Happy New Year!
OK, so it's that fun period between Christmas and New Year's where no one is really expected to get anything done! I love that!! The job search continues unabated - and I may have a couple of leads that I hope will come up once the New Year rolls around. I've been focusing more on getting my house in order this week - I need to get it organized and cleaned up a little, plus I need to get my foundation repaired. I have to put 10-13 piers in! OUCH!!! I think that's kinda like giving your house a root canal, only it's painful to write the check!
So anyway, I've thrown out two or three garbage bags full of stuff and boxed up a couple more, and I've got work to go yet. I dropped a bag of clothes off at Goodwill, which is a cool place because I think they focus on job skills and employment for the underprivileged. To me that's something that's definitely worth supporting.
Anyway, I got the usual array of nice shirts and things for Christmas along with a great pannini sandwich maker (I've made like eight sandwiches since I got it - it's great if you like toasted sandwiches!) And I also got a very cool gift package including a DVD and some chocolate! So it's been a good holiday all the way around.
Hope everyone has a great New Year! I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing week of football, followed by (hopefully) a national championship win for Texas and then (even more importantly) to hit the job market running in '06. Lord willing something will present itself soon, but I'll see how things go.
Anyway, best wishes!

Another day, another pyramid scheme
Well, not one, but two such deals came down the pike this week. Ok the second one wasn't a pyramid scheme, but I'm pretty sure it involves door to door handing-out of fliers. You know, those annoying offers from people who go knocking doors around the neighborhood? Well, the girl who gave me information about the company and the interview mentioned that they had a parent company (red flag no. 1), and when i checked them out, i found out that they are the self-proclaimed "dominant force in referral marketing." Strike two for the use of "referral marketing". I don't know about the company I was going to interview with, but other ones under the same parent company basically get you in for a marketing job and you end up passing out fliers and selling stuff door to door. Hmmm... I'll pass, thanks!

Anyway, I got an e-mail from an automotive company wanting to know when I could set up a time to interview, but they never responded to my response, and it's been more than a week. So I don't know what's going on there. Basically, it has been one of those weeks where you find yourself getting your hopes up about a lot of opportunities only to be disappointed. So hopefully things will turn around.

Hey, the good news is it will only cost me $1600 to replace my fence! Woohoo! And the engineer will be here tomorrow to assess any possible foundation repair issues I may have with my house - woohoo again!!!

Oh well, life goes on. ;) Hopefully something else will present itself.

"My house is dirty, buy me a clean one!"
Don't they have self-cleaning houses? That seems like the kind of technology we need to be investigating. I mean, I just cleaned up last week! Ah well, I guess I'll have to work on that a little later.
Go see King Kong and/or Chronicles of Narnia, btw. I saw them both this week and they're both outstanding in their own way. Kong's definitely a little darker - there were some definite "squirming in your seats" kind of moments. I'll just say that if you don't like heights or giant slimy insects, you should probably be wary about going.

Narnia was just one of those movies that kinda gives you chills at points, especially knowing the allegorical message of the film. I've never been a big fan of substituting secular stories for Biblical accounts, but watching the scene of Aslan's sacrifice, it gives you an interesting perspective on the crucifixion. It's almost like the presence of all the gruesome monsters and creatures highlights the ugliness of the event. Anyway, I won't say more other than to say it was a visualy stunning movie.

As for the job search, it's slow, but I did get a notice from one company that's interested in talking to me. However, they haven't responded to my response, so I'm still waiting to hear. But I'm in the process of getting my house in order in case I need to put it on the market. I guess I'm gonna have to fix that huge crack in my roof after all!

OK, that's long enough, so I'll cut it off here. I'll definitely try to post more on here, and maybe even be entertaining from time to time. ;)

Remiss... continued!
OK, I really need to get back on the stick with this as well as the web site. I think I'm hitting that point in the job search where you start losing motivation and drive. You're at the point where you actually have to start making things happen, and you have so many things you need to do in that direction and you know that the vast majority of them are going to be dead ends. I honestly don't know how people find jobs when they don't have recruiters coming to get them! It doesn't help to hear that something like 80 percent of the jobs out there are in the hidden market and won't really be offered to the general public anyway. It's times like this I wish I actually knew a bunch of people.

