12.27.2008

In temporary hibernation:

Sort of like what my brain has felt like lately.


12.24.2008

By way of an explanation:

It's probably time I woke this thing back up, and put myself back out there a bit.

I crawled into a hole a while back, for several reasons. Most notably, the company I was working for basically vaporized in my hands. You may ask, was there no warning? And I would say that there was, and I chose to ignore them. The warnings were not big, they were small. But more to the point, I was made aware of a couple of situations and business practices, or philosophies, which I was previously not aware of.

Vague enough for you? How bout this: No matter what they say, or tell you, don't work for felons. Because past felons are much more likely to be future felons. And now I've worked for both.

So, putting that in the past, and moving on. I've made a conscious choice to NOT be employed in the real estate field, where felons, morons, crooks and creeps seem to conglomerate.

Moving to what then? Well, that's been an interesting thing, really. Many people have told me over the last few years that I should be writing seriously. I'll make it clear that I don't consider THIS to be serious.

In a former career I was a writer. One of my first professional jobs was as a Technical Writer. I've also had jobs that entailed graphic design, packaging design, and marketing writing. I've been successful at those jobs, and I've generally made the decision to move back in that sort of direction. That decision has been a bit of a meandering one. As I began to look for a job, I noticed lots of tech jobs out there. Knowing that I have no actual tech training or education, I knew that wasn't for me. But many of those companies also have need for Technical writing, and other kinds of writing support.

So, I've been at least somewhat successful in tracking those down, and getting interviews. Problem is, there are lots of applicants for everything, and even the three or four times I've made it to the last round of interviews, I haven't pulled it out in the end. I am hopeful, however, that that will change soon. It's been a while since I interviewed for an "actual W-2" sort of job. I am, however, very motivated to find exactly that.

In the meantime, I have landed a fairly suitable gig in the writing arena. I provide writing for a company that does search engine marketing. My job is to provide keyword-rich content for client web sites, which provides backlinks, etc, improving the authority with which the clients are viewed by Google. Page rank is king in this arena, and those top three search engine results spots are highly sought after. I help get that done.

It's not awesome, by any means, from a money standpoint, but I am covering the gap right now, and aggressively seeking a permanent situation that pays better than what is happening right now.

I few weeks ago, I told a person I know, a good person, a friend, that I was trying to get into a more technology-related job, and out of real estate, and she mentioned that I needed to get networking again, and get the blog up off the ground, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and generally be a geek.

I have resisted the twitter thing, and up til now have found absolutely no use for it whatsoever. But I now find myself with a Twitter account, and if you're inclined, you may follow me there, as I enumerate the ongoing travails of finding a real job, managing the stress of not actually HAVING one at this point, and just the general goings-on in my head. That account is @ThatOneGuy801, if you care.

So, in a nutshell, yes, I am still living, and there is much more to be said, but that shall come at another time.

Certainly, there is more to come. I have things to say about the election as well - which is also one of the side reasons I went dark here for a while - I promise to explain.

Talk soon.