tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75956273685540322412024-03-13T12:59:55.547-07:00ARCWuLF.comThis is a (woefully underutilized) portfolio of my past work and articles pertaining to the media industry.ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-24572187710156682762019-03-30T15:40:00.000-07:002019-03-30T15:42:31.228-07:00Banged Up and Battered By Bluestem Brands: Part 4 - A Ship Without a Rudder<h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Dawning of a New Age</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So to recap my previous post: We were merged into an unrelated department, given a new supervisor, lost the most profitable position that we had, and were now devoted to full-time hard labor. Are you all caught up? Good, because here is the most stressful part of my story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Almost all of our senior crew (that is to say, the people who were there longer than I was) were essentially gone at this point. Most of them were a little on the older side and realized that they couldn't kill themselves with what was now expected of us. They mostly fled to other departments, sometimes in other buildings, but I still saw them occasionally. Most would brag about how their pay had gone up significantly in the first weeks after leaving as the other departments demanded about half the work an paid out much more in incentive. But I didn't want to go to a different department: I chose receiving because it was the only job I actually enjoyed doing during my first round of Blair back in the 1990s. I liked driving the pallet jacks, I liked getting some exercise, and I could not conceive of doing one of the other lighter, more boring jobs in the company. But this choice was getting hard to justify.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Our "busy season" normally ran from early October to early January. This was when the number of incoming trucks increased to get our winter stock for the upcoming holidays. This year (in 2018 that is), our "busy season" started in July, and as far as I know hasn't abated at all as of this writing. This meant mandatory overtime (usually two extra hours a day), which is not something you want when your job would tire out trained athletes on a normal day, and was especially bad when the trucks you are unloading by hand are over 100 degrees Fahrenheit inside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It was during this time that our third shift receiving crew was retired. The ones that were still there were moved to other departments and they were disavowed from unloading any loads at night. Now, our third shift was always smaller and never did the volume that we did. However, not having them there meant that all of the volume would now be handled by first shift.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>I should also point out here, that I was written up in August of that year because I refused to work a Saturday of overtime. We had already worked five 10 hour days during the Warren County Fair, and Saturday was the last day -- I was not going to miss it! I believe my actual words to management were something like, "You've already ruined my f***ing week, you're not going to ruin my f***ing Saturday as well!" This resulted in a first (and final) warning for insubordination. C'est la vie.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most of my coworkers were burning out due to injury (rotator cuff tears were becoming more common due to the increased volume) or just from the stress of being written up because they couldn't meet the outrageous production goals at the time. My coworker Dan, a man I had grown up with and was at that point the longest remaining receiving employee, was becoming increasingly angry at the new crew due to their slowness and laissez-faire attitude towards the work we were doing. But really, who could blame them? They were being written up rather than worked with, they weren't earning enough money alone to make it worthwhile, and some of them (me included) were in near-constant pain from the sheer amount of work we were doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Also during this time, we started having issues with the pallet jacks. They were being run almost 24/7 at this point, and that meant that the batteries were no longer being charged properly. Even the rare days that they were being charged,</span><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Alone, I break</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the middle of October, on one of our mandatory Saturdays, I woke up with an odd tightness in my left arm. I went to work, whereupon my arm got stiffer throughout the day until it became very uncomfortable, then it started swelling very noticeably. I asked my team leader if I could just haul for the day, and told my supervisor that I would be going to the walk-in clinic after work. No other information was relayed to me during this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At the clinic, the nurse practitioner was afraid that it was a burst blood vessel and that I was in danger of a clot-related stroke or heart attack. Because it was a Saturday, I had to go to the (considerably more expensive) emergency room at the Warren General Hospital. After being poked and prodded by the doctor on duty, I was told that it was just tissue inflammation, I was given a prescription for an anti-inflammatory medication, and told to take it easy for the weekend. I did, and the swelling went down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I went back to work on the following Monday, I was sent out to the warehouse to run the "cranes." These were massive order-picking trucks that went up to about 60 feet into the air. I hated running these things. It wasn't that I was bad at it, but it was just boring as hell; driving back and forth in a single aisle for a whole day isn't a lot of fun, and there wasn't a lot of movement either. Because of my arm, it wasn't too bad; at the very least, it was less work than being up front. By Thursday of that week, my arm was swelling again, this time even worse than the first time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Please note that it wasn't exactly painful, but rather like the muscles in my arm were as tight as making a tight fist... all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This time, I couldn't continue working and reported to my supervisor. We called the triage help line the company had (because they were too cheap to pay for an on-site nurse anymore). I was told to go to the ER again, which I did, in the middle of the day. The doctor on duty finally diagnosed me with a severe case of lateral epicondylitis (more commonly known as "tennis elbow"). Most likely, this was due to the months of hard work I had put into the company catching up to me. I was ordered to put my arm in a sling and take over a week off of work. I would have to put in a workman's compensation claim.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you've never been deprived of using your dominant arm for over a week, let me tell you that it's no picnic. I couldn't type, I couldn't play video games, write, draw, or do much of anything else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I will leave it here for now, but there will be more in part 5.</span>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-54726622866874908622019-03-22T08:00:00.002-07:002019-03-22T08:00:46.034-07:00Banged Up and Battered By Bluestem Brands: Part 3 - The Incompetencing<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will the real supervisor please stand up?</span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the course of my time at Bluestem, there were a few questionable management choices made. After the shakeup, the department manager for the picking and return crews became our new "big boss." Our department at large was still managed by our old supervisor (although this was not to last forever), so we really didn't notice much of a difference in day-to-day operations, except when the big boss would (rarely) come to our morning start-up meetings, or to stand around and pretend like she had any say over the contained chaos of our department.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then, slowly over the course of the following months, we began to notice a change. It was imperceptible at first; I was fairly new, but the old-timers explained that we were much busier than we used to be -- we had virtually no downtime anymore for doing our normal housecleaning and repair chores around the department. It was also becoming more and more difficult to earn that +110% rating, despite the fact that the work was flowing from us at the same pace. Like I said, it was lost on us (the newer members of the crew), as we had no frame of reference to "how it used to be." Slowly but surely, we saw our department's numbers (and our incentive benefits derived from them) slowly erode into effectively nothing.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But at least we had "Paperboy"</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The biggest blow came when they started training the stock picking crew on "Paperboy." This was ostensibly done to help the receiving department, who were now inheriting a steady stream of work on the docks just as people began to leave the department; less people in the department meant the need for more trained help. Although it may sound cynical, I knew as soon as these people were brought in that they were going to take the "Paperboy" job away from us -- it was, after all, our highest paying job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A bountiful gain (#sarcasm)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In April of 2018 there was a big announcement: Bluestem would be raising its starting wage from $9 an hour to $10.50. This meant that those of us starting at the bottom were getting an effective $1.50 an hour raise overnight! What a boon! But there were caveats...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The primary caveat was that we would be losing our off-standard incentive pay. This really didn't affect most departments. Unfortunately, it really affected my department, as about 80% of the work we did there was off-standard. Now we wouldn't be paid any incentive for that -- at all. Now, we never earned a whole lot from these jobs to begin with, but that money was there, and now it was gone, replaced by a raise that now seemed modest in comparison. But at least we had "Paperboy."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But at least we had "Paperboy" (#sarcasm)</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, just after this announcement, there was another announcement issued: Our long-time supervisor was going back to the "Finishing" department. A new supervisor would be picked. This meant that the "big boss" would be temporarily handling the supervisory role until the replacement was chosen. This also came with a bigger shakeup: The receiving and warehouse departments (who had been joined at the hip since the century began) were split apart; warehouse would now be associated with stock, receiving would be associated with the "prep" department, which was completely 100% unrelated in anything other than its proximity to the docks. This meant that morning meetings for the receiving department's 10-14 employees would now be folded into the prep department's 70-90 employees. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Almost as soon as this was announced, it was determined (never made official) that the "Paperboy" job would now be handled by the stock picking crew instead of receiving. This immediately took that reliable income out of the receiving department's hands and gave it to more inexperienced, less driven people. Receiving was now banished entirely to the docks, to perform back-breaking labor every day with virtually no reprieve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that it sounds strange to complain about a job that one was hired to do, but it's worth stressing that this was, in fact, no longer the job I was hired for, but was now slowly twisting into something unfair and unmanageable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's when they hired our new department supervisor. He would oversee both the receiving and prep departments' functions. He was a shrewd fellow, not unfriendly, but also somewhat no-nonsense, not having the patience of our previous management. He came in at a time when we were unhappy, and for that I have regrets. He was also in charge of 70-90 prep department workers, and for that, I'm sure he had regrets. He was also the punching bag of the upper management, and that may have hastened his doom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More in part 4.</span></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA, PA, USA41.8143331 -79.290213341.4356131 -79.935660300000009 42.1930531 -78.6447663tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-44797806251065358262019-03-19T18:25:00.001-07:002019-03-19T18:27:09.213-07:00Banged Up and Battered By Bluestem Brands: Part 2 - A Very Stable Company?<h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The workload thickens.</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When we last left off, I was making a genuine effort to be smiling and courteous as I performed what could have been a monotonous job, but things weren't actually that bad for day labor: I was working the day shift for one of the rare times in my entire life, the job could be physically grueling, but it was also broken up by bouts of what the company called "Paperboy."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I need to explain "Paperboy" to you, as it was my specialty:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When we were tasked with paperboy, we would load up a pallet or two of stock that the warehouse had pulled from their shelves, and deliver it to various locations around the building. This was fun for me, as we were encouraged to drive the trucks as fast as could safely been managed, and you got to see the entire building and various people as you went. Not to mention that attempting to find the right package at a paperboy drop was fun in its own right; I loved zipping to a drop zone, hopping off the truck, quickly finding the right package, expertly throwing it into the zone (I had practiced so that I could pitch the boxes on top of other stacks, usually without a re-adjustment), jumping back up on the truck and zipping to the next location. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Paperboy wasn't just the most fun job that I had, either: It was also the most lucrative. If you could score high at Paperboy (and I almost always did), you usually had a whole day's worth of work at a high score, which meant an extra $40-$60 in your paycheck at the end of the week. I won't say that it never got monotonous, but it was a nice break to unloading the trucks every day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Oh yeah, I should probably mention my regular workload in the receiving department was, well... receiving things. This usually involved one of four jobs:</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Throwing</b> = By far the most physically brutal job in the building. When you throw a trailer you are literally in a tractor trailer container throwing hundreds (if not thousands) of ten to forty pound boxes onto a conveyor belt. Most boxes that we threw had bar codes on one side that we needed to scan in order to get them into inventory.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Sorting</b> = The second most physically brutal job in the building. There were traditionally two sorters on every receiving line, one on each side of the conveyor belt. Their job was to pick the boxes off the conveyor, scan the bar code, and then sort it to a pallet depending on where it was supposed to go. For example, one box might go to warehouse 3, while the next one might have to go to the Quality Control (QC) area. Manageable, until you have several boxes in a row going to very different areas, because different areas can't share the same pallet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pallet-to-tally</b> = This person's job was to wait for a pallet to fill up, and once it was full to count the number of boxes and take it to the tally clerks for checking. This person was also responsible for setting down fresh pallets once the old ones were removed. Probably the easiest of the three jobs, but it takes a certain amount of skill to know which pallets to pull to prevent the sorters from running out of space and shutting the line down.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Hauling</b> = The person(s) who were doing the hauling would take the finished pallets to their ultimate destination. The incentive pay for this job was never really there -- it was almost impossible to get the required 100% performance, even before the eventual events that I will describe.</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These jobs were somewhat difficult, but we typically rotated positions so that one person wasn't stuck doing the same job every time. They also weren't nearly as long as "Paperboy," so the chance for extreme financial gain wasn't there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We also had a host of other off-standard jobs that we had to perform, which the system would give us compensation for. All in all it wasn't too bad; we had a hearty crew of long-timers who knew the job, knew what to do and when to do it. I struggled to keep up with them, but I managed.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So typically, we would do a day of receiving, a day of "Paperboy," another day of receiving, and so on and so forth. In an eight hour day it was quite consistent, and even the occasional mandatory overtime wasn't entirely unwelcome.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All's all at the town hall</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every month Bluestem would host a town hall meeting, were we would be told the company's plans, how the company was doing, our performance, and it always ended with a prize drawing. It was nice, and it gave us something to shoot for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Additionally, they hosted an employee safety committee, and even had continuous improvement meetings to get the people on the floor to suggest ways to improve efficiency (these were also followed by a pizza luncheon).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On top of that, every Thursday the vending machine company that stocked our break rooms would cook a hot lunch that was affordable for a very reasonable price, it was something to look forward to nearly every week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I dare say, that Bluestem's Irvine Distribution Center (IDC) was an okay place to work, despite the low starting wage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shake-up, rattle and death-roll</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, if I had to pick a moment when things started to go bad, it was right around the time that my department's supervisor was terminated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, don't get me wrong: I never really spoke to the guy. Heck, I hardly ever even saw him in the few months that we were both there. As near as I could tell, he didn't really "do" anything but wander around. Still, it was a bit of a shock to the other people who had been there longer (this will become a running theme). His duties fell to the assistant supervisor, who was a genuinely nice guy who did try to get things done effectively. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shortly thereafter other department heads started to roll. Soon, power was consolidated among a disturbing few people at the IDC, and later still they began to move the remaining assistants and supervisors around like some bizarre shell game, including a new supervisor for our department. This caused a bit of turmoil, and I think that it's the primary driver for what was to come, but that will have to wait until next time...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren County, PA, USA41.8143331 -79.290213341.4356131 -79.935660300000009 42.1930531 -78.6447663tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-37546868503813362582019-03-15T06:45:00.000-07:002019-03-15T06:45:25.842-07:00Banged-up and Battered By Bluestem Brands: Part 1 - The Interview<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hello again, everyone!</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been quite awhile since I last graced my eponymous blog with my my presence. There are a variety of reasons for that, but the reason that I now have time to contribute to it again is because, as is so much the time in my life, I am once again unencumbered by gainful employment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well... My last employment wasn't exactly gainful, but we'll get to that. Allow me to regale you with tales of my life for the last year-and-a-half since my last stint of bitter worklessness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not sure where we left off; let's see... Was it when I was liberated from my nearly five year stint doing web maintenance for an online fireplace company? Was it my brief tenure as a graphic artist for an insane woman posing as a newspaper publisher? Yes, that last one seems to be a decent after-place to start my tales of woe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After losing my part-time job at the less-than-prestigious "Gazette," (full name withheld to prevent any web-search, not that the lady who runs it necessarily knows how to use Google) I was without income, without unemployment insurance, and desperate for cash, so I went back to an old employer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, this isn't something I would normally do, but there aren't a lot of opportunities for someone as unpleasant as myself in Warren, Pennsylvania, so I decided to bite the bullet and do it for the paycheck (plus benefits). The place, <b>Blair Corporation</b>, a local clothing distributor that had changed corporate hands a few times over the last sixteen years since I had first worked there, and was now a subsidiary of <b>Bluestem Brands, LLC</b>. Bluestem Brands is the company that runs <b>Fingerhut</b>, as well as <b>Gettington</b>, and a few other predatory buy-on-credit companies. Still, when I walked in it was all rather familiar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Into the belly of the beast</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They were in the habit of giving "open interview" style hiring sessions -- lots of people, very little time. This involved a chat with the very pleasant and cherub-like human resources manager, a review of my resume, filling out the rote application form, taking a brief tour of the facilities, and then a mouth-swab drug test. I applied for the position of "Receiving Material Handler," for two reasons:</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I had worked there before, it was the most fun job in the building.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It looked to be physically active, and I really needed the exercise.</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was given a job, and started not long afterward. In those first few weeks I admired how the company had changed; some of the departments had moved, but the building's layout was still the same. The production was now much faster than my previous experience, and management seemed genuinely concerned with how workers were treated and listened to them. There was just one small problem at the start...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Incongruity of inflation</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I first worked at Blair, I was hired in the spring of 1994. Let me take you back to that time:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big Macs cost about $1.50, but would occasionally go on sale for two for $2 (no, that is not a typo). Gas, at least locally, was about $1.25 a gallon (and that was considered high). Brand new (expensive) video games were $50, and there was no DLC or loot boxes to drain your wallet afterward. The starting wage at that time was $8.00, which was quite the step-up from the $4.75 minimum wage at the time. It was an opportunity for savings, investment, and consumption. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let's look at today by comparison:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big Macs cost about $3.99 each unless there's a "two for $5" sale going on. Gas (again, locally in Warren, Pennsylvania), averages about $2.75 a gallon. Brand new (expensive) video games run $59 to start, but after loot boxes, DLC, and monthly online fees they can (and do) sometimes run upwards of $100. The starting wage at Bluestem Brands in 2017? $9.00 per hour.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You read that right, a whole <b>DOLLAR</b> more than the starting wage in 1994. That's $40 more per week, assuming you're working a 40 hour week.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, Bluestem has a solution to that too: The "Incentive" program. The Incentive program works like this: There is a requirement of what you were expected to accomplish in a shift. Anything that you do that is above that requirement earns you additional pay. You need at least two hours every day working "on-standard," or ten hours per week total. If you worked at, let's say, 150% of what was expected of you, you could earn some additional dollars in your pay every week. This was a good program, assuming that you overlook the fact that what they pay one person for doing the work of 1.5 people is not equal to paying 1.5 people (doing the work of two people for example, would only net you about an extra $7 an hour, not a full $9). Still, it did the trick, and many employees in other departments would regularly make an extra $100 or so per week in their paychecks. Even some off-standard jobs were compensated with extra pay, because there was no real way to grade it otherwise. Additionally, they offered an extra $20 Walmart gift card every week for new employees who did better than expected for the first 10 weeks (not to brag, but I received every single one of these bonuses).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Working the receiving department was hard, especially for my "sits behind a computer desk for 10 hours a day" aging butt. But it felt good to do the exercise, to drive those pallet jacks as fast as I could through the nearly empty warehouses (it was, at times, like being paid to drive go-carts all day long). I made a genuine effort to be courteous, helpful, and to even smile.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That didn't last long. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay tuned for Part 2.</span></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren County, PA, USA41.8143331 -79.290213341.4356131 -79.935660300000009 42.1930531 -78.6447663tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-91649401309918467822017-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:002017-09-05T10:37:53.853-07:00Email, Spam, and the Lesson of Charles Woodburn<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A bit of humor for your day</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">After a brief stint of employment as a Salesman/Graphic Designer/Punching Bag with a local weekly newspaper, I find myself gainfully unemployed yet again. It's a shame, really -- if it weren't for the pesky "Salesman" part of this equation, I feel that I could have done fairly well there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Best not to dwell on it; instead, let's dwell on this... </span></h3>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">After re-posting my resume on US.jobs to look at positions in the Jamestown, NY area, I came across this email in my inbox:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>Charles Woodburn <charleswoodburnbaeworker@gmail.com><br />
Aug 30 (1 day ago)<br />
<br />
to me <br />
Dear Applicant , <br />
<br />
Our recruitment team viewed your resume published on (us.jobs).
