Bits and blurbs for May 14, 2009

Here are few articles that I have come across recently that I found interesting and worth sharing:

• First off is Leo Babauta's article on Zen Habits - 6 Small Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline. Whether you are a job seeker struggling with your job search, or still at your job and trying to stay motivated, or you just keep beating your self up because you feel you are lacking discipline in general, then give Leo's article a read because he gives some really excellent advice.
• OK I admit it, I am a geek and I am proud of it, so I have gone ahead and added GeekAdvancement.com to links lists on three of my blogs (this blog, Geeks Who Care, and 8-Bit Retro). There is a great little video on the site featuring The Woz, Will Wheaton, LeVar Burton, and many other famous geeks. Give it a view, but be forewarned that it can be a little chuggy at at times. If you want to find out more about GeekAdvancement.com then check out the About page.
• Over at Shore Street Software you will find Beware Programming Language Requirements On Job Postings which brings up some good points for employers and recruiters about how to compose job postings so as to bring in the best qualified people, in this case programmers.
• Apple's Woz Boosts Tech for Schools from PCWorld is about Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (aka The Woz) joining the Board of Directors of TechForEducators.com. TechForEducators.com sells software to educators, and partners with the Kids in Need Foundation to offer free school supplies to disadvantaged students here in the US.
• HotHardware.com has an interesting piece titled "iSuppli: SSD Energy Savings Could Power A Nation from" about the projected power savings that would occur if data centers were to switch from using Hard Drives to Solid State Drives. The author makes a good point of questioning the numbers, and how quickly this SSD technology will be adapted, but still the potential power savings of SSD technology is something to consider.

That's it for now. I am still trying to think of something for this upcoming Friday Fun. If you have some suggestions, drop me a line. Cheers ~ Jim

Still plugging and slugging away.

Today started out blah, blech, and maybe even a little blue, but eventually I kicked myself into gear and got going.

With respects to my job search, Wednesdays are usually an off day for me. Most of the postings I came across today are not relevant to my experience and skill set, and this seems to be the case for most Wednesdays. Because of this "Wednesday bump" I have come to use the available time for doing research on some of the companies and organizations that I have already submitted my resume to. n

This has paid off very well for me in that I have enough knowledge that should I be lucky enough to be called in for an interview I will have an idea about what I am jumping into. It's also paid off in that on one rare occasion I found a blog entry about one company that I was thinking of applying for, but the comments from past employees made me decide not to apply for the job. I won't go into details, but let's just say it was not a go

Even though today is a little slow for me I have noticed over the last month or so more and more developer positions being listed, and recently there have been more project management listings too. This is a very good sign! This means that companies are moving forward with projects, albeit slowly, but they are moving forward. Hopefully in the not too distant future one of these companies will need an experienced technology professional (Geek) like me. I am keeping my fingers crossed because it would be nice to get back to work.

If you are a reader of this blog, and you happen to know of a potentially good fit for me please by all means send me an email. Even if you don't know of a good fit it would still be nice to hear from you so feel free to drop me a line, or leave a comment. Yes, comments are welcome here too as long as you aren't a spammer or a troll looking for a flame war.

By the way one resource I recently became aware of and I'd like to point out to other job seekers is a site called ResumeBucket.com. It's fairly new site that may be of use to those job seekers who want to put their resumes on line. Click here to take a look at my resume. (Yeah, I know I need a new picture :)

As for there news I came across an interesting link today on Slashdot. Check out "The Ecological Impact of Spam" According to a study commissioned by McAfee email spam uses close to 33 billion kilowatt hours of power each year. That's a lot of power being wasted for phony "blue pills" and other nonsense. Take a look at the Slashdot article or go directly to the two links below for more information:

• 'The Carbon Footprint of Spam' (PDF)
• Spam e-mails killing the environment, McAfee report says

All this talk about spam has given me some inspiration for the next Friday Fun post. Let's see what I can dig up. Cheers! ~ Jim

Dealing with bureaucracy, disappointment, and file conversion.

Today was one of those days that can just take the wind out of your sails if you let it. This morning I found the perfect job, and I spent over half the day jumping through all sorts of hoops just so I could apply for the job only to be told that the position was no longer available.

