In the past few months worth of journalism job hunting, I’ve come across a disturbing trend: Most decent jobs are located outside the Tampa Bay area.

I’ve been constantly mining job site after job site and have come to the conclusion that I should expand my search to include other parts of Florida as well as opportunities in New York City, where my father lives.

Since making this decision, I  came across an ideal position in NYC, a magazine editorial assistant for a magazine called 20/20, offering a coveted place in the magazine’s masthead, constant work from January 2010 through April 2010, and $100/ day for a full time schedule. To make a long story short, I could make about $8,000 in four months for doing something I really want to do, gaining magazine experience I desperately need. I would have free accomodations since my father lives in Queens, and would only need money for food and subway-fare. It was a beautiful set up and I eagerly applied.

As was partially expected, I have to admit, I received a nice email from the woman in HR shortly afterward thanking me for my interest and telling me that the position of my dreams had been filled. She wished me luck in my future endeavors and encouraged me to keep trying.

I have decided to take a break for a few weeks, especially with my hours at Old Navy  nearly doubling where they started and with my father visiting us for the holidays. Starting in January I will train myself to become the fearless journalism job hopeful. I will dig deeper into places I never thought to look, saying “why not?” and apply for anything within financial and logistical reason.

I have learned the hard way that once a job is listed, it may be taken off as soon as it is filled. I was poking around the USF St. Petersburg Career Center’s website and came across a great job as “web editor” that I could have done in a heartbeat. For some reason, I put off applying for this decently paying job and the next time I went to look for it, it was gone like Keyser Soze.

I have since applied for another position at USF St. Petersburg – Study Abroad Student Assistant – which offers the chance to work with students applying for classes and trips abroad while giving me the opportunity to write and edit for the department’s website. While the pay is significantly less than that of my orinally coveted “web editor” position, I think it is worth a shot if it will give me “web content writing and editing” experience, especially in the area of travel. Plus, paired with the money I’m making at Old Navy these days -especially if I keep both jobs – things should work out quite nicely for a few months.

The top 5  Journalism Job Websites I frequent on a daily basis are:

www.craigslist.com – They offer listings for “writing and editing”  under the job section and “writing” under the gigs section.  Most employers use Craigslist as a free alternative to listing job opportunities in newspapers, so there might be more here than meets the eye.

www.ed2010.com – This is a great website for anyone looking for jobs in the writing, editing, photography or graphic design universe. Ed2010 is focused on jobs in the magazine industry but often posts opportunities for online editing or writing jobs as well as other freelance work. I spend most of my time digging through their “Whisperjobs” pages but the site also offers “Internship” listings.

www.poynter.org – Besides being a great site for lessons and ways to improve your journalism skills, The Poynter Institute’s website offers job listings for positions all over the country. You can conduct your search based on desired location or subject of interest, making it easy to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

www.mediabistro.com – Perhaps the best website – and easiest to navigate – that I’ve come across so far, listings are organized based on desired location, subject of interest and you can even select more specific areas of interest that other job search sites may just mix in with  other titles.

www.journalismjobs.com – This site offers a pretty straightforward way to search for job opportunities within a certain region or state, by using keywords for desired positions, or you can simply view all available listings with the click of the mouse.

Best of luck to anybody graduating this weekend and starting their own job searches, especially in our current economical state. Also, feel free to post your own suggestions for job search sites that you have come across or that might have made your own search easier. We all need as much help as we can get these days, don’t we?

I came across this on facebook today and think it’s a teriffic idea.

It’s a campaign called  Let’s Say Thanks, brought to you by Xerox and other partners, and in less than 10 seconds, you can choose a card design and message that will be sent to our troops overseas. Xerox adds your card to a queue, eventually printing out and sending the cards to soldiers serving abroad.

The designs are cards drawn by children and you can pick any of the pre-written thank you messages or add your own personal touch. Just think of the thousands of smiles on soldiers’ faces as they open cards from home thanking them for putting their lives on the line for the sake of our freedom.

I have already sent this link to as many people as I could so more and more of our soldiers will be able to see how much we care about them. I’ve sent about 10 so far, and it took less than five minutes. How can we not do something so simple that would help to encourage so many people?