Application: Logistics, Data Entry, Clerical Admin, Administrative
Clerk/Assistance, Customer Service Receptionist,financial
Advisor,Sales,Accounting, Payroll Clerk, Book keeping, Typist
Clerk,Management,IT Jobs, Military Procurement,Etc- Full Time/ Part
Time) and we are pleased with your qualifications,we believe you have
the required qualifications to undergo an online interview. <br />
<br />
Organization Name: BASF Corporation Company. <br />
<br />
Your resume was shortlisted for an online interview with the personnel
manager via Google Hangout with the following email address/User Name
(charleswoodburnbaeworker@gmail.com) Mr Charles Woodburn to your buddy
list or send him an IM inbox ....He will be online waiting for you ASAP
to conduct the Online interview for you. <br />
<br />
You are required to set up a Gmail account on (https://www.gmail.com/intl/en/mail/help/about.html )Google Hangout App on ( <a href="http://www.google.com/hangouts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/hangouts/</a>) <br />
<br />
Your verification code is BSGA62160-9, this would serve as your
identification number throughout the online hiring process. Your timely
response matters a lot. <br />
<br />
We look forward to having you on the team. <br />
<br />
* Compensation: $38/hr <br />* Hourly Salary <br />* Benefits: Health, Insurance, 401k <br />* Comprehensive Online Training Provided <br />* Interview Date and Time: ASAP <br />*Venue: Online via Google Hangout <br /><br />
Your swift and timely matters a lot in this beneficial position. <br />
If you have any questions, please feel free to send him an email to * ( charleswoodburnbaeworker@gmail.com) <br />
<br />
Best Regard : BASF Corporation Company. <br />
<br />
Yours Truly, <br />
Hiring Manager <br />
Regards</i></span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">I am truly privileged. </span></h3>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Wow! THE Charles Woodburn of BAE Systems (the prominent British defense firm) personally wants to interview me for a position at BASF! I mean, sure -- it's a company he doesn't work at, nor does he have any direct investment in, but I mean, that's fantastic, right? BASF still has a "B" and an "A" in its name... Well, I mean, they stand for different things, but still... Charles effin' Woodburn!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Well, he didn't send it from his own personal email address, of course -- it was sent from a random lackey's email, with no BASF or BAE extension attached to the email, but Charles Woodburn is a busy guy. Think about it: He runs a giant multinational corporation while at the same time acting as the hiring manager of a completely different giant multinational corporation! Where does he find the time?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Not only that, but he was so eager to talk to me, an out-of-work Technical Writer and Graphic Designer with a fair amount of photography experience under my belt about a position in data entry, which... Is somehow related, I'm sure!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">So I jumped right on this incredible opportunity:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">Hello Mr. Woodburn:</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">Hi Charlie, you ol’ Brit! It’s been a long time. How are you
doing? I see that you’re working for BASF now as their hiring manager, but you’re
still using your old completely official BAE email address, <a href="mailto:charliewoodburnbaeworker@gmail.com">charliewoodburnbaeworker@gmail.com</a>
. Are you still running BAE on the side? I know this economy is enough to drive
a lot of people to a second job (liberals and their taxes, am I right?), so I
hope you are doing well.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">I would love to hear more about this position! When I put my
resume on the US.jobs site I must admit that I never thought that one of my old
colleagues would be crawling out of the woodwork to look me up on it. Remember
that Graphic Design & Corporate Mongering symposium in Singapore? Well, of
course you do – I’m sure we both still have scars from the after-party at the
brothel… But the less said about that the better, eh Chuck?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">Data entry, huh? Sounds good. My years creating manuals,
pamphlets, animated ads, instructional videos, motion graphics, flow charts, and
web content won’t be wasted as long as I have a keyboard to click away on
mindlessly. It’s bound to be a good fit!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">And using Google Hangouts to perform the interview… Classy!
That truly is why it is the cornerstone of all corporate communication. I’m not
sure that I’ve kept up my subscription to it though, I may have to reach out on
Skype, or via Cisco AnyConnect (sorry to be slumming it, but I did recently
lose my job).</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">This is tough to bring up, but I want to discuss
compensation with you… Now $38 an hour might be all right for your average work-a-day
joe with his solid silver lunch pail and Berluti Italian work boots, but – and I’m
sorry to say this – I want the gold pail and Jason of Beverly Hills work boots.
Could we maybe raise it to $52 an hour? I mean – you know me, C.W.: I’m a hard
worker and well worth every penny. Besides… You owe me for that thing. You know
what I’m talking about...</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">I’ll tell Betsy and the kids you said “hello,” but don’t be
a stranger. Maybe we could get together this weekend to discuss the position
and have a Labor Day barbecue. Just let me know; you have my number.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">I’ll be in touch with you about this soon, in the meantime,
have a great day.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">Ne dicam auctoritates.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br />Sincerely,
</span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #274e13;">Applicant.</span></i></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-54450625468986179912017-05-30T16:38:00.001-07:002017-05-30T16:45:13.566-07:00Coming to Grips with Microsoft Powershell<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">WARNING: </span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #990000;">The following article contains segments of sarcasm and defeatism. It is simple venting and not helpful in any way and should be ignored by the general population.</span></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
PowerShell from a Beginner's Perspective</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, with all the downtime I've had lately (being unemployed) I decided to take some online classes to answer some of the questions I've had about many of the products I use, and to alleviate the boredom... Okay, so it's mostly to alleviate the boredom, but it never hurts to learn a new skill.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since my unemployment wages aren't exactly stellar, I really don't have the resources to pay for an actual class with an instructor and credit. Luckily, most of the courses in the Microsoft Virtual Academy are free. I've used PowerShell in the past, but never really understood what it actually was, mistaking it for a fancy command line terminal. It was with great enthusiasm that I found a PowerShell course for beginners on the MVA site. That's where the trouble began...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm no stranger to DOS, and its derivative, the Windows command line. I've used various Linux builds in the past, but I would be lying if I said I really understood the whole terminal system, which is its core. I've also used Unix once or twice, but only to type in the commands that I was told to type in, and never to learn how to use it effectively. I thought I'd bite the bullet and try to learn something productive and useful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Let's get down to it.</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
PowerShell is a non-graphical program. It looks like white text on a blue background. There are no buttons to click, and no pictures to look at. It was made (I suspect) to look like a Unix terminal program. It is simply the most boring-looking program you'll use this side of Notepad.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1x4VkLVZEu_ipg-xRB4sw1szZienCRU_q-FBlWPE9hyc5SPvqj3oeznVVGpC_FfNfbCDEMen5sF7AHkEbHuGHtjUxqpiQWZxI-GTZgkWquu0xLvMwesm3yQZMlp3iHvAkPwXs4C_lknt/s1600/2017-05-30-1200-Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="858" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1x4VkLVZEu_ipg-xRB4sw1szZienCRU_q-FBlWPE9hyc5SPvqj3oeznVVGpC_FfNfbCDEMen5sF7AHkEbHuGHtjUxqpiQWZxI-GTZgkWquu0xLvMwesm3yQZMlp3iHvAkPwXs4C_lknt/s640/2017-05-30-1200-Capture.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
At first, DOS and Windows Command Line people will think that it's just a fancy and more powerful command line system, and they're kind of right... Let's say (for example) that you want to list a directory in PowerShell. In DOS, you would type the command "dir" to bring up a list of files and programs in the current directory. In PowerShell, you could also type "dir" to do the exact same thing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, not <i>exactly</i> the same thing... You see, PowerShell is quite a different animal on the back-end. Unlike DOS (which is essentially just a text parser), PowerShell is running these programs and commands in real-time. The reason you can type DOS commands and get the same results is because they use an "alias" system to assign common command line instructions from DOS, Linux, and Unix to link to similar commands in PowerShell.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>For a list of aliases in your PowerShell program, type "alias" and hit enter.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While these aliases do a pretty good job of letting you do basic stuff with little experience, the problem is that some of the more involved parameters of the commands are absent. For example, typing "dir /p", which in DOS would display the directory contents one page at a time instead of all at once, will not work and return an error message.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
The 10 (thousand) Command-lets</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
PowerShell uses a system of commands known as cmdlets (pronounced "command-lets") to perform operations. They are put together in a verb-noun syntax. If you wanted to get a list of the cmdlets available to you, for example, you would type "Get-Command" and PowerShell will inundate you with far too many commands to register in your feeble meat-brain. Each of these commands will also have a number of parameters (some of which are required) that don't show up in the list, making the program all but useless.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"But it's okay," the PowerShell developers scream, "Because we have a robust help system!" And they're not lying: There IS a robust help system. How does it work? It's simple: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All you have to do is know exactly which of the hundreds of cmdlets you need ahead of time, and simply type "help (cmdlet nem here)" for a huge page of information (all poorly-formatted text) that tells you way too much information about the command that you want, thus confusing you further.<br />
<br />
(<i><b>Editor's note: You also have to download the help files using a special command. I forgot what it was. Good luck finding it!</b></i>)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You know what's even better? Depending on what system you're on and what PowerShell packages they've installed, you could have THOUSANDS of cmdlets to dig through. Bon appetit.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So basically, the procedure is this: Go online via your web browser, spend an hour looking for the right command for what you want to do, type it in, and then wait for the error message to pop up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
What? Errors?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes, because every cmdlet has parameters that you need to set to use it effectively. Except that the syntax for those parameters (it seems) varies from cmdlet to cmdlet with no discernible pattern. Unless it's a command you've been using a long time, you're going to have to look it up, and then choose the correct syntax, which can be troublesome because you must type everything letter by letter, it just begs for errors. And when you get an error, you'll scratch your head because the error message it gives you sometimes makes no sense at all. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMbFoa3zLAcj9jZlAgJNe6Ue7_5xTOMnlMDBhUFOstQCGFwshe1FtEe5HutytGE2EamihhXjjHIwvnRM2hU99wB29k33LC4UL6X3UzBLTBgj6koO3GPaTz3TWXhA_UGHAQLwjsEHJQi1t/s1600/2017-05-30-1238-Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="861" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMbFoa3zLAcj9jZlAgJNe6Ue7_5xTOMnlMDBhUFOstQCGFwshe1FtEe5HutytGE2EamihhXjjHIwvnRM2hU99wB29k33LC4UL6X3UzBLTBgj6koO3GPaTz3TWXhA_UGHAQLwjsEHJQi1t/s640/2017-05-30-1238-Capture.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who is "Kerberos?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
