These days we are up to our ears in packed boxes. It feels like we keep packing, packing, packing and haven’t hardly made a dent. But, I know that is not true – the biggest thing we have left is the small kitchen appliances. Our apartment looks like a  disaster zone  but I think it just gets worse before it gets better.

When I’m not packing I have been busy sending out resumes. I think I’ve sent out 5 or 6 this week. They are all for jobs that I would really enjoy. So, hopefully I’ll be hearing from some of them soon. One of the jobs said they planned to start interviewing next week!

Graduation is Monday – so we have a fun weekend ahead of us with my parents

Exciting Day! Today I picked up my graduation regalia – in Columbia blue! I have 17 days of my field placement left and even fewer days of class! My last day of “work” in May 9th and graduation is May 19th. Graduation is going to be at Lincoln Center which seems really classy.

In other news – we’re headed south April 17 – 20 for Aubrey’s birthday.  It will be nice to see everyone while we’re home.

Bill is chugging right along in his work and enjoying almost every minute of it. I am about to embark on the job hunt and not really looking forward to it. Bill just asked why I don’t like to work and that is not what I meant – I just don’t like the job hunting process.

Bill is still working on getting babydixon.com up and functioning – so it should be working soon.

Thanks goodness – I feel like a 100 pound load is off my shoulders. I just have to make it through one more day of internship and then I’ll be off to Florida!!!!

Last weekend our friend Tiffany, from Jackson, was in the City. We had such a good time together. We ate Thai food, went to Steve and Barry’s (where everything was on sale for $8.98), went to a baby shower and saw the Broadway play A Chorus Line. We exhausted ourselves, as usual, but it was great! It was kind of a nasty weekend weather wise and it never failed that every time we were outside it was raining with hurricane force winds.

We didn’t have much luck with umbrellas either. Someone stole Tiffany’s at Steve and Barry’s! Then, when we were at the theater- I left my soaking wet umbrella under our seats when we went to the restroom. We came back and my umbrella was gone! I asked the “seater” and she said that she hadn’t seen it or picked it up. So, I asked the people who had sat down while we were gone if they had seen it – it was an older couple and their adult son. The old man said – Yeah, and pointed at his wife. And then nothing. So, I said – well, it was mine. So, the lady got her purse and pulled my umbrella out! I couldn’t believe it – it was so weird!

The rest of the weekend was spent at church and studying – good times.

That’s right – midterms! By next Wednesday, I will have completed two 10-15 page papers, an economics test and a presentation at my internship. Talk about a lot to do!

Bill is still doing excellent at work.  This week human resources  asked him to write a job description for the assistant account executive position I asked him if HR realized he was only an account executive and not a vice president!

We are also still  apprentice leaders of our community group. We lead every 3rd time – so next week is our second time to lead. Last month our sermon series was on idols and this month – leading up to Easter- we are examining who Jesus is by what He said about Himself.

So, I apologize in advance if there are not too many updates in the next week because of mid-terms!

2008 has been an exciting year so far!

We are leaders in training for our Community Group. Which will be wonderful!

Bill has been excelling as a digital media public relations guru! At the end of February, he will be traveling for three days to North Carolina to help train 35 marketing and public relations experts at a multi-billion dollar business intelligence company. Bill is getting attention at his company for being a great Account Executive! Even the Executive Vice-President (EVP) has taken note of his work and his stylish wardrobe He was also given the “task” of picking out laptops for the digital media team and is now trying to convince the EVP that he needs a Mac.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was able to spend several days at the United Nations the past couple of weeks. I attended the Commission on Social Development which was about improving the lives of all people through concrete actions. In particular, I attended sessions that had to do with aging policy. The sessions were about the Madrid International Plan of Action on Action and how regions and countries had implemented the plan to make cities more aging friendly. I am now serving as a United Nations representative for the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG).

I also have the opportunity to be involved in several other international aging projects. I am a member of the NGO Committee on Aging and helping to plan and implement the 2008 International Day of Older Persons to be held in October at the United Nations. I am also the U.S. Student Representative for the 2008 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day that will be held in June in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

At my internship I get to do a poster presentation at the National Association of Social Workers conference in Albany, NY. The conference is at the end of March and I’m presenting on how social workers can use blogging as a means of communication with other professionals and as a tool to inspire communities to action.

