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Counting down to Labor Day: Three days to go

I had something very different in mind for today’s Labor Day countdown post.  I “invited” Chet Chesterfield to do his Clint Eastwood imitations for the BIG TALENT SHOW, but time got away from both of us.

Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood (Photo credit: Siebbi)

He was going to tell his fans how he decided to help out America’s unemployment problem by briefly hiring a yard maintenance crew (actually a couple of kids from down the street looking to make a few bucks), only to see what their reactions might be if he were to come out on his front porch, rifle in hand, while growling “Get off my lawn.”

Oh well.

Again, our family is staying put at home for the long holiday weekend.  We can’t afford to make any trips out of town.  Money’s getting tighter all the time.  That doesn’t mean we don’t have anything fun and exciting planned for the weekend.  Our youngest son is returning from Idaho for an extended visit.  And the jazz fans of the family will be taking in the Salt Lake City Jazz Festival on Sunday, capped off by the tightness of the band Tower of Power.

You could say that we’re going to the festival because I’m making a small investment in our future to see if an idea I have for a career venture can take off.  There are no potential employers beating down my door for interviews, no matter how far and wide I look, so I’m going to see if I can create something of my own — the American way.  You’ll see more details on it soon, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, as the long weekend kicks off and we come down from the Clint Eastwood thrill that was the Republican National Convention, I’ll provide a picture that I came across on Facebook as some “food for thought” — going back to a time when tax rates on the upper class were over 90%, jobs were more plentiful, America was investing in its infrastructure, and Clint Eastwood was starting to make a name for himself as a younger man.  Economic life was better.

Again, food for thought.

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My music playlist for today (August 31, 2012 edition)

I’m so far behind on blogging today it’s not funny.  And I’m sure a lot of people around America are either hitting the road for the last big weekend of the summer, maybe settling down for a relaxing three-day weekend at home, or maybe thinking about getting ready to party after a long week at work.

For those getting ready to do the latter, I won’t waste your time with a long lead-in to some decent dance music.  So here we go on a Labor Day weekend kickoff.  Everyone on board the Soul Train!

Have a happy holiday!

Soul Train
Soul Train (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Counting down to Labor Day: Four days to go

Thursday night at the Republican National Convention — presidential nominee Mitt Romney enters to give his acceptance speech in a heavily dramatized and choreographed process, complete with a bit of red carpet treatment.

Romney
Romney (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

To tell the truth, I’m not all that interested in what Mr. Romney has to say, although I’ll pay attention with one side of my brain while putting down some thoughts with the other.  I think I’ve pretty much heard the meat of everything there is to hear at the convention without even listening to Mitt.  I already know Mitt.  Remember, I live in Utah, where he’s a hero to most because of his Mormon roots and his 2002 Winter Olympic guidance.  All the warm and fuzzy stories about Mitt have already been told here, many times over.

English: Clint Eastwood at the 2008 Cannes Fil...
English: Clint Eastwood at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, during the press conference for Changeling (at that time untitled The Exchange). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When it comes to the last night of the convention, with all its dramatics and the red carpet treatment and choreography, I’m left with one main thought in mind:  Clint Eastwood, what the hell was that?  Rambling, and just plain … strange.  From one of my longtime heroes, no less.  Sad.

So I’ll go with a focus on the job front, seeing as how I’m not hearing much in the way of answers as to how the Romney-Ryan ticket would create 12 million jobs over the next four years, as Paul Ryan promised in his factually challenged speech from the night before.  But remember, the Romney campaign’s own pollster already said they’re not running based on fact-checkers.  Romney gave what he called a five-step plan, with no mention of things like working on infrastructure that just might go a longer way toward creating 12 million jobs than pushing energy-related jobs in coal and oil, and giving parents choices in what schools they send their children to.

So, frustrated, I move on to my own personal job front.

I received another interesting email Thursday from the dice.com blog network, what’s become a major source to me in my search for a mainframe programming job.  One headline in particular caught my attention:  “Take Advantage of the Mainframe Talent Shortage.”

