Employed (with a job to do)

After several weeks of training, extensive networking, and anxious waiting, today I (Jason) accepted a Fellowship position with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations (on the minority/Republican staff). For those of you who never read your government textbook, the Constitution of the United States vested the "power of the purse" in the legislative branch (not the executive). So, while the President and the federal agencies spend the money, they don't get it until the Congress appropriates it each year. The appropriations committee has wide jurisdiction, including having most recently worked on the stimulus bill. It is arguably one of the most powerful and important committees in the Congress. I'm looking forward to this new challenge.

So, my days of employed unemployment come to an end. I've tried to use the time productively, filling each of my waiting hours with the selling of old furniture and other items on craigslist and overseeing the finishing and painting of the walls in the basement. But alas, I'm not made out to be a house husband and I'm ready to get back into the thick of it. And for Missy to come home (she's been traveling since last Thursday). On Monday we start our commuting lives together.