Career Services #2

Another idea I was very skeptical about are interview seminars- however, as a part of this internship blog I was required to attend the events held by career services. Im skeptical of seminars on interviewing- because I feel like the ability to interview well is something that you just naturally have, its all about your charisma and of course what you have to offer the company. I felt that the seminar didn't really add anything to the information I already had in regards to interviewing well. 

Some of the topics they touched on were communicating effectively, for instance don't over prepare to the point where you are just spewing out facts and not communicating how you really add to what the company already has done and what you could do.

The one concept I definitely did not consider was scheduling. They mentioned when scheduling make sure to be either first or last in the list of interviewers. Being first or last makes you a lot more memorable then those that were in between.

All in all the seminar could be useful to people who are new to interviewing, but I feel like if you have had a few experiences in interviewing these are all things you learn very quickly.

Career Services

So I finally caved and went to one of the career fairs that ASU hosts. The one I attended was at the downtown campus. Although I currently enjoy the position that I am in it never hurts to get a feel for something more. I remember when I first attended ASU, I had the opportunity then to see a career fair in play, however, after one scan of the possible employers I realized that it wasnt something I was interested in.

The one held at the end of March in downtown, was unfortunately not any better and it seems that the Red Cross always seems to be at these career fairs. I had a friend who interned for the Red Cross and didn't have many great things to say. with that in mind it really didnt make me want to approach them and discuss anything. Other than that there wasnt really much else that would be interesting to me that involved my major. I really hope the next career fair has more options.

Dogs Dogs Dogs

So I am planning on moving out of the house I am sharing with two roommates into a place of my own. Currently, the two roommates I live with have a pitbull- and although the dog is actually fairly sweet, you can't help but think of all the crazy stories you hear about pitbulls though. Now that I am working on moving out I am thinking of getting my own dog. When I was younger I had an amazing cockerspaniel and I realized a dog about that size would be perfect. The first dog I thought of was the beagle- they are so adorable, the perfect size, and there is a beagle rescue in Arizona.
I figure if no roommates a dog would be a great companion to have :) So not knowing any other small dog breeds I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions

Hello Sine Die

It seems that today is the day- Sine Die will finally be happening. Floor started at 10 am only to recess 30 min later for caucus. Yesterday there was a conference committee in regards to SB 1449, short titled recall; primary; general election- the bill basically would reimburse ex- Senate President Pearce for the money he spent during his recall. Should be interesting to see how that bill turns out.
This has to be the strangest Sine Die- I have heard many others say the same thing. Generally, Sine Die runs into the late evening, this is the first Sine Die in at least 14 years that has happened during the day, at least that is what one assistant said.
Without my Senator here Sine Die is fairly easy for me- I just need to keep him posted on the occurrences of the day. Usually during those late night Sine Die's senators are running back and forth between the house, staff is every where updating Senators and preparing them for what may come on floor. Its almost eerily quiet , the calm before the storm. Tomorrow interim will begin and many of the Senators will be working on their campaigns for re-election or for Congress, leaving the Senate quiet this summer.

What today holds...

The days are winding down, the Governor and the Republicans have come to an agreement in regards to the budget so the winding down process has begun. Today we a Committee of the Whole Calendar with the majority of the bills being budget bills. This will give Senators the opportunity to ammend, discuess, and debate these bills before they go to third. Right now its being estimated that we will get everything down by Thursday which will be great- but thats pending everyone agrees, no bills get held up either here or in the House.
So everyday has become like a waiting game- wait to see when floor will begin, wait to see what the schedule for the day will be. Now that we have neared the end - meeting requests have minimized as have my research efforts since most bills are either in the house or have died. I have started planning for my interim and what I can do to keep busy while the Senator is busy campaigning- any ideas?

Sine Die coming soon to a Senate near you

There has been buzz that budget talks are going well and adjournment is near. I remember the first time I heard the words Sine Die- I literally heard it as Sign and Die..I thought what a weird concept. However, Sine Die- the latin word for "without a day," is what the last day of session is referred to. According to wikipedia when it comes to a legislative body- the term sine die means that their mandates have come to an end and they may not meet again. A legislative body ends in this manner so that if they need to be called back they can do so in special session.
My last sine die went until from 8am to 5 am the next day- it was intense, it was fun, it was an experience I will never forget which also makes me wonder what will this sine die be like working upstairs as opposed to in the page office. I will keep you all posted hopefully we will have a better idea of the end in the next couple of days and interim will begin.

