P.STINNETT

Well. College is officially over - for now. Most of my furniture has been moved (or sold) from the house and I’m officially moving back in with mom and dad come Wednesday evening. Can’t hurt watching LOST on a flat screen on Thursday though..right? 

Quick updates on the job front:

- I have an in-person interview for a public relations agency tomorrow in Washington D.C. I’m very excited about the possible opportunities and after I know for sure what is happening I’ll make a detailed post.

- I may have another interview lined up for a design agency in Norfolk, Va. but I’m still waiting on a follow up. Keep your fingers crossed.

Aside from these interviews, most of my job hunting has been unsuccessful. 

To keep myself busy I have been working on a redesigned Wordpress theme for a blog titled Life Before Noon. It’s a group of recent graduates from James Madison University all beginning their professional careers and writing online about their experiences.

More content to come to P.STINNETT as soon as I am officially moved out and return to stable living. See you soon!

As MACRoCk ‘08 draws near, I want to take some time to feature some of my favorite bands that are playing this year. MACRoCk is always a great weekend in Harrisonburg. Old friends return, new friends are made, and occasionally you attend a show and hear a great new band. Here are five bands you should make a point to see at MACRoCk this year including *very* short descriptions and links to where you can hear them.

5. Mas Y Mas - spastic rock created by Pepsi fans for Pepsi fans. Their new full length is coming out on Sound/Friends Network, the record label spawned by awesome design firm PlayLab from Brooklyn, NYC.

4. Crossed Eyes - pop-influenced punk from North Carolina. They’re currently working on their second 7″.

3. Shapiro - piano pop from Harrisonburg that sounds more and more like David Bowie or Queen every time I see them. My old friend Daniel White manages them. They’ve been working on a new CD for a while and I’m really looking forward to hearing it.

2. Mock Orange - psychadelic angular rock from Evansville, IN. It’s hard to describe their sound. I’ve been a huge fan of Mock Orange since high school and I’m looking forward to seeing them again. They have a new CD titled “Captain Love” out in Japan right now, but I don’t think it’s been released state-side yet.

1. Aloha - quiet and atmospheric rock. Aloha’s newest release, “Light Works” is not my favorite, but I’ve always enjoyed their music. They played at MACRoCk ‘06 and put on a great show.  

So what are you waiting for? Go to www.macrock.org and buy your pre-sale tickets! If you have any questions about the conference, or if you want to meet up at a show or after party, feel free to leave a comment! 

Since my last update about my job hunt, I have applied to about 10 different web design, development, branding, marketing, or software companies. I’ve yet to hear back from any, which does nothing to settle my nerves, but I’m hopeful. Every job that I have applied for sounds amazing. The thought that I’ll soon start my career is really exciting. Every day at school is starting to get longer and longer as I’m reading about what I could be doing in a few short months.

I am hoping to hear back from some companies within the next few weeks and I’ll be following up as well. I’m quite anxious about figuring out where I’ll be headed after graduation on May 3rd. I realize that it’s probably difficult for a small company to look that far down the road about hiring someone new, but I’m still concerned about not hearing anything yet.

For those of you that have been through this process of landing your first post-graduation job, how difficult was it? Any tips or suggestions for me to market myself better? If you’re working on your own job hunt, how is it going? I’m all for hearing any advice anyone has to offer. Just to throw it out there: anyone looking for a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed web designer, fresh out of school?