Okay, SERIOUSLY...

This is the first of what I hope will be a series. I'm always on the lookout for things that make you say, "Okay, SERIOUSLY..."
Examples follow.

Spotted at Barnes & Noble...
"Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul"

Spotted in Alabama...
A sign that says, "Road Wet When Rains"
(thank you, Carrie)

Heard during a weight loss cure commercial...
"If it wasn't true, we couldn't say it on TV!"

Don't hesitate to contact me should you have any contributions. You will get credit if I use your idea.

Movie Reviews 2/20/08

Gone, Baby, Gone- Dark, gritty, compelling and rough. Well-acted, written, directed and shot. By no means is this the happiest, most life-affirming movie out there (in fact, far from it), but worth every second I spent watching it. Curse you Ben Affleck, with your chiseled good looks and prodigious talent. This movie was his directorial debut, and I would guess he has quite a future ahead of him as a filmmaker.

Martian Child- A widowed science-fiction writer adopts a really weird kid who thinks he's from Mars. This sounds like it has all the makings of a quirky comedy, but I found it had much to say about the importance of having a loving parent in a child's life. John Cusack was excellent as always.

Waitress- I found that this was a bit too "southern-fried" at times for my tastes, but overall very enjoyable. Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and acted in this, died before the film's release...very sad. Kerri Russell is adorable as always.

The Jane Austen Book Club- Surprisingly entertaining, especially considering how I don't believe I've ever read one word Jane Austen has written. A group of women (and one man) get together once a month to discuss Austen's novels and their romantic lives play out in a fashion similar to her books (I guess). Also, I may just fall in love with Emily Blount.

Ira and Abby- A couple of New Yorkers with emotional problems decide to get married after having known each other for only a few hours. I know it sounds like sort of a "Woody Allen Lite" type scenario, but it wasn't too bad. The leads, Chris Messina and Jennifer Westfeldt (who also wrote the screenplay) have great chemistry.

Job Board Follies

A few months ago, before I got my current job, I was registered with three of the big job boards...Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs. I still get emails from them, usually solicitations to apply for various positions. I have to say that I'm more than a little disturbed that at least one of those sites allows emails for obvious scams, such as the old, "we are a foreign company and wish you to be our financial intermediary".
Recently I have been invited to apply for a few accounting positions. The emails state that I'm very qualified for such positions and would be a great candidate. Best of all, I was asked to apply for an accounting position at a famous talent agency in Hollywood.
Um...no.
I have absolutely no experience in accounting. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. I have also made it abundantly clear that I will, under no circumstances relocate.
That begs the question as to why anyone thinks I'm qualified for such a position and why the "Senior Recruiter" at the aforementioned Hollywood talent agency thinks I should apply. Did he not look at my resume? Is he just sending out the same email to everyone registered with the job board? In any case, he's simply not doing a very good job of being a "senior recruiter".

Quick update: Just hours after posting this I got yet another email asking me to apply for yet another accounting gig. Wow.

How To Annoy a Recruiter

I've been working in the recruiting/ staffing field for a good long time...over twelve years now, actually. I've met some great people and some not-so-great people. I've learned alot. What follows are a few things that people do to really screw up in their job hunt, especially when working with a recruiter or staffing professional.
-Not Show Up. This past week I was working to fill an industrial assembler job. I had four people scheduled to come in to interview with me. Only one of the four bothered to show up. The rest didn't even bother to call. What sort of reception do you think those three will get next time they call looking for work (as they inevitably will)? I think you know the answer to that.
-Act like a jerk. That same day interviewed a recent college grad for a customer service position. He was snide, condescending and rather obnoxious. Simply put, he was acting like a jerk. He said to me at one point, "Is there something wrong with my tie?" I said there wasn't. "Oh, well you've been staring at it this whole time." No I wasn't actually. And no, I won't be referring him to any clients. I would have to wonder whether he'd act in a similar fashion on an interview with said clients. All this kid accomplished by acting like he did was look like fool and ensure that no one from my firm would ever consider him as a viable candidate for anything. Ever.
-Whine about paperwork. Why do employers and staffing firms make you fill out applications and tax forms and I9 forms? There's a reason for it. So don't whine about it.
-Interrupt me. This is my pet peeve of the week. This morning I called two people on that. One of them took exception to my protest. Too bad. I hadn't interrupted him, so why is it okay to do it to me?
-Treat me like I'm stupid. I've been successful as a recruiter for a reason...I know what I'm doing. Just because I don't understand everything you do about Material Requirements Planning doesn't mean I'm not qualified to talk to you. When you condescend to me, I have to assume you'll treat my client in the same fashion.
In the end, it's important to remember that you should work in a respectful manner with your freindly neighborhood staffing professional. When you don't keep an appointment or act like a condescending jerk, we have to assume you'll act the same way when we put you in front of a client.