SB 1070 back in the picture

Since today SB1070 is going infront of the Supreme Court- I thought we should have a little recap on what it is. SB 1070 which was signed into law in 2010, was found to be one of the most stringent legislative acts against immigration. Part of SB 1070 requires that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigartion status during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest." One complaint many critics of the bill have is that it encourages racial profiling.
In July of 2010 Judge Bolton issued a ruling granting a preliminary injunction that blocked the most controversial aspects of the bill. Now the bill is back infront of the supreme court. I will keep you guys posted on the happenings of it. However, because of SB1070 the governor is in DC- which definitely means things in both Chambers are moving very slowly right now. They are also still working on the budget- this should make for an interesting week...

Playoff Time

Yesterday I went to watch the Phoenix Suns against the Denver Nuggets. These last few games for the Phoenix Suns really count since they are tied with the the Utah Jazz for the 8th spot in the Western Conference. The seats were pretty awesome we were a few rows from the Suns bench which was nice. Although I am not a huge fan of either team I had to root for Denver just to piss off everyone around me :) The Suns played a good game but not their best - you would hope they would hustle a bit since this is their last chance to make the playoffs and they have to play Utah as one of their last games.
The Suns just weren't fully in the game, their defense was off, Shannon Brown was taking some ridiculous shots, and Nash wasnt on his A game. Although during that game they announced that Nash had the 5th highest amounts of assists in a game.

Denver doesn't have much of a team, however, they play well and drive the ball in which is something the Suns are lacking. They should be happy they only lost by 11 points. Hopefully they redeem themselves in the last couple games. I'm not sure what I will do when the NBA is done

Constituent Services

As a part of my promotion one of my new duties is to handle constituent services. Working for a Senator whose district consists of mainly Native American constituents most of their issues are Federal matters. However, the other day I had my first call. Sometimes the largest part of constituent services is allowing people to air their grievances, I have found that sometimes allowing them to say it aloud they almost solve it themselves. That is a rare occurrence though. Being that I don't get as many phone-calls as most assistants do- I have found I don't have the instantaneous answers. I always need to ask the constituent for contact information so I can do some research regarding their situation. Usually it turns out to be something simple however, not having a lot of experience I have to ask my office mate for help.
I have also found that constituents just needed to be guided to the correct state institution.
The other day I received a call from a lady who had made her way around the Senate offices. Her issue was a matter that was completely out of our hands- no one could intervene on her grown, adult child's behalf. In the matter of a twenty minute conversation she changed her story 5 different times and was very irate that the Senator wouldn't do what she wanted. I found that another office had already handled the matter and had explained the situation. She was unhappy with the response so took it upon herself to call every office until someone would give in. I kindly explained that I knew she had spoken to everyone else and that the answer would not change.
I was very frustrated at the end of the conversation and it initially soured my taste to constituent services. I felt that this woman was trying to take advantage of the system. Hopefully my next constituent call is better.

Hello Day 101

Well as we wait for budget slowly but surely legislative business carries on. On today's agenda we had a third read calendar and a COW calendar. I remember my first session as a page I was so confused as to what COW was and all I could wonder is why is it named after a cow..little did I know COW stands for committee of the whole. COW is the stage of legislative process when the full chamber has the opportunity to debate and ammend bills. The majority leader will call for the Senate to resolve itself into committee of the whole for the consideration of bills on that day's calendar and then the president appoints a member to act as chairman of committee of the whole. COW gives senators in my case, the opportunity at an informal discussion regarding a bill and to ask questions of the sponsor if they are there. The process depending on the COW chairman can be quick and efficient or it can be time consuming and it most definitely can be entertaining....

100 Days of Session

Well Ladies and Gents today is the 100th day of session- technically this is when session should end, bills voted on, budget decided and then it should be hello interim. However, it seems that they are no where close to deciding on the budget. Today was a very strange day floor started at 11, and we were schedule for third and final reads today. The members all went to floor, prayer, pledge and points of personal privilege occurred and we recessed for caucus. Which again seemed very normal we recess for caucus and rules come back to floor and finish up the order of business. Instead they adjourned for the day. Days like this make the end seem like it's going to be quite far away. We later find out that the Governor is looking to get the budget done and nothing else. Until the budget is agreed upon nothing else is really going to be moving in either chamber. A hold up such as this just means that there is a good chance session won't be ending for a few more weeks...I will keep you all posted

Whats Going on at The Senate?

As we slowly approach the hundreth day of session, certain aspects of Senate life have slowed down. We went from having committees every day with pages worth of bills to vote on to a random committee here or there, and instead of pages worth of bills assigned to committee we now have lists of executive nominations to vote on in committee. Exectuive nominees are people who have been nominated by the governor as members, directors, etc of different boards etc. These nominees then come before the committee they have been assigned to, give a brief description of their background and stand for questions the senators may have. Some nominees can be more controversial than others. Once the nominees are voted on they go to the full Senate. Executive nominees have been known to only go through the Senate and never the House. Between that and going to senate floor for COW, Third reads and now slowly some final reads thats all that has been going on thus far...it should get a lot more exciting as the budget concludes and the more controversial bills come bck around...until next time guys...

