a contest!)

Greetings from New York City!

I realized that I haven't really given many people an update on how my internship is going. Initially, the internship was supposed to be from the beginning of May to June 16th, but the people at Y&R gave those who wanted to an opportunity to extend our internships until the first week of August. I've really been enjoying it here and I feel like I get along really well with everybody I'm working with, so Megan and I decided to stick it out here for at least a couple more months and see what happens.

We had to find a new apartment for the remainder of our stay since our first place was only for the duration of the regular internship. Now we are living a little farther north on Manhattan. But it only takes about 30-40 minutes to get to work, thanks to the subway! I love public transportation. If I can have someone else do the moving for me so I can have time to relax or read a book, I'm happy.

Here at Y&R I am working on the recently acquired Office Depot account. On June 1st we launched a new part of the campaign called "The Survival of the Smartest" and the "Small Business Self-Bailout" It involves a website and some funny webisodes with "Matt and Matt" that will be released periodically through the rest of the summer.

A big part of the campaign is the "Adopt a Small Business" contest that ends July 31st. (If you or someone you know owns a small business, let them know about this!) 500 businesses will be awarded $2000 each in Office Depot prizes (gift cards, print services, etc.). To enter, all you have to do is make a 2-minute video telling Office Depot two things: what you are doing in these tougher economic times to be smart (how are you saving money or finding new customers or reducing costs, etc.) and how Office Depot has helped you out. If you're not sure how Office Depot has helped your small business out, you have until July 31st to visit your local Office Depot to figure it out. They also have some great online resources. This is a really great contest. If you want to learn more about that, check out www.thesurvivalofthesmartest.com.

And check out the first webisode next Monday! (June 29th)

Oh, and another cool thing: Y&R finally updated their website!! After nearly a year of being "Coming Soon" or "Under Construction" it is an actual website that you can look at! Check it out, it's cool: http://www.yr.com.

(Map image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team and Wikipedia)

In case anyone didn't know...

We graduated!!!

Adios Provo!

Here's Proof.


Scott got a BA in Communications: Advertising

I got a BS in Sociology (in 3 years...)

Yay for us!