So, how is everyone doing on their 2008 goals? It has been almost 2 months are you following through or have you forgotten all about them? One of our favorite things to do is dance (if you can call it that) on Friday nights! During one of our dances we found a “theme” song for our lives. It’s corny and juvenile but our “theme” song is “REACH” by S CLUB 7. (I’m sure only Dana will know who they are!) It’s our theme song because it is all about reaching for the stars, following your hearts desire and being an achiever. But, it’s also about having someone who will always be with you as you are achieving your dreams! And setting goals is one way to “reach!”

Does anybody else have a theme song?

Quite by accident, I attended a reception hosted by the Global Action on Aging tonight. The first Thursday of every month I go to the NGO Committee on Aging meeting. So, I head downtown to get to the meeting by 1:00 but when I got there today the security told me that the meeting had been changed to 5:00. A little perturbed because it’s not an easy place in the city to get – I head back to work but decide to go back at 5 because I love being a part of the Committee. At 5:00 I head back downtown. Instead of there being an NGO meeting they are having the Global Action on Aging reception.

I was able to network with so many amazing people! This morning at work I got assigned to work on New York’s Age Friendly City Initiative and tonight I met the man who dreamed up and developed the worldwide Age Friendly City!!! I met people from all over the world who are affiliated with the United Nations – Brazil, Germany, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Wisconsin

The most exciting part is that I know have UN security clearance until May (at least). Which means that I have access to the UN, meetings and various other things!!!

If you have been living in cave this week – you probably don’t know about the circus surrounding Columbia. Yesterday, the President of Iran spoke on Columbia’s campus. He was invited by the School of International and Public Affairs to speak at the World Leader’s forum.

Well, Columbia’s campus turned into a circus with protesters, for and against him speaking, and every media outlet imaginable. Bill was right in the middle of it! Catching all the action – see the new pictures. So, we have a guest blogger, Bill to tell his story…

Whether or not you believe he should have been allowed to speak it was most interesting to be in the middle of it all. I walked up to the main campus about 2 hours before he was scheduled to speak. I first walked around where the majority of the protesters were. They were mostly just yelling back and forth at each other… but it did remain peaceful. Of course security was very heavy. NYPD and Secret Service were all around. So I took a picture of 2 secret service agents. The picture didn’t look as good as I wanted, so I took another… bad idea. I then saw one agent mouth to the other “what is he taking a picture of?” Then they continued to watch me very closely, so I thought it was in my best interest to leave that area before I was taken in for questioning. I headed down the block and found “media row.” There were about 20 cameras setup all doing live coverage.

I decided to hang around where the cameras were because they usually know where the action is going to be. While I was waiting I called my dad because he was watching on TV and was able to keep me updated about when the president was headed my way. During one conversation with me, he says “I see you on TV right now.” I was in the background of an interview that was being done on MSNBC.

When he was about to arrive the police made me and several others move down the street… they made it so no one was even able to see the president getting out of his motorcade. However I knew he was getting close when a NYPD helicopter began circling the area, snipers appeared on several rooftops, and heavily armed officers took positions around the building where he was to speak.  All I was able to see when he arrived was the NYPD motorcycles that were at the very front of the motorcade.

While he was speaking I tried to figure out which way the motorcade when go when it left. I had to wait about 2 hours but I picked the perfect spot. He left very quickly, of course, but I was right on the corner of the street where he passed. I was literally 20 feet from his car.  That was the event from my perspective in a nutshell. Scroll down and you can see pictures from the day. They are NOT in order, but you can still get a good idea of what it was like here.

…of fall semester.

I have finished my first “real” week of graduate school. No sleepless nights or homework nightmares – yet. I am taking three classes – Economics, Policy Practice and Aging. Then I have a 3 day a week internship at the Social Work Leadership Institute at the New York Academy of Medicine. The internship doesn’t start until September 17 so the first two weeks are like “phase-in”. My classes seem like they are going to be very interesting and very challenging. My smallest class has 20 people and the largest class about 50.