The POWER in "PowerShell"</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The real power in PowerShell is its ability to pipeline one cmdlet into another using the "|" character (the straight line above the backslash key on your keyboard). It works like this: You type in a cmdlet and its parameters, then type the pipeline character (|), then type another cmdlet and its parameters. This allows any cmdlet to the right of the pipe to send its information into the cmdlet to the left, then wait for the error message! It's that simple! It's like having the ability to not run one cmdlet, but now you cannot run two or more at a time! That's powerful!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And you can save these cmdlets as a special text file that allows you to run large piped commands as a script! And that script can include C# elements, but the PowerShell text parser can't match the syntax, so be prepared to learn how to do THAT all over again!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Networking Blues</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, this is the conundrum: You want to use PowerShell to manage your LAN and your servers, but you need to set up and manage your LAN and your servers before you can use PowerShell. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh sure, the guys in the instructional videos have no problem doing it right the first time every time, but they never show you the other computer or how to set it up. They're sending commands into the ether, and getting back data that really isn't all that helpful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But me? I can't even connect to my Dad's PC. Ideally, I'd like to be able to monitor his processes and issue updates to his computer to keep it running when I'm not at home, but even with his computer on the same network I can't seem to connect to the damn thing, and no PowerShell tutorial I've found has been able to explain why that is. It's extremely frustrating. But that's okay -- even if I knew HOW to connect to his computer I wouldn't have the first clue as to how to do any of that management remotely, and the videos aren't really being that helpful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
"For Beginners."</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am more than halfway through the first video course on the MVA, and I am hopelessly lost. Ever since they began networking to other machines in the videos I haven't been able to keep up (because I can't follow along, because networking doesn't seem to work), and re-watching the videos has not helped. It's like they're only giving you half the information. At this point, I am so disillusioned and bitter about the whole thing that I'm not sure I want to keep going. There's a whole second part to the course that I haven't even started, because nothing they are saying at this point makes even a little bit of sense.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's face it, if you're a beginner you're probably going to want to steer clear of PowerShell. If you're someone who's elbows-deep in server maintenance eight hours a day, you're probably going to want to learn it at some point, and to you I say, "good luck," because you'll need it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-32174902849808011252017-05-04T08:58:00.000-07:002017-05-04T09:15:16.221-07:006 Job Scam 'Tells' Every Job Seeker Should Know<div class="MsoNormal">
I was deep into my job search, when I received and email
from my freelance account on Upwork.com:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><br />“We read your resume, and think that you would be a good fit
for our full-time position.”</b></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Naturally, I was curious, and replied via email. The person
(who went by the name, “Nelson George”) claimed to be a part of a data entry
firm owned by a biotech company (which I will not name here – but it’s not
relevant, it could have been any large company), and provided me with a link to
the company. I quickly researched it, and found that they are indeed a
legitimate business, and a rather large one at that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h3>
<br />1) Suspicious name and email address</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still something seemed off. For one thing, “Nelson George” wasn’t
using a company email address. Companies as large as the one referenced tend to
have corporate email servers, and their employees will almost always have a
company email address (especially when contacting clients and possible
employees).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
2) Too good to be true</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, my going rate on <a href="https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~015f86513f9bbceea3" target="_blank">Upwork.com</a> is $18 an hour, and
the company was offering $20 an hour during training with an increase to $40 an
hour afterward. Now, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I’ve
never heard of a data entry job (and yes, I’ve had several) offering that kind
of money, especially when the other party is asking for so little. I decided to
see how far the rabbit hole went. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
3) Method of contact matters</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Nelson George” suggested that we have a chat via Google
Hangouts rather than a simple phone call (yes, the company I was given a link
to has its own contact page with its own chat script, so red flag number 3). We
initiated the chat, and he asked me why I’d be the best person for the
position. I gave him info that could easily be found on the internet, being
very careful not to give him too much, just to see what the scam could be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
4) Purchasing perils</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After giving him my carefully scripted background info, he
said (surprise!) that I would be perfect for the job, but I would require
software from one of their vendors to get started. This is where I knew
something was definitely up. I carefully explained that I didn’t have the money
to purchase said software, and he stated that the company would FedEx me a
check to deposit that would allow me to buy the software and keep whatever was
left over.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now let me ask you, the reader: Does that sound like
something any company you’ve ever worked for would do? At this point I knew it
was a scam, but I played along for a while. I would not give him any banking
information, passwords, or my social security number (it was only a matter of
time until he asked). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
5) Awful acceptance letters</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Nelson George” e-mailed me an acceptance offer letter that
he wanted me to sign and send back. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NOTE:</b> Before opening anything sent to you by a potential
employer, scan the document for viruses. Also, if it’s an MS Office document,
make sure that your program macros are turned off by default or it could open a
viral script upon opening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “letter” was a Microsoft Word document with about a
hundred misspellings, grammatical errors, letter case mistakes, and other errors PER PAGE. Plus,
take a look here:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39_Havvxarx-GT28OEP4_tp1FB_-3JbGyBeBPXlLhOEErWl8XcY8yH8E8jjC_jq_DbNYh0IHt0SgdDvuQZEN0pXKbkXXteLUp08_elSS7l5MGmWGH-uRA_nMME7gYYDNGdgo4jqs0HTq5/s1600/Fake-Sample.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39_Havvxarx-GT28OEP4_tp1FB_-3JbGyBeBPXlLhOEErWl8XcY8yH8E8jjC_jq_DbNYh0IHt0SgdDvuQZEN0pXKbkXXteLUp08_elSS7l5MGmWGH-uRA_nMME7gYYDNGdgo4jqs0HTq5/s640/Fake-Sample.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That font that my name’s written in? That’s “Algerian.” Now,
I don’t know for certain how many pages a real large-scale business produces annually,
but I’m damn sure that none of them use “Algerian” as a font on a serious legally-binding
document. In fact, the document used like five different fonts (you can see four of them in the example above).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
6) Unaccountable accounting</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still, I filled out the letter (again, not using any info
that isn’t out there already) and sent it back to them. That’s when the “accounting”
questions began.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What bank do you use? Do you have a cell phone banking app?
What’s your bank’s limits for daily deposits?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
The jig is up</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I started to get a picture of what the scam actually was,
but for confirmation at this point I asked “Nelson George” what the scam was.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Scam? What scam?” he asked in turn.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well, you’re offering me more than what I asked for, your
letter has more than a few errors in it (including the capitalization on your
surname), you’re not using a company email address, and I can’t find you listed
as the head of HR on any of (the company’s) online materials.” I replied.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The conversation was disconnected at that point, and “Nelson
George” dropped off the face of the planet (possibly forever).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
What the scam was</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I think these companies do is get you to print out a
bum check. Of course, when depositing a check to the bank (even using an app)
it takes time to clear and there are limits to how much you can withdraw.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s where I have diverging hypothesis on the middle of
the scam. They might have you purchase the software from their “vendors” (which
is in fact the person acting as “Nelson George”), effectively stealing the funds
before the check bounces. They might also be having you purchase the software
from a legitimate source and having you give them the licenses so that they can
sell those for later profit. They may even be able to parlay a problem with the
check into you giving them money or your bank account information directly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Either way, the scam ends the same way: You take money out
with a fake check, they get a piece of you, and when the bank wants its money
back you will be on the hook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Be on the lookout for these things. Putting your resume and
contact information online is essential to job seekers, but as with anything
once the genie is out of the bottle it’s nearly impossible to put it back in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4>
Helpful tips:</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Don’t assume that just because someone gives you a link to a
legitimate site that they represent that business in any way. <b>Research the
business, and call them directly if you have suspicions.</b></li>
<li>The old adage, “If something seems too good to be true, it
probably is,” is a good adage to live by. Approach these ‘opportunities’ with
caution. <b>Know what you’re worth, and know what a typical salary for the job
encompasses.</b></li>
<li><b>Never give your private information to anyone that you have
no credentials for.</b> A name and an email address is not enough.</li>
<li><b>If the company wants you to buy something, or money is supposed
to change hands, exercise your better judgement:</b> Legitimate businesses
typically have the structures in place to get you the materials you need
without having to give you the capacity to purchase essential items.</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-33122570680689137782017-04-28T05:00:00.000-07:002017-04-28T05:00:04.552-07:00A Case of Opening Interview Jitters<h2>
The day finally arrives</h2>
<br />
If you’re a current reader of this blog, then you know that I’ve stated in the past that there aren’t really many long-term opportunities for people in my field (technical writing and graphic design) local to my area. This usually means that when I do have an interview, it is most likely remote (either by phone or via Skype). Imagine my surprise when a company within a reasonable driving distance scheduled me for an on-site interview!<br />
<br />
Now, I need to note that this has only been my second face-to-face interview in almost five years. I was excited! I spent days researching the company, planning my questions, and preparing my portfolio. As per usual, despite this preparation, things did not go exactly in my favor. Despite putting together what I felt was a reasonable example of my output over the last seven years (six years of which was directly related to what I was applying for), I hit a <a href="http://www.arcwulf.com/2017/04/four-portfolio-mistakes-you-should-avoid.html" target="_blank">few snags</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Confessions of a serial self-defamer</h3>
<br />
This might surprise a lot of you, but I'm not the most confident person in the world. Okay, not even nearly the most confident person in the world. Still, when it comes to the mechanics of the software I use I do know my stuff, and I'm usually pretty good about creating the effects that I want. The people who are interviewing me don't really know that, of course, and my lack of confidence always seems to seep through.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A funny thing didn't happen on the way to the interview (thank goodness!)</h3>
<br />
Still, I put on my pressed and tailored suit, tied my darkest red power tie, shined up my shoes and made the journey to the potential employer’s place of business. It should be noted, that despite every other day up to this point being a cool 50-60° Fahrenheit (10-15° Celsius) this day decided to be extra sunny and hot, so “sweaty suit for the win!” It wasn’t that long of a drive, and fortunately my car’s air conditioning works, so that was a plus.<br />
<br />
I parked my car and made the walk to the building’s entrance. They were cutting grass, but fortunately, not in the vicinity of my only tailored suit; unfortunately, I am allergic to pollen (and the smell of freshly cut grass to me is a trigger), and that’s when I noticed that I had forgotten my handkerchief. I would spend the next hour and a half stifling back a sneeze, and trying not to let my nose close during the conversation.<br />
<br />
I arrived early (but not egregiously so), and was sent to a room to wait. I spent my time mulling over what I wanted to ask and how I wanted to present myself, and used a sheet of paper to jot down my thoughts during the interview.<br />
<br />
When the interviewer showed up, my immediate thought went to how sweaty and clammy my hands must have been. I won’t give away too many details about the actual interview, but I presented my portfolio to him (and made multiple apologies to him for the lack of color). He was very relaxed and cordial, and I was my usual nervous shy awkward self. I’m not used to meeting new people, and I’m even less used to trying to impress them.
