Looking For An Opportunity

Life is funny. One day you are sitting at a desk getting paid to do nothing and bored to death, and the next you are kicked out on the street--no job, no pay, and very excited!

That's what happened to me last week, as I got called into the Boss's office on Thursday, just before lunch and told that I would be laid off effective February 4th. He was very congenial, blaming the economy, nothing in the works, blah, blah, no hurry to clean out my desk and get out of there, take my time, blah, blah. All that was going on in my head is thinking I couldn't wait to get out of there and start finding my next opportunity--and I know I will be better off in the long run.

I'm finding out that my reaction is not typical, as my wife seems totally astounded that I was not bummed out about it, as was my son when I talked to him on Friday. My co-workers are befuddled as to why I was laid off, but I prefer not to look back and dwell on what happened. Instead I prefer to use my energy to look forward.

Here are my reasons to be optimistic:

1. Preparation--Having been a consultant for the last 12 years, I know I have to be prepared on short notice to go on a job search. Most of the time the company I work for works to get me a gig. So in preparation, you always need to keep your resume updated. As soon as I get a new contract, I put it on my resume. A few months in, I'll update the job duties as I know it, and then about a month before the end of the assignment (although it's usually extended) I update it again. I save all my resume updates by year and month, so I know what the latest update is and when I last updated it. My current version is 200902.

2. Network--Using social networks like LinkedIN or FaceBook have made this a lot easier, but go to everyone you used to work with, or agencies that can place you. Don't overlook anyone's potential even if you are sure they can't help you directly--because inevitably someone knows somebody who knows somebody who will end up helping you.

3. Have Confidence, but not cockiness--Over the last 12 years, I've had a lot of experience on both sides of interviewing--mostly by phone. When looking for a new assignment at one point a few years ago, I had four phone interviews and got three offers and on only one of them did I need to follow up with a face to face interview. I've even gotten a job by taking the time to interview from Hawaii on vacation. My key is to treat every interview as a conversation, not a Q & A session. I find a lot out about the other person by making it a conversation, making a few offhand comments, joking a little bit, because the last thing I want to do is go work for someone who is as stiff as a board. This is a huge change from 12 years ago, when I wanted each and every job so bad, I just didn't relax and interview the interviewee. But don't be cocky, don't oversell and say you can do something you know you can't do.

3. Don't be desperate--This is tough for many people (as it was for me a while back), mainly because people tend to work one potential job at a time. I don't get too latched on to one thing, but I always like to have something potentially going. Don't be too eager either, because you will probably sell yourself short. Make sure you want them as much as they will want you. And don't stop looking just because you have an interview. Only stop looking after you have accepted an offer--and then you only stop looking temporarily.

4. Listen Carefully--NEVER TAKE A JOB!--You're probably saying WHAT!? Did he say don't take a job? Yes, absolutely. Don't think of it as a job. Think of it as an OPPORTUNITY. A job is something you dread and do only because you need money. And you usually hate it. An opportunity is something you go to and enjoy doing. And guess what? You still get paid to do it, AND you will usually enjoy it more.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of my job search, and I continue to have income through most of February, so I won't be out on the street very soon. I also haven't wasted my days brooding and going through the "Why me" or "My life is ruined" phases. I expect to hear back on a couple of my opportunities this week, as well as continue to contact more people I know. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, Stay Gruntled.

Headlines #2

Today's entry into the Headline Category.

Winning posthumous acting Oscar not easy


Isn't it obvious? The first thing you have to do to qualify is be dead! Not many actors go to that extreme to win an award.

Then inside the story there was this quote:

"The fact that only one actor has ever won an Oscar from the grave tells us that in general at the Oscars, the feeling is when you're dead, you're dead," Tom O'Neil, a columnist for TheEnvelope.com

Thank you, Captain Obvious! And what does that even mean?!

I think Ledger has a great shot at winning the Supporting Actor Award this year, but I hope it has more to do with his acting ability than with his death.

Just for the record only six people have been nominated for an Acting award after their death. James Dean holds the record with 2 Posthumous Nominations (presumably he only had to die once to achieve this.)

