Fun with journalism...

One of my last requirements before I graduate involves completing an "official" and "approved" internship through the BYU communications department. My high school work for the Deseret News qualifies for this, so it's not a huge concern.

I'm currently "officially" (you can see how happy I am with the bureaucracy of my department) registered to receive credit for the work I'm doing from May-August. June/July is usually when there's more down time with sports and so I've been in contact with the paper's Utah County bureau chief to see if there's stuff I can do outside the sports section, since I'm technically supposed to do the same amount of work every week I'm registered.

He has informed me that they are looking for two part-time community beat reporters to work a couple of 16-20 hour/week shifts this summer. The problem is three-fold. First of all, the shifts they need filled all involve evening and weekend hours that would basically scrap any plans I had outside of working for the entire summer.

Second, I'm paid quite well for the sports correspondent work I do for them. I haven't actually been told how much these part-time positions pay (the chief didn't mention that), but I talked to a classmate who had worked one of them. In his words, "you're basically working for free."

Third, although there are certain benefits that could come with the experience, my disenchantment with any and all journalism outside of sports is one of the big factors that has pushed me away from wanting to be a career journalist. I am simply not attracted to the idea of spending an entire summer writing about crime, citizen complaints, and community festivals.

With these apprehensions, I e-mailed the bureau chief and asked if I could come into the office to find out more. I received no response for almost a week, at which time he sent me a message only asking if I was "still interested" and saying they're in "dire need." I once again responded by saying I'm interested but would like to meet and sit down for a few minutes to find out more, when can I catch you in the office? - no response. This exchange leads me to believe they're mostly interested in finding a BYU student who will click their heels, salute, and jump at any offer with no questions asked.

Not to sound snobby or high-maintenance, but I'm just not that desperate for experience. For now, I doubt I'll be accepting one of the shifts, especially if it's this hard for the bureau chief to even tell me when I can come by to see him. I would like to see if there some other on-call or correspondent work that can be done until sports season starts. We'll see.

I just don't feel like it's worth sacrificing my entire summer to do assignments I have no desire to do and get paid next to nothing for it.

In the meantime, I think it's time I start prepping for the GMAT...

Covert Operations

Ok, so the rumors you're hearing are true.

I am dating someone, and actually relatively seriously this time. For the last couple of weeks I've chosen not to go public with this. Mainly because whenever the parents find out I'm dating someone, the questions about which girls are present at my social activities stop, but the "when are you going to invite her over for dinner?" type questions begin.

I'm currently dating Annette Reddoch. I think you all know her. She is Ricky Marengo's little sister. She's obviously well acquainted with Sarah and Jared, and also John and Michelle through Fieldstone Homes, the retaining wall saga, etc. And she's met the rest of you at one time or another.

Jared first mentioned her to me several months ago and asked if I'd be interested in him setting us up. It finally happened earlier this month. She lives in Saratoga Springs which is about a 30 minute/mile drive from my abode, but not a bad trip to make once or twice a week.

We both enjoy hiking and similar outdoors stuff, and she was even nice enough to help me go shopping for some new pants on Saturday. She professes a love for college football, but I've warned her the limits of this passion will be truly and severely tested come August.

She has a great view of the lake and the mountains from her house... although she does not have Comcast or DirectTV which I informed her will drastically decrease the amount of time I will spend at her house during football season.

These obstacles aside I have enjoyed dating her so far and look forward to continuing the relationship and having the rest of you all get to know her better as well.

Three months to graduation...

With the encouragement of a few friends and family I have decided to join the rest of you in the blogging world. I don't imagine that my life is especially exciting, but I do enjoy reading all of your blogs and I suppose this is a good way to stay in touch - especially since I seem to be the last one to ever find out news.

So in case you need an update on what's going on with me lately...

I am set to graduate in August. I'm currently taking the last class I need and I'll probably take at least one more in the summer just to pad the GPA for future graduate school applications. I've decided that career journalism is probably not for me, for different reasons. After graduation I would like to find a job locally and work for a couple of years before following in John's footsteps and getting an MBA - BYU would be my first choice.

I'm working part-time at a company called Access Technology Solutions in Provo. I've been with them for about a year. My job can best be described as international eCommerce logistics support. We do the middle work for retailers looking to sell their products internationally via the internet. I do various stuff dealing with that. A lot of our business deals with Japan so most of the people working here are Japanese or served missions in Japan.

I'm still doing high school sports coverage for the Deseret News. I'm as busy as ever with that, especially this time of year when all the state tournaments are going on. This could be the last year I do any of that, but I've enjoyed the ride.

My other "job," I've taken the greatest interest in lately. I've picked up refereeing more as an avocation, but I'm slowly getting addicted to it. I joined the local high school basketball officials association this past season and worked several dozen games as high up as the 4A JV boys level. I'm also a certified soccer referee through the US Soccer federation. I've gotten into it this year doing some games for the youth club teams.

The higher-ups in the basketball association have apparently been impressed with my first year and I've been told they have their eye on me. The assignor told me I can expect to get some bigger JV assignments and they'll be interested to see how I do with those. I'm excited about that prospect. I'll be going to a couple of camps over the summer and working hard to improve and get ready for the next season. This is something that I could continue doing indefinitely alongside whatever career or schooling I land in, so it's worth pursuing.

If you're interested in my dating life -- heaven knows Mom is, every single time I walk out the door to go somewhere she starts peppering me with questions about what girls will be there -- there's nothing I feel like reporting to the family gossip machine yet. But, there could be something soon. That's the best teaser I can come up with...