I had such a chill, laid back weekend...went to Atlantic City on Saturday with my sister Joyce, her fiance, and his parents.  It was a day filled with fun, fun, and more fun!!  Joyce won $160 on a nickel machine.  It was a team effort!  We played Monopoly.  It was lots of fun, more fun than I had ever imagined.  We're looking forward to the Cyndi Lauper concert which apparently is going to be held in the very same casino/hotel where Joyce won!  Really, the Cyndi Lauper concert is a cover for our gambling tendencies!! 

Then when we were in a taxi on our way home, I got a call from my friend Lynn, who is currently hosting friends from Hawaii.  They had just come out of seeing Beauty and the Beast.  So, I jumped out a cab to hang out with them at the Olive Garden for a few hours. 

Gosh, I was so tired that I didn't wake up until about 2PM Sunday afternoon.  I just hung out in my room watching Iron Chef USA.  It was pretty good.  Man, Todd English is really creative with his dishes.    

Then, I worked for two hours today.  I'm designing materials for a course on how to use the American Psychological Association format for referencing articles.  It's pretty cool because I get to do it on my free time and make some $$$ too.   

I can't believe that it's the end of the week!! 

My boss is an energizer bunny...she's got a gazillion things going at once and is a great conversationalist.  I just don't know how she keeps track of everything.  I've never worked for someone so dedicated to work as she is.  Apparently, she only gets 4 hours a sleep per night.  Ouch! 

I'm learning a great deal and enjoying it so far.  I get to work with people on the Committee of 100 too...check this out www.committee100.org

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this leads to some kind of full-time employment when I graduate in December.  Wish me luck!! 

I am so beat after a long hard day of just basically surfing the net, at least there's a purpose and I'm not aimlessly looking at random things.  I got to work at the time requested only to find out that she was going to let us back to school to do all of our research on-campus.  I think everyone that she's hiring is somehow connected to the Columbia community.  It's great for her since we have access to "broadband" (I had no idea what she was referring to when she asked me if I had it!) and the libraries.  The other guy that is working there is an undergrad who has been working in marketing for a while.  He was helping me with the lingo, like "indexing" and "competitive intelligence"...basically, I was surfing the net all day trying to find out what exits in terms of non-profit consulting.  It was very nice of him to teach me the vocab.  Since I'm completely new to this, I encouraged him to give me tips and to teach me what he thinks is important for me to know.  It turns out that he is the fraternity brother of one of my little sister's friends, interesting huh? 

What was really interesting about today was that all of this researching stuff was really similar to the stuff that I did for Dr. Carter when I was on his research team.  I even went to the B-school library to get an 1975 article from the Harvard Business Review.  The article is about how CEO's should communicate with the press.  It was kinda funny and made lots of sense in terms of how to deal with the public when representing corporate business.  It looks like my boss wants to take all of this stuff and to teach people who run non-profits how to be more financially efficient, especially since they are held accountable to the government, foundations, etc.  I don't think there are that many firms out there focused on non-profit consulting.  If anyone else out there knows of any, please do email me so that I may check out their website!!  She's also interested in the possibility of coaching college students and young professionals for successful job interviews.  Gosh, she has so many things on her plate.  It's amazing, and I'm thoroughly impressed!!                    

Boy am I a busy bee...I just sent off my resume again.  This time, I'm trying to get a research assistant position with a professor at the B-school.  He does marketing research and looks at the interaction (okay, couldn't help but include regression here, aiyah!! ) between psychology and economics.  I'm hoping that he'll be impressed by my publication with Dr. Carter and my knowledge of regression, survey design, and SPSS.  Woohoo!!  Wow, I guess I know way more than I had thought?!?

Yesterday, I met this Teachers College alum who works for Accenture.  It was just uncanny.  We had the same major, worked with Dr. Carter, was on the PhD track, did counseling/psychotherapy with adults, sick of the stagnating non-profit world (When I managed a government funded after school program at BU, I found myself surfing the net after the learning curve flatlined.  I was so bored after being there for only four months.  Even at my last job, which was at another education setting, people were surfing the net all day long.), are very results oriented, didn't want to leave New York for a fully funded PhD program in Kentucky or Milwaukee (basically the middle of nowhere), wanted to make some $$$, and even have the same Myers Briggs Type Indicator: ENTJ.  Seriously, what are the possibilities of that?  She even maintains the helping oriented side of her personality by running a volunteer program at Accenture that helps immigrants prepare for the American job interviewing process.  The universe is definitely sending me a message.  She was giving me lots of tips and ideas on how to interview and beef up my resume to work in consulting, advertising, marketing, etc. 

I'm beginning to think that I'm going to have to carve out my very own niche about this finding the right career for me stuff.  This is a lot harder than I had ever imagined.  It's scary too when you're venturing into uncharttered waters, but maybe that's why it piques my interest.  I am intrigued by the unknown and have an incredible thirst for knowledge.  Gee, sometimes, I wonder...why don't I just follow some very clearly defined path, a.k.a. PhD/Law School?  I guess I've never been one to follow any path and find doing so so very restrictive, almost suffocating in a way...okay, I'm beginning to get morbid here.  Maybe, I should stop now...hmmm.

Guess who is going to see Cyndi Lauper at the Atlantic City Hilton on August 23rd at 8PM???  

Time After Time, Money Changes Everything, I Drove All Night, She Bop, All Through the Night, and of course Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Alright, I can't help it...I just love the 80's, especially the music.  It brings back good memories of when I was little and living with my family in Boston.