I got up this morning ready to go so I dove right into the listings at the WorkSource site (Washington State's employment resources service) Right off the bat I found a job that was perfect for me! It was a perfect fit for my skills, it was in a perfect location, it had everything! But there were a few hitches.

The first hitch was that the employer wasn't listed which meant that I could not apply at the employer's site, but instead I had to apply directly through WorkSource just to get a referral for the position. The second hitch was that one of the requirements the job was for a BS in Computer Sciences. Now in the past I have come across other listings that either required a CS degree or equivalent work experience, but I didn't see the latter option for this position so I decided to check with WorkSource to see if equivalent work experience would be acceptable for this position.

I made a call into WorkSource and was told it would be best for me to come down and check with one of the recruitment specialists at WorkSource to see if I even qualify for the job. I wasn't all that thrilled about having to go down to the local WorkSource office then wait who knows how long, and deal with whatever bureaucracy just to be told whether or not I even qualified for this job, but I really wanted this job so I bit the bullet and drove down to the local office.

I went through the process of signing up to see a recruitment specialist, and then waited for almost an hour until one was available. Now the recruitment specialist I met was a great person to deal with. Not only were they very nice to talk to, but they were also very encouraging. After talking with me for a bit, and then taking a look at my resume the specialist determined that I my education and background were perfect for the position. They told me that the position was for another government agency (which shall remain nameless) and, then set up a referral for me and told me how to apply.

After thanking the specialist I drove home feeling really good about this job, and my future. Once I returned home I powered up my computer, and went directly to the agencies site. I didn't see any option to log in and submit my resume, but I did find a general HR email address, and a link for the application forms. I polished up my cover later, and tweaked it to perfection, and then downloaded the application forms which were a total of eight pages in Adobe .pdf format.

Virtually everyone who has filled out an employment application dreads having to fill in all that information in by hand. I think most would agree we would feel more comfortable being able to edit application forms with an editor such as Word, and not have to worry about our hand writing. At least this is the case with me. I don't have any way to convert .pdf formatted documents to a format such as Word's .doc format which I can then edit. I've gone through this before, but never had any luck finding a format converter that worked, so I just manually filled out the documents. Given that this application was eight pages in length, and the my hand writing pretty much sucks, I decided to once again search around for a .pdf to .doc conversion application. After trying three different "free" applications that either didn't work, or only allowed me to convert three of the eight pages plus leave a watermark across the converted text I gave up.

Since I was only submitting my resume for consideration, and not at the stage where I was actually applying for the job, I decided that maybe I should call the HR Department for this agency and see if I really need to fill the out application forms at this time. So I muddled through the telephone answering system several times just to get the correct telephone number. I dialed the number in hopes that the person on the other end would tell me that I didn't have to fill out the forms at this stage, but instead I was hit with the bombshell. The person who answered the telephone asked me for what position I was applying for, and when I told them they told me that the position had been filled over a week ago.

Needless to say I was a more then a little crushed by the experience. I had spent half of my day hopeful that I would be able to apply for a fantastic job, jumped through all the hoops, only to be told the position no longer was available. Talk about a gut punch!

Now I am not upset with anyone at WorkSource or the other agency. I just wish that they had communicated between each other a little better because not only did I waste half a day applying for a position that didn't exist, but I also wasted resources such as gas and paper. While I am down about all of this, I am not going to let this experience keep me down. I am going to take what I can from the experience and move forward. On the upside, I met a great recruitment specialist at WorkSource who now has my resume, and since I had the email address for the other agency I went ahead and emailed my cover letter and resume to them. Who knows, maybe they may take a look at it, and keep me in mind for a future opportunity.

The one thing that I am a really miffed about is that Adobe doesn't offer a low cost product to convert .pdfs into other formats. The "standard" version of Adobe Acrobat is something around $250 which unemployed people like me cannot afford. Now I understand why companies and agencies place their online applications forms in .pdf format, and I understand Adobe needs to make a buck, but you would think that given the current economic climate that Adobe might want to offer a low cost tool for converting .pdfs to .doc format. Even if the license for the application was valid for only six to twelve months, and afterwards the application would be disabled, a low cost conversion tool that actually worked would be a great benefit for many of use who are unemployed and have to deal with application forms that are in .pdf format. Maybe someone from Adobe's product development group might read this and consider the idea. If that happened then my day wouldn't be a complete wash.