This is free and a quick way to show others how much we appreciate their hard work and sacrifice, especially during the holidays.

This probably isn’t the most exciting of all my posts, but hey, it’s Thanksgiving.

I am most thankful this year for the people in my life. Family, friends, former teachers and professors, co-workers and others who have influenced my life for the better. To those who kept encouraging me through the tough times in school and in the tougher times once school was over, I am truly grateful.

I am thankful for good health and safety. I traveled a lot this year, more than I ever have consecutively, and each trip brought me home in the same condition I left in, if not better.

I am thankful to have a job – any job – in today’s economy, especially one that offers me such good discounts on apparel.

I am thankful to live in a house where there is always food, love and laughter. Living at home after college has turned out to be better than I originally anticipated, giving me the chance to save up some money for future living spaces and hopefully more travel adventures.

Finally, I am thankful for the fact that Home Alone is always on television the night of Thanksgiving. No matter how full I am or how guilty I feel about pigging out on all that turkey, nothing beats seeing Harry and Marv getting whacked in the head with a high-flying pair of paint cans.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and best wishes to anyone shopping on Black Friday.

Today was my second day of training at the Old Navy in Clearwater. We learned all about being a cashier, how to use the register & make the sure the beepy device doesn’t go off after people buy their clothes. Interesting stuff, really.

It’s funny how similar the system is to the one I used at Home Shopping Network. It’s been a year since that job but it’s all coming back to me, only in this job I get to do more customer service oriented stuff, too.

We had a four hour session yesterday of filling out paperwork and watching training videos about different parts of the company and all that good stuff. The welcome video featured Michael Jackson music in the background and scenes from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Sex and the City and other films I love. The whole feel of the place is fun whether your the shopper, sales clerk or the one unloading boxes in the backroom. Everyone I’ve encountered so far has been very friendly and helpful and I know I’m in good hands.

I’m going to be working mornings and afternoons, some days starting around 8 a.m., others lasting til 4 p.m. I am still trying to make time for journalism-related work in the remaining hours. If I find another local newspaper job, the government meetings I’d have to cover happen at night and it wouldn’t conflict with this job. Not that I have another newspaper job yet, but I’m working on it.

Saturday I’m working my first shift on the sales floor, shadowing another person on our team. Basically, I’ll be re-learning how to fold clothes and mastering the art of making everything in the store look pretty. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Just so you know, Old Navy is hiring extra people for the holidays and also planning to expand their Clearwater store. If you’re interested in applying, go to their website (Old Navy is owned by Gap, Inc. and sister company to The Gap and Banana Republic) to search for opportunities near you.

November has been pretty interesting for me so far. For starters, I got a job.

Not a journalism-related job yet, but at least it’s something. Right now my priority in that department is money, and I start working at Old Navy next Wednesday. Just in time for Black Friday. I think it’s safe to assume I’ll be working crazy hours all week and pounding out a heartfelt, exhausted blog after that one.

I think I was most surprised by how bad the economy really must be. I sent out dozens of applications to department stores, restaurants, seasonal positions, you name it. I heard back from Old Navy and Boston Market. That was it. In two months. Ouch.

I was able to accompany my mother to Naples for the first week of the month, spending some time at the beaches, visiting museums and relaxing at the hotel pool while my mother slaved away at work. From 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. I was given free reign to explore the city, taking time to visit its biggest tourist attractions and see a few sunsets on the Gulf.

I quickly realized Naples is a city that does not cater to tourists. For instance, there is free parking for residents near all the beaches but visitors must pay $0.25 for 10 minutes of meter time anywhere within walking distance of the ocean. That’s $1.50 for one hour of beach time.

To put that into perspective, keep in mind that for $1.50 near the USF St. Petersburg campus, you can park for three hours. Take that, Naples.

So, after recovering from the sticker shock, I enjoyed a few nice afternoons and sunsets at Lowdermilk Beach Park, basically the only easily accessible public beach unless you want to hunt for meters along the numbered streets further south – closer to The Naples Pier -  for a great view at sunset.

