2011 Recap: Top Three Events

There were many major news events in 2011 but here are the three that I think were the most important to America and the World.

1.  The Arab Spring.  I think the term Arab Spring might be a little out dated now as protests continue on, but these protests have the chance to create major changes.  Three governments are going to drastic changes thanks to the protests, and protests continue in Syria.  How these governments will continue to evolve is going to be something to watch in the future.  The balance of power in the Middle East probably will continue to shift as these new governments come into power and grow.  Plus the protests could continue to spread and Syria could get a break through.
2.  The Death of Osama Bin Laden.  This is going to be one of those moments that everyone in America remembers where they were.  Especially those kids who went down to the White House to party until 4 in the morning.  On a more serious note, the death of the head of Al Qaeda, was a major victory for the American foreign policy and for the Black Ops community.  While Bin Laden's more recent role in Al Qaeda was apparently lessened before his death, it was still the death of the founder of the organization.
The death of Bin Laden also foreshadowed another series of problems that America would run across.  The problem of Pakistani sovereignty.  Bin Laden was deep in Pakistan so the American intervention into Pakistan came with some serious problems.  And the American's continued excursions into Pakistan are continuing to create some friction between the two countries.
3. The Euro Crisis.  The Euro is in trouble.  That much has been a constant for most of 2011.  A group of countries in Europe are having a debt crisis and it is bringing down the Euro.  A large group of countries are going through major crises and it has caused some protests throughout  Europe.  Some of them violent.  How the Euro problem turns out is anyone's best guess.  Hopefully the Euro manages to ho hold together, and if it collapses, hopefully it does not have global repercussions to send the global economy back down.

Honorable mentions: Occupy Wall Street, The Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami, The Presidential Race, The Death of Kim Jong Il

2011 Recaps: Winners and Losers in Sports

Here are the 2011 Winners and Losers in Sports according to me.

Winners:
Playoffs: The Playoffs in 2011 were great.  The St. Louis Cardinals won the wild card the last day of the season, then continued to win in dramatic fashion all the way through their eventual World Series Championship.  The Mavericks improbable NBA Finals win brought basketball to a new level of popularity.  The Super Bowl win of the 6 seed Packers over the Steelers in a match up of two of the classic franchises was another playoff success.  Even the BCS championship game was exciting.
Major League Baseball: Baseball was the sport that was able to undergo a major collective bargaining agreement with no lock out and no major drama.  Baseball was able to reorganize it's leagues, institute more instant replay, and raise the minimum salary, all with little to no trouble.  Compare this with the ordeal of the NFL and the fiasco that was the NBA lockout and the MLB looks like a large group of professionals.
The St. Louis Cardinals: As much as it pains me to say this I think the Cardinals came out as big winners in 2011.  They won the World Series, in the most improbable fashion with some heroics from some home town players.  They then managed to not get sucked into over bidding for Albert Pujols.  While they may have lost the face of the franchise, but a World Series title and sticking to their guns on the Pujols contract qualifies them for a win.
US Soccer: We may have lost the Gold Cup, but we managed to finally get the coach that they have been trying to get for a while.  While the success of the team has not been great in 2011, the team is building up towards a big Olympic qualifying and World Cup qualifying.   Do not forget about the US Women's team.  Finishing second in the Women's World Cup to an inspired Japanese team.  They managed to get the American people energized about Soccer for a short while.

Losers:
Ryan Braun: Seriously, this was one of the silliest things that I have hear in a while.  Braun tests positive for steroids immediately following his MVP season and the season where he lead the Brewers to their first division title in 20 years.  Not to mention he signed a huge contract extension to be the face of the Brewers.  If the positive test were not bad enough, his excuse while seemingly plausible is even more embarrassing.  That he tested positive for steroids because he has an STD and the medicine for the STD caused the positive test.  So he has now become linked with performance enhancing drugs regardless of the outcome of the appeal.  Not to mention he is not the second most famous athlete to admit having an STD now.
The NBA:  The NBA had one of their most popular seasons in recent memory.  They had a new villain in the form of Lebron James.  Then they could not agree on revenue sharing and lost half the season.  The season finally restarts on Christmas day, but they appear to be losing on a lot of money and a continuing fan base.
The Houston Astros:  I think this one might be even harder for me than admitting the St. Louis Cardinals were winners.  The Astros were the worst team in baseball record wise.  They were then forced into the AL West where there is little doubt that they are going to get their butt kicked for a year or two.  Then to top it all off, Albert Pujols, the man who has been tormenting them for the last 10 years is moving to the AL West a year before them, to get accustomed to the AL West.  Oh the Astros.

