Monday, February 28, 2011

Al Queda Fading?

Could it be that the democracy movements in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere my put Al Queda out of business, or at least make it irrelevant? Could be. According to an article in the New York Times, (Link) that may be happening. The protests have been (relatively) peaceful, non-religious and the protestors have only used force to defend themselves. Not exactly Al Queda's game plan. The question remains whether they will use the uprisings for their own ends or fade into obscurity and become a footnote in the long history of the Middle East. We'll find out soon enough. Let me know what you think about this.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Another Sunday

It's another "Pleasant Valley Sunday", to quote the old "Monkees" song. It's also Oscar Sunday. Not that I really care that much. Haven't seen ANY of the nominated films. Partly due to money being tight and also to the fact I really don't like going to the movies anymore. Too crowded, too expensive and too many people who don't know how to act in a movie theater. That and the fact that most of the movies that are out there are complete and utter crap. There's a few good ones but most of the movies are a lot of sound and fury entertaining no one. They make money but are the entertainment version of junk food: tastes great but not really good for you. Lots of empty mental calories.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Resumé Writing

Update on the resumé situation. I got a draft of the "functional" style resume done and now I have to wait until this week to go to the resumé workshop to get some input. I need something that will be "good enough" and get the job done. I need to find a job ASAP. I'm looking at retail since I have a lot of experience in it and it's a way to make money until I can find something else. As I stated before, I really don't like resumés since they really don't give the whole picture of who you are. It's difficult to show what your true talents and abilities are in a page or two of text. Unfortunately, that's what we've got so I guess we'll all have to deal with it. Here's hoping.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Finally Getting Some Reading Done

It's been a long time since I sat down and read anything. WAY too long. I really should read a lot more. Spend too much time looking at TV or on the computer. Finally got out one of my Jack Kerouac novels that I've been promising myself I'm going to read one of these days. Well, it's one of these days and I got it out and I'm finally going to read it. The one I'm reading is "Visions of Cody" which was written after "On The Road" but not published until 1972. I'll post my impressions of it as I go along.

Resumé Writing

God, I hate writing resumés. I know they're a necessity but I wish there was a better way to show an employer what you can offer. I'm working on a new one right now and I'm not quite done with it. I need to get some feedback on it from people who know more about writing them than I do. I hate that we've been reduced to a few words on a page to convey who we are. There are limitations to the written word and most employers look at resumés for an average of 15 - 30 seconds. You have to really grab their attention or they dump it in the slush pile. Even if they put it aside for further consideration, you still might not get the interview. It seems they've gotten extremely picky about who they call. Have to keep working at it and start applying to places. Good luck to anyone else out there who's looking, no matter where you are.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Work

Another day of job hunting. Looking for work is a full time job. Tried to apply to a company's website (no names) and it decided to freeze up and now I can't log on there at all. Oh, well, I'll try tomorrow. Have to get the resumé(s) ready. Going to the library tomorrow to get a book on resumés. Had a couple but I think I mistakenly threw them out in the recycling. D'oh! I'll make copies of what I need and make good use of the book. I also start with a group from unemployment that helps professionals find work. I used to belong and now I'm back again. I need all the help I can get. Right now I'll take just about any job, just to have some money coming in and then go after the big stuff. I'm sure I'm going to hear a lot of "No" before I hear any "Yes" so I'm in for a bit of a slog. Hope any of you who read this who are looking for work can take heart that there's a lot of us and we're all in the same boat. Good luck, everyone.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Job Hunting

I'm back in the job hunt and things apparently aren't good. There are a lot of people out of work and not enough jobs. On top of that, there are reports of employers not even considering hiring anyone who is unemployed. Older workers are getting shafted, too. There's an enormous talent pool out there and these idiots are ignoring it. I don't get their attitude. If someone wants to work, fits the skill set and can start ASAP, what difference does it make if they're employed or not. As someone who's out of work, I can guarantee any employer that I will show up on time, work my ass off and not gripe about anything, except maybe the sky high price of gas. Get with it, people. We want to work, we're ready to work and you need our skills.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Sales

Got a few sales this month. More than I thought I would get. Perhaps putting up a page on Facebook was a good idea. Maybe my store is showing up higher in searches or the word is starting to get out. In any case, I'm happy about it. We'll see what happens.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Better Days

Finally, the weather is getting a little warmer. We've got upper 40's (Fahrenheit) for the next couple of days and up to near 60º by next week. With any luck, we'll get through February without and major snowfall and get rid of the mountains of snow that are in just about every parking lot in the area.

Been adding products to my Zazzle store a little at a time and I've started going through the tutorials at Blurb to get up to speed so I can get my photo books designed and published. Busy, busy. I'm taking my time with the tutorials so I can really get a handle on doing things right. It's interesting stuff. I've gotten familiar with the book design software and I'm hoping I can get an upgrade for InDesign so I can go the "PDF to Book" route. I think it might be a bit more flexible as far as choosing which book format and layout you can go with. I'll have to check out the tutorial on that to make sure. Other than that, nothing else big going on.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Another Day

Another fun day of shopping for my mom. The usual weekly shopping trip along with the usual nonsense about the cable TV, complaining about nothing ever being good enough and all the other related BS. 'Nuff said.

On to other things. Have some ideas for designs for my Zazzle store, along with redoing some existing products and adding the existing designs to more products. It's supposed to be lousy this Saturday so maybe I'll get something done for a change. Maybe. Other than that, the Super Bowl is this Sunday. My local team isn't in it but it's still fun to watch, especially for the commercials. They do tend to be better than the usual drivel they put on to try and sell us stuff. With any luck, the game will be good, too.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Egypt

As most of you probably know, things have taken a nasty turn in Egypt. Mubarak sent out his goon squad and attacked the protesters. A couple people have died and many more were injured. What the hell does he think this will accomplish besides piss people off? Now he has more people ticked off at him and I think the sooner he gets out of town the better. I give the Egyptian military props for not entering the fray. We'll see what happens tomorrow. The Egyptian people deserve better.