James Dean 1955 East of Eden
James Dean 1956 Giant
Spencer Tracy 1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Peter Finch 1976 Network (Won the Oscar)
Ralph Richardson 1984 Greystoke:Legend Of Tarzan
Massimo Troisi 1995 The Postman
Heath Ledger 2008 The Dark Knight

Also, it's really hard to believe that no woman has literally died for an Oscar Acting Award.

How far would you go?

Over the weekend, I saw two good (not great) movies that seemingly were different but had a similarity in their overriding theme. Australia is the epic story of life on a cattle ranch in the Northern Territory of Australia during the outbreak of WWII there in early 1942. Gran Torino is the story of a crotchety old retired auto worker, whose bigotry is overcome in modern day Detroit following the death of his wife.

At the core of both stories is bigotry and the question on how far one would go to save another person. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman try to protect a "Creamy" boy, born of mixed parentage, an Aboriginal mother and an Aussie daddy (who also is the main villain in the movie). The movie is nearly 3 hours long, the first part a battle between rival cattle companies and the second part the impending Japanese Naval attack where the boy ends up on an island of outcast children taken in by a Mission Priest, the island being the first place where the Japanese planes attack. In both parts Nicole and eventually Hugh go to great lengths to try to save the boy.

In Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays the bigoted (some say racist, but based on how the movie actually goes, I don't think so) Korean Vet who has distanced himself from his family and many people around him. He has lived in the same neighborhood all of his adult life and has watched Asian family after Asian family move in. The neighbor boy next door Tao, is being recruited into an Asian gang, and as an initation, the gang wants Tao to steal Clint's vintage '72 Gran Torino. Of course Clint catches him in the act, and pulls a "Dirty Harry" on him. Clint then comes to the rescue of Tao's sister Su when she and her white boy friend are being hassled by some black teens. This inevitably leads to a friendship in which Clint learns about the Hamong (Vietnam) culture. He also becomes a mentor to Tao and imparts upon the boy his wisdom as well as helping him land a job. This also leads to a showdown with the Asian gang, in which Clint teaches Tao one final lesson, and in the process saves Tao from a life in a gang.

So since both of these movies had elements of bigotry and self-sacrifice in them, it got me to thinking, how far would I go to help or save someone else totally unrelated to you? And how do you overcome your prejudices/bigotries?

I leave these questions for you to ponder in your spare time today. I also recommend seeing both movies.

Odds and Ends

Various things on my mind today--

Not to take anything away from the over-hyped media and celebrity event going on in Washington today, but an Inauguaration is probably one of the most important things that happens in this country. It's more than a man, the Presidency is an institution. Today represents a scheduled orderly transfer of power from one person to the next. It's a much better system than many other countries, where there are unscheduled disorderly transfers of power. Best Wishes, President Bush; Godspeed President Obama.

You never appreciate the convenience of indoor plumbing until you go without for a while. Ok, so we did have indoor plumbing, but not on the main floor so I got a lot of exercise over the past 3 months running up or down steps. But I'm happy to report that the sink and toilet are back in and functioning! WOO HOO!

A couple of my blogging friends have recently gotten good news regarding their careers, one a job and another some interviews for continued education. I congratulate both of them on these exciting times.

Meanwhile I continue to wait for work on something that my company calls bench, which is essentially getting paid to sit around waiting for another assignment. I'm lucky in this economic environment not to be laid off which happened in 2002, when I should have gone on bench, but that company decided not to provide it anymore. That also makes me skittish about it. It's also not as much fun as it may sound. At any time I could get a call for an assignment and have to be there in less than a week. The last two gigs I got "happened" in about 2 days. In the meantime I really can't plan day to day because I may need to do an interview at any time. And I can't focus on looking for other jobs in the normal sense, since I'd like to stay with the company I'm with because of their near future plans for me and what I do.

I'll write a full post about this soon, but I had my first experience with Jury Duty a couple of weeks ago. I had never been called before and I ended up participating in a trial. A definite interesting experience.

Finally, I'm totally bummed that neither the Eagles nor the Ravens got to the Super Bowl, but I congratulate the Cardinals and Steelers who did.