2011 Recaps: Winners and Losers in the News

Since I am on the editorial train I might as well keep it going with my winners and losers of 2011 and what I think were the most important events.  I just focus on news and sports because that is pretty much all I follow with any sort of regularity.  The first segment is the news.

2011 Winners:
Twitter: Did any one piece of technology have any larger affect on the world than Twitter did?  Twitter was used effectively in protests throughout the Middle East and helped to over throw regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia.  Besides its use in protests, Twitter is now being used by all sorts of people and groups.  Many US Congressmen and Women are constantly tweeting to get their constituents more involved.  In world news the Somalian group Al-Shabaab is now tweeting and using Twitter to boost their legitimacy as a group.
Barack Obama: The Economy may not be the strongest still, but in my book President Obama seems to have had a successful year.  In 2011 alone Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong Il are all gone.  While the President may have only had a direct impact on one of those three being gone, I can only imagine that having those three gone could alleviate just a little bit of the stress of the job.
Another reason to see the President as a winner is the Republican field that appears to be running against him.  Just see the blog post that I wrote directly blow this one if you want more details.
Iraq: Depending on your political views this was either a major win for the Iraqi people or a loss for the American people.  I am going to call this one a win for everyone.  The American government kept their signed deal with the Iraqi government to get all of the troops out.  The Iraqis get to run their country with an American intervention.  We shall see how 2012 plays out, but I think we can call 2011 a win.
Drones: They were everywhere this year.  They seem to be a fairly efficient use of military technology.  They are small and allow for there to be no pilot deaths should one crash or get shot down.  Other than the recent fiasco with the drone in Iran, the drones had been overall positive in the effectiveness in 2011.

2011 Losers:
Syrian People: The Syrians appear to have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the Arab Spring.  The Syrians have received no outside military help and no major help from the military.  Their government continues to brutally crack down against them, and there appears to be no signs of it slowing down any time soon.
Nuclear Power: In a time where countries all over the world are looking for ways to become more energy independent Nuclear Power was becoming a much more solid option.  Now with Nuclear disaster that happened in Japan following the Earthquake and Tsunami, all of the momentum that Nuclear Power had been building has now been lost.
The US Congress: Congress has become the model of ineptitude recently.  They struggle to pass anything more than the most basic legislation, and even that proves to be ineffective at times.  Twice the government has avoided a shut down by just a few days.  Do not even begin to start on the Super Committee to fix the deficit.  That appears to have been a giant waste of everyone's time.

I'm no Expert, but this Does Not Make Any Sense

This is my first attempt at an editorial blog.  I am no expert, this is just my opinion, so please bare with me.

Last Saturday I watched the Republican Presidential nominee debate that took place in Iowa and could not help but be perplexed.  Coming into this nomination season President Barack Obama seemed easily beatable.  The economy was still in the tank, the Afghanistan War continued to drag on, and Congress could not seem to pass a bill about anything.  Obama's popularity was in the mid forties and seemed stalled there.  All the Republicans needed was a strong, electable nominee and the Presidency seemed easily winnable for the Republicans.
After watching the debate I was utterly baffled as to the nominees that were up for election.  Newt Gingrich, the current front runner, is running for the nomination of a party that wants a political outsider, and yet he is the former speaker of the house and a former lobbyist.  Some of his views are rational (see immigration) and some of his views are extreme (see Palestine).  Yet through all of this, he remains the front runner to challenge President Obama.  Mitt Romney, the candidate who seems stuck in second place, managed to put his foot in his mouth during the debate.  While the $10,000 debate bet seems like a nice joke, but it has become the punching bag for both parties.  Mitt Romney seemed like the nominee who had the best shot at defeating President Obama.  Yet the moderate businessman continues to track downward through a combination of personal gaffes and what appears to be distrust from the Republican establishment.
This being said I do not understand what the Republican party is doing.  They had a chance to take the momentum from their 2010 election and push it on through onto the White House.  However the Republicans seem to be doing the exact opposite.  The candidates are attacking each other and themselves and none of them can statistically beat President Obama as the status-quo currently stands.
It is still December so things have the potential to change drastically between now and November, but as things currently stand consider me confused.