Anyway, I'm in touch with a couple of search firms, but it's my impression that since most of them are placing for companies, they're going to fit you into an industry where you can be plugged right in. As a result, if you're in an industry, or from an industry, where there's not a lot of opportunity, it kind of sounds like you're out of luck. They're not recommended as vehicles for career change, just replacement. Well, I guess there's nothing to do but get to work and figure it out. I know God's providence is at work, I just wish He'd just have someone show up and pay me to do something.

I guess one way or another things will work out. I'm just grateful that I have family that's supportive and able to help. I don't know what I'd do if I were on my own right now - probably be delivering pizza again! Who knows, maybe I'll be doing that anyway. :P

If I went back to school and got a doctorate, what would I study? And how would I come up with something to write for a dissertation? And would I be able to grow a good beard and look good in tweed jackets. Do you have to smoke, or is that optional? These are things I just don't know, and I probably should find out if I were to go back to school.

Anyway, I hope those who are reading this (ok, those who aren't too) have a great Thanksgiving, and even though Canada had theirs a couple of weeks ago, that doesn't mean you can't have a good relaxing holiday-esque weekend!

See you all soon.

OK, I know, I've been remiss....
I haven't written anything in a while, and I know there's dozens... ok, I'm sure someone's noticed. For the one that did - what can I say, I was out of town for a while. I got down to Austin to see family and friends which was nice as always. I'm thinking more and more about moving down there, but we'll see how it goes.

OK, to sum up what's been going on:
- job fair = wasted time. The "sales and management" fair was actually pretty much all sales. The most attractive of the options to me involved selling home security systems, so that tells you something. I don't know I'm sure I'd do ok at it, but it's still sales, and I'm not sure I want to go back down that road. And since I haven't heard anything from any of the employers, I'm guessing they didn't want to go down that road either.

- search firms: I have an appointment tomorrow with a group in Dallas that saw my resume and wants to talk to me. So hopefully I'll get a few more leads through them, and likely through a couple more firms. The career center recommends 4-5 services or so, so I need to pick a few this week. I spent some time looking at my options and what I want to do, and had a good meeting with one of the councilors, and she gave me hope that some of the things I was interested in might really be options for me. We'll see. I still don't think anyone's gonna pay me to sit around and watch tv, but I guess it could happen.

- UT football: how great are we this year? 52-0 at halftime? That's just ridiculous against a Division I team. Well, now we have a couple of weeks before we play again, so I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself. Fortunately there's UT basketball (which I'm listening to right now.) Sounds like we're gonna be pretty good, so we'll see.

- Texas fall: did I miss the memo? I walked outside today and the wind's blowing 80 miles an hour and it feels like it's about 40 degrees out there.

- Raspberry pie: you really can't beat it, and I just say that because I saw some at the store today and had to pick it up. I highly recommend it.

OK, I'll try to get back on pace this week, so both of you that are reading this can feel confident in that! ;)

What is it with laptops?
OK, I knew things had been going way too smoothly for me in this department. I hadn't had a laptop issue in almost seven months or so, and I think that was a new record for me. So finally today something happened and it's down. It seems like once the laptop decides to go into sleep mode all kinds of weird stuff happens. As a result, any computer stuff for a while may have to take place in the warmest room in my house. Don't tell the Realtor this, but I suspect that the AC doesn't work in here.

Anyway, I guess I'm not supposed to be dropping it and tossing it onto the floor or something. Who knows? Aren't those things supposed to be shock resistant?