Well that's enough for now. I am going to take the rest of the night off and watch "The Big Lebowski" because the Dude abides, and I love his style :)

Engaging advice from Peter Bregman.

Earlier this week while I was trundling through the headlines at CNN.com and trying not to get too down by all the doom and gloom, I stumbled across a great article from Peter Bregman who is the CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc. (company web site, Linkedin profile). The article, or more appropriately commentary, was titled "Make the recession work for you" In his commentary Peter Bregman suggests that now may be the perfect time for people to start pursuing their passion, and therefore become more engaged in their career. Why is now, the worst economic downturn in 70 years, the time to start pursuing one's passion? Why not do so when times are good?

According to Peter when times are good people are less likely to get out of their comfort zone because of the perceived risk to their income, and he's right. Let face it, almost everyone is in pursuit of making more of the almighty dollar, yen, or pound, so why should they risk making less to pursue their passion? Peter suggests that in this current economic climate that those who are now unemployed are already out of their comfort zone, so they can actually seize the opportunity to pursue their passion without the perceived risk to their income, and may actually benefit doing so.

How can people benefit by pursuing their passion? Well for starters if you are passionate about what you are doing then you will be more engaged with your work, and to a prospective employer this is a very good trait to have. You can use all the key words you want in an interview, but if the passion isn't there then those words are meaningless. On the other hand if you are truly passionate about what you are doing then that will come across in an interview.

Peter points out in his commentary that "Gallup has collected data on 5.4 million employees in over 137 countries and concluded that engaged employees are more productive and customer-focused. And more profitable." Humans At Work which is a site that I have previously referenced also states that disengaged employees can cost billions in lost productivity, and backs this up with references to another Gallup article; "Many Employees Would Fire Their Boss". As the title implies, many employees would love to fire their bosses, but that is not the only point of the article. Disengaged employees not only impact productivity, but are less likely to refer both their employer, and employer's products to others. In essence disengaged employees cost companies money.

So why should you care if your employer doesn't make as much money. Well if your unemployed or soon to be unemployed the answer is obvious. Employers should also take note of the information in these articles, and realize that actively engaged employees definitely influence their bottom line in a very positive manner. Obviously not everyone's passion will be a marketable skill, but the impact of people becoming involved in something that they are passionate about may still influence how engaged they are at work, and in turn help their chances of landing a new job.

The links listed in this entry to a much better job of explaining the rationale of people pursuing their passion than I do, so give them a read. When you do, you just may realize as I did that pursuing your passion and being more engaged will definitely have a positive impact on your career, and that now just may be the perfect time to start pursuing your passions. While I am still unemployed, I do feel that now is the time for me to pursue my passion(s) and I am feeling much more optimistic about my prospects than I have for some time.

Keep any eye out for the next "Friday Fun" post! Cheers ~ Jim

Battling HR firewalls

To those of us who are currently looking for work some employer's HR web sites can take on the appearance as a sort of firewall created to keep job applicants out, or at least it can feel that way. Let's face it, if you are unemployed and looking for work then you already have enough stress in your life. The last thing you need is more stress from a uncooperative HR web site when applying for a job.

I have found that the best way to approach these HR firewalls is to apply some common sense, and a little determination. Now that may sound like a "no brainer", but when you are going mano a mano against a difficult HR web site, and things are going from bad to worse you may tend to loose focus and that is when frustration can replace common sense and determination.

While I am not "expert" when it comes to dealing with temperamental HR sites, I do have some experience in dealing with them. I would like to share with you some of the things I have found useful when I encounter an HR firewall.

Now preparation is very important, and while this is obvious, I cannot stress this enough. Some HR web sites can time out on you before you finish your application, so being prepared and having everything ready to go can be the difference between getting your application entered the first time, or having to make several attempts to complete the task.