Real World=Less Blogs

After a 3 week vacation of sorts between Spain and Thanksgiving it was back to the real world.  Well as real as it gets for me.
The first big event back in the real world was a fundraiser for Holmes Osborne the person who I am campaign managing for.  The fundraiser went well with the campaign being able to raise some money and get our face out there.  The next day the biggest news of the campaign finally came out.  The new districts for the State of Missouri came out and since then it's been getting down to work.  Finding places to fundraise, people to support Holmes, and all sorts of other fun activities.  The campaign is beginning to pick up pace and I love it.
I also got called to substitute teach again.  This time I substitute taught Auto Collision Repair.  Which basically meant pop in a movie and sit.  Since the class was over two hours long, it then meant find something to watch on TV.  Oh the real world.
Christmas is coming up soon so that's the next big excitement in my life!

The Basque Region and the Bus problems

Bright and early Friday morning Laura and I woke up and hopped on a bus headed for San Sebastian. Upon our arrival Laura and I attempted to purchase tickets to go to Bilbao the next day, but Laura realized that she did not have her purse. (This problem with the bus would be a theme) With Laura in mild panic mode translating what the bus lady was saying fell onto me. Through a series of basic Spanish phrases and wild hand gestures we were able to figure out when we would probably be able to get Laura's purse back. After all of that we were rather famished and decided to follow Rick Steve's advice and follow the pinxtos. Basically you would walk into a bar. Grab some pinxtos (little appetizers) right off the bar, eat them, throw your napkin on the floor, and pay on the honors system. 

The Pixtos

The pinxtos were great. Then after being a little less famished we climbed up a hill with a big statue of Jesus that had an amazing view of San Sebastian. After hiking all over the hill Laura and I headed back for a fancier dinner than we were usually accustomed to. It was rather nice and the food we ate was amazing. After that we wandered and San Sebastian going to bars and trying their native drinks, including wine that was poured through a special type of top from a large height. Then of course we had to wander the beach. No way I was going to a beach town and not going on the beach.

The next morning Laura and I woke up and were already behind schedule. We ended up running down the road from our hostel to the bus station with our back packs on. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race, but more likely I just looked like a goof ball. What followed was one of the most violent bus rides I have ever been on, with a large number of rapid hair pin turns. Thankfully the arm rest and seatbelt held me in my seat. Upon arriving in Bilbao, Laura and I turned around and headed to Guernica. Our arrival on Guernica, via bus, was unsurprisingly hectic. We figured the bus would have a stop label Guernica, but our assumption was very wrong as we had to jump out of the bus on the stop after Guernica and wander back to town. Guernica was the site of a bombing by Hitler during the Spanish Civil War, and was a cultural hub of the Basque people. I was able to learn so much about the Basque people during this trip, but much of what I learned was in Guernica. We saw much of the town and went to a very interesting Peace Museum. Upon the end of our exploring we hoped on the bus and took it back to Bilbao. Figuring the bus would drop us back off we were greatly mistaken as we were dropped off abruptly in the middle of Bilbao.

Sunday Laura and I awoke and decided to go visit the number one tourist attraction of Bilbao, the Guggenheim Bilbao. This being my second modern art museum in a week I hoped that I would have a better appreciation of modern art. I was vastly mistaken. I do not understand it. How seven different canvasses painted all black is art, I do not know. The architecture of the building though was very interesting. Then Laura and I hopped on our bus for an uneventful ride back to Madrid, before I left Monday morning back for America.

The Basque region was very interesting with them having their own unique identity along with language. The more I learned about the culture the more fascinated I became with the region. Hopefully I can read the Basque history book I bought my parents as a souvenir sometime soon.  