BTW, I called off the Ameriprise interview. I just didn't feel comfortable about the idea of a slow rampup on salary at this point, plus the uncertainty and the necessity of building a practice largely off friends, relatives and referrals. That just doesn't suit me, which is too bad because I liked the idea of doing financial planning. It'd be nice to find something that I could do that would be productive - that may be one reason I'm not fond of sales.

Having said that, I'm sure that's where I'll be again. My resume and experience just seems too weighted in that area. I knew I should have taken that job as assistant to the traveling secretary for the Yankees - I might have a shot at a sports related job then!

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Helpful hint
Just cause I know that most of you aren't as savvy in the kitchen as I am, I'm just passing on a hint for you. It's totally random and in no way inspired by real life occurrences. I'm just saying, when you preheat an oven, make sure you don't have a pan still in there that you used to grill steaks a few days earlier. I'm just glad my smoke detectors don't seem to be working!

Last one out of Detroit, get the lights, will ya?
Not that I'm still bitter about not being with Ford anymore (I'm really not :P ), but it's articles like this that remind me why i wasn't that broken up about it.

GM spiraling downhill, may break Ford's fall :D

It doesn't really mention Ford in here, but I kinda think all the US automakers are in the same situation. The advantage of a Honda or a Nissan (or even dare I say it, a Kia) is that they've created a niche market that's easier to manage. GM, Ford and Chrysler are trying to offer something for everyone, and that's becoming harder and harder to do I think. I'm not convinced Toyota won't eventually start seeing a similar issue, but right now its brand image is so strong that it can survive it.

OK, anyway, didn't mean to turn this into an industry blog or anything. I'll write something entertaining later.

Ahhh, it finally cleared up!
I was wondering if the kids were gonna have to use boats to go out trick-or-treating tonight, but looks like it's all clear now. I think I may just hide from them tonight - I don't have any candy, and I don't think they'd appreciate dog treats. I could be one of those guys that everybody hates and hand out dental floss or something, but I don't really feel like being egged back to the Stone Age tonight. So I'll just hide in the living room and watch movies or something.

First round of interviews went OK at Ameriprise today, we'll see how the info session goes tomorrow. I need to come up with some questions. It actually sounds like a pretty interesting job - I like the idea of helping people manage their money and build a future for their kids, but I'm always leery of providers such as this that have an inherent conflict of interest - in other words, they are commissioned to sell a specific plan as opposed to being completely free to set something up that's in the client's best interest. I suppose that's typical of any brokerage or financial services organization.
So anyway, I'll have more details on that tomorrow, and then there are two more rounds of interviews to go through.

Just some other thoughts - I think I need to get to work pretty soon because the lazy gene is reeeeeeally starting to take hold. You know it's bad when updating your website seems like work. But I'm gonna do it tonight - I'm making a stand, putting y foot down and committing to something useful. Never mind that I could be cleaning house or scanning the Net for jobs... Hmmmm....

So, anyway! Hope all of you have a great Halloween. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow!

What NOT to put on a resume
I got some pretty good hints today, and fortunately was able to catch a few things on my own resume before it fell into the wrong hands. Apparently these are some things that may not look good to a prospective employer:
- Disposed of $2.5 billion in assets.
- Instrumental in ruining entire operations for a Midwest chain store.
- Education: Curses in liberal arts, curses in computer sciences, curses in accounting.
- Personal: married, 1992 Chevrolet.
- I am a rabid typist.
- Exposure to German for two years, but many words are not appropriate for business.
- Personal interests: donating blood. 15 gallons so far!
- I have become completely paranoid, trusting completely nothing and absolutely no one.
- References: None. I've left a path of destruction behind me.
- Don't take the comments of my former employer too seriously. They were unappreciative beggars and slave drivers.
- My goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I possession no training in meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage.
- I procrastinate - especially when the task is unpleasant.
- I am loyal to my employer at all costs. Please feel free to respond to my resume on my office voice mail.
- Qualifications: No education or experience - I have an open mind.
- Accomplishments: Oversight of entire department.
- Extensive background in accounting. I can also stand on my head!