I spent a day at The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, a terrific way to see animals up close and personal while being entertained with exciting shows – alligator feeding, snake handling and a boat ride around the monkey islands just to name a few. Florida residents should check the website for discounts and other promotions. I was able to use a coupon to get in for half price because I happened to view their website the night before.

Another great place to check out is the Naples Museum of Art, which features works by local artists, collections of Mexican art and American Modernism,  as well as great traveling exhibits. My favorite collection was the ceiling of glass objects made by Dale Chihuly, built into a hallway where the light shines through hundreds of blown glass flowers and other designs overhead.

The last day I was in Naples, I found out about the Old Florida Festival being held at the Collier County Museum. There were muskets. There were cannons being fired (and car alarms going off). There were battles with the Seminole Indians being re-enacted by people wearing authentic costumes from the time period. We partied like it was 1899 and it was fantastic.

So now I’m back from Naples and trying to enjoy my last few days off before work starts. I’ve been reading a lot lately and just trying to stop myself from getting too lazy. Our new subscription to Netflix isn’t helping.

I watched Casablanca for the first time and found myself conflicted by the ending: I’m pretty sure I would have stayed with Rick, but then again if Victor Laszlo was really alive, I would stay with him. On second thought, I like Sam. At least we’ll always have catchy piano music.

Last weekend, my friend Joe and I drove up to visit friends at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. Particularly, we were there to spend time with my sister, April, who I still cannot believe is a sophomore in college already. She was gracious enough to let me crash at her dorm and I can easily say this was one of the busiest weekends I’ve had in a while.

April’s roommates were excited about Swing Dance lessons that were happening Friday night, so a group of us went to go check it out. After spending an hour learning to dance The Lindy, the instructors announced it was time for “open dance floor” and claimed “The best way to learn how to swing dance is to do it.” We spent the next few hours of our evening being asked to dance by other students and learning steps I didn’t think were humanly possible, spinning around til the point of dizziness and listening to excellent jazz and blues music. Welcome to a Friday night in Gainesville.

Saturday morning was spent at St. Patrick’s Church – a few miles from the main campus – where April was performing with her A Capella group, No Southern Accent for the church’s  fun festival.

Later that afternoon, Joe and I met up with two friends from high school who showed us around the UF campus, complete with a walk through the nature trails that run in between some of the outer buildings. After a few hours, we drove over to Hawthorne Trail State Park for a hike through some real Florida wilderness. Ending near Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the sunset before returning to the UFcampus.

We picked up April – she had been performing at a wedding with No Southern Accent that afternoon – and spent some time at a friend’s apartment before heading back to the dorm and watching Pulp Fiction until 4:30 a.m.

Sunday was action packed as well. We began the day by spending a few hours canoeing and kicking back in paddleboats around Lake Wauburg, a recreational property for UF students and guests. Later we headed back to campus for a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead put on by Florida Players, an acting troupe based out of UF. Although the play was a bit too philosophical for my taste, it did have a pretty interesting take on what I knew about Hamlet, telling the entire story from the point of view of the two messengers later sent to England by the famous Prince’s parents.

In what turned out to be a perfect ending to a perfect weekend, we relaxed inside the Reitz Union watching the Yankees defeat the Angels and win their spot into the World Series. Let’s just hope they do better than they did tonight.

I never realized just how nice Gainesville was until I visited last weekend. It’s not just your average college town with students running amok and nothing but bars, restaurants and shopping malls to be found in their wake. It’s much more than that. There are cozy little neighborhoods lining the borders of the campus, cheap apartments and beautiful trees as far as the eye can see. Alright, it is basically a college town, but it’s just not your average college town. There is a lot to do here in Gainesville, you just have to know where to look.

It just occured to me I haven’t been keeping you properly updated on my job search and future travel plans.

For starters, I went on a very successful interview with the Editor of the Barrier Islands Gazette back in August and had a part time reporter job all lined up to start in October.

A few days after my return from New York, I had a hunch that I should take a look at the paper’s website. (If you click on the link above, you’ll get the same message I did) Apparently the paper is being discontinued. I sent an email to the editor expressing my condolences and thanking him for setting up the job and received a call from the paper’s office manager, who gave me the former editor’s contact info.

