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Since the launch of the AARP community site, the "Water cooler", March 19. 2008, several things have happened to indicate that the job search process has indeed begun.

Soon after the launch, the laptop, one of the prizes for the winners of the "My Dream Job Contest" arrived. This was preceded by the American Express gift cards totaling five hundred dollars. I utilized the gift cards to buy office supplies, a computer hutch for the laptop, storage of the supplies and books relating to employment of 50+ and retired individuals, and several print cartridges for the printer. By the way, the cartridges are very expensive. The remaining funds will be used as necessary for additional supplies or equipment.

Prior to the website going public, each of the winners spoke with their representatives at the AARP State Offices, in their respective cities, who conducted public affairs functions, to arrange publicity for each winner, locally, when the community site was launched. I spoke with Grier, of the DC State Office, and gave her my relevant personal information, and my reactions to winning a category of the contest. She e-mailed me two days later with a proposed press release and the date of submission. I was contacted a few days later by a free lance reporter for the "Voice of the Hill", a local news publication covering the DC Capitol Hill area. We set a date for the interview. 

The interview was quite extensive. He queried me about my background, about the contest, how and why I entered the contest, my reactions to winning a category of the contest, and what I thought of my possibilities of getting a job in the media. I enjoyed the interview. It occurred to me that I would soon be facing quesitons about my background, in a different context, and how I responded to those questions would determine if I would be considered for a job. 

One week later, April 10th, the "Voice of the Hill", was delivered and on page 10 was the article and a photograph of myself and my dog, Gage. The article was well done and covered most of the aspects that we discussed in the interview.

Ath this point, I feel that all of the preliminaries are over, and that I am getting down to the business of securing a job.