Here is what you need to have ready, and be prepared to do before you apply for a job online:

• Resume: Always have the latest version of your resume available in both as a text file (.txt) and in a document format such as a Word (.doc) file. You may need both since some sites will have you upload your Word formatted resume only to have you reenter the data again, and this is where the text file comes in handy. You can copy and paste from the Word .doc version of your resume, but there may be issues with formatting, so the text file is best.
• Cover Letter: Before you apply for the job, review the requirements and write your cover letter. Now the site may not require or provide for a cover letter, but it's always best to have one written, and like the resume have it in both .doc and .txt formats just in case either need to manually enter the letter, or you need to copy specific statements from it.
• Be prepared to improvise. If you encounter a site that doesn't allow you to enter your cover letter, and you have not yet entered your resume, consider combining the two documents. When I encounter a site that doesn't allow me to enter a cover letter, I create a new section at the bottom of my resume called "Additional Information / Cover Letter" and add my cover letter. You can either do this with your Word .doc document, or the site allows just enter the two documents together into the text field for the resume.
• Employment History: This is not the same as your resume. Even after you upload or enter your resume, many sites will require you to again enter your current or previous employers name, location, specific dates you were employed, your last manager, starting and ending pay rate, and contact information for both the company and your former manager. Now much of this information may be on your resume, but then again it might not, or at least not in the detail required by the HR site.For example most people tend to list on their resumes only the months and years that they worked for an employer, and some sites require specific dates. Having a specific document with all this detailed information organized together will save time searching through your resume, and help keep frustration levels down.
• References: While it may not be in good form for a potential employer to ask for references at the application stage, some employers do. It is always best to check with your references and confirm that they are comfortable with being listed at the application stage. Identify on your references list which references are comfortable with being listed at this stage, and which ones are not. If you do list your references, always notify them so they are not caught off guard should a potential employer contact them.
• Scratchpad: In this case I am referring to a blank text (.txt) file that you can use to save information too while you are online This is especially useful should it become necessary to recover information you entered. What can happen is that you can spend too much time entering data, or answering a specific question such as "Describe how you last saved the planet from evil aliens" that the session may time out on you. If you cannot use the back button on your browser to recover that excessively long paragraph you entered then you are out of luck. Now if you can go back with you browser then copy and paste the text into the scratch pad. A better solution is to always copy and paste specific information you compose for site in to the scratchpad prior to continuing or saving the data. This is another situation where being prepared to improvise comes in handy.
• Skills Listing: Now your resume and cover letter may list all the skills you think are appropriate for the position you are applying for, and then again they may not. This may be due to not enough space on the documents to list all of your skills, or due to the fact that the information provided for the position didn't list all the skill requirements necessary for the job. Having a complete list of skills available in a easy to such format will come in handy for you, plus some job listings may jog your memory and you can add skills you forgot about to this list. Expect to be surprised when you enter an employer's HR site.
• Take notes and remember trends: Many employers are now outsourcing their online application process, or using similar software packages to build their HR sites. These services and/or software packages have common behavior that depending on the implementation can be good or bad. I won't list any names here, but when I go to an employer's site and see the name of a specific HR hosting service either in the URL or somewhere on the site, I don't proceed any further until drawn up a plan of attack and I know I am ready to do battle with that site.
• Avoid interruptions: While this may be nearly impossible to do, try to avoid any interruptions so as give yourself enough time to finish the task of applying for the job, and dealing with any problems that may arise.
• Take a break if you need to: Didn't I just say to avoid interruptions? Yes, but if the problems you are encountering are wearing you down, stop and take a break. You may also need to walk about from the attempt, and try later on. If that happens you will at least be prepared for what the site will throw at you.

While I tried to list everything that would be helpful I know I may have missed a few things, so I will update this entry as I either remember the things I forgot, or others remind me or make suggestions. Email me or leave a comment if you have a suggestion for battling HR firewalls.

Hopefully things will get better soon, and many of you will no longer have to battle the HR firewalls, but until then I hope these article proves useful to you. Cheers ~ Jim

I am now Twittered!

I have had a Twitter account for a while now, but I have never used it until today when someone suggested I use it as part of my job search and connect to JobAngels. ( Thanks Kelley :)

To be honest I don't expect to use it more than once or twice a day to post brief notices, but if you happen to be on Twitter check me out: http://twitter.com/miba51

As for other news, I am still plugging away with the job search and I had a couple good leads, so wish me luck. The web development studies are also moving along and I have started up a project to create an locally hosted site that will help me stay better organized. It's sort of like my own version of Zulupad. I am creating the pages by writing the XHTML myself instead of using a rich text editor as in Zulupad, and while a lot of the work is monotonous it is good training.