Jack is Back! (And apparently Tony Too)

The much anticipated return of "24" debuted on Sunday night and apparently it is picking up some new viewers. When the show first was first put on the schedule in the fall of 2001, I thought the lifespan would be one season, three tops, but here it is going into season 7 (would be 8 if the writers strike hadn't pre-empted it last year) and seemingly is going strong.

I've only reluctantly watched Days 5 and 6, as my wife watches the whole season at once. It started with the first seasons on DVD, and then in later years, I've recorded all the episodes on DVR and then she watches them in a few days. During season 6 we started in late April watching 3-4 hours a week, but that didn't seem to be as entertaining. My mocking comments probably didn't help.

So in an effort to speed things up for the non-watchers, here is an outline of a 24 Season

Hour 1--Jack Bauer is generally relaxing (or hiding out somewhere), when a major event takes place killing people.

Hour 2--Jack wrestles with a decision on whether to help out, and eventually always chooses to help out. His Supervisor (which changes year to year) exhibits concern about Jack's decision.

Hour 3--Jack's hot on the trail of the suspects, and something goes wrong at HQ. The sinister subplot begins with some mole at a high level.

Hour 4--Jack has to defuse a situation--not with the suspects, but his supervisior and his/her superior--to allow him to stay on the case.

Hour 5--Jack evades the thugs that his supervisors have sent after him, while stumbling onto the hideout or next target of the suspects.

Hour 6--Jack kills at least 10 people, but the suspects are partially successful in carrying out their plan at the target. Someone Jack knows is taken hostage.

Hour 7--Jack confronts more terrorists, saves the hostage, and puts someone he loves in danger.

Hours 8-10--The loved one in danger is either a counter-spy or is held by someone who is a friend of Jack's, who is a counter spy. Jack discovers this, and will spend the next 3 hours defusing the situation, while the suspects take a short break.

Hour 11--Jack is back on the trail of the suspects, when the people at HQ realize he broke the law in saving his loved one, and is ordered brought in.

Hours 12-13--Jack evades the HQ people and is finally brought in to HQ just about the time that HQ becomes a target of the suspects.

Hours 14-18--Jack is at HQ, while Chloe and another person (who will die before the end of hour 18) breaks the rules to help Jack out. Usually at least one other lovable character dies during this span.

Hour 19--The mole(s) are identified by Jack, (although the "Big Guy" remains a mystery) and Jack subsequently leaves/escapes HQ in the confusion and is back on the trail of the suspects.

Hours 20-22--Lots of dis-jointed things happen, causing mayhem at 2-3 locations, and HQ finally realizes (again!) that Jack is still a good guy, and they finally help him out.

Hours 23-24--The two hour finale, where in the first hour, things go miserably wrong, followed by the ultimate saving of the world by Jack Bauer and the taking down or saving (temporily--they will kill him/her off in a future season) of some big political figure.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today, my mother turns 78--well, she would if she were still here, but we lost her to cancer 15 years ago, two days before she would have turned 63. But her nearly 63 years on this earth were very worthwhile. As sad as that seems, she nearly died 45 years before in a car accident. Had she not survived, I wouldn't be here writing about her now.

She did live to see all 11 of her grandchildren born. At the time of her death the oldest was 12 and the youngest nearly 2. In the time that she's been gone, 5 of her grandchildren have gotten married; and she has one great granddaughter.

My Mom was pretty strict by today's standards, but we didn't go without much that we needed. I'm grateful that she taught us how to clean the house, cook, and do other chores that have come in handy over the years (although I still resist cleaning most of the time.) I couldn't tell you if she favored any of her four children over any of the others. Maybe my siblings have opinions on it, I just felt that she loved us all a lot.

My Mom would probably thrive in today's economic atmosphere. We went on a three week camping trip in 1971, 6 of us in the Ranch Wagon across the United States to the Rocky Mountains. It's the trip that I fell in love with Colorado, and began my desire to live there. My parents had never had a credit card before, but decided to get one just in case they needed it on a trip that long. They of course, never used it, despite two emergencies--one involving the tent and another involving a blown tire on the Wagon. A few years ago, I saw the log and expenses that my mother dutifully kept of all of our trips. All told, the vacation cost my parents a little over $300, 6 people 22 days. I was totally amazed. Of course, gas at that time was about a quarter a gallon.