Exploring Madrid

My week in Madrid:

After getting back from the adventures in Granada I had a few days to explore Madrid and all of it's wonders. Monday was easily my busiest day as I get up and got going early. Laura and my orginal plan was to go to a park and throw around a frisbee, but mother nature was not agreeing with that plan so we went to the Reina Sofia Art Museum. We were able to see Picasso's Guernica along with a lot more modern art that I apparently am not civilized enough to appreciate. After wandering around that museum for a while Laura had to go to class and I walked to the Royal Place where I took the self guided tour. I was able to see all sorts of interesting things inside of the palace and a huge armory, but unfortunately they did not allow photo's inside. After that I went and wandered around the crypts of the Cathedral in Madrid. I had already wandered around the cathedral in a very jet lagged state, but now I was wandering around the crypts. The crypts were interesting, but there didn't appear to be anyone overly famous that I recognized buried there. Then I hit up the Madrid night life with a couple of Laura's roommate.

Tuesday started a little slower as the Madrid culture appeared to breed fatigue for me. After finally getting motivated I headed out for lunch and then to the Naval Museum. The Naval Museum was very interesting as it was the history of the Spanish Navy according to the Spaniards. I chucked at the overall lack of coverage of the Spanish Armada. (They probably had less written about the Armada than I have written thus far) They had much more written about the Battleship Maine and how that was not the Spaniard's fault. They also had a very interesting quote about the Maine that made me giggle.

Wednesday I went and toured the Stadium of Real Madrid the “Number one club of the 20^th Century.” The Stadium was really cool and I enjoyed seeing all of the trophies. Even the one that Sergio Ramos dropped and was run over by a bus. The field looked so soft and I really wanted to play frisbee on it. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure I would have been sent to jail if I did that. And I was not really looking for a night in a Spanish Prison.

Thursday was my last day to explore Madrid, so what did I do. I got a late start. And then I chatted with Laura's house mom, Loti, for two hours about Politics and Life. While I may not have gotten as out and about in Madrid as I had hoped on the last day, I felt that this might have been one of the coolest things that I had done. I learned all about the Spanish election, how American Politics were interpreted, and a whole host of other things.  

Spain Thus Far

For those of you that do not know I am currently in Spain for the next week or so.  I arrived last Thursday morning (12:55 am CST) and the fun has continued since.  Aside from fighting jet lag for the first 24 hours I got to see large parts of Madrid courtesy of my wonderful tour guide and host, Laura Kelly.  Her Senora is allowing me to stay in her house and is cooking great food for me.  She is a hilarious lady as well which makes staying with her a real treat.
Wandering around Madrid that first day was a delight and terrible.  I alternated every 5 minutes between extreme energy, extreme tiredness, and just overall normal energy levels.  I did manage to pick up some Spanish Political literature, being the campaign manager nerd that I am I got really excited and grabbed it.
Friday morning we got up bright and early to travel to Granada.  Granada is such a beautiful region of Spain and the food was awesome there.  Seriously, I'm probably going to gain about ten pounds.  We saw the Alhambra, which was this really neat Moorish Palace, the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel in Granada as well.  In the Royal Chapel was the remains of the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella the monarchs of the First United Spain.  The History Major in me loved it.  The Alhambra was the last Moorish strong point in Spain before they finally gave up in 1492 and was very beautiful on the inside, and it also provided for spectacular views of the surrounding town.
Granada also had more than it's fair share of Gypsies and Dirty hippies which provided me with so much entertainment.  Laura and I were also able to go on a self made Tapas crawl in Granada, where we basically wandered through the streets stopping at different bars.  You ordered a drink of any kind and they showed up with a free plate Tapas, which varied greatly from bar to bar, but they were all very good.  A word of warning to you Granada travelers.  The city is extremely confusing and most maps are not drawn to scale.  This can cause a good bit of frustration.  Just FYI.
I am currently back in Madrid now and am wandering the streets trying to find all sorts of fun things to do.
Observations of Spain:
Their dialect of Spanish is much different than what I'm used too.  Granted I may not speak much Spanish to begin with, but they like to throw in what to me seem like random th's and drop syllables.  It makes life confusing.
How are these people so skinny?  The food they eat is so good and there is so much.  Not to mention they have like a drink with every meal.
The Spanish girls must have mega strong ankles.  Everywhere I go they all seem to be wearing high heels.  My ankles hurt walking around Granada and their small cobble stone streets, but these Spanish women were just trucking along.

