In a transient community, voting is a funny thing.  Many maintain their voting registration in their home-state.  Still others don’t have enough information to vote, or simply don’t care.  In many ways, it is hard to blame someone for the reluctance to engage in a political process that will only influence them for a couple of years.  For an outsider, especially in this election, it may be hard to discern the issues and to make a choice.

One of the foundation principles of this site, is that everyone in Killeen is a newcomer in a way.  Similarly, I think many residents display the symptoms above well past the 2-3 year mark of living here.  So, below are some resources for someone considering voting in tomorrow’s and future elections:

• N2K voting guide
• Map of voting locations in tomorrow’s election

I understand the reluctance to vote when you don’t know all the issues, but I really believe that getting residents more connected will result in a better city.  So…vote.

What I like to do is photograph something that we may see every day that is simple, yet turn it into something beautiful – something to entertain the eye, you might say.

I don’t think of myself as an artist – my favorite thing to do is just alter people’s perspective, let them see the world just a bit differently. If I’ve done that, I’ve succeeded in what I’ve tried to do.

Express Employment Professionals:  I have never been employed by a “temp agency” before, nor did I really understand what an agency was all about. When I moved to Killeen I found Express Employment Professionals had jobs available in various areas and many were full time, some temporary, some permanent. From banquet servers to receptionists to loan processors to welders, I have seen all kinds of jobs posted at Express and I liked their Facebook page to see updates about new jobs being posted.

www.portablecareerplanning.com: Army spouses know better than most how hard it is to find a job with constant moving and gaps in the resume. Army wife and Career Coach Stacy Swearengen is a great resource for every aspect of your job search. I have worked with Stacy and I credit her for helping me find the job I have now.

Indeed.com: I found this to be one of the most useful online job search sites for the Killeen area.

Job Fairs: The Killeen area has job fairs throughout the year, just Google it.

Workforce Solutions of Central Texas: I was very impressed with the services offered by Workforce Solutions and all of their employment services are free of charge. Resume assistance, job listings, skills assessments and more.

Killeen Mall: If you are looking for retail or management the Killeen Mall keeps their job site up to date and has numerous opportunities.

Killeen Daily Herald: The KDH lists various jobs online.

Army Community Services Employment Readiness Branch: If you are military ACS can help with job search assistance, career counseling, resume development, training workshops and more.

Craigslist: Before moving to Killeen, if someone had mentioned legitimate job and Craigslist in the same sentence I would have laughed. Don’t laugh, in the Killeen area it seems that Craigslist is a major source of job leads, so check it out.

Fort Hood Area Events Facebook Page: The FHAE page regularly posts updates on job opportunities along with lots of other events going on in the area.

Let me know what other employment resources are out there and what useful employment tools you have found.

However, occasionally a little stability can be nice.  Kind of like comfort food.

Let me be a little more direct.  These are stressful times for me.  I am working on an exciting new project that is zapping most of my time.  I am also volunteering at the Boy and Girls Club, working on a business idea with a friend, trying to perform my regular duties at work, and I have a wife and daughter.

What can I do in Killeen that helps me relax? 

• My church
• Koreana
• Laid back evenings with friends.
• Game of Thrones and Mad Men

These are a few things, and I am sure there are more.  Killeen is full of robust opportunities, has amazing diversity, but still needs to feel like home.  It needs to be comfortable and a place that makes life easier.

A challenge that we face as we grow this city, is to build a vibrant community that still feels like home.  How can a community feel like home to a diverse and transient population?  Below are a few ways I think we can help with this:

Downtown
Where else can we capture all of our authenticity and diversity in one place.  Downtown has the ability to give identity to what makes us unique.  Downtown can carve a geographic place out that can give us a physical connection to our identity.

Communication
Sometimes it feels like we operate in silos.  I think it is important that we integrate groups with each other.  Different segments of the population need to not only feel welcome mixing with each other, they need to be invited to do so.

Neighborhoods
Killeen has grown so fast, and with so much new construction it is easy to feel lost in a sea of new homes.  Through things like parks, sidewalks and neighborhood associations, residents can feel more at home.

We are all in this together, and each of us only lives once.  Let’s build a community that keeps life interesting and feels like home.