Other than that, there isn't much else to blog about today except that I am glad the weather has changed. It was getting just a little too stagnant for me.

Friday Fun: Coulton and Cleese

Before the Friday Fun begins, I would like to point out a couple of articles I came across:

Lifehacker: Jump to a New Career with a Killer Resume and Plan. It's a tough the job market right now, so if you are looking for work, or think you soon will be, then give this article a read. If you know of any other good job search articles then drop me a line. I will list them here to share with others.

ExtremeTech: The 20 Best Free PC Games. I don't agree with all the choices, but they are free and given the times, free is good.


Now here's an unsolicited plug from me: If you are a manager looking to manage well as opposed to just managing, then take a look at Kelley Eskridge's Humans At Work program.


Now the fun begins!

Jonathan Coulton performs Code Monkey Unplugged:


"I Wouldn't Watch This Commercial" - John Cleese 1980's Compaq Ad:

WOW! Someting positive from CNN!

With all their doom and gloom I was beginning to think that everyone at CNN was turning emo, and getting ready to run en masse into a giant closet, turn off the lights, and start listening to mopey music.

Then much to my surprise CNN posted a news story that is not only positive, but it may also be quite helpful to many people.

If you are like me and you are currently without health insurance, then you may find this article interesting: "No health insurance? Get help here"

It lists some resources I was unaware of, and that I plan to check out. Thanks CNN, maybe you are starting to realize that bad news isn't always good for profits.

I've noticed that the "burp" in job postings that I previously wrote about has now turned into an annoying long and loud belch. Hopefully the stimulus package get's signed soon so people will stop holding their breath and actually start moving forward.

Well tomorrow is Friday, and that means some more Friday fun, so check out tomorrow's posting. Cheers ~ Jim


Footnote: Not all news on CNN is negative. I had forgotten all about this story - Lance, Inc - A company with heart!

Just some thoughts, and a little Friday fun.

Looks like it's time for another update. I really haven't had much to post about recently, since it's pretty much the same old story; looking for work during the day, studying web development at night, and trying to stay positive 24/7.

Staying positive requires a lot more work lately due to all the doom and gloom that is in the news. It has gotten to the point to where I just no longer watch or read the mainstream news such as CNN because of their constant negativity. Personally I believe the economy has hit bottom, and is ready to turn around. I also believe that many of the companies that are currently laying people off are just taking advantage of the current "panic" and using the current situation to justify culling the herd, and clear out employees they consider "marginal" regardless of their work ethic and experience.

I also feel that news agencies such as CNN and Fox are focusing on negative news because it helps them sell soap, and they are doing so without any regard to how it affects people. The constant negativity from the mainstream news services is affecting people to the point that it may actually delay the economic recovery for an extended period. I'm not saying we need to put on rose colored glasses and say everything is groovy, but I do believe that the US economy is ready to recover, and it just needs a little positive push. So how about some good news for a change?

OK! I got that off my chest and I'll get off my soap box for now.

While bouncing around on the Internet I have come across some postings that I find interesting and I'd like to share with you, so take a look at the links below:

• Smashing Magazine - Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design This is an excellent article on how to present clear and effective information on websites and blogs, and I definitely recommend reading this article for all noobs such as myself.

• Guy Kawasaki - Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job Guy Kawasaki has some good suggestions for using networking sites like Linkedin to help your career, but as someone who has been on Linkedin for quite a long time I would also like to suggest that people use a little common sense and caution. Many of the business networking sites are now being overrun by scammers who want to join your network just to gather your personal information and spam you. My advice to anyone using Linkedin is to use a throw-away email address for your account, and change it regularly. I also suggest that you only connect with people who you either know directly or share common interests with you. Let me tell you that it really sucks to be unemployed and constantly get spam from some off-shore recruiter asking you if your company needs their services. Yeah right!

• GeenerComputing - Google: Our Green Data Centers Got a Lot Greener This is a nice article on how Google is improving the efficiency of their data centers. If you have any interest in data centers then give this short article a read. As the economy turns around and IT infrastructure grows, efficient use of power will become even more important, and it looks like Google is leading the way.

And now it's time for some Friday Fun: The IT Crowd - Break The Internet



Have a great weekend! ~ Jim
(Psst! If you haven't already, take a look at the "Geeks Who Care" link listed on the left)

Friday Humor: IT Crowd: truest moment ever!

