shame on me

Yes, wedding planning has been keeping me busy. It's true. As has honeymoon planning. As has keeping up with being a landlord and homeowner and dog- and cat-owner and all those roles every grown-up plays. But still. Shame on me for taking up space in the blogosphere and not using it wisely.
A blogfriend emailed last night to ask how the job is he got me (you may recall him as my lucky charm from December 2004), and I realized when I reported back that I have never reported here about how much I love my job, or why. That's sad. So I'll take advantage of the fact that I started part of this blog entry by writing him the email, and take it from there.
The job he got me (okay, he was a lucky charm--he must have done something to get my boss to call me, right?) is fantastic. I really, really love it. I'm a research editor for the RAND Corporation (insert Simpsons jokes here--we know of two Simpsons episodes that joke about it: "Grandpa [sic] vs Sexual Inadequacy" and another I can't find again). So I get paid to read (and edit) RAND research before it gets published. A very, very cool gig indeed. What kind of research, you may wonder? I'm so glad you asked. Since I've only been there four months, a lot of what I've worked on is still in the publications process, but these are the ones out to date:

• I did a quick skim (which means not very much editing, a very fast look at a few key things before it goes to press) of a documented briefing called Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities
• I helped with proofing The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State
• I did a quick skim of a technical report called Possible Refinements to the Facility-Level Payment Adjustments for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System
• I proofread Toward a Revolution in Intelligence Affairs
• I edited and formatted OPNAV N14 Quick Reference: Officer Manpower and Personnel Governance in the U.S. Navy--Law, Policy, and Practice
• I did a quick skim of Japan's Space Program: A Fork in the Road (which isn't available for download but you can order at RAND's web site, if you're interested)

So you can see that I'm getting to read a huge variety of material every week, and it's making for a very intellectually stimulating job. I love the people with whom I work, so really, what more could I want? It's the job I always wanted :)

Comments

[Pauly D]

Shame on you AGAIN. It's been OVER A MONTH again!!!

[Erika]

We'd love to hear from you more often! Aren't you married YET? LOL. Are you still taking freelance work or did you give it up for the corporate world?

[Meg]

How does one find such a job? I'm an English Major, myself. Sounds fascinating.

[Lisa K]

That's the Simpsons reference that got stuck in my head when I got your news -- who else had a citation?? My authority source for Simpsonsian is here. (Hey -- your Comments feature doesn't read my html! Link: http://www.snpp.com/episodeguide.html. Also, pretend "my" is bolded. If coding magically appears when I hit "post," ignore this rambling.)

[Pauly D]

Woo hoo!

She's BACK.