13.1 Miles and still alive

This last weekend I checked the Half Marathon off of my bucket list.  I didn't train for very long, but I was still able to complete it in 1:43.17 which I was rather happy with.  I had never run that far competitively before and I had a great experience.  Granted there was a guy who beat me by over 20 minutes but I was still happy.  I ran a little bit competitively in high school, but this was completely different.  I did not realize how mental running was.  Not only was I trying to do math to make sure I was running a good pace, I kept having to encourage myself to keep going.  All in all I had a great experience and I am going to try to do another one real soon.  Maybe even a full marathon.  This time I am going to wear a watch though.

Always Learning and Working

In the last two days I got to go to a campaign school put on by the Missouri Farm Bureau.  Holmes Osborne and I went together and I learned lots.  I have not been in anything resembling a class since graduation, but I really liked it.  I took enough notes that I am going to be reading and re-reading for days.  

It was really interesting to listen to what the presenter had to say.  She managed to present in a way that was non partisan and could pertain to campaigns of all sizes.  She provided us with information that will help me to be a successful campaign manager.  I felt like such a nerd, but I was so excited learning about all of it and taking notes.  I got home and have gone straight to work, editing many of my ideas that I had put down in writing because her ideas made sense.

While all of my learning was really exciting I found out some very exciting news as well.  I got the results for the FOST test that I took a few weeks ago.  I passed the test, and with this I begin the next step of the process which is writing personal narratives.  

Life as a Campaign Manager

In the last few days I have been starting the work as a Campaign Manager.  I find this work fascinating.  I'm working on doing a large number of tasks early like working on fundraising and setting a plan from now to November.  It's really interesting seeing the amount of work and planning that goes into campaigning, even a small race like a State Representative race.  This Thursday and Friday I am going to Jefferson City with Holmes for a campaign school being put on by the Farm Bureau.  It should be very interesting to see what the recommend for how campaigns to run and what method to take.  While the campaign is only in its beginning I'm really excited to see how it pans out.

I also as campaign manager went to the Warrensburg Democrats meeting where I met Clint Zweifel the current Missouri Treasurer.  He is running for reelection and it was very nice to meet him and listen to him talk about his experiences as Treasurer and why he is running for reelection.

Slacking

So I've been slacking on my blog recently.  Recently I've gotten the chance to substitute teach.  This is great for me as I'm hardly working at all at the Italian Restaurant as they are closing down and moving to the Kansas City suburbs.  On Thursday I subbed in Family and Consumer Sciences class.  I felt like a glorified  baby sitter as I handed out work sheets.  Today I worked as a sub teaching high school chemistry.  I actually knew a little bit about this class having taken Chem 1 and 2 in high school.  After passing out a test and sitting for the Honors Chemistry 2 class I actually was able to help for Chem 1.  For this class I passed out work sheets and then was able to help with the work sheets.  I felt kind of like a teacher.  Kind of.  As a friend of mine put it, "being a substitute is interesting.  You have no responsibility and no authority."  It has made for an interesting couple of days.  

Campaign Manager

Today I met with Holmes Osborne who is going to be running for the 122nd District of Missouri.  He has run before unsuccessfully, but is attempting to run again.  In exciting news I am going to be his campaign manager!  After talking to him the beginning part of this process is going to me fundraising.  Fundraising is important to a campaign as it is important for a candidate to have money.  Things will start to pick up more after the redistricting is done sometime in November.  Then the big push will be in March after he officially files with the state.
I am not sure on the hours or salary yet, but anything is going to be great.  I am really excited to get started campaigning and see where it takes me!

Small Town Living

Living in a small town, especially after four years in down town St. Louis, is a bit of a culture shock.  There are many great things about small town living, and a few draw backs.  The best thing about small town living though is the people.  I really believe that what they say about people being friendlier in small town America.
The people have been really nice here helping me to look for a job.  Whenever people hear that I do not have a job they instantly start to brain storm if they know anyone that can help me.  While, many times they  all know the same few people, but it's still really nice to have all of these people helping me.  People that are involved in politics in town have all been really helpful.  Even the ones who have the opposite political views of me.  They just seem excited by the fact that I want to get involved in politics that they are glad to help.  I know that I have already written about friends and family helping me, but here in town it seems like everyone wants to help you.  And it is really nice.