<br />
Not long into the interview he called in another party to ask questions. I spent much of the time trying to explain to them why there were significant gaps in the years on my resume (in truth, though I have mostly worked steadily, it is not often very long for the same employers). I didn’t really like this part of the process for one main reason: When I begin weaving the tale of how I got to where I am today, it often sounds like I’m playing the victim. I don’t really see myself as a victim, but I have little doubt that it can sound that way (“I left work the week of 9/11 and lost my savings when the stock market crashed,” “I went to school, had to drop out in the final semesters because of financial reasons,” “I worked in the mortgage recording industry just before the housing bubble burst,” – which is all true, by the way). I try to chalk it up to learning experiences, but really there’s not a lot of positivity in my resume. The same could be said of my experience with my last employer, which I consider a mostly positive experience, but I still have no idea why they let me go (and they seem to be far more bitter about the separation than I am). Still, questions about this sort of activity are the reason one goes to interviews, and I answered them as honestly as I could. I had to stifle the more excessive bits of my personality, which was not helped by my scratchy throat and bits of sneeze that came out as snorts when I laughed.<br />
<br />
Finishing up, I tried to ask questions during the interview that would have the duality of giving me some more insight into the company, and to show them that I have a genuine interest in what they do. They said that they needed to conduct a second round of interviews and that if they were interested they would get back to me within 3 weeks.<br />
<br />
Did it work? I will let you know in three weeks.
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-88055322478322667382017-04-26T09:07:00.001-07:002017-04-26T09:07:44.824-07:00Four Portfolio Mistakes You Should Avoid<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Don't let this happen to you:</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to attempt to put together a presentable portfolio in
about a week. This was challenging, as I’ve not had need of a physical
portfolio before, and I needed to pull it off without a hitch. I failed at it
miserably, and here’s some reasons why:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
1.) Have money for color</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first was the fact that my portfolio would have cost me
between $45-90.00 to <b>print out in full color</b>. While I have little compunctions
about doing so, I simply did not have the resources to do it (at the time I had
just over $15 in the bank, and much less now). What’s even more strange,
though, is that I found that I really don’t know anyone locally with a full
color printer. At my previous job, if I needed anything in color I would ask
the boss if I could use his printer (a rather beefy CMYK laser printer) and
never for a moment thought about alternatives to that. Instead, I had to print
out black and white laser versions of my work which really doesn’t capture the essence
of the product. I made the wise decision to spend $8.60 of my $15 on <b>bright white
extra heavy paper</b>, though, so it was less concerning to see the facing page
text through the paper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
2.) Invest in business cards</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second snag was that I apparently don’t have any
<b>up-to-date business cards</b>. These are crucial little pieces of self-marketing
that essential for making those in-roads, and all of mine are either old,
embarrassing, or emblazoned with the logo and contact info of my former
employer. I put an extra copy of my complete resume in the packet, but I didn’t
have the time (or money for that matter) to have more business cards printed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
3.) Have finished samples from previous employment</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Snag number three was that I don’t have any of the <b>printed
work I created for my former employer</b>. There were no catalogs, pamphlets, or manuals in finished form. I mean, I have the files, but as far as
being printed on photo paper in full color, no such luck. This is only somewhat
irritating as I have the files, except for the fact that I can’t afford to have
them printed in color (and even if I did, it wouldn’t be a large run).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
4.) Have video? Make sure that you have DVD software</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fourth (and probably least important) snag was that I
could not <b>include a DVD</b> of my videos. These weren’t a requirement for the job,
and probably wouldn’t have “wowed” them, but it is a skill listed on my resume
and would have been nice to include. I put a link to the videos in my
portfolio, but having the DVD would have been better. Now you may be asking
yourself, “Surely, he has at least one blank DVD lying around, why wouldn’t he
include it?” You would be right in that assumption; I have a few dozen blank
discs staring me in the face as I write this. Before any other theories arise,
the DVD+-R drives on both my desktop and laptop computers are in perfect
working order, so that doesn’t factor in, either. The real reason is one of
simple erroneous assumptions made by me about the software I have. When I have
made videos in the past, it has always been for upload on YouTube. My videos
and projects are made this way from the start. The workflow usually consists
of: Filming, importing into Adobe Lightroom (which takes forever, but allows me
to organize and meta tag my clips), enhancing in Adobe After Effects, tweaking
audio in Adobe Audition, editing in Adobe Premiere, and finally exporting and
converting in Adobe Media Encoder. Here’s the kicker: NONE of those programs
allow you to create a DVD suitable for a player. I have another program that
came with my analog signal capture device, but here’s the other kicker: None of
the formats from Adobe Media Encoder are apparently compatible with this software
(it won’t recognize H.264, MPEG2, and any MOV or AVI wrapper I could find). I
found another, now out-of-date program from Adobe called <b>Encore</b> which will
apparently do the job, but I downloaded this literally minutes before I had to
leave for my interview and had no time to create a DVD menu or burn it. I am
now playing with the program to have it ready for future portfolios (although I
doubt that I will have the funds to have those printed professionally, either).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
In Conclusion</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I did was burn all the materials that I included to a
DVD so that they could view them in full color as needed. I put the description
of the DVD inside the folder’s business card spot to help mask the fact that
there wasn’t anything there, and then apologized profoundly and multiple times
to the interviewer for not being able to afford color. It was not impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that was much of my week and my entire weekend. I'm already working on the next one.</div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-52932043666763176032017-04-13T11:30:00.001-07:002017-04-13T11:51:30.562-07:00Chasing The Elusive "Ideal Job"<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before I begin</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’d like to apologize for what you, the reader, might mistakenly categorize as a “woe is me” style rant. This couldn’t be further from the truth, I am simply trying to take an honest evaluation of where I am right now so that I may find another way.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Premise</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been unemployed now for almost three months. This isn't surprising given the lack of jobs (let alone quality jobs) in my hometown in general, but it is still beginning to wear on me. It's time to evaluate my skills and weigh my opportunities.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A List of Skills</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Foremost among my skills is my writing ability. While I used to be able to compose paragraphs that were almost poetic for research papers and for my own amusement, I find that my time writing marketing copy for the lowest common denominator has made me more staid and inflexible in my style. This could probably be overcome with a more creative outlet, but my creativity is effectively tethered to my happiness and my well-being, and it’s hard to not consider such things when you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. It doesn't help that my research sensibility has been so drenched in meaningless SEO and fireplace accessories that I fear I may never recover.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Second to my writing is my art. This is a rather distant second, I’m afraid; despite three years of college-level training my skill with a brush or pen is woefully underdeveloped. While I am considerably more effective on the digital front, I find that when given complete creative freedom I tend to choke. When I have a project that I need to get done for a client I am focused and working. Alas, when I am between clients I seem to be incapable of getting even the most basic tasks done for my sole beneficiary (me). Perhaps it is because I can’t pay myself…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then there’s video. Ah, video: Cheap to do, easy to make, and incredibly time-consuming. I love making videos – I truly do. And now you’re asking yourself, “If he likes videos so much, why doesn’t he make more of them?” The sad simple answer is one of support: I can either be the camera man or I can be on camera, but not both. This makes any videos I create static and not especially fun to do. Furthermore, it’s hard to do both video and sound checks when you’re in front of the camera. Moreover, scripted video requires a lot of planning that is daunting for a single person to do alone. Now it can be done, but it requires time. It requires quiet time. And when you live with other people, quiet time is something that is in a vastly short supply. I challenge you to edit ten minutes of video with someone asking you questions as machine gun fire blares on the television in the other room, while the dog howls for no immediately apparent reason.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I could fall back on my computer repair and support skills, except for two things:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>I don’t have any official training in that capacity, just twenty years of experience.</li>
<li>I don’t have an A+ certificate in that capacity, either. And those cost money.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Honestly, this isn’t really something I’d want to do full-time anyway. Most computers can be fixed by swapping out a part, but there’s always a chance you’ll get a computer with a slightly warped motherboard or one single ruptured capacitor that will take hours upon hours of digging to figure out. While figuring it out can be challenging and fun, working under a deadline for very little compensation isn’t. The CompTIA A+ certification is standard for these things, and I don’t have one; it’s the bitter irony of my life that I can either have the time to study for it, or the money to get it, but never both at the same time.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Location, Location, Location</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As far as opportunities go, there’s not much to be had in Warren, Pennsylvania. There are jobs, mind you, but those jobs don’t exactly intersect with my skills, tend to not pay very well, and the few that do are in industries that I have no experience with. It’s hard with someone my age and experience level to land one of these jobs anyway, because employers don’t want to spend the time or the money training you if you’re just going to leave at the first opportunity (and rightfully so).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This means that I must look for opportunities outside of Warren, which on the face sounds great, but in practice is incredibly difficult. There are factors preventing me from looking outside of the area for work, and mostly they all boil down to money.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You see, my previous employer didn’t pay very well. Oh sure, they paid better than a retail job or fast food, but for the work involved they just didn’t pay as well as others in the field. It was partially this lack of pay that kept me there for so long, as I rarely had the funds to look for work outside of town. In fact, I was in the process of finding a part time job to supplement my income when I was let go. Now that I am no longer working, my unemployment compensation is drastically less than the pittance I was making before. This leaves me with barely enough money to put gas in my car once every two weeks, let alone travel to a new city for a job interview.