I also found out that one of their competing newspapers, The Clearwater Gazette was snooping around for reporters, so I am thinking of trying that, since it also covers neighborhoods closer to where I live.

At my interview in August, the editor had given me a list of newspapers I wouldn’t be allowed to write for since they were competition. Well, I guess they’re not competition anymore, so I’m going to scope out jobs with them as well. From what I have researched so far, the largest of these is run by Tampa Bay Newspapers, and covers stories happening on the Beaches and in Belleair, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, Pinellas Park and Dunedin. I’ll definitely be looking into submitting articles for one of their papers.

In the meantime, I keep applying for work just about anywhere in order to get some money coming in as I keep looking for a journalism-related job. So far, I have applied to Borders, Blockbuster, Target, Old Navy and TGIF but no one has gotten back to me yet. Great. I just need a constant stream of money coming in so I can stop feeling so anxious everytime my bills come in. My mother has been paying me back money she owes me from a time she wasn’t working, so I essentially do have a paycheck coming to me each month, but I’d feel better having a real job so I could put the other cash in the bank. I would also love to have my own apartment (or at least share one with friends) although living at home again isn’t so terrible. At least I am saving money on rent, utilities and food this way. I also want to save money for a car and hopefully more travel.

Speaking of travel, I am going to be riding with a friend up to Gainesville the weekend of October 23-25 to visit my sister and her friends. Her A Capella group, No Southern Accent, is performing that weekend and I’ll finally get to see a live show. It’ll be nice to see what life is like at UF, which has a considerably larger campus than USF St. Petersburg, where I went to college.

The following weekend is Halloween, and a bunch of us are planning to dress up as Star Trek characters. I’m going to either be Nurse Chapel from the 1960s show or Uhura from the latest Star Trek movie. Depends if I can get my hands on a short blond wig.If that doesn’t work out, I’ll revive my popular Richard Simmons costume, which was a huge hit back in high school. Plus, I still have all the pieces from last time.

The first week of November, I’ll be accompanying my mother to Naples, FL, where she is going to be teaching her company’s product to hospital staff for the week. I’ll get a chance to hang out by the beach for a few days and go exploring.  Ideally, I would love to grab the car for a day and go see the Everglades, since they’re only about an hour away, if that. I know I would be able to get some great photos of the Everglades’ natural wonders and plus, I could get some awesome shots of the aligators. We’ll see.

Some time toward the end of December, my father will be visiting us from New York and depending on whether or not timing is in our favor, I may be going back to Blairsville, Georgia, with some friends to shoot our very first – and hopefully not last – epic zombie flick in her Aunt’s cabin. Plus, I’d be able to see snow for the first time since 1994 if the weather cooperates.

I’ll try to be better about updating my progress, or lack of progress, so you know what’s going on. Hopefully I’ll be posting more positive job news soon.

It’s time for a semi-controversial yet hopefully thought provoking post.

I went with a friend and her family to mass this morning for the first time in months and rediscovered why I had quit the team in the first place.

I’m sitting in a beautiful church listening to a choir singing but can’t seem to get away from large banners and signs reading “Pray to Stop Abortion.” I don’t mind this usually, but today I notice little kids all over the place and wonder how long it will take before one of them gets too curious. I didn’t find out about this until religion class in 8th grade where we discussed the issue thoroughly and were allowed to ask questions,  but if its staring down at you from the podium as the priest does his thing, that’s different.

I decided to take the high road and tell myself that everybody has their own beliefs and just because I don’t agree with them doesn’t make them wrong. I sit quietly and flip through the weekly bulletin until something catches my eye: An announcement that supporters are needed to pray outside a Women’s OB-GYN center in my neighborhood.

First of all, I understand what abortion is, what it does and how it happens. I have also seen how it makes a woman feel once she has gone through it.

My feeling is, if you want to pray to end abortion and preach about how evil it is, do it within your walls. There is a time and place for everything. The March For Life in Washington D.C., good. Outside a facility where most women are overcome with feelings of guilt, shame, terror and living in an emotional hell about their decisions, bad. I’m just asking for a little consideration for the well being of anyone who feels they have no other options. I would love to show up with a sign one day that says, “Show some compassion. Take your Catholic guilt elsewhere.”

