Ha ha…the end of March. I am NOT working and glad of it. I will not be stopped from having a mentally relaxing and perhaps somewhat productive day off! You couldn’t if ya tried…All I remember was being able to do some laundry, pay some bills and take a little break. I took a bus ride to the bank and stopped off for some breakfast and John Grisham’s latest hardcover accompanied me. So far it is okay, it’s reading along nicely. Oh, hey, I forgot to comment on the Oscars…oh well, hardly a huge deal this year. I was taping them when they were on Sunday nite ’cause I had some work to do. I watched part of the awards on Monday nite and then caught the rest of them this morning. It was a bit annoying all week to have had to cover my ears and hum loudly whenever someone around me was talking about them. I kinda had some predictions but of course I always like to be a little surprised. Although this year was a bit different as far as surprises go. Of course Kevin Spacey would get the pick for best lead male actor. Kinda crappy since I was rooting for Denzel. I am in love with Denzel. Who wouldn’t be? I like everything he does and would always pick him so I was sort of biased this year as far as that category goes.
Last night one of my girlfriends and I went out galavanting. We decided to go to this a cute little bar down the street from where she lives downtown, I guess some guy who used to play for the Chicago Bears owns it, which I guess would explain why the place was decked out in navy blue and orange, LOL…Anyway, aside from slingin’ back a few bottles o’ beer and shooting three games of pool w/these two guys who would have rather played with us than wait all night for us to finish, we had a few laughs and of course I was the first one to go ask the bartender for a towel. For some reason I am always spilling beer! hahah…whoever goes to the bars w/me would know this and of course it’s sort of a tradition. Then we ended up at the Radisson hotel bar where we grubbed on buffalo wings and then it was time for me to go home, thank God ’cause the girls working the bar must have had about enough of us making snide comments in the general direction of the t.v. (Who Wants To Be a Millionaire was on) and of course you all know I love Regis Philbin about as much I love having to go to the dentist!
Well, I see that its getting late and I still have some work to do and people to chat up.
Posted by dayleeblog | 
Monday has come and gone. Dilemmas have been fretted about and resolved. The sun has risen and set… and I am STILL without a job that I like AND the cajones to go out and get a better one! That’s right, folks, the era of the independent but utterly squeamish and softhearted single white female is here! …is it a bird? It’s a PLANE! …no!! It’s–it’s Stupid Chick! What on God’s green earth has come over me? Well, for one thing, money. Yes, the green stuff. The thing that makes the world go ’round. The paper that American dreams are based on. The CA$H I simply DON’T have. This, I have figured, is what I NEED. It’s been decided, as of about a month ago, that I was going to start to get my skills noticed by coming out with an idea for a business–a plan, if you will, to do more than just toot my own horn. To find and establish my market, or at least a customer base of some kind. Let me tell you business is TOUGH. You wanna try to get customers? Word of mouth is simply one of the best ways, in my area of business, to do just that. If you don’t have a customer base, who can testify to your product’s or service’s quality and worth, and how in the heck are you gonna be able to prove yourself? It’s very hard, because in this business, the work I’m offering to do for a fee can be done by people themselves. There’s no value added to offering a service or product that people can already do themselves. It’s not like I can’t FIND a market, there is a market for my business, although small, and with a shell that’s tougher to crack than a tortise’s–But nonetheless, I am currently trying to tap into it. How do I know about this market? Well, there are people (small business owners, mom & pop business operators and others who, yeah, if they sat down and thought about it, they could handle doing this task, why in heck should they PAY someone to do it for them…on the flip side of that, there are still people who would rather have it done professionally and are willing to pay reasonably for that service. However, without some major moolah, I don’t know how I can pull this off. Without it, I have to do all this ‘word of mouth’ stuff until I turn blue in the face and believe me, blue is not my color. I’m an Autumn. But I digress. Back to where I was. Oh, yeah. I was just saying that there were people who are in need of my services, but unfortunately, most of these people are just the sort that would put me out of business. They are the ones who go out of their way to hire someone with a ‘degree in this or that or some such thing’ and don’t even give us people (some of whom are just naturally talented, and don’t need any framed certificate adorning our walls to make us feel good about ourselves in order to succeed. O.K. This is where I get on my soapbox and go off on what seems to be a day-long tangent. See, I think it’s just the opposite. Alright. In the last few years, all the way up to now, even, this is a common scenario: An employer is looking for someone to fill a job involving alot of creativity, given the choice between hiring the college grad w/the degree or the high school and/or trade school grad w/NO degree but w/work experience in that field, I bet you nine times our of ten, the employer will choose the college grad. Why? They go on the pure rationale that a person w/a degree in that field is automatically expected to be the better candidate, as opposed to one without the credentials. The one that doesn’t get the interview may have a better a handle on the job. Some or even lots of experience. But no credentials. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not biasing against the person with the degree, and not to say that a degree or schooling is a waste of time, or money, even. But that just goes to show you how these days, the hiring criteria used by employers nowadays just seems to largely benefit only those that have the advantage of a higher education under their belts. Perhaps I’m a little bit wrong. I don’t have the statistics right on hand here, but I read somewhere about all kinds of successful people, some long dead and some still around, that did not go after a secondary education, ended up being just as successful or even more so, as those who did. Unfortunately, not only did these people find themselves having to bust their asses getting to where they are now, but they faced the same questions I am asking right here. I am only justifying the nature of this ‘rooting for the underdog’, as it were, by saying that perhaps it’s more rewarding for those of us have-nots, that do end up getting the job, because it proves that in some cases, a degree is not all that necessary. Especially if the so-called ‘less qualified candidate’ in question has a good work history and no evidence of being a slacker of some sort, and can also prove their worth. Just how they can prove it, however, is another dilemma, if this continues to be a major practice in the job market today. Somebody back me up, here, dangit! Does anyone else agree with me that now, more than ever, freelancers, self-starters, entrepeneurs, volunteers, artists, writers and creative contributers of all sorts hang in the balance, hoping for the ideal gig? Perhaps you are a person in this same hiring trap. All because of what is being termed credentialism, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I believe it was Amy Lindgren of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who said just what I’ve said here, although I think she puts it more accurately: “My argument isn’t against education. I believe deeply in the value of both liberal arts programs and technical training, for any person of any age. What I don’t believe in is the blind adherence to the idea that the training or education automatically qualifies a person to perform a particular job, and that those without the training could not do the job adequately. And frankly, I find it disturbing that the people who push the training the most are those who have it and those who sell it. A few years ago one of the professional associations in my field of career counseling made a strong lobbying effort at the Minnesota Legislature to institute certification of career counselors, which would require a masters degree and several steps to achieve. In my arguments (I was the only person to testify against such certification), I pointed out the dangers of such a move: We lock out good and talented people, we contribute to an unnecessary escalation of credentialism, and we eventually limit the availability of career counselors to the general public.”
Well said, Ms. Lindgren…want to hear more? Please reference her article here .
That’s all the wind I’ve got left on this topic…and for those of you who may be career counselors, trainers or those of you who work in human resources departments, Please keep this in mind when you are looking for that special someone to fill your next opening
Posted by dayleeblog |
This weekend went by sooooooo fast….especially since last nite I consumed more tequila than was necessary. I can’t wait for the Oscars, although I will admit I’m not as excited to see them as I had been in years past. I’m not looking forward to working on Monday, nor am I looking forward to these colder temps they say are coming this way. March always comes in like a lion, I suppose.
Well, I’m keeping it short just for today, back later for sure.
Posted by dayleeblog |
Wednesday. Worst day at work. Just plain crazy. Should rename that joint to “The Zoo”. Why is it that the day you are determined to stay on schedule and be extra productive, people seem to know? I must have gotten at least six calls that I could have easily just bounced into my voice mail, to get to later, by the touch of a button, but NOOOOOO. Today is the day my phone isn’t acting right. I dialed a number for a vendor in Minneapolis and was told by a recording that “The number, xyz-xyzz has been disconnected or is not in service” Eh? The number that the recorded chick gave me isn’t EVEN THE NUMBER I DIALED!! mmmkay. Time to stop what I’m doing for another interruption. Well, at least I got a new phone out of the deal. Looking back, I laugh at myself ’cause it wasn’t really that bad a day, after all, it did go along pretty quickly, and that’s all that really matters.
I am sooooo sleepy even as I type this, and although I had lots planned to share tonite, I’m gonna have to hit the hay. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment in the morning plus I haven’t packed my lunch or planned an outfit for tomorrow, either. I sure as heck am not gonna go do that now, since I’m in no condition to, so I will do that junk in the a.m. Oh, meohmy…. It’s waaaaaay past my bedtime.
Posted by dayleeblog |
yeah, well I’m in debt again…whaddya gonna do, right? I mean is there anyone who isn’t a little bit in the hole? I found out one of my girlfriends was having a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and didn’t get invited. Oh well…I guess there was nothing to be done about it. Truthfully, I was going to go crash it and be all “Hi, remember me? How is the party going, yeah the one you didn’t invite me to…yeah um, anyway I just came by to get get my vacumn cleaner back and the ten bucks you owe me. Color me bitter, I guess… More to come later, but for now I’m hittin’ the sack. BJ
An interesting note: www.fugly.net posts photos of what you might call unattractive people and make fun of the personal website made by the person in the photo. I’m sure that if we didn’t live in such a shallow society that bases alot on personal appearance, this site could be would be even more appealing for the writer’s content alone and w/o ridiculing these nnocent people. I do not condone this kind of behavior on the net, but I look for the good stuff in ALL people. Taking that into account, usually this person has some funny observations, so go ahead and read that sucker”
Posted by dayleeblog |