While it is true that this is my "professional" blog where I talk about my career goals and such, I do think a little humor is appropriate now and then. I hope you enjoy this little snippet from The IT Crowd:



Cheers ~ Jim

Time for a little re-org.

Today while I was right in the middle of sending out a cover letter and resume one of the computers in my SOHO network started to growl.

It turns out that the fan in the power supply was dying, fortunately for me I had a spare power supply from another Dell GX 200.

While things turned out OK, it did get me thinking that I need to STILL simplify my SOHO network, and set up a more robust back up and recovery plan that what I currently have. So over the next few weekends, I will be retooling my systems.

Other than the growling GX200 everything else has been plugging along. I have given up watching the news because I cannot afford letting it get to me and get me down. To be honest I have been pretty positive about my my job search and progress in other areas.

It would be nice if I could get out of the house more, but I have to keep costs down and stay focused.

Hopefully if you are a regular reader of this blog you have checked out the Geeks Who Care Blog. It's a little side project of mine that I created to help other computer geeks out there find volunteer opportunities. If you do check it out and have some thoughts or suggestions, drop me a line and let me know.

Cheers ~ Jim

Adversity, and the potential for our future

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant." -- Horace

So what has a quote about adversity from the ancient philosopher Horace have to do with the future? Well, keep that quote in mind as you read the rest of this blog, and maybe you too will see why I thought it was appropriate.

Recently I came across an article on Techdirt titled "On Staying Happy" which addresses a reader's question of how the writers at Techdirt can stay so positive while constantly reporting about "corporate cluelessness, political corruption and short-sighted thinking". The writer of the article does an excellent job of pointing out that while all that stupidity and negativity is going on, there is also a lot of innovation and positive progress occurring, and regardless of those who are trying to delay the inevitable, progress will happen.

After pointing out how much the Internet has changed the world in less than two decades, the writer asks "How can you not be optimistic and excited when you look back at how far we've come in such a short time, and think about how much further we can go?", and they are right. When I look at what has happened since the early 90's, and then think about the future, I realize that there is a lot of positive potential just around the corner, and I am looking forward to it.

What is going on right now with all the financial turmoil, panic, and just plain stupidity, is just part of the process. While all this negativity is very painful (and I can personally attest to that), people must realize that there are a lot of new doors being opened that offer new opportunities and growth. Right now many industries are struggling and some possibly dying, but there are many new industries just ready to take off. One of the best examples of this is the transition from printed news media (newspapers and magazines), to the online media (web sites and blogs).

The rise of the Internet is affording everyone access to new sources of news and entertainment, and we are going through a transitional period which is definitely painful and tumultuous as is pointed out in this other Techdirt article: "Creative Destruction Happens Quickly; Those Who Wait End Up In The Rubble". Change can be painful, but when you consider the potential of the future and understand that you can participate in those changes, then future is looking brighter regardless of all the negativity.

With the pending change in administration this country is poised for some major changes, and I truly believe almost all of these changes will be positive. President-elect Obama is pushing for a major plan to rebuild this country's infrastructure (roads, bridges, and levees, and power grid) in hopes that it will create more jobs, and while I agree this work needs to be done I have to wonder what are his plans for this country's technological infrastructure?

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation offered a possible plan in their report "The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America". The ITIF believes that an investment in America’s digital infrastructure of $30 billion in 2009 will create over 900,000 new jobs in the US. This is a significant number of IT related jobs, and even if the amount required is twice what the ITIF suggests, it will still be money well spent when compared to the $700 billion spent on the TARP bail out.

The US digital or informational infrastructure will require a lot of expansion if it is going to continue leading the world in business, technology, education, and entertainment. Also in a post 9/11 world, the US must build in redundancy to it's informational infrastructure for obvious security reasons. There are a limited number of primary fiber optic backbones handling all the Internet traffic in the US, and any one of an imagined man-made or natural disaster affecting just a couple of those backbones could disable the entire Internet. Therefore there must be an focused effort to increase the number of primary backbones to insure the the ability to handle increased bandwidth and add redundancy.

Also one has to ask what ever happened to fiber to the home? Here we are just a few years away from the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, and there is still a large percentage of people relying on dial-up for access to the Internet. This is not an inconvenience to the American public, it is a disabling factor to the US economy. High speed access to the Internet should be available to every US citizen. Take a look at the Fiber to the Home Council's site for more information.