In some ways, it's a shame that my own kids didn't get to know her a little better. My daughter was only 8 when my mother died, but in other ways, my children have had my mother with them even to this day, as her Mother, My Grandmother and my children's Great-Grandmother is still alive and going strong at 99. Every time I visit with her, I always learn more about my mother. (More on that later).

Happy Birthday Mom, We Miss you!

Headlines #1

I'm still not sure what direction my blog will take, but I'm hoping this will be a regular feature.

Occassionally Headlines will appear in Newspapers (or now on the 'Net) in which I'm sure the Headline writer thinks sums up the article, but when the reader reads it, he (being me) finds it quite amusing.

Today's entry from the Rocky Mountain News Denver police seek SUV in I-25 shooting

From reading the Headline it appears to me that I-25 (a big interstate that goes through Colorado) was shot by an SUV. Not sure how extensive the injuries to the road were, but here's hoping the felonious SUV is caught soon and put behind bars, so it can't shoot again!

Home Remodeling

For a long time I thought my wife watched too many of those home remodeling shows on the various TV networks that had them. But now she's wrapping up a project in our house, and I have to say the results are wonderful. I just don't understand how those TV shows do it in a half-hour. It's taken her about three months.

Here is what she did: We had linoleum flooring in the main floor powder room/laundry room/garage entrance. She wanted to put Ceramic Tile down on the floor and repaint. She's also been wanting to put in a pocket door between the laundry part of the room and the powder room.

She enlisted the help of Jann, a friend who has been in construction pretty much her whole life. After painting and pulling up the linoleum, they decided to tackle the pocket door. That involved pulling out the existing partial wall that was there, moving the light switch and putting up a new wall with the pocket door frame.

Then they finished the tiling. The tiles are yellowish brown and are 12" She offset them, so it wasn't a straight pattern and it looks pretty awesome. Then the actual pocket door went in. They used a panel door instead of a flat door and it makes it look a lot more elegant.

Yesterday, they put up much of the molding and the sink is back in. They are telling me that I might have the toilet back in there by Wednesday.

It looks really nice, and I'm glad I was away for most of the construction.

Congratulations to the Utes!

I have long argued for a playoff in Division IA (Now called the FBS or Football Bowl Subdivision) and ever since the major conferences have tried to avoid a playoff I always root for it to get screwed over. Usually the final choice of teams in what is referred to as the Championship game is debateable, but the BCS officials always insist they get it right.

I laugh at their pompousness!

This year there is no doubt who should be the National Champions. Only one team has taken on their schedule and gotten through it blemish free. Tonight they beat the former #1 team Alabama in convincing fashion 31-17.

The powers that be will insist that their champion will come from a game in Miami next week, but they perpetuate a myth. The true champion came through unblemished tonight.

Congratulations to the Utah Utes

Odds and Ends of a New Year

Happy New Year to all my faithful followers--at last count ZERO?

Anyway, I'm just back from a trip to Utah with my Son and Daughter in Law. Had lots of fun, but a little sad as it was also the first Christmas I didn't spend any of it with my daughter (and Son in law).

Great things about 2009:

No longer will we have to see those stupid glasses with the 00 in the middle for eyes with a 2 on the left and the current year on the right. They were cute in 2000 but annoying ever since then. Although I'm sure someone is going to come up for a design next year for the two 0's in 2010.

Obama will finally take office, and maybe people will stop using the words hope and change in reference to him. I get it that he's a fresh face, and I hope he does well, but anybody that expects "hope" and/or "change" from their government is fooling themselves and is frankly a little disturbing. Change in government is rarely a good thing. Seriously, if you need and hope and want to change something--start with yourself in your own community. That's where we can all affect it and can be quite effective at it. And with things going so bad right now, everyone matters.

The MLB channel launched yesterday. I hope it's an alternative to watching cutesy ESPN and Fox Sports personalities. Saw a little today, and if nothing else, should be a great teacher of baseball history in the offseason for the greatest sport ever invented.

More later....for now Continue enjoying the New Year.