My thought to that is, “I’ve been making that effort, right there at dice.com, without a sniff at an interview yet.  So are all these applications and resumes I’m putting out across the country just going into thin air?”

And then I looked at the comments below the story from other mainframe programmers facing the same battle, and they’re largely wondering the same thing — we have the skills, we have the experience, we’re out here — so where are the phone calls with requests for job interviews?

  • “I challenge the author of this article, to prove that facts presented are ‘true’. I see so many comments that other ‘Mainframe Programmers’ (and myself) have been unemployed for years now. If there are employeers who truly need us ‘old farts’ with ‘mainframe skills’, since we provide an e-mail, then either connect those of us who have skills with the employers who are seeking those of us with the needed skills, or, this article is a bunch of crap. Please help connect the people and the companies who need us together (make this article a ‘truth’), or, please ban the writer(s) of this article for posting ‘false information’. Get the picture???”
  • “I am completely disgusted with the IT market. It is a rip off for American Programmers but a paradise for Indians and others that come here to steal our jobs. The fact of the matter is that we have never been respected anywhere because we are overhead. Disgusting overhead. The unwanted ones and I don’t care what skill set you have. Nobody likes you. Why? Because there is a tremendous lack of competency on Project Management skills nationwide. Project Managers have a tight budget and completion dates and the pass the crap down to the developers and the pressure is immense due to their oversight. Concerning wages, they are used to rip us off, especially recruiters. Here, I hire a plumber or and electrician, carpenter, what have you and they have the nerve to charge $80+ an hour but programmers that have way more education, skills and experience, get $50 or $80k a year approximately. A great rip off. It will be hard for me to go back to the industry. I am pissed off! We mean nothing to an employer but a big overhead sign on our foreheads. We get no respect! If I could do it again, I would have gone to the health care field and stay there. I wasted my professional life in IT. Truly! Never again! I would rather eat beans until I die in order to survive than to submit to inconsiderate project managers and recruiters.”
    • “You are completely correct on this one! At my last job, we were referred to as “resources”, not people or team members. Plenty of reason to feel worthless. They can get a few Indians and Chinese with far less experience to do the same job….yeah, right. It was quite demeaning.

      “I have known several people I worked with that have gotten out of programming entirely. One of them went back to school and became a nurse when he was in his late 40s. A few of them have gone into quality assurance as testers, so no more coding for them. Another is now a teacher. I was just trying to hang in there until I could retire, but the company had different ideas to get rid of the older workers. Nearly all of the people I worked with that were WFR’d were over 50….and had plenty of COBOL experience.”

      • “COBOL Programmer, I completely agree with you. Mainframe programmers now have the stress and hours of doctors, with wages less than blue color wokers, and respect less than sanitation workers. In NY City, where I live, live in nannies make $90,000 and up (with free housing) which is more than most programmers get now. I have been very tempted to apply to one of these jobs.”
      • “I have been out of work for over 2 years. There are no mainframe jobs. I have been in the field for over 20 yrs. I have COBOL and RPG and can not find a job.”

      And those are just the first few comments on the article.  I tell ya, it’s getting ugly out there.  How does that situation fit into the Romney-Ryan plan?  I don’t think I’ll ask Clint Eastwood for his thoughts.  It might take too long, and I’ll still be wondering what the hell he was trying to say.

      Copyright 2012, Daddysangbassdude Media

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My music playlist for today (August 30, 2012 edition)

I’ve always been one to go a bit “against the grain,” and music is no exception.

When it comes to classic rock, while some might say their favorite member of the group Queen was Freddie Mercury or Brian May, my favorite was drummer Roger Taylor.  Why?  Because in the songs that he wrote, he would more often “go against the grain” and put in the kind of notes that were a bit more unexpected, plus his songs just rocked harder.

English: George Harrison in the Oval Office du...
English: George Harrison in the Oval Office during the Ford administration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The same goes with my choice of a favorite Beatle.  Paul and John’s music got the most attention, and it’s easy to see why.  My favorite, though, was George Harrison.

Why?  Because, in part, in the songs that he wrote, he would more often “go against the grain” and put in the kind of notes that were a bit more unexpected — known as “accidentals.”