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now there are locations outside of town I can consider. For example, Erie, Pennsylvania is a long commute but should be perfectly serviceable until I can start drawing a paycheck once more. The same goes for Bradford, but they’re about as jobless as Warren at this point. I have friends in Pittsburgh who might be willing to tolerate my presence for a time until I can find proper lodging. And that’s about it, really; I don’t know anyone else.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Running out of alternatives</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m too old for military service (and far too fat and nearsighted for that, anyway), and I’ve already tried going back to school. The latter didn’t turn out too well, as now I have almost all the debt and no degree to show for it. I would love to further my education, but the funds just aren’t there (which is the reason I had to drop out in the first place). Running a personal business requires an investment that I can’t make financially right now, so that’s out of the question too.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trying to use career guidance services hasn't been working out either, because they all give me the same options, and even given my experience no one in those suggested industries even seems keen to interview me.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In conclusion</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here I am, caught between a rock and a very hard place. Now, I’m not panicking and I’m not saying that I can’t do any of the things described in the previous text. I’m merely stating that if I don’t find a way to overcome some of these factors that I don’t see much of a future ahead. All I can do (for now) is get to work for myself.</span></div>
<h3>
<br /></h3>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-75478353589547107232017-03-09T14:44:00.002-08:002017-03-09T15:36:40.052-08:00I Tried Not Being Bitter. That Time Is Done.<h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The basics</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I consider myself to be a reasonable person (others may disagree). So when my employer let me go a little less than two months before this post, I didn't raise a stink. Even though the operations manager saw fit to berate me as I was gathering my things, I feel that I remained fairly calm and collected (although I did have an unfortunate outburst when he whined that I was inconveniencing him). I bore no grudge against them: They simply didn't feel that they needed me anymore, and that was that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Within days of my leaving, they ripped the vast majority of content that I had created for them off their websites (knowing the owners of the business as I do, I am certain that it has been permanently deleted). I kept busy, gathered up some stuff and attempted to create a portfolio that showcased some of the work that I had done for said employer, and posted it to a new site for viewers and employers to check it out. I didn't feel that it was an issue, as it was free advertising for them and a way for me to show off what I had done. It took me weeks of choosing, organizing, and tweaking, but I finally got it up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Falling down</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's when I received the DMCA takedown notice. Now, protecting your brand is one thing, but really all my portfolio site did was give them free advertising (I even linked their site to many of the ads). All they had to do was ask me to take down the works and I would have, but they decided to get litigious. Two days later, my unemployment claim was challenged. I want to mention this, because it is a key point in this discussion: I still have received NO reason for my termination. None was ever given, even after I asked them directly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm done making excuses and being nice to them. From here on in, I will no longer defend them, the business processes which (while I cannot discuss) I cannot condone, nor their treatment of their employees. Make no mistake: They have some extremely talented, warm, and motivated people working for them, and I bear those people no grudge, but their draconian, outdated management strategy keeps me amazed that those people stick around. I have nothing against these people and I don't want them to be hurt by any ugliness that may arise in the future.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I will not name my employer in this post to avoid any sort of libel, although with about three seconds of research you could find out who I am referring to. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Regardless, I have updated the now nearly empty portfolio page with this notice:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYgEbY32u19k-wApuO6XIjaJcvXYS7W1quZQFLMlWKC-54StVIBqZxNUBeKb-pfhKbuXWm1Qdnbl4uQg6KMO08gYQdN9g-zhK7qqIP6P9VXM16cwXNlRQDdvzWh-Iwg-JlMJM5Ph7Khap/s1600/Takedown-Notice-2017-03-09-A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYgEbY32u19k-wApuO6XIjaJcvXYS7W1quZQFLMlWKC-54StVIBqZxNUBeKb-pfhKbuXWm1Qdnbl4uQg6KMO08gYQdN9g-zhK7qqIP6P9VXM16cwXNlRQDdvzWh-Iwg-JlMJM5Ph7Khap/s1600/Takedown-Notice-2017-03-09-A.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-41758346711044273882017-02-24T07:40:00.000-08:002017-02-24T07:40:13.774-08:00Lost All My Stuff (but got it all back... mostly).<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's not very often I feel vindicated in my preparedness. You know how it is: You create at method of doing things that you're pretty sure will work, then the one day you need to use it, everything goes haywire and you lose... Well, everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I never use the hard drive (typically the "C:" drive) on my computer for anything more than running programs. I keep an external hard drive for all of my files. I find this method to be useful because it allows me to tweak and even replace my primary hard drive without having to deal with backing up and recovering data. It's also a great way to move data between computers without having to keep duplicate hard drives. I have all of my essential data on one of these drives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone with any longtime experience with computers can probably see where this post is going.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, yesterday I plugged in that external drive into my Surface Pro to upload some data on-the-go, but rather than the normal file system the drive was showing up as "RAW," and subsequently I was informed by Windows that the file system was corrupted and that the drive partition was unreadable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"No problem," I thought, "Checkdisk will fix this issue." So I opened an administrator-level command prompt and keyed in the much-practiced "chkdsk /f e:" to run one of the most useful Windows programs that for some reason still doesn't have a windowed version. It was a 2 terabyte hard drive, so the program took a while to do its thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQVvwtzt0ABiCP_rBHveveo3g4yh0Cy4f33AI9pa1IUO67s4_bwLZlKpXWzv6PQfVf3vLuVq4yazIE9L-ICCN1hrpt1JBDlLtTpjYLkE3fjhwxT2eggOjpVvWD1HsM-1VfTQQZke-Da5w/s1600/chkdsk-grab-2017-02-24.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQVvwtzt0ABiCP_rBHveveo3g4yh0Cy4f33AI9pa1IUO67s4_bwLZlKpXWzv6PQfVf3vLuVq4yazIE9L-ICCN1hrpt1JBDlLtTpjYLkE3fjhwxT2eggOjpVvWD1HsM-1VfTQQZke-Da5w/s320/chkdsk-grab-2017-02-24.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>chkdsk: My bitter friend for the last 20 years</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, the drive was repaired, and I opened it to find... The default Seagate applications and absolutely nothing else. 1.7 terabytes of data. Virtually everything I had ever made, edited, or created, just... Gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, I know what many of you are thinking: "You stupid newbie! Why would you put all of your info on a single, volatile drive?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, first of all, that's rude! Secondly, this story has a happy ending. You see, some months ago, I devised a method of preserving my data. In the old days I would muck about with multiple hard drives just trying to fit everything in different spaces, trying to think about what data was important and what data to back up. As these smaller drives inevitably failed I would lose old data.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, I can't afford (nor do I have the DSL bandwidth to support) a fancy cloud backup service, which would be ideal in this situation. I also don't really have the room for a full-sized file server (or the money to power such a thing, or the time to secure it on my rather pathetic home network). Instead, what I do have are two external 4 terabyte Western Digital drives that are slow, big, require an external power source, and not very portable. They are also identical in every way that matters, and by default Windows won't even recognize them as different drives (if I have them plugged in at the same time there is a conflict in the drive manager). At first, I thought that I might set up a RAID array using these drives as clones to backup essential data, but I actually came up with a better solution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather than change the drive configurations, I left them as they were. I set my system up to back up and encrypt the 2TB drive to the 4TB drive every week during off-hours. This means that as long as I leave the computer on overnight one one of those days, all the data from the 2TB (my data drive) gets copied to the 4TB backup drive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After this backup occurs, I turn off the computer (I don't want to risk hot-swapping this if I don't have to), and then switch the 4TB drive with its twin, then I put the drive with the most recent back-up in a case and store it in a remote location. I turn the computer on, and it doesn't realize the drives were even swapped, meaning that it will go through its backup procedure again when the week is up. Wash, repeat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How well does this work? Well, overnight I was able to recover more than 99% of my data, and even though I lost the work I did this week, it was nothing essential. I'm extremely happy with the results, and feel even more secure knowing that as long as at least one of these three drives exists and works, my data will be preserved until I can back it up again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Score one for anal-retentiveness!</span>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8439486 -79.14504449999998341.796633099999994 -79.225725499999982 41.8912641 -79.064363499999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-79640561216357828402017-02-23T10:28:00.000-08:002017-02-23T10:30:44.730-08:00I Have an Online Portfolio (finally)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://arcwulf.myportfolio.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2vAOYbBmVWwvXVlZlosfWVYSR4qDgKFvFpFQNWMr8H1xOntwkmY9ZRYbGH5S-Q_vC1narsm2eCBHoo9aHVfbJ8DAYP_FsU66hiE9cfJytN3_CRJNrC7UwN9bLHtT7z4C2SHSJBEPlSyI/s640/Arcwulf-MyPortfolio-Site.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My portfolio site is up and running. It's not really much right now, but it does feature (a fair few) designs from my time with CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces. I'm adding more as I go, so if you have the time, check it out:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://arcwulf.myportfolio.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">arcwulf.myportfolio.com</span></a></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-65935747200984962122017-02-14T09:01:00.001-08:002017-02-14T09:01:06.832-08:00Maybe it's (very well formatted) spam?<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Negativity 101</span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So today I received the following email:</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr" id="divRplyFwdMsg">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 14, 2017 10:07 AM<br /><b>Subject:</b> Benefits Consultant Position</span>
</span><br />
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Hello Michael,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">My name is (Name Withheld), and I am the Marketing Director for (Company Name Withheld) in
Western PA. I came across your resume online, and I'd like to talk with
you about some job openings within our company. I would also like to
