Update on us!

Just a nice, relaxing Saturday for me (Hailey) and Steve. We woke up this morning to reach for our iPods, iPhones, and laptops -- Phish tickets went on sale. We ended up getting a couple pairs for ourselves and some friends, so that's something to look forward to. Meanwhile, looking out the window reminds me of anything but summertime. The weather can't seem to decide if it wants to rain, snow, sleet, etc. I'll be glad when all of the snow is gone, and we can look forward to nice summer sunshine.

Steve and I went to a job fair -- err, career fair -- yesterday. It was small, but it was angled to capture business students. The IRS was there! Scary, right? :) They were promoting positions as IRS agents, etc. It was surprisingly the organization there targeting masters level students. It seemed the majority of the companies were looking for more undergraduate/entry-level work. Regardless, it was nice to head over and see who's hiring and what they're hiring for. Steve and I put in a couple resumes, and I suppose this week, he'll fill out some of the online applications. It's really funny how in this technological age, at job fairs, they hand you a business card with a website on it and ask you to go online and apply... Hmm... Whatever happened to face-to-face resume drops?

Update on my schooling: I know I posted it on Facebook, but for those of you who might not check Facebook as often, I was accepted into Michigan State's Epidemiology program. It's a Masters program that has 2 tracks -- after the first year, I could choose whether I wanted to do a PhD and have the rest of my college paid for by university grants/assistantships, or I could finish the Masters and head off to look for work. They have a longstanding relationship with the Michigan Dept. of Community Health and the NIH, and about 85% of their graduates choose to work for one of the two. I applied to do research on cerebral palsy and Guthrie cards (the little blood spots on filter paper that they take from babies at birth) or environmental contaminants and male reproduction (sperm mobility/motility). So, that's option one.

Option 2: this is the big one. This is the reason I quit my job (besides the fact that my boss was completely neurotic and drove away almost 75% of her employees in one year). I started the process to applying to the Masters in Occupational Therapy (MOT) program last year -- about this time, actually. It is now a year later, and I have just received word that I'll be moving on to the interview process. I volunteered with the Autism Collaborative Center last summer, and I fell in love with the idea of working as an occupational therapist with children with autism. It seems like such a great, fulfilling line of work and a growing, necessary field as well. The frustration comes from waiting so long -- we were supposed to find out in late January, and here it is -- mid-March, and we're still not even to interviewing. I am not holding my breath. I am, however, hopeful. Last year, there were 300 applicants, and they chose about 34 to move on to enrollment. This year, I'm not sure how many total applicants there were, but there are 42 of us being interviewed. I met with the interim director of the Autism Center (the center is heavily tied to the OT department -- most of the staff work at both the center and for EMU). I decided to be a bit "sneaky" and explain that I couldn't start working for them until I knew where I would be next fall, because it'd be unfair of me to start working now and then quit in April when I find out I didn't get in. So, she made it quite clear that she would move the process along. About 3 hours later, I received an e-mail letting me know I'd be moving on, and my interview will be on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.! Sometimes, I guess it pays to be sneaky...

My job will be volunteer coordination. I will be managing the volunteers and placing them in groups as well as recruiting new volunteers from social work, special education, occupational therapy, and speech/language pathology. I think it'll be fun, but the organizational freak inside of me is a bit petrified. I personally think the system needs a complete overhaul to be an organized, well-oiled machine, but I keep reminding myself that it's only part-time, and this is not my career!

Well, signing off. It's the Big Ten Basketball tournament, and today, our favorite teams play. Mine is Ohio State, and Steve's is (obviously) Michigan State. :)

Enjoy your day, Block family. I miss you all. xoxoxo.