Service Learning and Interviews

Today was a different, long, and full day.

I had to wake up early this morning to take part in our first day of service learning. We were assigned to various organizations around the city that all do different kind of work. The group I was a part of went to Central Union Mission. They do a lot of different work; feeding and clothing the homeless, offer programs to the homeless who are looking to change their lives., etc. Pretty typical organization to find in a big city. But their commonness does not in any way subtract from the amazingness of the work they do (this one especially since it is a Christian organization). We did do a whole lot of actual work, but we sure got to hear some amazing stories! God's redemption is so amazing and it's so great to be reminded of it! (I don't really feel like typing that much today...so no story, they're kinda long.)

Then I came back from that and checked my email. One of the places I'd applied to for my internship got back to me! It wasn't any of the congressional internships, it was this other one that Elizabeth (the internship coordinator at ASP) told me about. It's with the US Chamber of Commerce in their Business Civic Leadership Center. They do amazing work! Basically, they help connect big business with NGO's and other government agencies to do humanitarian work around the world. They call it Global Corporate Citizenship. I had an interview with him at 2 pm. I think it went pretty well. I'll let you know tomorrow when I find out if I got it.

Today was also the day for student worker interviews. There are a lot of students in ASP and WJC and not very many student worker jobs. So, today we had interviews. My interview was at 3:30 pm for the Administrative Assistant to Abigail Linser who is the....well I don't know her title, but she does everything for ASP that is not class or internship related, including all dealings with applicants. She is a busy girl. I have a lot of office experience, though, so I feel pretty good about that one. I should find out about that on Thursday. Again, I will let you know when I find out.

Today was also the first night with homework. I realized that homework will primarily consist of reading. We do a lot of reading here. Tonight's readings were about a book that we will be reading for this class. They were explanations, critiques, and critiques of critiques. All it did was make me want to read the book so that I could have an opinion of my own. I don't like reading what other people have to say about the book without having read the book. It's impossible to have an opinion because you only have other's opinions to go on. No bueno.

Well, that was my day. It was rather exciting and different and new, and structured. Have I mentioned how much I love structure? Mmmm.....it makes me happy. :)

In other exciting news: I had sent my camera to the Canon Repair Factory for an estimate on how much it would take to fix my 'lens error, please restart camera' problem. Well...they finally sent me the estimate and it was $110. I wasn't to fond of that price. But neither was I fond of not having a camera during my time in DC. So...I started contemplating my options. I considered splurging just $70 more dollars and getting a new and better camera. But I couldn't decide; I was torn.

Lo and behold, I read a little box on the side of the emailed estimate and it speaks of this Canon Loyalty program, and that I might be eligible for an upgrade. I wasn't really sure what that meant, but it sounded intriguing, so I gave the provided number a call. As it turns out, I bought a brand new Canon Powershot SD1200 for only $91. I was pretty flippin' ecstatic over that deal! They call it a refurbished camera, but that just means that a store couldn't sell it because of overstocking or whatnot, or someone returned it unused for some reason. So it's never been used, but I don't think they are allowed to sell it at full price anymore. I'm not really sure. But, I do know that I got a brand new camera for less than $100. Hooray for me!!