I am a rockstar

Today I taught my first Junior Achievement classes of the semester. I am actually teaching two classes this year, kindergarten (my twins) and third grade (Peter, my oldest). This is something I've done every year since Peter was in kindergarten.
I do believe in what Junior Achievement does. I think it's important for kids to learn about the economy and the world of work. I remember when I was in college helping a freshman write a check. Her parents had opened a checking account for her, but she hadn't the slightest idea what to do with it. That's actually not uncommon. Many otherwise intelligent adults are utterly clueless when it comes to personal finance and investing. I'm no Warren Buffett, but I constantly find that my financial acumen is leagues ahead of other adults. Granted, I won't be teaching kindergarteners and third graders about managing credit card debt or rolling over their IRA, but I figure they'll get something of a jump start in that regard.
What's even cooler is that these kids really seem to enjoy having me there. I remember more than once I'd see one of my students while shopping or something. They'd almost invariably tug at their parent's sleeve and say, "that's Peter's dad!"
That would never fail to make me feel like a rockstar.

AND NOW FOR A COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTION...

I wanted to alert my vast blog following to a very nice website run by a very nice person. My freind Shalom sells her art through her website, www.shalomscottagehome.com. She markets a wide assortment of goodies...jewelry, blank journals, framed art, etc., etc. I'm usually not a big fan of this sort of thing, but Shalom actually has talent and produces some quality work. Any of her items would make excellent gifts.

I have another artist freind who sells his wares through the web. His name is Bill Douglas. He can turn any picture into a comic-book style portrait or caricature. I have known him since junior high school, and it's been my great pleasure to see how he's developed artistically.
You can find him here... www.drawmebill.com

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

My Little Sister

I should start out by clarifying that she is not technically my little sister. We are not related by blood or marriage, but we are family nevertheless. Though I call her my little sister, I am old enough to be her father (actually, I am about six months older than her father).
She has taught me the true meaning of freindship. She takes care of me when I'm wounded and makes me laugh when I need it. She believes in me unconditionally, even in those times when I don't believe in myself. She's honest with me, but not brutally so. She doesn't tell me what I want to hear but she usually manages to tell me what I need to hear.
She loves my kids almost as if they're her own, and they adore her right back. She loves her fiancee with all her heart and he loves her right back at least as much. Someday I hope to experience even the smallest percent of the love those two have...if I do, I will consider myself a very lucky man indeed.
She is wise beyond her years and strong beyond measure.
I wish everyone could have a pretend little sister like mine.

More Serious Matters

My blog posts thus far have had a pretty light tone. This one will not.
What follows is an email I sent out a couple weeks ago...

Hello freinds,
I originally wrote this for one person (you know who you are). In the course of typing this up I thought maybe others could benefit from some of these ideas. These are things I've learned mostly the hard way over the course of the past year or so. I hope I don't come across as pompus or anything in sending this out. Just trying to help.

-Don't be afraid of your emotions. Our feelings are what make us human and fully alive, even if they hurt (in fact, some would say especially if they hurt).

-Believe in something, especially yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, there's almost always someone who does, and sometimes that's all you need. It's the people who don't believe in anything, who don't have faith, who require empirical evidence for everything that can be the most dangerous.

-Change can be scary, but more often than not it's for the best.

-Being nervous or scared is okay...it means you have some "skin in the game". It means that you care.

-The saying "that which does not kill me makes stronger" is only true if you actually choose to become stronger in the face of adversity. Some don't (actually, most don't).

-Try to laugh your ass off at least once a day. Cultivate relationships with amusing people, read funny blogs (http://www.dooce.com/2008/01/17/no-matter-how-they-toss-dice-it-had-be), watch comedy movies, whatever.

-It's not fair to say that "people suck". People are sometimes good and sometimes bad, just not always in equal measure. I suppose much of the same thing could be said about life in general.

-Take any opportunity you can find to do something good for someone. It really doesn't matter what. There's probably nothing better you can do for your world and for your own self-esteem.
Thanks for reading,
Jim

The following points are from a subsequent email that I sent out to just a few people...
-Hope. Hope is paramount. Even when you can't see it, it's always there. Just because you can't see or feel the sun behind those gray clouds, that doesn't mean it's extinguished. It's always there.
-The future. The future is yours to conquer and you are not your past.
-Your life. It's your life to control and make the best of. Your life does not belong to your parents or your ex-husband or your mindless friends. It's yours. Take responsibility for it. Run with it until you're out of breath and can't run anymore.

Netflix=Awesome!

I just opened up a Netflix account. What fun I'm having.

I just got the following in the mail...
"Superbad"- Pretty funny comedy. Quite a number of laugh out loud moments as well as a few sentimental moments.
"Ira and Abby"- Quirky indie romance. I haven't watched this yet, but it should work well for me, since I'm quirky. And romantic.
"Best of Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers"- For me and my boys to watch when they come over. It's actually pretty cool when all 10 red rangers morph.

Also, I'm accumulating an impressive "queue". Here are some selections...
"The Alarm: The Greatest Hits Live"- My favorite band of all time. 'Nuff said.
"Waitress"- I've only heard great things about this movie. Keri Russell is in this also. I have to confess I have a wee bit of a crush on her.
"Equilibrium"- It's like "The Matrix" but starring Christian Bale instead of Keanu Reeves. And Christian Bale is waaaay cooler than Keanu Reeves.
"Rescue Dawn"- Christian Bale is just my hero.
"Time After Time"- I haven't seen this movie in YEARS. H.G. Wells time travels to the future (our present day) to stop Jack the Ripper.
"Magnolia"- I've always wanted to see this and never quite got around to it.

I'm sure I'll be adding much more to my queue in short order.