I think this has got to be the most difficult decision a woman can make, but it should be just that, a personal decision. While I don’t think I could ever go through with it, I’m not vain enough to push my beliefs on everybody else. That this kind of personal and emotionally destructive choice should not be left to a bunch of men – or a predominantly male oriented ideology -  is all I’m saying.

Not to mention, I’d love to know where all the thousands of protesters and praying people were when priests were touching little kids. I don’t recall seeing any devout Catholics holding up signs  like, “Persecute the Perverts,” or “Send them to prison with all the other pedophiles.”

Granted not all Catholics are in-your-face about these kinds of issues, and not all priests are corrupt, but I just can’t help but think there has got to be a better way. Just think of how much money churches spend on decorating for Christmas. In one we used to attend, I counted almost 33 Christmas trees surrounding the front entrance, altar area and near the musicians. Imagine how much money could have been raised if those had been sold, the money donated to people who really need it. Or the happiness of a family at receiving a beautiful Christmas tree in such hard times. Really, what good are 33 Christmas trees around an altar really doing for people?

For the record, I am not an athiest. I’m currently a “Recovering Catholic,” a term coined by comedian Jenny McCarthy. I just have too many questions and am trying to find a better way to go about the whole religion thing.  I think it’s interesting to explore other people’s ideas, since, techinically, we don’t even know if our own are sufficient. I still take lessons from Catholic teachings to heart and admire people who devote their entire lives to helping those less fortunate. I am just not sure where I stand.

By the way, please don’t hesitate to respond – positively or negatively – to this posting. I am a very open minded person and as long as you realize that this is only my opinion on things, I’d be interested to hear what you think.

I had the chance to go to New York at the end of September and got to explore the city for the first time since I was a kid. Before this trip, I had only gone into Manhattan to see Peter Pan on Broadway and The Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas, but was too young to hit most of the city’s major tourist attractions. We lived in Queens, where the city meets Long Island.

This was also the first time I flew by myself, which was a milestone in itself. The flight was a piece of cake, and what’s the first thing I see in the La Guardia terminal when we land? Nathan’s. Welcome to New York.

After getting picked up from the airport, we headed straight to a good old fashioned neighborhood diner. Just like the old days. Boy, it was nice to be home. I enjoyed my first lindsor torte cookie in 7 years and went with my father to visit my cousins, aunts and uncles in Whitestone, ending my first night in the old neighborhood with the Yankees creaming the Red Sox.

The next day, I headed into the city with my father, taking the usual route from his studio apartment in Bayside: The #12 bus followed by the #7 subway, all for $2.25 thanks to the Metrocard and free transfers. A small price to pay for a day in Manhattan.

We headed straight for Rockerfeller Plaza and its key attraction, Top of the Rock, where visitors hop on the elevator for about 70 floors and get a gorgeous panaramic view of the entire city. (Tickets normally cost $21 for adults but keep an eye out for coupons given out by street vendors outside.)

My cousin and his girlfriend were nice enough to take us on a tour of Downtown, starting with a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry, a 25 minute boat ride that gives you priceless views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and lower Manhattan.

We then took a walk through Battery Park, grabbed some food from a street vendor & visited Bowling Green, one of the oldest sites in Manhattan. Feeling adventurous, we decided to walk through Wall Street and head over the Brooklyn Bridge by foot.

It’s really not as hard as it sounds. The Brooklyn Bridge is actually quite beautiful, allowing plenty of room for bicyclists and runners to enjoy the views on either side of the Bridge. There’s nothing like watching the sunset from the very middle: On one side, Lower Manhattan’s skyline. The other: The ever expanding borough of Brooklyn.

Once in Brooklyn, we headed straight to Grimaldi’s, a restaurant notorious for its coal brick-oven pizza. Great food. Decent prices. Follow it up with a walk along the seaport on Brooklyn’s side and see the city light up over the river.

The next time we ventured into Manhattan, the morning started off with a trip to my father’s office and lunch with another cousin I hadn’t seen since I was nine. We grabbed a quick lunch before taking the subway uptown.