Things to Occupy My Time

With a large amount of to spare in my life there are a large number of things that I have been doing.  One of my large amount time killers has been playing ultimate frisbee.  But with frisbee season being over I'm having to find new things to occupy my time that isn't being taken up with job applications.  I am still playing frisbee, but on a more casual basis, possibly playing in a tournament in early November.
One of the things that I have decided to do is to cross things off of my bucket list.  I'm going to run in a half marathon in Warrensburg on October 29th.  I have not really been training for it, but I was able to go on a trial run of 8.5 miles today with little problems.  Hopefully in the next three weeks I'll be able to get ready to do the full 13.1 miles.  I think I should be able to do it as long as I have the time to keep running on a daily basis I should be fine.  For my first one I'm not shooting for a phenomenal time, I'm just looking to finish it while running the whole thing.
Another one of the exciting things I have planned in the near future is a trip to Spain in mid November.  I can not wait to get over there and explore Spain and the Spanish culture.  Also a certain Laura Kelly is currently studying in Spain and having her as my tour guide will be pretty amazing.
Other than those two big things in the next month I'm just going about my business trying to find a job and reading the news.

The Never Ending Search

Applying for jobs has become what feels like a never ending search.  I get very excited when I think I find something, then get to come back down to Earth as nothing has panned out yet.  Thus far since graduation I have applied for around 125 jobs if not more, with today including seven more job applications.  And now with my diminishing hours at my current waiter job I get to start applying for temporary jobs as well.  I can only hope something turns up soon.  Be it either a new temporary job or a full time job.  

I didn't realize the economy was this bad

So today I found out that the restaurant where I work is ending the lunch shift and all shifts Monday effective this Monday.  Which drastically changes the amount that I work from getting close to 40 to very little.  I usually work lunches and the all day Friday and Saturday, but that is going to have to change.  Mostly because there is no lunch shift.  I understand that business is hard, but I feel like I should have been given some warning that my hours were being drastically reduced.
This change in hours makes me wonder how long this business model can work.  I can't imagine it would work forever, but I've been known to be drastically wrong before.

Substitute Teaching

Recently I became a licensed substitute teacher for the Warrensburg School District.  This is kind of exciting because I now have a second possible way to make money.  However when it comes to job hunting being a sub is not exactly what I am looking for.  Hopefully I can start subbing soon, but at the same time I'm looking forward to subbing with apprehension.  I remember how terrible students were to subs when I was a student, and I can't imagine that students have gotten any better.  Hopefully I get a call soon to start as some more income would be nice.

Tipping

Just FYI this post has very little to do with my adventure of trying to find a job, rather I'm getting up my soap box to write about tipping.  

Recently I have been working as a waiter at a restaurant at home to make money and find a way to get off my rear end.  Waiting isn't a bad job, where I get to meet lots of people and I am constantly on my feet.  The most frustrating thing about being a waiter is the tips that people leave.  10% is the minimum that a waiter expects for their work.  15% is what I am looking for if I believe that I worked hard on your table.  The most frustrating thing is when people tip under 10% which tends to happen at lunch.  I work mostly lunch shifts and it seems that people don't feel the need to tip nearly as much at lunch as they do at dinner.  The people at lunch work just as hard as the people at dinner.  The only difference is that the restaurant is usually less busy.  So for whomever is reading this I can only hope that you now take an extra second before you leave your tip.  

The Little Things

In this point in my life where I find myself at times discouraged and frustrated the thing that I find that helps the most is to enjoy the little things.  Like last night after my test I watched the Lion King and drank Capri Sun.  And I tweeted all about it (see over on the right).  My night of seven year old reminiscence was very enjoyable and reminded me that while things may seem frustrating at times, I can always slow down and do things that make me smile.  And in this holding pattern in my life, enjoying the little things is something I have to do to make sure I keep my sanity.

