I feel totally homesick. I don't know what I was thinking coming here. I miss Chris so much. I wish I had a job and was making something instead of burning through my savings. I am so wary of signing a lease after the insident in Binghamton and since I don't know how long I can actually stomach staying. I think I have pretty solidly decided I liked where I was with Judiasm and practice. As for my goal of learning a foriegn langauge I should have bought the rosetta stone for Russian. A) I am not going to really learn Hebrew B) even if I did its not a very useful language.

I hope things get better when classes start.  I think school will be fun and interesting... but I am not sure its the best use of my time.

Today I totaled my car.  Everyone says its just metal and that I should just be happy that I am alive. I am not though. That car was my ticket to freedom. That was how I was going to move and find a job when I return next May.  Now I feel trapped and stuck forever. I loved that car. It was my first. I wish this morning never happened.

Dress your child in a muu-muu day! :) Just thinking about it makes me smile.

--

1) admissions work for a university -- my friend Gabe said he could help me get a job in that field. With that job I could think about what graduate programs are available and what jobs are out there. There would be tons of travel and meeting people too.  Working for a university would also allow me to not live in a big city.

2) still considering working for Hillel. Going to Pardes should qualify me for a full time job.

3) I might pack up and move to Washington DC. I have a lot of friends there and the city isn't too big. There is also a good size Jewish community.  I could take some of my savings and give myself two months to find a job.  This is what my brother recommends doing. Perhaps I will apply to work at the USITC since I interned there for the summer. I also would mind working in politics or not-for-profits. I really love event organizing.

I have a feeling that going to Israel for a year will change me so that I won't feel comfortable working on Shabbos. This means no jobs like my dream job at Magic Hat that I posted about previously.

So as some of you may have noticed a few weeks ago Chris and I took our relationship off Facebook. Within days I was getting messages from guys who previously had crushes on me but who "disappeared" when the "in a relationship" status went up. In the last three days, two of my guy friends tried to kiss me.  Both were stunned when I dodged and said I wasn't interested. Both followed this up by stating that the situation was now awkward. Honestly, I think there statement that it was awkward made it more unconfort than if they had just played it off.  I have also recieved drunken calls with male emotional content...  It has been a strange few weeks!

I also thought it was funny that none of the above referenced guys cared to take the time to ask about my relationship status. I would have told that Chris and I are still together its just strange because we have an end date.  We decided to remove the title since I am leaving for Israel soon. I WILL NOT REALLY BE SINGLE UNTIL I LEAVE FOR ISRAEL. 

I am really excited about my friend Lila's upcoming bacholorette party.  Lila is one of the few people I predict I will stay in touch with over the years that I met in college. We met on the Hillel girls basket ball team. She was one of the worst players, which was amuzing since she was the only black girl. I was also not very good.

These are the places we are going for her big night out:

http://www.planetluckychengs.com/bachlorettes.html
http://www.crimescenebar.com/

Rove’s Third Term

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves.

What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

It was predictable that the McCain campaign would go wild over the Clark remarks. Mr. McCain’s run for the White House has always been based on persona rather than policy: he doesn’t have ideas that voters agree with, but he does have an inspiring life story — which, contrary to the myth of the modest maverick, he talks about all the time. The suggestion that this life story isn’t relevant to his quest for office was bound to provoke a violent reaction.

But the McCain campaign went beyond condemning General Clark’s remarks; it went out of its way to distort them. “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history,” said retired Col. Bud Day, who participated in a conference call organized by the campaign. In fact, General Clark had said no such thing.

The irony, not lost on Democrats, is that Col. Day himself has done what he falsely accused Wesley Clark of doing: he appeared in the 2004 Swift boat ads that impugned John Kerry’s wartime service.

The willingness of the McCain campaign to engage in these tactics, employing such tainted spokesmen, tells us that the campaign has decided to go negative — specifically, to apply the strategy Karl Rove used so effectively in 2002 and 2004 (but not so effectively in 2006), that of portraying Democrats as unpatriotic.

And sure enough, Adam Nagourney of The New York Times reports signs of the “increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation.”

Will Rovian tactics work this year?

In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were so successful at playing the patriotism card thanks to a combination of compliant media and cowering Democrats. At first, the Clark affair suggested that nothing has changed. News organizations reported as fact the false assertion that General Clark criticized Mr. McCain’s military service, and the Obama campaign rushed to “reject” his remarks.

“Two days into the Wesley Clark fallout,” wrote the Columbia Journalism Review on Tuesday morning, “the press, the G.O.P., and the Obama campaign all seem to have agreed that Clark’s recent remarks on John McCain’s service record were at best impolitic and at worst despicable.”

Since then, however, both the press and the Obama campaign seem to have recovered some of their balance. Opinion pieces have started to appear pointing out that General Clark didn’t say what he’s accused of saying. Mr. Obama has also declared that General Clark doesn’t owe Mr. McCain an apology for his “inartful” remarks and denies that his own condemnation, in a speech given on Monday, of those who “devalue” military service was aimed at the general.

In the end, the Clark affair may have strengthened the Obama campaign. Last week, with his cave-in on wiretapping, Mr. Obama was showing disturbing signs of falling into the usual Democratic cringe on national security. This may have been the week he rediscovered the virtues of standing tall.