Not realizing that the train we were on was actually an express train, we passed by Central Park and ended up on 125th street in Harlem. A few minutes later we were back where we wanted to be. Just goes to show that paying attention to train routes is very important but people are usually willing to assist newcomers if you ask politely.

We decided to wander for a few hours through Central Park, visiting Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn and finally my pilgrimage to the Imagine Mosaic in Strawberry Fields. The day I was there, the Mosaic was covered in roses in the shape of a giant peace sign and someone had left a framed photograph of John Lennon with flowers. I also wanted to visit The Dakota, the place where Lennon was gunned down nearly 30 years ago.

Walking down Central Park West, we past through Columbus Circle and stopped by The Plaza, which is featured in so many movies. We took the subway downtown to The Village and saw Craig Ferguson’s book reading/signing event at Barnes & Noble.

For my last trip into Manhattan, my father took me to see the Empire State Building, where visitors go up to the 86th floor for the best view in town. Tickets are about $20 but there are discounts for students. Now the highest point in the City, the view from the Empire State Building is just breathtaking.

We stuffed our faces at one of NYC’s famous delis that offers sandwiches the size of your head before heading to the pier on 42nd street for a ride on The Circle Line Ferry. Tickets run about $30 but the experience and views from the water of the City at twilight are magnificent.

I finished off our tour of the City with a walk through Broadway and Times Square. The rest of the trip I visited family on Long Island. One of my childhood friends was nice enough to surprise me with a trip to my old house, school and playground where we grew up.

If you ever get a chance to visit New York City, definitely go for it. New York has got to be one of the coolest – and most photographic – cities in the world and it is probably only a matter of time until I end up back there. From what I can see, there are plenty of job opportunities for me up there compared to here in Florida and with so much family around, it’s not that bad of an idea. For now, I’ll keep trying to find jobs close to home, but it’s nice to know I do have an option if I need it. I’ll keep you posted.

Tomorrow I’ll be flying by myself for the first time, something I’m more excited about than nervous, which is a step up from the last time I attempted this.

I’m visiting family and exploring New York City for the first time since I was five. We lived in Floral Park, NY (where Queens meets the rest of Long Island) when I was a kid, so I remember little of the city besides our occasional trips to Rockerfeller Center or Lincoln Center at Christmas to see The Nutcracker. We did venture in to see The King & I on Broadway when I was nine, but other than that, I’ve never been to the usual tourist attractions or other places worth seeing.  My sister had the chance to visit over the summer and now it’s my turn.

Coincidentally, while I’m in the Big Apple, my favorite late night talkshow host, Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show, comes out with his autobiography, American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot. He happens to be doing a book reading/signing on Thursday, September 24, at 7 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see him in action and have him sign my copy.

My father is going to be taking me for a tour of the city complete with Circle Line Tour and the obligatory trip to the Statue of Liberty. Plus, I figured if Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra couldn’t pass up a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, neither can I.

I also want to stop by Ellis Island, where most of my relatives came through from Italy and Ireland. I’ve spent the last week or so looking up their names and dates of entry for a better idea of where to continue my research when I get up there. Let’s just say I’ve been reading Alex Haley’s masterpiece, Roots, and have been inspired.

I plan to visit Katz Deli, the site of Meg Ryan’s infamous “faking it” scene in When Harry Met Sally. Not to mention they make pastrami sandwiches the size of my face.

During my trip, I want to wander through Central Park, eventually finding Stawberry Fields and the Imagine plaque dedicated to my music idol, John Lennon. If possible I would like to see the Dakota, which is only a few blocks from the Park, and maybe  leave a few roses by Ground Zero if we have time.

We’re planning to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, if weather permits, visit Times Square and maybe catch a Broadway show thanks to TKTS, a discount ticket kiosk that offers half price tickets the day of the show.

I want to go for a walk downtown and see the New York Public Library, FAO Schwartz and Rockerfeller Plaza. The United Nations building is close to my father’s office, so maybe I’ll catch a glimpse of some international dignitary or people protesting Ahmadinejad’s visit on the 23rd.

I’m also hoping to meet up with two old friends I haven’t seen since the 90s, visit relatives I haven’t seen since I was little and help my cousin celebrate her 21st birthday. So much to do, so little time. I’ll let you know how it goes.