The Tattoo for Me

On my way back from placing an application in I had an epiphany. I should provide you with the following background. I have spoken to my wife over the past 10 years and theorized that a tattoo might be in my future, but it had to be the right one. For example, lets say you got a motorcycle tattoo but in 15 years you no longer could ride the motorcycle or it just looked foolish on your sagging flesh. So I had always decided that I would not get a tattoo until it was timeless.

So on my way home today, I thought I needed to have one of the diagrams that those defibrillators that doctors use to revive you after a heart attack and right above it on my left breast the following quote: "Doc, try the paddles again." Now that tattoo is one I can get behind.

Yes, I do have a Liberal Arts Degree

While I do respect those who have degrees in science, business, engineering, and computer science, there is a sense that a liberal arts degree is somehow less. The unavoidable question at the initial meeting with a prospective employer is "So I see you have a degree in History?"

It is as if by knowing something of our past and being able to concisely communicate that to another, is not valued. Somewhere in my college course catalog it must say that History, Political Science, English, Philosophy and Anthropology are fall back degrees. The next time I am reading more carefully. It must have been in all that tiny print.

Even after sixteen plus years in the business world with some sort of acumen, I still feel as if I am explaining my decision to study and work for a Liberal Arts degree when I was 20.

Continuing my rant is the fact that I continue to hear how we, as a nation, do not know how many Justices are on the Supreme Court, what the three branches of government are, or even how many Senators are in the Senate. But only seem to value those degrees in business, science and engineering.

Enjoy the following from the Tonight Show and a scary one from John Stossell's 20/20 news segments.

Anger and the Unemployment Office

Well it is the third day of being laid off and now I believe I am in the Anger Stage of my grief for my job. I am reasoning this because I am catching my self dreaming of my previous company's owner being slowly rotated on a spit over a large fire with the employees screaming his own cute little sayings at him; "if you have all the feathers you can carry, can you carry one more?", "I can't write it down because it is to complicated; it changes", "that is not what I meant".

One of the great reliefs today was on my mandatory trip to the unemployment office, in Nashville, I did get to list to my favorite podcast, This Week in Tech. But I digress.

Now, what I am about to say has been influenced by both my mood and the recent turn of events in my life. I inherently believe most people are good and do espouse that those who are more unfortunate must be helped by those of us who have had opportunities they have not. Okay with all that out of the way.

This mandatory visit to a Tennessee Career Center is an attempt by the state to reduce the amount of any unemployment insurance you may be entitled to. After my short hour and a half visit I wanted to have my arm ripped off and someone to beat me to death with it. For those of you have not done this you should take a little time at lunch and go sit in there and depress yourself. I go in fill out an application and list my two degrees (liberal arts, so now you know why I am unemployed) and the fact that I was making over $10 an hour. Sit in a metal chair until told to go meet my counselor. Who is a pleasant woman, but who can only recommend I keep looking. I thought: I know that. I did not have to come all the way up here to hear that from yet another person. What I think I might have liked was an angelic voice tell me that: I was progressing well and that things would work fine.

She said none of this.

So back at the job boards. I am going to list them, but most of them you probably have already found:

1. Monster : The big boy.
2. Careerbuilder : Another big boy
3. Hotjobs
4. Craigslist
5. Dice
6. NashvilleHelpWanted
7. Verizon
8. Cummins
9. Yellow Freight
10. Nashvillejoblinks
11. Robert Half Technologies
12. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
13. OHL
14. BizJournal
15. Indeed
16. USAJobs
17. Customs and Border Protection
18. Cheatham County School District
19. Tennessee Department of Human Resources
20. Austin Peay State University
21. Employment911
22. Tennessee Valley Authority
23. At&T (Bellsouth)
24. Louisiana Pacific Corporation (LP)
25. Nissan
26. Brassring
27. Tennesseejobs
28. JobsinClarksville
29. Mars
30. CameronCraigGroup
31. JobstarCentral
32. Phil Ellis Associates
33. JobsInLogistics
34. Menlo Worldwide
35. United States Postal Service
36. Caterpillar
37. Cracker Barrel
38. Kirkland's
39. JobSearchEngine
40. JobBankUSA
41. LocalCareers
42. Change.gov


As I find more I will update this posting. Thanks for listening.