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11/29/2006: "I'm liking this brief update idea"

As much as I'd love to sit down and write extensively on my life, that's just not happening these days. So instead of becoming the archetype for RSS-atrophy, I'll sprinkle a few updates here instead just to keep things current.

1) Spam. Remember how I was letting my "spam" box just go? I figured things would top out around 250 messages and then settle down to just over 200. HAH! What a riot! No, it's been steadily increasing the whole time pretty much (and yes, I've checked to make sure it's been deleting anything older than 30 days). I'm currently showing a new record of 454 pieces of spam, but that's a little low because a few snuck through that I read, and read messages aren't tallied. I wonder if I'll ever see 1000...

2) Cohousing. We had our first cohousing information night this past Saturday, and by all metrics it was a rousing success! We had approximately 40 people show up to eat, talk, and listen to two cohousing presentations. Everything started at 5, and people were still hanging around chatting when I had to leave at 9:30. It was a very exciting and reaffirming turnout!

3) MBET. On-again, off-again. We just can't come up with a proper plan, and it's getting frustrating. The big issue is our finances - being off work for 10 months will be very financially draining (welcome back to student debt!). Secondly, there is no clear idea what will be waiting for me on the other end career-wise. If I end up right back where I am, I've wasted a lot of time and money. I don't think I'll end up where I am unless for some reason I decide not to embrace the opportunities that I'll come across. Either way, it's a stress point that we're going to try to put off until after Christmas. Well, except for when I talk about it to my career advisor next week.

4) Jobsearch. Many moons back I had not one but TWO interviews for a company in Burlington. They both went very well, but they selected someone else. (A fact that the recruiter forgot to tell me, until I called for an update a few weeks later. Argh.) Well, guess what - I'm going back again. This time it's a different recruiter, same company, but different department. Strange. I thought that once represented to a company by a recruiter that said recruiter had exclusive rights to me for a year at that company. Well, whatever. So long as I get work, the company and the recruiters can wrangle over who gets paid what.

Gee, is that really it? Not that I usually live in the fast lane, but things sure have felt more eventful than that. Ah well.

Replies: 8 Comments

on Wednesday, November 29th, Jerry said

Apparently, there's also been a giant upsurge recently in spam sendings -- Spam over the past couple of months may be as much as 90% of email sent, according to some information I've seen on some websites.

It's a bad wave going on right now, and nobody knows when it's going to stop...

JGH

on Wednesday, November 29th, roberthahn said

You know, I'm kind of thinking you should ix-nay the BET-May idea and just focus on shorter term financial stability for the time being. It sounds to me like you've got a bunch of new opportunities to explore w.r.t. the LEED/green building consultant thing, and this idea that you want seems to be causing way more stress than it really ought. You've been trying to do this thing for what, a year? More than, I believe, and it's always one thing or another that's keeping things from happening. Don't force it. The stress isn't worth it. You've got lots of other good things to nurture at this point, so go with them.

on Wednesday, November 29th, Boose said

CBC had something on recently about some anti-spam software being declared an infringement - ludicrous, I know, but it happened! My problem at the moment is that the new computer has few "safe" contacts set on it right now! So, when you send me an email, it will be listed as spam until I de-list it! Hopefully it'll all iron out over the next few weeks...

on Thursday, November 30th, mr.ska said

The "MBET idea" has been brewing a while, yes. That is because it was at first a part-time program that got scrapped. Then I only decided to really push for full-time shortly after school started in 2005. I could have started in 2006, but deferred a year. I haven't been "trying" to do the MBET. It only seems that way because I made the final decision to go full-time late in the game in 2005; that and deferring caused what could be called a 2-year delay.

LEED is an opportunity, yes, but certainly not an immediate one. I don't think having that will be an instant ticket into a new field, nor will it qualify me to do my green home consulting. It will help, definitely, but it's not a stand-alone solution to anything.

Short term stability is even being tricky to find. If I can't find full-time work, then that's all the MORE reason to do the MBET, don't you think? No point in staying in contracting, which is paying the bills, but eroding my career.

Spam: geez, with that much spam, when is a major infrastructure paradigm shift going to happen? Something's got to give.

on Thursday, November 30th, roberthahn said

"If I can't find full-time work, then that's all the MORE reason to do the MBET, don't you think?"

Well, when you tell prospective employees that you want to take a year off to do postgrad studies, you're not exactly helping your career. Your desire to get into MBET is *creating* long-term stability problems. If you had instead made "I want stability" noises and came off as a loyal person, I'd think the odds of you landing a job would have been much higher.

It's one thing to be honest about your career intentions, but you shouldn't be surprised to discover that most prospective employers who interview you will see that goal as a liability to their bottom line. If OTOH, you were already working for someone, delivered high-value work, and earned their respect, they'd be more likely to give you a sabbatical.

on Friday, December 1st, mr.ska said

Please don't make assumptions about what I'm telling prospective employers. Regardless of the MBET, I am having problems finding long-term work, period.

on Friday, December 1st, roberthahn said

sorry man, but i could have sworn i saw you say you were sharing your mbet plans on this blog. That must have been before the Great Server Crash, as Google isn't sending up the love here.

on Saturday, December 2nd, mr.ska said

Perhaps I was, but that has changed. My apologies - it's a bit of a sore spot these days.