Chase Field

This weekend was my first game at Chase Field. Being from Los Angeles the only stadium I have ever seen is Dodger stadium, which doesn't even compare with Chase Field. Although rooting against the home team I couldn't have had a better time. The weather was perfect the game was entertaining, however, the one thing that kept my mind very busy during the game was- how much the air conditioning bills must be during the summer? Yes this consumed my thoughts through a great portion of the game.
So I knew I had to google this and get some more information- the air conditioning inside of Chase Field for one game in equivalent of air conditioning for more than 2,500 homes in Arizona. However, I thought the cooling system was for the entire park but in reality according to ballparktour.com the system brings the temperature down by 30 degrees in 3 hours and it only cools the seating areas.  According to google on average a home in Phoenix could have a bill of $200 so multiply that by 2,500 its almost $500,000 per game to run the air condition the stadium during summer games. If you consider that with ticket prices etc. makes you really wonder if its worth it..I love random tid bits like that. I also just read that it cost $2 in electricity to close or open the 9 million pound roof at Chase Field.

Persian New Year

So last Tuesday was the Persian New Year- it was kind of a tough day since my whole family is back in CA. Traditionally for New Years we all get together- kind of like my big fat greek wedding- everyone must wear new outfits ( to signify a fresh start to the new year),there are hundreds of us in one house, everyone brings food, we eat, we talk, we dance. Just a good time. Although it was tough being away from home- I was lucky enough to have some amazing friends take me out for persian food and share in some of the customs with me. For instance one fun tradition is tying grass into a knot- you are supposed to do this and make a wish for the coming year. Persian New Years goes on for a few days its not a one day gig.
I think one of the toughest parts of being away from home is missing out on the traditional stuff with family- but I guess in the same breath its nice to share something new with people who have never celebrated...so Happy New year everyone!!

The Week of Never Ending Committees

It looks like the session is going to be coming to an end sooner than we thought. This week has been hectic to say the least. Every committee has had at least 20 bills in it- making for very long nights for the Senators and support staff. The week began with about 30 bills in Judiciary and is ending with about 22 bills in Finance. I believe unless something is left committees will be done this week. Which means unless a special committee is called, the rest of the time will be spent between floor and caucus. Its amazing how quickly session is coming to a close- I felt like last year committees were going on for forever. This last minute push to get these bills heard in committee is amazing.
In addition to keeping an eye on all of Senator Jackson's bills and their movement throughout the house- yesterday we had Native American Caucus.This meeting happens every other week and covers issues that are important to the many tribes in Arizona. The caucus is lead by Senator Jackson, Rep. Hale, and Rep. Gonzalez- yesterday's topic was indian gaming. It's s interesting to see how certain things effect tribes- for instance the week before we discussed redistricting and its effects on tribes and tribal land. The coming weeks should be quite intense..I will keep you guys posted.

Never A Dull Day

Today Senator Jackson had finance committee in the morning and I assumed it would be a slow morning since he was in there- I was kidding myself. Finance committee turned out to be very interesting today they heard House Bill 2627 in the committee which was in regards to tax credits for charitable organizations. The concern of this bill was that tax credits were being given to charitable organizations that promoted or performed abortions ( at least that is what I heard from the sponsor of the bill while watching committee). This bill would effect organizations like planned parenthood- for such what I would consider a controversial bill, there were very few people signed in to speak for or against the bill. The bill passed out of committee 4-2. I guess just another Thursday at the Senate...

Finally Friday

TGIF - for sure!! It's been an interesting week to say the least. Although leaving the page office at first seemed kind of hard- especially since it was all I knew. I think I have finally started adjusting to my position as an assistant. To say my boss is not awesome would be an understatement. He has really helped me adjust and has a lot of patience for my 1001 questions. It's funny how different life is when you move upstairs. As a page I would see all the lobbiests downstairs and to me if anything they were just another body to move around as I was trying to run errands. As an assistant these are all people who want the Senator's time and will shmooze their way in any way they can. It's kind of nice not to be seen as a mignon anymore.
This week was great for Senator Jackson he had 4 bills pass out of the Senate moving over to the house now. It's definitely not an easy task for a democratic senator. The wheeling and dealing process involved with getting bills heard and getting members of the opposite party to understand and be on board is quite involved and time consuming, especially with session being as short as it is- you have to go go go.
Yesterday in the border security committee meeting they invited a gentleman from American Border Patrol- who was openly racist and anti-semitic. A few of the senators on the committee took great offense to his presence and stormed out of the committtee. It was interesting to say the least. When this matter was addressed on the Senate Floor it was amazing the amount of research that was found in regards to this gentleman's disgust and hatred for others- and how not enough research into his background was conducted prior to his appearance in the Senate.
Every day is a learning experience- thats for sure-