Furthermore, my sense, though it’s hard to prove, is that the press is feeling a bit ashamed about the way it piled on General Clark. If so, news organizations may think twice before buying into the next fake scandal.

If so, the campaign has just taken a major turn in Mr. Obama’s favor. After all, if this campaign isn’t dominated by faux outrage over fake scandals, it will have to be about things that really did happen, like a failed economic policy and a disastrous war — both of which Mr. McCain promises will continue if he wins.

David Brooks is off today.

The Consumer Experience Manager is expected plan and direct policies and programs as they are related to the overall Magic Hat consumer experience; Facilitate collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons,

or giveaways, internet presence and more TBD to create extra interest in the purchase of Magic Hat product; Coordinate and execute special events for Magic Hat Brewing Co.; Oversight and management of public relations for the Marketing Department.

 

Essential Functions:

 

1. Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics related to the promotion of Magic Hat products and of the Magic Hat experience.  <-- I CAN CONFER
   
2. Read trade journals and professional literature to stay informed on trends, innovations, and changes that affect your job. <-- I CAN READ
   
3. Gather and organize information to plan promotional campaigns; create a long term plan on a promotion calendar including (but not limited to):

1. Plan and prepare promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, Cosmic Council and sales departments.
2. Publish inter-department communications (i.e. electronic execution calendar).
3. Foster sponsorships and partnerships:  <-- HIGHLIGHT FOR ME
   

7.    Exploring remote Kiosk/special event/concession opportunities

1. Close Working relationship with the Magic Hat Artifactory (retail Store)
2. Manage programming for the company in the following capacity:
1. Coordinate and execute special events
2. Own the Loyalty Program

                                                          

1. Coordinate website content in accordance with Magic Hat's production cycle

                                                            

1. Represent company at special events to promote products. <-- HIGHLIGHT FOR ME
   
2. Train and direct workers engaged in developing and producing promotional initiatives. Supervisory duties to include Marketing Coordinator, The Voice, interns and seasonal staff as necessary.
3. Assemble and communicate with a strong, diverse coalition of organizations or public figures, securing their cooperation, support and action, to further Magic Hat's campaign goals.
4. Responsible to company donations to include tracking and fulfilling donation requests and reporting out on donations made.
5. Must set annual public relations' objectives to accomplish company goals and initiatives.
6. Implement and manage an administrative system to execute plan.
7. Manage the Magic Hat /Orlio PR program
   

 

Performance Standards:

*on-time execution of marketing content for consumer experience events, contests, content, resulting in on-time delivery of materials
*quality, brand-consistent content for consumer programming resulting in high contest entries
*selection, planning, and execution of quality MH and Orlio branded events resulting in massive sampling opportunities and positive brand experiences
*high visibility of strong, appropriate brand presence at major events resulting in greater sampling
*Positive interactive experiences at high profile events resulting in
numerous email names
*dynamic content for people pages resulting in growth of People community
*on time delivery and follow through of PR materials to appropriate outlets via in-house and out of house resources to result in multiple features, quality mentions, blog entries, references and press opportunities for the MH and Orlio Brands
*Efficient use of in house resources, staff, freelancers, interns,
part-timers resulting in effective communication and consumer experience in the most cost effective way
*Cohesiveness of all sales materials, web programming, contests, email content resulting in coordinated consumer experience through all MH touch-points

 

Technical, Professional, and Managerial Skill/ Expertise:

 

Technical:

·        Excellent Organizational skills

·        Excellent oral and written communication skills

·        Comfort speaking in front of groups with imagination, enthusiasm and charm

·        Proficiency with personal computers / laptops and associated programs (Windows 98,Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Schedule)

·        Intimate knowledge of Craft Beer and Magic Hat Brewing Co.

 

Professional:

·        Can represent the company at the corporate level

·        Capable of being a company spokesperson, if needed, in a public relations situation.

·        Knowledge of modern business communication, including style and format of letters, memos, reports, etc.

 

Expert Managerial:

·        Time Management - Ability to establish priorities, work independently, and proceed with objectives without supervision.

·        Excellent people management ability including leadership and motivational skills

·        Excellent organizational and strong analytical skills

·        Good reasoning and decision making skills

·        Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

·        Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

 

Level of Decision Making Responsibility:  

 

·        Responsibility with budgets

·        Responsibility of Brand representation in public

·        Evaluate new events and sponsorships for Magic Hat and Orlio

·        Responsibility for website content

 

Management Responsibility:

 

• Provide direction for event assistants (Merry Pranksters,) Minister of Fermentation Elations Relations and Sales staff at Magic Hat and Orlio events and samplings

• Overall Management of artifactorian and freelance assistance as needed

• Manage department interns as needed

*Manage Voice Postion

 

Experience and Education:

 

·        Experience

o       Four-year experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.

·        Education

o       Bachelor's degree required, preferably with a concentration in Public Relations, Marketing, or English. Curriculum that includes courses in advertising, business administration, journalism and creative writing preferred but not required.

                       

Job Physical and Environmental Conditions:

 

Extensive travel:        50-60% of time “on the road” (driving and flying) during summer season (May-October), 30% of time “on the road” (driving and flying) November-April