Joe D’Ambrose

So, when I re-opened my blog I decided to put more of a professional twist on it. But that can be dry. It’s been a while since my last post, so I’ll write about some of the stuff I’ve been doing this month. In the beginning of the month, I was pretty busy wrapping up some Normal Kings projects, one of which was working on a new online management system for Expedient Laundry. In addition, we had our first official meeting in a new student group I helped organize, the Sociological Thinkers of Bryant. (I know, the SToB website strangely resembles mine. Thanks to Dkret for the sweet WordPress design.)

We had a three day weekend, for Presidents Day, from the 16th to the 19th. So I flew Southwest airlines, for the first time, and headed down to Baltimore to spend the weekend with Liz & Phil, who are happily engaged. A great time, we took it easy, ate a lot of food, and watched a few movies. In a theater we saw the movie Volver, which was a really offbeat [but interesting] tale in Spanish (The first movie I’ve watched entirely in subtitles). I bought a couple of books, for once, one of which is The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli, which seems really interesting so far. Oh, and I liked Southwest airlines. They are kind of funny and have decent prices.

Returning to Bryant, we’re more than a month into the spring semester. My courses are all cool except for a science class which was simply too much for me. I decided to drop the class, which is a first for me. Feels great though… it will make for a much more enjoyable and manageable semester. I’m going to do an online course at the University of Phoenix this summer to make up for it.

On another note, last week I was fortunate to attend an interesting presentation by Anthony Maione, the CEO of the Rhode Island United Way, who provided us with some great suggestions and insight for Javalids.

Finally, it seems as though I’ve been spending more time entertaining myself than in past months. I’ve been watching the first season of Lost, the popular television series… it’s addicting, but I definitely enjoy watching the episodes without commercials and on my own time.

Music! Music is life. I saw my favorite band, Everclear, on Sunday night at the Mohegan Sun… which was a free show! I’ve seen Everclear more than 5 times and I am obsessed. Art always sticks around to talk to his fans after the show. If you’re an Everclear fan, I posted the set list on this message board. Other upcoming concerts: in March I’ll see Switchfoot… and in April, Third Eye Blind! Still waiting to hear who’s coming to Bryant for the Spring weekend.

Take it easy for now!

This semester has gotten off to an excellent start. One of my top priorities this semester has been developing my latest entrepreneurial endeavor and first non-profit business, Javalids, with a student team including 4 students and myself. This began as a for-profit idea that Cary Quinn and I were tossing around back in November: a small advertisement on the top of a coffee cup. We soon discovered that the model would work much more smoothly in the non-profit sector, and began to look into it. Quickly approaching Bryant’s service learning department, we realized that we can work this project into our curriculum (I’m a Sociology & Service Learning major). Three of our friends joined the team, and the 5 of us are all enrolled in two very relevant classes: Not for Profit Law and Governance, taught by Ed Pell, as well as an upper-level directed study in Sociology focusing on social entrepreneurship. With two classes relating so closely to Javalids and such frequent meetings amongst the founding members, we are moving along quickly, and learning a lot about the ins and outs of the not-for-profit world.
We’re in the process of developing a Board of Directors, and we currently have four highly accomplished professors on our advising board. We are also in the process of applying for our 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and looking to secure corporate sponsors and individual donors.

Normal Kings built a website for Javalids which can be found at Javalids.org - check it out and leave some feedback! Expedient Laundry has shared it’s on-campus office space with Javalids, so we now have some official “headquarters” as we get this company off the ground!