jobs

At some point in your life, you’re going to be asked to find a bat stretcher. This is a terrific story.

I’ve gone through this experience myself, so I know the feeling. It happened to me while I was loading trucks on the midnight-to-ten shift for Old Dominion Freight Lines. One of the dock managers told me that I had about 30 feet worth of furniture to load onto a 28-foot trailer, and that I’d better find a trailer stretcher in time to get the truck on the road.

I’m also ashamed to admit that I’ve done this to every new guy at almost every place I’ve ever worked. At Infosearch Media we told junior tech support guys to find a cable stretcher. When I worked for Regeneration Technologies we told fresh meat that we had to find bone stretchers. When I rowed for Florida Crew we told the rookies that the only way they’d get to sit in a boat was if they found a rigger stretcher. Even at Subway we used to tell kids that the sandwiches were too short and they had to go grab a bread stretcher.

Late Friday night I finished reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. This one’s been in my personal queue for several years; I sort of randomly found it on the shelf while looking for something to read on the plane to New York last week. It’s a psuedo-scientific exploration of what it’s like to live on minimum wage in America, and I can’t say that I was very impressed. Ehrenreich is a competent author and she weaves a half-interesting tale, but as a Democratic-tainted exposé it was nowhere near as good as Rivethead or any of Michael Moore’s mockumentaries. More than anything it seemed like just a whining liberal complaining about how darn mean all those big corporations are. She comes down heavy on Wal-Mart — Who could blame her? — but there’s nothing earth-shattering in her story. I’ve worked plenty of minimum wage jobs in my day. It’s back-breaking and demoralizing and all that, sure. I know that. Doesn’t everyone? There’s just a lack of any true revelations or fact-reporting in this book for me to recommend it. If you want to read about the plight of the common American, the state of “the poor”, or anything truly brilliant concerning the U.S. economy you should grab P.J. O’Rourke’s Eat the Rich, Levitt’s Freakanomics, or Schlosser’s Reefer Madness. And this is as good a time as any for me to give another round of applause to Gregg Easterbrook’s The Progress Paradox. Read that.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), farm workers are risking their lives every time they enter a manure pit.

from inessential.com:

Of course, my hope is that any programmer who uses the Web also gives back to the Web, posts their solved problems, tips, sample code, and so on. (I’m lucky that I get to do this as part of my job.)
For a programmer these days, knowing how to learn on the Web is more important than knowing any particular language or environment.
Were I interviewing a programmer today (I’m not), I wouldn’t ask as much about their education or experience with specific tools as I would about their use of the Web. And, because I believe in a sort-of instant Web karma, I’d also find out if the Web for them is a two-way street.
It’s possible that I wouldn’t hire anybody who doesn’t already have a weblog. Given the choice between a programmer with a computer science degree and a programmer with a weblog - everything else being equal, I’d hire the programmer with a weblog.

Today is my last (official) day here at HRI. Tomorrow should be my last day, but it’s my ‘flex’ day. One of the coolest perks of this job was the schedule. They have what’s called a 9/80 work week. You work 80 hours in 9 days instead of the usual ten. The bonus is that you get every other Friday as a ‘flex’ day. I think more companies should adopt this program. It is incredibly beneficial to get a weekday to do the things most people can only do on weekdays - go to the bank, the post office, whatever.

HRI decided to move all of its development / computer programming work to their home office in Kentucky. I was ‘laid off’ a few months ago and they asked me to stay until now to finish several large projects and help the transition.
I’ll probably visit for a little bit tomorrow - in shorts and a t-shirt - to pack the rest of my books and cubicle. But now I’m unemployed. Thankfully I’m not unemployable, so I’m not really freaking yet. I do need to get a new gig soon, so if anyone out there knows anyone in Los Angeles that’s hiring, drop me a line.

Why Don’t You Get a Job - Offspring

Thanks to everyone that pointed out that this was a Song of the Moment a few weeks ago, but I thought it was a great choice since I am - once again - looking for a job!

I don’t know about it being a meme, Ernie, but compare this to this to this.
Sucks, no?
[click to continue...]

Got Skillz?
My company is looking for a VB and / or SQL developer in the Los Angeles area. Want more info?

Just in time for the Fall Sweeps! Now you can marvel at the wonder that is my work experience!

I’ll take Things That Are Really Funny for $1000, Alex! (Note: only *really* funny if you are employed …)
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