One las thing I would like to add regarding the US informational infrastructure is that I have written an article on my Urbanspelunkers blog about some enterprising companies that are turning vacant shopping malls into large data centers, which given the current economic climate makes good use of readily available real estate. Considering the number of vacant malls and warehouses in this country, it would be quite easy to convert these properties into cost effective data centers that would not only improve America's competitiveness in the global economy, but also allow for a certain amount of redundancy of facilities for improved data security.

If a concerted effort were made to improve America's data infrastructure, the beneficial results for every US citizen would be well worth the costs, and the opportunities and resources are just waiting to be utilized.

As you can see, while these are adverse times, if you have the ability to look beyond the adversity you can then see the potential for positive growth and prosperity.


** After I originally posted this blog I came across another Techdirt post that I felt readers might be interested in: Is Obama's Broadband Plan Anything More Than A Free Gift To Incumbent Providers? **

Just a few updates.

I added my skills sets to the side bar, and updated my self study program to reflect the changes I have made.

Here's hoping that 2009 will be better than 2008. I am still looking at the possibility of selling my place and living off the proceeds to get by until things turn around, but the drawback to that is that when things do turn around I will not be able to afford the cost of a new home. That will be a tough choice, but it's either that or the sidewalk if I don't find work soon.

The things that really got to my after being laid off the second time this year, was that the lay off happened the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the holiday season the news kept posting stories about corporate greed. Reading about how the CEOs of some of those banks who were bailed out getting retention bonuses, and then buying million dollar apartments just put a damper on my spirits.

But to Hell with all that. I have got to move on and push myself to keep studying and looking for work. Eventually things will turn around for me and all the others who are hurting right now.

Doing a little remodeling here.

Just a quick post to let you know I will be revising some of the of the pages I have links to such as the "Interesting employment opportunities" plus adding a few more. I'll also be adding a list of my skill if for any other reason, so that I can keep track of them (a little self-promotion doesn't hurt).

As for for the holiday funk I was in, I am getting over that. I am definitely looking forward to 2009, and the potential for some great new opportunities. Whether those opportunities mean I stay in the Seattle area or not is still up in the air.

I'll try and post more of my thoughts over the next few days, but for now I want to wish everyone out there a "Happy New Year" and best of luck to you all.

Psst! It's all right to leave a comment now and then too :-)

Lessons from the resilience of bamboo.

The Puget Sound region has been hit with snow for over a week now, and this has impacted everyone's travel including mine. Being unemployed I really don't have any where to go, but it is nice to get out now and then and being stuck at home has contributed to the funk I have been in lately.

Staying positive while being unemployed during the holidays is hard, and it's really hard when there is nothing but bad news and you are stuck at home. I have tried to avoid letting the news get to me, but I'm sort of isolated and without much of a support network, so my funk hit me hard during the last week.

During the last week I did make one observation though that has given me a new outlook, and I would like to share that observation here.

Each time it snowed, the bamboo in my backyard would bend over due to the weight of the snow and then as the snow would start to melt the bamboo would start to spring back. The bamboo went through this process several times over the week, and now that the snow is starting to completely melt the bamboo is standing tall again.

The resilience of my bamboo gave me inspiration to spring up every time the weight of all the negativity starts to lessen, and keep on growing.

I know there is a really bad analogy to my bamboo being bent over, and my being unemployed, but I am not going to go there (Sorry I needed to throw in a little humor there :-)

With determination and a little humor to fertilize my inspiration I plan to keep springing up and stand tall just like my bamboo.

(I added this image to this entry several days after I originally published it. I wish I had taken a picture of the bamboo when it was snowing to accompany this one, but as it is this image stands on it's own)

Going slow, just getting by.

Over the last few days I've been sick and out of sorts, but I am getting back up to speed. Right now my major challenge is not letting others negativity get to me.

It's hard, but I am finding that if I involve myself in projects I find I am not so down. It's hard to stay motivated, but it's preferable to getting in a funk. Hopefully the employment picture improves after the start of the year.

Recently I've been learning more about Visual Studio 2008 Express, and moving forward with my reading. I have also been cleaning up my other blogs, so that there is a common appearance.