Beyond that, while I like some of Paul McCartney’s pop touches there are others that just seem too “formulaic,” too “easy,” too “hook-laden”; while I appreciated the statements that John Lennon made, some of it was just too “heavy” to take in long sittings; with Harrison, there was a nice blending of everything — lighter on the pop vein without going totally away from it, with just as much in the way of important statements to be made but in a more peaceful manner, not surprising coming from the “quiet Beatle.”  And, yeah, I thought the spiritual side of George was pretty cool too.

I’ve had more Harrison solo albums in my collection than McCartney or Lennon, right up through his last ones.  That must say something about where my head’s at.

Yeah, I’ve been known to go “against the grain.”

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Counting down to Labor Day: Five days to go

It was a pretty full day again at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, and that was all before vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan even took to the stage at the taxpayer-funded arena to give the main speech of the day.

Mitt Romney’s bunch reportedly threw a big party for big campaign donors in Tampa aboard the presidential nominee’s spacious yacht, complete with the flag of the Cayman Islands flying from it.  You’ve got to know that if it had been Barack Obama doing the same thing, his loyalty to America — if not his citizenship — would have been questioned.

But, never fear, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came along in his speech to stop just short of coming out as a “birther” anyway with the line, “It just doesn’t occur to an American that someone else will solve their problems.”

US-POWELL-RICE
Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice (Photo credit: Jackson West)

Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice talked about what she saw as shortcomings for the President on the foreign policy front.  To balance it all out, former Secretary of State Colin Powell — Rice’s predecessor — has praised the Obama administration just recently for its foreign policy initiatives.  To each, their own.

And now that Paul Ryan is speaking, I’m waiting for him to speak in detail about how a Romney-Ryan ticket would push or give some incentive to businesses to create jobs, or create jobs itself by pushing for attention to our deteriorating infrastructure.  I’m waiting for him to explain how Republicans can block efforts to keep more jobs in America rather than shipping them overseas.  Instead, what I’m hearing more of so far is this …

Jobs … Obamacare … bad.

Jobs … Obamacare … bad.

Jobs … Obamacare … bad.

Romney Ryan Plan Birth Control
Romney Ryan Plan (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

And what about that American Jobs Act initiative that’s sat there, stalled out in Congress, for almost a year?  Waiting for mention of that as well.

Waiting …

Waiting …

Waiting …

Instead, it’s “regulatory reform.”  Actions that might help the jobs situation by fractions at best.

Waiting …

Waiting …

Waiting …

Continuing to misquote the “you didn’t build that” statement.  Ryan says they’ll create 12 million new jobs over the next four years.  How?

Waiting …

Waiting …

Waiting …

“Let’s get this country working again.”  How do you do that with a “jobs barracuda” in the White House?  How are you going to create 12 million jobs in four years, as Ryan just promised?

The Ryan speech is over.  I still have questions.

Waiting …

Waiting …

Waiting …

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AMY’S ANGLE: Arabian horses, the beautiful breed

By Amy Kathleen Miller

One of my favorite paintings from my work in past years is of an Arabian horse looking serenely over a fence off into the distance.  The Arabian horse is a breed with a reputation for intelligence, spirit, and stamina.  In my first experience with the breed, I borrowed a horse from my sister.  I wanted my oldest son, Curtis, who was nine years old at the time, to learn the joy of riding horses.  JC was a beautiful gray Arabian and an excellent children’s horse.

 

“Arabian at the Fence” By Amy K. Miller (All artwork Copyright 2012, Amy K. Miller’s Studio — ANY UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION OR REPRODUCTION IS PROHIBITED)

Some people believe that it is more difficult to train a “hot-blooded” horse such as the Arabian. However, most Arabians have a natural tendency to cooperate with humans, but when treated badly, like any horse, they can become excessively nervous or anxious, though seldom become vicious unless seriously spoiled or subjected to extreme abuse. With proper handling, Arabians are suitable riding horses for riders at all levels.

