Whatup my Illies? Oh, how I miss you so. However, there will be a mini illy reunion at Leah Jacobilly's place this weekend with guest appearances by Silly Gilly and a Milly. Woot woot. And I'm countin' down the days till Lilly Grubes' 30th Birthday Extravaganza/East Coast Buddy Reunion 2009!!!! Can I get another "woot woot"?!?!
Ok, so now, to update you on my life. After a dreary time swimming in the pool of unemployment during a crappy economic downturn, things started to look up again almost literally as soon as Barack Obama got elected. Who knew that his election would benefit me so directly and immediately? But yes, the very next day, I was offered a part-time job (although temporary) working for City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). I owe Nadler big time for hooking me up with this job. There I am helping a very strange man who runs the Loan Department look at the history of their Boston Cooperative Initiative and looking through old housing finance documents (yes, I've had to learn fast and thanks, Em, for the intro to housing literature) to determine what to do about projects that are supposed to turn into full-fledged coops any day now. Don't ask me...I don't actually have any answers yet.
ALSO, part two of good news came right before our Day of Thanks when the City of Cambridge offered me the position of Energy Specialist at the DPW. There I will continue the tradition of taking over jobs Lizzy Grubin no longer wants. :) It is also a part-time position, but with benefits and I will get to do really cool stuff dealing with energy efficiency and conservation in Cambridge city buildings. Woot woot! (This is all pending approval of the Cambridge City Manager, of course.) But I will likely start either Dec 15 or right after the New Year, depending on the speed of paperwork...what else is new.
The only question now is what will I do when my DND contract runs out. For that I am open to any and all suggestions from my Buddies about how I can make myself a more legit consultant and/or find more part-time work (that pays well) to supplement Cambridge. If any of you are hiding a stash of start-up money you want to give me, I could just use the time to start Just Green for us...eh? eh? :)
Anyway, I guess that is it from professional life. Oh, except that, I was still sort of working part-time for Second Nature/ ACUPCC, which has finally launced the offset protocol and guidelines I was working on all summer. Check it out if you're interested: http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/offsetprotocol.php
In the meantime, I continue to live in the (new) Blue House with my awesome roommies, Kim, Emily, and Christine. I'm also having a great time with my gf, Ashley (aka Skippy), who is awesome for those of you who haven't met her yet. And there's the cats who, as we speak, have been "playing" and now sit staring at me, begging for cuddles because...well, it's cold here, damnit.