Finally Something Fun

As interesting as work can be the only source of relaxation I have nowadays is basketball- however, even watching that has been causing me more stress then joy. My team has been and always will be the LA Lakers, being a CA native it made the most sense, plus my entire family- I am talking from my grandmother to my youngest cousin can name the entire roster. So in addition to just being something fun to watch its become family bonding time as well. This season has been pretty rough for them so far but hopefully they will start getting into the swing of things- like the Lakers I remember. If not its definitely time to drop some dead weight from that team. I thought Pau staying would have been a good thing for us and for him- proving himself worthy to play for such dynasty- but he is just not picking up the slack and we really need a point guard. We got slaughtered last night against the Suns- which is always embarassing. That's my ranting for now....

Happy 100th Birthday Arizona

Valentines day was overshadowed by Arizona's 100th Birthday. Yesterday was an event filled day at the senate. So many people were there to visit the many booths and to watch the many presentations. This is the one time I missed being a page and having the freedom to roam the Senate freely, however, I had a pretty good view from the third floor. They had Itzhak Perlman playing on the Senate Floor today which was unbelievable and most likely a once in a life time opportunity. Although there were a plethora of events going on outside the most interesting was having Wayne Newton there. The day was fairly consumed by Centenial events which was good for me since I still had some training to do as Senator Jackson's new assistant so I was happy to have the time to be trained. This should be an interesting endeavor since Senator Jackson is very much so involved in Tribal matters in Arizona. I will definitely learn a lot.

Today was a very interesting Monday- although the mornings are quiet this afternoon was quite a doozy at the Senate. Floor session was short today, so I didn't have much to read, however, committees were quite long today. My committee for today was Natural Resources and Transportation, I spent most of committee running around so I didn't hear much of what was going on. However, today was the day the Judiciary committee heard the bills about guns on school campuses. The entire hearing room was packed with students, law enforcement officers, concerned citizens and media all expressing their concerns. Although the bill made it out of committee 5-3, I am sure a lot of discussion will occur on the floor and many amendments will be made to it. Senator Lujan mentioned in the judiciary committee about adding an amendment that would limit the amount of fire arms students brought if they were going to be allowed to bring fire arms to the Senate. Tomorrow should be an interesting day I will be moving upstairs and no longer a page but an assistant to a Senator at the Senate. A little more of the behind the scenes work will be at my disposal. Thats it for today!!

Week Three...

Since I am playing catch up on the blog writing I will give you the run down of this week. Monday mornings are pretty slow committee wise but gives me a chance to work on constituent services. A new duty I was assigned this session. It's very interesting we get to do research on constituent issues that the Senators have received. It's amazing to see the concerns many citizens have within the state and how many people don't know the difference between what state handled issues and city handled issues are - It's only been a few weeks and I have learned so much about what the state can do and what the city, county etc can do. Senate wise its been a pretty slow week- Senator Bundgaard's seat was finally filled this week- so we have a full house now. On the floor we have only had first and second reads so nothing too interesting debate wise has happened. However, tomorrow is usually when we have committee of the whole and depending on what the bills that are being voted on are, there maybe some interesting debates. Until next week...

First Day Back...

Being back in Arizona in general was fairly weird for me but returning to the Senate that was an entirely different feeling, it was almost like coming back home. Being that this is my second session I walked in with a lot more confidence and a lot more excitement. I started the first day session started which was nice- no orientation needed. Seeing all the new pages and how nervous they were reminded me so much of my first day. So I tried my very best to put them at ease. The first day was fairly easy. I was selected to be reader for the session, which is a ton of fun. Since floor session doesn't normally start until 1:30- I used the morning to help some of the newer pages out with their duties and to inform them of what was expected of them. The first day of session is slightly different since its more like the Olympics' opening ceremonies and even more so this session since the State Senate now has a new Senate President.  Watching President Pierce take his place at the Rostrum was a very momentous occasion- its almost like a new beginning for Arizona. As a reader during this session I didn't get to do much but turn mics on and off. The afternoon was my first day as the page on the National Resources and Transportation Committee. Should be interesting since this is my first time on this committee and AZ takes their natural resources very seriously. The rest of this session with a new Senate President and new senators coming in should be interesting.