We had a great experience with JC.  Curtis learned lots of things from her.  He learned to show a horse at the halter and under western tack.  We also learned what it was like preparing a horse for a show, even after cleaning the horse the night before the show and arriving the next day only to find the beautiful gray horse had a lovely big green manure spot on her side. 

Arabians are a wonderfully beautiful breed of a horse.  I am proud to have worked with JC in the past, and I own one to this day.

Editor’s Note:  “Amy’s Angle” is a weekly Wednesday feature in this blog.

Copyright 2012, Daddysangbassdude Media

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My music playlist for today (August 29, 2012 edition)

Not all of the good progressive rock came out in the “golden age” of the genre, back in the late 1960s and into the ’70s.  No, there’ve been some very good bands coming along since then.

In progressive rock, at times it seems as though the good stuff has come from a melting pot, a “mash-up,” a potpourri — a “supergroup” of members from other well-known bands who join forces for a bit just as an “experiment” at times.

English: Liquid Tension Experiment onstage at ...
English: Liquid Tension Experiment onstage at Nearfest 2008. Bethlehem, PA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m talking about supergroups like O.S.I., Transatlantic, and UK.  There’s also been Liquid Tension Experiment.  Out of the four supergroups I’ve named already, drummer Mike Portnoy has been involved in three of them with UK being the only exception.

Portnoy’s a busy boy.

Portnoy may have been coming from the progressive metal group Dream Theater, and keyboard player Jordan Rudess may have ended up in Dream Theater as well, but try not to think of LTE too much like “DT II.”  Portnoy apparently went through some efforts to bring in another guitarist before getting Dream Theater axeman John Petrucci involved, because the logistics of bringing in anyone else to avoid that “DT II” stigma just wasn’t happening.

But that’s okay.  There are no vocals in LTE to make the comparison stick either.  It’s just instrumental gymnastics.

It’s especially okay when bass/Chapman stick master Tony Levin is part of the “experiment.”  And when either Petrucci hasn’t been able to make it to the studio himself because his wife’s gone into premature labor or Rudess’ keyboard starts messing up in the middle of a show and he has to back away, hey, no problem there either.  Just let ’em start jamming and put it under the name Liquid Trio Experiment.

Just like liquid, LTE is … “fluid.”  Yeah, I know, that was bad.

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Counting down to Labor Day: Six days to go

I worked on “selling myself” today.  Before the day is done, I will have spent time doing a bit of research on getting a money-making plan of my own going, one that utilizes my talents and passions and tries to help others become better known themselves by highlighting their own talents and passions.

I also went through the usual job-searching process, including hitting the streets with resume in hand to go after a technical writer’s job with a smile, an introduction, and a firm handshake to follow up on an online application.  Yes, I worked on “selling myself” with the goal of going for a job that might pay two-thirds of what I was making before.

But a job is a job, and I’m looking at ALL options.  I’m looking for whatever I feel that I can do.  I want to work.  I want to pull my own weight, do my share.  Even if it means starting something from scratch myself while hoping I can keep a roof over our heads in the process.

U.S. House candidate Mia Love, R-Utah, speaks Tuesday at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

I also started watching and listening to Utah’s own Mia Love giving a speech during the Republican National Convention in Tampa as she runs for the U.S. House of Representatives, trying to become the first black Republican woman ever to win a seat in the House.

Love certainly said things I can agree with.  I’m all for people trying to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  It’s the fact that there was no mention about how the cards are stacked against so many people wanting to do that and the GOP rhetoric and talking points she seemed so comfortable repeating that made me want to change the channel about 10 minutes into it.

How many people out there remember the American Jobs Act?  I remember when that was proposed in a speech by President Obama before a joint session of Congress on September 8 of last year.  I watched that speech.  A fair amount of what was being proposed had been proposed before by Republicans themselves.

It contained bills that would have focused on much-needed infrastructure work — roads, bridges, and buildings.  It would have put Americans back to work who want to work.  It would have boosted the economy, because until the jobless situation is reversed the economy will continue to sag.  It comes down to common sense.