FSOT Pt. 2

I don't know what I was expecting when I took the Foreign Service Officer Test, but it was not what I expected.  It wasn't better or worse just different.  First the test wasn't a written test, rather it was on the computer which was different.  I think that I liked that better as I spend more time on a computer now anyways.  The test center also offered me ear plugs and a wet erase board as my scrap paper.  I liked having the wet erase board as scrap paper.  I think it went rather well and I will find out my results in 3-5 weeks.  I can not say a whole lot about the test, as there was all of these fun threats about divulging things and government copyrights, but I believe it went well.
Also, thank you so much to all of my friends and family who sent me some sort of message today saying good luck on the test.  It was really nice to get all of the messages of support.

Standardized Testing. Again?

For the first time since the fall of 2005 I will be taking something along the lines of a standardized test.  This test is the Foreign Service Officer Test and is by the same company that did the ACT.  This brings me back to my Junior year of high school which was the last time I took the ACT.  I got the score I wanted and I was done.
This time the stakes are a little different.  Rather than my score determining which College I will go to and how much scholarship money I'll be able to get; this one is the first step in the application process to be a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department.  Should I do well the application process will continue with the average application process taking around 18 months.  This test appears to cover a wide variety of topics, with one multiple choice section being on English (Much like ACT English), one section on yourself, an essay, and one section on things from Economics and Management, to World History and Geography.  Trying to study for this test has been difficult with the reading list of things that might help being four pages long.  None the less I have been reading from that list for a while and tomorrow I shall find out if I read enough.  Should be fun!

Gas Prices

The fact that the gas prices are dropping is huge for me and my part time waiter lifestyle.  As gas prices continue to drop it looks better and better for my bank account and for saving up money.  And of course who in their right mind does not like having cheaper gas.  
But in a less self centered take on the dropping gas prices.  I have read that dropping gas prices could have a mixed effect on the economy.  Economist Philip Verleger calls the drop “a stimulus program for consumers,” leaving them more money for clothes, dining out and movies.  “Yes, it produces some relief, your bill at the gas pump goes down. But it’s going down because there are worries that people won’t have jobs,” says James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California, San Diego. 

Graduate School

Yesterday I went to visit with the head of the History Department at the University of Central Missouri.  UCM is the school in town and Dr. Tenbus is the head.  I've begun to consider graduate school as I feel that I need to make myself more marketable.  Therefore a Master's degree in History couldn't hurt.  Plus it would probably be cheap, I wouldn't have to take the GRE, and I could still live at home and eat all of Mom and Dad's food.  I'm not sure what exactly would be my specialty, but would probably lean towards American politics or diplomacy.  I would be able to take classes in both History and Political Science, but my degree would say History.  Just like the degree I'm holding in that handy picture over on the right.  That one may say Political Science as well, but History is first.
Also the other reason that grad school sounds great is because I need some intellectual stimulation.  Don't get me wrong being a waiter provides physical stimulation, but the need to think overly hard is not required.  I like reading the news, different articles in publications like Foreign Affairs and Time, and books, but the the discussion would be beneficial to keep me intellectually stimulated.  

Family and Friends

One of the things that has been most beneficial in this thus far fruitless job search has been the support and help of my family and friends.  The number of family and friends that have been helping me search for a job is phenomenally large.  It reminds me of how lucky I am when I have so many people that are helping me.  This job hunt is so many things, ranging from frustrating and depressing on up, but the number of people who have showed support for me and helped the search has been great.  For all of the help I have gotten I will be eternally grateful.  Especially my parents who are putting up with me living in their house again and letting me eat all of their food.  And once I finally do find a job I'm going to have to spend at least the next five years trying to do something to thank each and every person.  Or I may actually be busy with my job.  We can only hope.

Welcome

My name is Austin, I have a college degree, and I live at home with my parents.  Like many people of my generation I am currently unemployed.  Well, I shouldn't say unemployed.  I have a job working part time at an Italian Restaurant at home.  I won't complain about the job because I make pretty decent money and the work isn't terrible, but it's not anywhere near what I had hoped to have after my graduation from college.  Namely a full time job doing something semi related to my degree.

After months of searching, I've decided to start blogging, in a way to make my quest public.  Part of me thinks that just writing about what's going on will make me feel better about my struggles.  Another part of me hopes that just maybe someone else in the same boat as me will find this and find comfort.  A final wishful part of me thinks that this might actually lead to a job.  I also plan on discussing interesting things that I believe are going on in the world, that I think are important.  But we shall see if anyone reads it, or values the opinions of an unemployed 22 year old.