learn more about your professional experience
and future goals. Whether you are actively employed or still looking,
I'm confident there is a position within our organization for someone
with your skill set.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">The current changes in the healthcare marketplace in America have
created tremendous opportunities for (Company Name Withheld). We are seeking individuals
who are self-motivated, goal-oriented, and who have a desire to be part
of a successful team with a great culture.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Although a career with (Company Name Withheld) may not be something you've considered
before, we have had great success with candidates like yourself. We
would welcome the opportunity to educate you on a career with (Company Name Withheld). Do
not be deterred from applying if you do not have
substantial marketing experience. Our associates hold a wide variety of
degrees and experience, from Education and Finance to the Military and
the Restaurant industry. Regardless of your particular field or
expertise, a strong work ethic and desire to succeed
are most important to (Company Name Withheld).</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">We will be conducting interviews in the next week. If you would like to discuss this opportunity further simply (Link) OR copy and paste this (Other Link) to apply today by submitting your updated resume.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">I look forward to hearing from you!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75;">Best regards,</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">(Name Withheld)</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Marketing Director</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, at first it seems like spam, but it was so well written and designed to prey on my ego that I felt it deserved a response.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Hello Mr. (Name Withheld):</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">It was great to hear from you!</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">I don't want to seem too forward, but there seems to be some sort of mistake in your e-mail. The link for the job you're posting is to a "Benefits Consultant," which I take to mean is a liaison between management and businesses interested in purchasing group insurance (or perhaps individuals, I'm not sure). I don't know what led you to think that I am qualified for this position, as I have never worked in sales and my (few) customer service jobs have been dismal failures because of my aloof disposition and my shy personality. I mean, I could be wrong about the job, but that's what my Google search turned up.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">I'm curious why you would think that someone with professional experience almost exclusive to graphic design, technical manuals, and video production is a good fit for such a position, because as near as I can tell there is virtually no correlation between the two. Don't get me wrong: I like what I do, and I have little interest in switching gears to focus on work that I have no affinity for or interest in, so I would love to hear how this job that you want me to interview for is connected!</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Please, let me know how my video editing skills and knowledge of various graphic design software suites can help your company. Is "Benefits Consultant" a code-word for Graphic Designer or Technical Writer? Because that seems exciting. I am including a copy of my resume so that you can peruse it and let me know how my skill set somehow translates to this job so that I can prepare for the actual application process.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Thank you for thinking of me,</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Michael R. Adams</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, it is exactly this kind of poor attitude and smart-assery that gets me in trouble at the jobs I do work (and probably a reason I have so few friends), but I've been making an honest effort to be straightforward with employers about what I'm looking for, and instead of genuine interest I am treated to a near constant barrage of temp agencies and corporate headhunters desperate to fill some sort of random quota because all of their dejected and miserable customer service reps keep quitting out of (I assume) frustration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You have to have certain disposition in order to do these sort of jobs, and while I have done these jobs in the past, I simply don't have the disposition for it, and as I get older I find that I have far less interest in selling myself out for these positions. I know what I'm good at, I know the kinds of things I want to do, all I want is a chance to do it.</span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-86260870635913306962017-02-13T08:54:00.002-08:002017-02-13T09:21:14.262-08:00Updated At Last!<h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Two years?!</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wow, it really has been almost two years since I posted anything to this site. I wish that I could say that I'm starting it up again under better circumstances, but the reality is that I was recently laid off of my job after nearly five years of steady employment, and I need to begin posting things that are beneficial to my job search.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And to that end, I am going to try to keep this blog focused on portfolio building and showcasing past projects. I can't guarantee that it will be updated as much as it should, but I will try to update it as much as I can.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let me start off by posting a rough copy of my creative resume, formatted in HTML:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<h1 align="center">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
MICHAEL R. ADAMS
</strong>
</span></h1>
<h2 align="center">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
GRAPHIC DESIGN, DIGITAL MEDIA, & PHOTOGRAPHY
</strong>
</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Multi-skilled digital artist who is used to working on a tight budget in a constrained time frame to produce works across several media formats. Possesses a working knowledge of vector art and photo editing software suites and animation techniques. Applies editing and photo-manipulation skills to instructional materials, advertisements, and infographics.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Core competencies include: Digital image manipulation, vector images, 3D model creation and rendering, 2D technical drawings, motion graphics, graphics for the web, and informational diagrams.
</span><br />
<h3 align="center">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
</strong>
</span></h3>
<div class="row LeftIn">
<div class="col-sm-6">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces, LLC
</strong>
</span></h4>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Warren, PA
</span></div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">05/2012-01/2017
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the largest online retailers of fireplace doors, home heating appliances, and outdoor fire pits and fire features for both private, public, and commercial applications.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
Web Maintenance, Technical Writer, and Media Designer
</strong>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Builds content for product web pages including marketing text and images. Researches and creates instruction manuals for products sold under the store brand. Films and edits video content for commercials, product features, and instructional (“how to”) videos. Helps to maintain social media accounts. Adds new product content and changes pricing as requested by management.
</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Wrote and drew a series of web guides that helped to reduce customer mistakes (and as a result, returns)
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Scripted, filmed, and edited a series of instructional and commercial videos to improve customer interaction
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Designed a series of daily product features for social media accounts that improved website traffic by about 25%
</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="row LeftIn">
<div class="col-sm-6">
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
Bossa Nova Robotics
</strong>
</span></h4>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pittsburgh, PA
</span></div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">01/2010-10/2010
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A company that licenses cutting-edge robotics technology and implements it into products for the everyday consumer.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
Technical Writer via Contract
</strong>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Researches and analyzes core market demographics. Writes and edits proposals for business partnerships. Develops instruction manuals for consumers and technical manuals for engineers. Creates flow charts and diagrams for robot artificial intelligence. Works with the marketing department to develop commercial content and trade show scripts.
</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Wrote working scripts and developed animations for trade show demonstrations
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Helped to cement a business partnership between Bossa Nova and Schell Games for online content
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Overhauled the manuals of several existing lines of toys
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
Conducted market research and maintained an informational library on competing products
</span></li>
</ul>
<h3 align="center">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
EDUCATION
</strong>
</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Studied Game Art & Design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, PA from 2003-2006
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Graduated with a certificate in Electronics from Warren Vocational-Technical schools from 1991-1993
</span><br />
<h3 align="center">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>
TECHNICAL SKILLS
</strong>
</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Advanced knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite CC (Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Animate, and Audition), Corel Suite (Corel Draw, Photopaint, VideoStudio), 3D modeling and procedural texturing using 3D Studio Max and Blender 3D, Office software (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe InDesign, OpenOffice and LibreOffice).
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some experience with database management (Sage ACT!, MySQL) and online scripting (HTML, XML, CSS, and Javascript).
</span>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-50157259056402448262015-03-26T06:05:00.001-07:002015-03-26T06:15:55.103-07:00Dam Dam DAM (in Kinzua, that is)<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Local residents know the Kinzua Dam, located about six miles south of Warren, Pennsylvania. One weekend in early March of 2015 I realized that I had never been there in the winter, so I took my camera out to rectify that. The snow was quite high despite being sunny (still not very warm), and here's some footage.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was windy, and I didn't have an audio recorder with a windscreen with me, so I apologize about the sound.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WpfBTLQ9nZg" width="480"></iframe></div>
ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0Kinzua Dam, Allegheny National Forest, Warren, PA 16365, USA41.8385638 -79.00384359999998241.8356063 -79.008886099999984 41.841521300000004 -78.99880109999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-9823384100116841062015-03-19T06:55:00.001-07:002017-02-14T10:14:32.052-08:00Video for CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces, Episode II: How To Install An Inside-Fit Zero-Clearance Fireplace Door<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The saga continues...</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is part two of the previous video. I shot the footage the same day, but the editing was done later (and has improved a little). The manager actually couldn't wait for me to film him installing it, so I had to uninstall the door and re-install it, using camera angles and special effects to mask the fact that I'm not actually drilling the holes (but really, you can tell by the lack of a lot of debris, which I just couldn't get to look right in Adobe After Effects).</span><br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZkLqAqmYUpo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-62637001093388744862015-03-18T05:54:00.003-07:002017-02-14T09:56:49.602-08:00CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces How-To Videos, Episode 1: Measuring for a Zero Clearance Fireplace Door<h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What a week that was...</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is the first in a series of instructional videos that I'm working on for my employer. It's been an interesting experience. Here's a basic rundown on everything that I did to produce it:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wrote a script for the procedures (with input from my boss)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gathered up the tools and incidentals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shot the footage with a single camera</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Recorded audio</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Edited footage in Adobe Premiere</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Color-matched footage in Adobe Speedgrade</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cleaned up audio in Adobe Audition</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Created 2D art assets in Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Made 2D animations in Adobe After Effects</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Modeled and rendered 3D animation and particle systems in Blender</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Selected and arranged the music tracks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rendered the video</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Uploaded it to YouTube</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Closed caption editing</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I did all of this within a five-day period. Did I do a good job? I'll let you be the judge. Are there things that I would change/improve? Well certainly - good art is never finished, only abandoned. But the important thing is that I've learned a lot while doing it!</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zxlIawTz3JQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-58273793386140934772014-11-26T10:29:00.003-08:002015-02-02T13:09:10.334-08:00Not a Fan of the Brand - Confessions Aging Enthusiast<h1>
A Recent Article Showed Me The Light</h1>
I happened upon a slideshow on Rant Gizmo (which your can find <a href="http://www.rantgizmo.com/2014/10/21/10-reasons-not-to-get-an-android/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a>) this morning when I was looking for the best graphic practices for mobile themes for some up-and-coming projects at work. In this brief piece, the author, Michael Peckerar, posts thirteen reasons why the iPhone is better than any Android phone, which fit the range of, "You have to pay over $299 for a good one," to, "You can screw it up if you try to customize it." After laughing at the author's decidedly one-sided approach to the argument (for those uninitiated, most new iPhones cost upwards of $500 and you can't really customize them beyond desktop backgrounds), it got me thinking:<br />
<br />
<b><i>What's up with fan-boys these days?</i></b><br />
<h4>
My confession:</h4>
Now in my youth (and for some of my adult life) I was an unabashed video game fan-boy. First it was Nintendo over Sega, then Sega over Sony, then Microsoft over everyone, and on, and on... I've realized that by choosing one brand's hype over another that I've missed out on some truly amazing products over the years because I was too stubborn to accept the one truth that fan-boys can't seem to fathom:<br />
<h3>
<b>All brands, regardless of marketing hype, are just companies trying to push a product to market.</b></h3>
Brand loyalty needs to be earned, sure, and once it is it can give that brand an advantage in future purchasing decisions. My love of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System shaded many of my video game purchases, getting me to buy inferior products like Virtual Boy and the N64 out of the hope that my favorite brand wouldn't let me down, despite the fact that Nintendo has been hopelessly out of its depth since the 16-bit era. Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser, or maybe it's the marketing-saturated world that we live in, but I find that I am less enthusiastic about "brands" and more enthusiastic about "products" and actual value.<br />
<h4>
The undesired result</h4>
Far from Michael Peckerar's point, I find that his misguided attack against one brand in favor of another is as much as a turn-off to me as anything. His misleading obfuscated opinions are actually making me LESS enthusiastic about Apple's iPhone and its products in general -- if this is how the brand's adherents feel and act, resorting to lies and half-truths simply to push a product's user base, I don't think that it's an ecosystem that I want to be a part of. I have taken up this view on many brands in recent times, and I avoid purchasing until they produce something with the features and cost that I find desirable.<br />
<br />
For example, I no longer buy brand name clothing unless there is a definite cost-to-feature benefit. I like "toe shoes," and the Vibram Five fingers in particular. Are they the only "barefoot" shoes on the market? Absolutely not, but out of the ones I've tried I like the feel of them, and they are within my means, so they are the ones that I purchase for now. As soon as they become scarce, or change in some way that I don't feel is to my benefit, I will shop around again. I <i>won't</i> continue to wear shoes that I don't find comfortable just because it's the brand that I always buy. I own a couple of iPods, but now that I have a phone that can play MP3 music I rarely use them. Nothing's perfect, but there's no shame in recognizing a different brand's achievements.<br />
<br />
Fan-boys do the opposite -- they continue to buy products based on a frothing loyalty to a brand regardless of cost or features, and are hurt - HURT, when someone doesn't share their narrow view. It often takes something like the Playstation 3's disastrous launch to shake off all but the most hardcore adherents. Apple is very steadily falling behind in desired features and innovation, but they still make a good product. When Apple finally does release its own "Playstation 3" (which is quickly becoming more likely in it's current rudderless post-Steve Jobs era) a good number of these people will be disillusioned, and when they are I will welcome them to the plateau of meaningful product discussion.<br />
<br />
<i>Michael Adams is a technical writer and graphic artist for <a href="http://www.cjshearthandhome.com/" target="_blank">CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces, LLC</a></i><br />
<i>His current phone of choice is an HTC One Max (Android)</i>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-82062387772978781342013-08-19T21:03:00.003-07:002013-08-19T21:03:34.060-07:00More soon. In the meantime...You can check out my work over at <a href="http://www.cjshomedecor.com/">CJ's Home Decor & Fireplaces</a>. If it looks graphicy, then it's probably something I drew.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cjshomedecor.com/">www.cjshomedecor.com</a>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-54453182994784526192012-05-11T19:31:00.001-07:002012-05-11T19:31:41.577-07:00Showcase 5: More renderings.These are some of my earliest 3D Studio Max renders (using Max 5.5, I believe). This was actually a real fireplace in my apartment at the time, but it didn't look this dramatic in my living room (also, it was bricked up, so no fire).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaqKMq3fAsIlrUoTaLeux6plHtmiGfk0HqbB5gVSrS2QtG_Zwyk4awnSN2TLgfLip2ePQG1S-suzmEgjhJGsda51L1oJgCW687qvwhRP5E6sv9Wu_nf9iJ-f1cDLOKGZtRkinoW2XNurY/s1600/Area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcaqKMq3fAsIlrUoTaLeux6plHtmiGfk0HqbB5gVSrS2QtG_Zwyk4awnSN2TLgfLip2ePQG1S-suzmEgjhJGsda51L1oJgCW687qvwhRP5E6sv9Wu_nf9iJ-f1cDLOKGZtRkinoW2XNurY/s640/Area.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBDLQ4XbAsx9Z6l_oGF0DqjGRUkSS48S_-Znqev2IvX_WAP4jAT_eh5kEI-0tAux3_WFa9dUH6DrdmENIz_LWsNefOXak1uooNzp7t1t9x1v42XG3VFvl8ekAJTdLgGqVa69OatV6Omn0/s1600/Fireplace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBDLQ4XbAsx9Z6l_oGF0DqjGRUkSS48S_-Znqev2IvX_WAP4jAT_eh5kEI-0tAux3_WFa9dUH6DrdmENIz_LWsNefOXak1uooNzp7t1t9x1v42XG3VFvl8ekAJTdLgGqVa69OatV6Omn0/s640/Fireplace.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_621760082"><br /></span><span id="goog_621760083"></span>ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-11157096848193484742012-05-11T05:37:00.000-07:002012-05-11T05:38:34.613-07:00Old mechanical animation.This won't turn any heads (except maybe screw-heads), but here is an old animation on how to install a plastic sign-holder to a metal beam. Please excuse the spartan presentation, it is meant to look like a mechanical drawing for the purpose of extracting stills.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxfEqtWaBhwUNbPE28fDfGR5JS0js_xZgW6jYDHpfnOapwZMxnX76qB9zL5LVfBs436yZlR4jDTnl4BSdZJ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-65484721023749714782012-05-10T18:59:00.002-07:002012-05-10T19:00:15.758-07:00Slow and steady wins the race.I'm still working on getting my own code up and running for the new site, but even then, I still have to find some money to host it with (I don't want it associated with any ISP accounts just in case I decide to change providers). I've got a lot on my plate right now anyway:<br />
<ul>
<li><div>
Job search</div>
</li>
<li>Studying SQL</li>
<li>Studying computer trivia so that when I finally pay for the A+ exam, I can pass it</li>
<li>Looking into a CCNA</li>
</ul>
My HTML is fine, but my CSS is a little rusty, and using this pre-packaged page here at blogger saves time, but isn't exactly helping me to keep the code straight, so we'll see how the new page turns out in a few...ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-60763090651611750762012-05-10T18:47:00.000-07:002012-05-11T05:50:33.910-07:00Showcase 4: Photo ManipulationsThese are a few "Art History" class projects that I did, emulating the style of a famous artist with a modern subject. They are mostly just straight-up photo manipulations. I have included the assets that I was working from, as well as the original pictures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtZme8deACZRLYM9DC0Ol_CrEjrw58H55GXdZTABgX4e0WMTsOwXf2OJBarKg5juLXlZGAn9YgBL-GsiWDCBazP_qA0QOWTpxaeV1X6c331F-vgYtgkbT6JLEsgK0lGZDtGXmxQqg51Vw/s1600/Itsame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtZme8deACZRLYM9DC0Ol_CrEjrw58H55GXdZTABgX4e0WMTsOwXf2OJBarKg5juLXlZGAn9YgBL-GsiWDCBazP_qA0QOWTpxaeV1X6c331F-vgYtgkbT6JLEsgK0lGZDtGXmxQqg51Vw/s640/Itsame.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICq4uPgZGCGRxe1mcy2E4kznUwJBomuEm5xcMseH9j7gP-IENfX5IzBxf-isG8zvIl-HFHsNW0zcvBqpNg1iJ6OWw4ZLawAco6_QkTgiubzAmh1u6-AwtcQ6ZUJAhB7kCMr3-6xb-K3TS/s1600/John+Stewart+Monet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICq4uPgZGCGRxe1mcy2E4kznUwJBomuEm5xcMseH9j7gP-IENfX5IzBxf-isG8zvIl-HFHsNW0zcvBqpNg1iJ6OWw4ZLawAco6_QkTgiubzAmh1u6-AwtcQ6ZUJAhB7kCMr3-6xb-K3TS/s640/John+Stewart+Monet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwOrGCyzznLvAzBFC_LHe5-h0pCN1-qjl7t-NCKI_b40kRY8lC2DVqCSLcVAmy7pqXfgj4CFQvHtmHBsGD8BP4rYHVaAnYyR0qgnUpBkKH1vucvWAk5ILj7LBJQtlpwvFS0Uaov6r9uHS/s1600/Sky+cap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwOrGCyzznLvAzBFC_LHe5-h0pCN1-qjl7t-NCKI_b40kRY8lC2DVqCSLcVAmy7pqXfgj4CFQvHtmHBsGD8BP4rYHVaAnYyR0qgnUpBkKH1vucvWAk5ILj7LBJQtlpwvFS0Uaov6r9uHS/s640/Sky+cap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595627368554032241.post-1694947988297868162012-05-10T18:40:00.001-07:002012-05-10T18:40:50.562-07:00Showcase 3: Sir Isaac Newton in LoveSometimes my ambitions get above my resources. Such is the case with <i>Sir Isaac Newton in Love</i>, a game that I had started making for my physics final. It was to be a two-dimensional single frame game (think <i>Donkey Kong</i>) where you used Isaac to set a catapult to fling gifts over a wall to his sweetheart. I just never had the time to devote to it, and I only ever got some of the sprites done. I'm only sharing it because it makes me laugh every time I see it.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oO3sySG0FjShFZJaANjP6lp7FxZmZQ0wrcS0LOyeyi3MzbKVpmS5NDpPe5f4sB7BVbQqbZ0unjCbEcbBCfApRmUJD8gKSZSH43rlYVnv5Ugb1E1GAppzAZ3AwuVUIyrmXYHStu_uRgcA/s1600/Isaac-newton-in-love.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oO3sySG0FjShFZJaANjP6lp7FxZmZQ0wrcS0LOyeyi3MzbKVpmS5NDpPe5f4sB7BVbQqbZ0unjCbEcbBCfApRmUJD8gKSZSH43rlYVnv5Ugb1E1GAppzAZ3AwuVUIyrmXYHStu_uRgcA/s200/Isaac-newton-in-love.gif" title="Sir Isaac Newton" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>When he messes up, he screams in frustration.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />ARCWuLFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06492230874475035335noreply@blogger.com0