That’s the problem.  The words “common sense” and “Congress” have become mutually exclusive.  Even though Republicans came up with part of what’s in the American Jobs Act, they’ve also led the charge to stall any progress on it ever since.

Hence my question from before:  How many people out there remember the American Jobs Act?  As a follow-up question, how many times have we heard Republicans say Obama has no plan on how to create jobs?

Why would they say such a thing when it’s not true?  There’s a simple answer to that, from the mouths of Republicans themselves.

Baloney.  It’s tough to run on a record of massive creation of jobs when more efforts are made by the opposition party to hold them back.  After all, the Republicans have admitted that their goal has been to defeat Obama in 2012.  More jobs would mean an improved economy, which would mean an Obama win in 2012.  They can’t have that.

That’s politics.  That’s the tightrope we’re walking these days.

Copyright 2012, Daddysangbassdude Media

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My music playlist for today (August 28, 2012 edition)

I’d like to hear some good violin playing today for a jazz-fusion playlist, but I’m torn between a couple of players.  I want to “go deep,” do something a bit unique with Jerry Goodman and Steve Kindler.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra 0606730006_bearbeitet-1
Jerry Goodman with The Mahavishnu Orchestra (Photo credit: Heinrich Klaffs)

Goodman and Kindler do have connections:  Jan Hammer and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.  While Goodman was trading licks with Mahavishnu Orchestra guitarist John McLaughlin, Hammer was getting in some devastating licks on keyboards.  When that formation of the group went its separate ways, Hammer worked on solo music with Goodman.  Kindler ended up spending some time with the Mahavishnu Orchestra himself.

When Hammer went off to form his own group and he needed a violin player, Kindler got the call.

Steve Kindler (Photo credit: mysonicisland.com)

It’s no wonder the two of them were in such identical demand between Mahavishnu and Hammer.  The violin was an important part of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s sound, and the style that Goodman and Kindler brought to the studio and the stage was, wonderfully, very much alike.

Goodman’s done pretty well for himself, both on his own and during his time with another powerhouse fusion band where the violin was also a key ingredient:  the Dixie Dregs.

As for Kindler, making music with Jan Hammer produced some sweet sounds and it got some gigs with guitar great Jeff Beck, but there’s still been much left to do with the likes of Shadwofax and Kitaro and other areas.

Maybe once you listen to Goodman and Kindler, side by side, you’ll see why it’s so hard to choose between the two.

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Counting down to Labor Day: Seven days to go

Someone found my blog today using the search term “prayers to overcome feeling inadequate at my job.”  Which was kind of remarkable, almost “supernatural,” since it’s been about a full year to the day since I felt one of the worst feelings of my life.

Who's the Boss?
Who’s the Boss? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was a full year ago that I was made to feel like a complete idiot by my last boss in front of all my co-workers, which he was quite good at doing at other times with other co-workers but that was the first time it had happened like that with me.

The next day, the feeling that I could very well lose my job that I’d been at for nearly five years hit me like a ton of bricks.  I could feel my complexion turning more pale, and I said a prayer in a conversational style that lasted about two hours while digging a grave for a human-sized dog, asking for help in providing a way out for my family and me.

It was a year ago today that I went home after that chewing out session and immediately put an updated resume out on monster.com.  My job search began then.  It continues today.

And here we are, coming up to Labor Day.  Yippee.

I will celebrate and raise a toast to the American worker, just like so many others this long weekend.  At the same time, I’ll be continuing to think about the way things are, and I’ll be wondering.

How in the hell is anyone supposed to survive with the way things are?  Living from paycheck to paycheck and not even living an elegant life in the process?  Continually seeing comments from people on jobs-related stories about how they haven’t seen a decent pay increase in years?

How bad can it get?  Let me put it this way:  I deposited a check for just over $81 from my former employer today, a rebate gift courtesy of the Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as that “evil” thing called “Obamacare” … yeah, getting money back from insurance companies overcharging on premiums is very evil), and I was happy to do it.

The check might not have been that much money, but these days every penny counts.  It especially counts when you’ve been unemployed for a while.

The fight continues.  I won’t back down.

Copyright 2012, Daddysangbassdude Media

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