Thanks for the comments.

TrigguhHippee:  There’s a knack to making cats and dogs behave but
it’s not easy, and frankly, some cats and dogs will never get along.

compassion:  Completely forgets?  Somehow I’d expect the bigger cats to roughhouse him until he remmebers.

Mister_Green:  I’ve had to hear about OSHA a couple times, mostly
regarding the way certain ‘sales’ reps want to redo our storefront in
ways that literally break the law.

To put it in persepctive, though, somebody at that train station
…  dind’t like OSHA.  I guess he thought it was Big Brother
and the Holding Company watching over them or something.

Iwanttoleavemybody:  I’d like to see that happen, but not to you…

A few quick articles of news…  There’s a lot of flooding up
here, and whie my house is perfectly safe, the Des Plaines River runs
between me and my work, and it flooded high enough to block most of the
roads that cross it.  This makes things a drag for me, but I’m in
no danger.  I’m really sorry for the folks that actually live on
the Des Plaines River, however- We saw a family wading across their
yard (waist deep) the other day….

The other piece of news is that with the help and urging of a lot of
friends, I’ve got a tech-biased resume on Monter.com.  Doing this
has actually made me more confident than I first thought, not
necessarily that I think I’m going to be hired within days, but
…  that I could assess myself honestly and say something like
“I’ve been running a network for more than three years,” and actually
mean it.  It sounds a lot more confident that way than the last
time I tried such a thing, about three years ago, saying, “You know, I
just put up  this network… and it does… something.”

WELCOME TO THE JOB MARKET

Yes, I’ve gone on about this sort of thing before, this isn’t ‘why do
jobs suck’ or ‘why do workers suck’ this time around.  In fact,
this doesn’t even necessarily have to be about the job market, it’s
just what came to mind first.

Why are there certain things that make us instantly change our
mannerisms, sometimes honestly, sometimes not, for just that little
while that we need them changed, and then go back to speaking and
behaving as we normally do?

Case in point-  “Objective:  To put my broad Linux experience to use in a productive, team-oriented environment.”

Notice all the words I needed to say, “I want a job where I can use Linux as something other than a hobby.”

How much time will I have to work somewhere before I am allowed to put it that simply?

Is this a sort of modern survival trait, or do we grow strange vocabularies in the name of greed?

REQUIRES OVER FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH WINDOWS 2000…  IN 2004

I read an ad from a certain major super-computing company that wanted
someone to administer a gigantic weather simulation for the
government.  They wanted someone experienced in synchronizing 4200
computers.  There are less than 20 people in the world who are
experienced at synchronizing 4200 computers.

I’m not getting that job.

The ads have been a frustrating trudge through certification
requirements that cost more than the job pays, or skill requirements
that you cannot possibly be taught (like above.)

No friend of mine in any tech class has ever talked about a classroom
experience of actually cutting up CAT-5 and wiring the entire network
from scratch while in the classroom.  I have also never heard of
anyone doing an OS install from scratch in the classroom, though I
imagine somebody, somewhere has to be teaching kernel builds.  I’d
love to hear comments regarding what they’re teaching in school, as
well as what they’re looking for in the job marketplace.

I’m debating putting my resume up here verbatim, or perhaps just the
skill list, for your commentary.  If anyone wants to see this
stuff, say so.

See you next time.