Maybe the end of the week, I'll have some news of more progress with the Lego NXT bot.

Diving into C#

I finished the fist chapter of Head First C#, and I must say it was prettying interesting and fun. I was able to build a contact list application that used a SQL database in just a few hours.

I use the term "build" instead of "write" because it appears that with C# there is a lot going under the hood that the developer does not have to worry about like with C or C++. Never the less I think this will be a fun programming language to work with, and I am looking forward to diving in even more.

Other than that, I am still plugging away with the other studies, and working on strategies to find a new job.

Trying to stay on track

As I stated in a previous post, getting laid off sucks, especially if it happens twice in three months time.

To be honest I haven't been all the productive since getting laid off the day before Thanksgiving, and this being the holiday season hasn't helped my morale all that much. But this morning I woke up, and apparently was pissed off enough about the situation that I decided to give myself a good swift kick in the butt and get going again.

While it's not great progress, I have started reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML again. To be honest I should have finished this book several months ago. I am also cracking the pages of Head First C#, and setting up Visual Studio on a new system that someone gave me.

I am hoping that just burying myself in coding for a couple weeks will help me get over the funk and past the holidays. Playing with the NXT bot should help too.

I'll also be adding to the blog and updating some of the links I have, especially the Interesting employement links, and web development links.

That's it for now. Feel free to comment because it would be nice to know if somene actually reads this blog.

Just a ramble on being technology agnostic.

I have previously posted here before about the need to avoid being biased towards or against certain technologies such as browsers, and I would like to now expand upon my thoughts about technology agnosticism.

What brought this about is that now that I am looking for work again I have recently had several people tell me that I should get rid of my GMail account if I am thinking about applying at Microsoft, and in the past I have had recruiters tell me that I shouldn't list my UNIX or Linux experience on my resume if I want to work at Microsoft.

I find this kind of amusing since the people telling me to ditch GMail don't even work at Microsoft, and I know quite a few people working at Microsoft who use GMail, Yahoo email, or other non-Microsoft email services. Some people at Microsoft have told me that they could care less if I have UNIX or Linux experience listed on my resume. As a matter of fact, depending on the work, listing my UNIX and Linux experience may even help me find a job there.

I think a lot of this has to do with the mythology and misinformation that has been built up around Microsoft culture, and while I haven't had anyone tell me to ditch my Hotmail account if I plan to apply at Google, I am certain there are people out there telling potential Google applicants to do just that. Personally I don't plan to make any drastic changes either way.

To be honest I think it is in the nature of every good geek to try different technologies, and it's always a good idea to check out the competition. Focusing exclusively on one type or brand of technology can only limit ones experience. Broadening your horizons can only help, not hurt you.

It's like the ridiculous OS wars, or Vi vs. Emacs debate. Getting all worked up over which technology is best is a waste of time. Technology is a tool, nothing more, and people should use what tool works for them.

Hey, if I could afford it and if I had the time, I would be playing with every OS out there. I still work with Windows 98 for some legacy projects, and I will continue to do so. As a matter of fact I have plans to put Windows 95 on an older system (when I have time :) Eventually I will have a NAS using FreeNAS, and possibly a Open BSD firewall on my network too. As for what distro of Linux is best, again it's a matter of what works for each person, and I plan to play with several.

In the prevoius post on browsers, I admitted that I was biased and that I needed to work with IE, as well as other browsers. While people may not alway have the time, energy, or finances, to play around with different technologies, they should at least be willing to try new technologies should the opportunity present itself, so take the opportunity when you can.

Bots and blogs

Here are a couple shots of the Lego NXT robot I built over the last few days. Right now I am using the canned programs that came with the kit, but over time I hope to learn C# and then use the Microsoft Robotics Studio to create new routines for the robot.


It's not a bad little bot, and the motors have more than enough power to send it flying right off the table. The robot seemed a little flimsy while I was building it, but it was sturdy enough once I finished. My one complaint is that it requires 6 AA batteries, so I need to pick up some more AA Ni-MH if I am going to get serious about working with the bot.

On other fronts I have been updating my resume, reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, and updating my other blogs. I'm hoping to get some feedback on both the Cloudymidnights, and Urbanspelunkers blogs. If you have a moment, check out the blogs and let me know what you think.