Life In The Pacific Northwest
As I watch a History Channel production about Pickett’s Charge, I remember feeling a glorious sentiment towards these warriors in years past. Now, though, all I feel is sadness. The stunning mass destruction and pain must be considered for the immeasurable sorrow generated. Though, probably, necessary, the loss must be remembered.
Via BlackBerry
“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.” ~Kofi Annan
I love Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain’s team rocks. Not only do they put him in some outrageous situations, his staff does a fantastic job editing and mixing sound. His acerbic passion delights me. The Travel Channel, though, is on strange laughable kick. You’ve got Dhani tying his cart to the Bourdain wagon. Now Andrew Zimmerman is, too. Particularly funny with Zimmerman; I’ve enjoyed his show and don’t need to Bourdain tie-in. I noticed that they haven’t tried to tie-in Bridget with Tony. Actually, I’d love to see a Bourdain/Bridget travel cross-over. Of course, finding where Bourdain hides her body might be challenging.
Every time I hear an anti-gay-marriage supporter ad, or read anything they’ve written, I become more puzzled by their “logic”. I was hoping this was a farcical piece, but it appears not. I’m just stunned.
So, in the interests of expressing my interest in blogs, public affairs and communications, I’ve launched another blog, Digitized Collective. My goal is to focus this on how communications is being changed by the “digital medium”. Sounds cool, eh?
The past few weeks has been one of serious self-evaluation. Though I liked my last position, I suffered from a lingering sense of “blah”. I’ve been trying to figure out what I’ve wanted to do in order to grow. Getting laid off provides a crucial moment to dive into this self-assessment. Besides the time (which hasn’t been as present as I hoped) to do so, there also is the element of necessity. Knowing that I need to find another job, and wanting to ensure that whatever I land next is something with more satisfaction, has compelled me to be deliberate.
So, after all this, I’m thinking of diving into the “communications” space. Particularly, I hope to blend my love of writing with tech and blogs. We’ll see what comes of it. I have seen some companies searching for folks with this background.
With all this, I’ve had several tools recommended to me. Particularly, LinkedIn, Jobster and Indeed. I’m just starting my dive into these sites, so I’ll keep you abreast of my learnings. I can tell you that I’ve found Jobster very interesting, at least as far as the jobs it’s presented.
One last idea that I’m coming to terms with is this notion of “Me, inc”. Basically, I need to look at my career in terms of, well, myself. My attachment to a company needs to be conditional. I guess another way to look at this is to think of myself as a contractor. As you can see, I’m just developing this notion. Expect me to flesh this out more soon.
It’s been a rather rough week to get a post in. That saddens me, as I’ve not posted much lately and felt a desire to turn that around. I’ve learned a heck-of-a-lot this week, which I’ll write more about later (perhaps this weekend???). However, there’s something I’ve been meaning to write a bit more about: the “demise” of the Seattle PI.
I’m just tired of the word “demise”. Folks, it ain’t dead. The web version is still going strong. Actually, I think it’s quite well. Only the print version has been laid to rest. So, this is more like an amputation than a death. A key piece of the institution is gone, and the entity has undergone a seismic shift. On the other side of this coin, they have unloaded a relic. By removing this element, they should be freed to innovate. And they’ve set innovation up as a must. There’s no way back; it’s innovate or die. Considering the talent onboard, they can make it work. Management’s role needs to be facilitating the innovation. As long as they don’t get in the way, I think it’ll work, and work well. Good luck, folks! Knock ‘m dead!
I’m convinced that someone in Geico’s marketing department is friends with Rockwell and that whole campaign is a scheme to get the guy royalty bucks. Anyway, perhaps I’m not part of their core demographic, but this eyeball stalker thing is starting to annoy me. I might consider shifting to Allstate, as their ads assume I’m intelligent. Perhaps a rash assumption…
Last week, as many of you are aware, Obama gave a speech to which the Republican Governor of Louisiana gave the official reply. The statement which gives me the most consternation is his condemnation of $14 million (though he gives the amount as $140 million) for volcano monitoring. Now, perhaps if you live in a place without such, you might be inclined to view this as pork (however, if you live in a state that depends heavily on federal hurricane monitoring, you’d think you might be more sympathetic). However, as someone who lives nearby several, I’m not amused, but Krugman’s response sums up my views nicely.
Why is the Republican party so hell-bent on becoming the party of knee-jerk irrational though and stupid commentary? Time and time again Bush has worked hard to ensure any shred of respect I struggled to find was eroded. Then we had Palin, and now this (there are other pieces at play, too, but I don’t want to get too long-winded). Once upon a time I was a Republican, mostly out of a believe in the importance of responsibility and public accountability. Though those values are still solid, the Republican party is not the place to find this. Nor is it the place to find public discourse of rational thought (start with RNC Chair Steele). What’s saddest is that I can no longer support the few remaining rational Republicans out there, as the party’s descent is too intractable.
