Japanese Food, Job Searching, and John McCain

What are.... three phrases which have nothing to do with one another and start with the letter J just to make my title have a little bit more pizzazz? Ding ding ding! Japanese Food So last night I went out to Tempe Marketplace again and watched the DBacks-Dodgers game and the Qwest DBacks Live Postgame Show from FSNAZ. To give you an idea of what I geek I am, I also brought along my scorebook and sat at the tables in the warm-but-not-too-warm night air to keep score (to the amusement of more than a couple people who either wanted to mock me, tell me I was awesome, or ignore me but give me funny stares). The DBacks lost the game despite a beauty of a pitching performance from Jon Garland, who gave up the game's only run in the 0-1 loss. However, I was able to win once more in their raffle, scoring a $50 gift certificate to Kabuki, Tempe Marketplace's Japanese restaurant. With the prices of their food, that should come out to be a real nice dinner for 3 or 4 people! So thanks, FSNAZ! Job Searching The hunt continues, despite my renewed efforts to find a position. Earlier this week I went down to the Arizona Department of Economic Security to try to take advantage of their job placement services and to see about filing for unemployment insurance. After standing in line for a bit surrounded by people who were much worse off than I am, I was given paperwork to fill out and then called back to their offices to sit down one-on-one with a "Program Services Evaluator I" - much like a career counselor, I suppose. After filling out my online profile with her, she began to make suggestions which had only to do with my previous two jobs, a substitute teaching job (which is much different than a regular full-time teaching job, this person didn't get that) and a clerical job. After a bit of searching, I came to realize one vital component of the search: all the job listings were based on CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, and Jobing.com. Their database was nothing more than a glorified compendium of all three. I had wasted four hours doing the same thing I could have been doing from home online. Ugh. What I really need is to find a company which will give me a job researching something... polling data, legislation, the impact of dust on wheat farms... whatever, and work at that. I really enjoy research. You know what the only thing better is? I would join professional sports as a stats tracker or statistician in a heartbeat! Beyond that, I suppose my only remaining option is to return to school and get my Master's degree. John McCain So, funny story: About a week ago I emailed Senator John McCain's office via his website about getting help finding a friend of mine who had gone into the military about 4 years ago and who had presumably been deployed overseas. I got a letter back today with a Congressional Research Service document about writing a federal grant proposal.... Sounds like someone mixed up the address stickers! Oops! Other Stuff If anyone in any part of the country knows of any open jobs as a legislative aide, research assistant (non-clinical), library aide or librarian, records administrator, or other related position dealing with records management or research, please let me know. I am trying to narrow down a search for jobs by possibly moving to someplace, getting a cheap apartment for a couple months, and going to as many interviews as possible. I just need to know where the jobs ARE! So any help is much appreciated. Email me! Randy Johnson (formerly of the Diamondbacks, now of the San Francisco Giants) got his 300th Major League win today against the Nationals, becoming the 24th, and possibly last pitcher to be able to do so. Congratulations, Big Unit! Keep the K's coming (although, you can let us win when you pitch vs. Arizona)!