Been having some issues with getting myself motivated to write lately and was surprised I haven’t written anything here since January 2nd. Looking back, I was talking about all the bad things that were happening as we started off the new year. Fast forward 2 weeks and some of those things look pretty mild compared to the devastation in California due to the forest fires that have basically destroyed entire towns. The fires have forced people to have to walk away from their homes as the fires spread. A lifetime of memories destroyed in the blink of an eye. It is really hard to comprehend, so instead of watching and pretending to know how it feels, I just want to let everybody who is affected (The Rescue Workers, The Rich, the Poor, the Famous, the Homeless, Business owners, Government officials, ..) that most of Americans are heartbroken and wishing feeling your pain. There are always those who look at strategies as an opportunity to get their point or their thoughts out, claim that they are the victims, and just hate on everybody involved. It is just noise, so do your best to ignore it and remember the good outnumber the bad by a wide margin. PEACE to ALL

Switching directions, job searching has become a game that I really don’t want to play. First, you need to search job boards and company sites for job listings (hoping that they are actually available, and not just posted for corporate compliance reasons) Then you need to create a customized resume for each job you see posted. This is now done by pasting your base resume and the job description into an AI site and having AI quickly add and delete skills and experiences to your resume so it exactly matches what they are looking for. Then you do the same thing with AI to create a customized cover letter explaining why you would be a perfect fit for the job. Then submit your resume and hope that you were one of the lucky people whose AI resume was able to beat all the scanning software companies use, and actually have somebody take 3 – 5 seconds to look it over. Then, if the job is actually available, maybe you get an e-mail or call back. Then you need to make sure you have all your customized resumes, and cover letters available and ready so you know what the job is and be able to answer questions

Add to the fact that I am looking for jobs in IT, and I am at the upper end of the age scale (I am 58), and it gets harder and harder to keep up with all the new software/hardware/technologies that are out there. While there are lots of online training sites, most cost money, so you have to weigh that against the fact of how long I plan to be working (While I am not thinking of retiring, I am also not looking for a 10 – 15 year position. Also, at some point what I did 15 – 20 years ago really has no relevance in today’s world. Past experience with applications and Operating Systems that either no longer exist, or are so old they are past their time, makes it harder and harder.

I will get there but might have to think independently and come up with some unique ideas and thoughts to put myself in a position to find something that is enjoyable to get me through my remaining corporate working years. This was pretty much written from thoughts. I will re-read it and then make some updates and changes and try to be more focused — ** More to Come**

Quicky — Went to the Movies and saw “A Complete Unknown”. Thought it was really good. I have always liked Bob Dylan, and was very interesting to see some aspects of his early life. Was also interesting to see what the world was like back in the early 1960s. While it was probably a simmpiler time, there were still issues that people had to deal with like today. I am also a fan of Timothee Chalamet and like most of everything he has done (Although I am one of the few who really dis not like Dune 2, sorry). I give it 4 Bags

Note: Please check out Mediocre Movie Majors on YouTube – My daughter and her boyfriend are filmmakers and do a movie review podcast. (Here is the latest episode)

I also watched “A Den of Thieves” the other night – I saw a commercial for “A Den of Thieves II” and it looked good, so I figured I would give it a chance. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it. It also looked great and was well-made. Another 4 Bags

Going to put together another short Survivor Application Video. Playing off of my rant on job searching above, I have some outside-of-the-box ideas and going to give them a try. Similar to looking for a job, a big part of submitting an application video is selling oneself. I already know I am not the best at this, but maybe writing about it and thinking about it will get me motivated to try some things

Finally, I tried watching “Deal or No Deal Island” — Even though I am a big reality show fan and enjoy seeing some old Survivor and Big Brother contestants come back and compete, the show was pretty bad. Any reality show where they need to explain the rules, and it still makes no sense, is not going to work for me. Same with “The Traitors” Great concept and fun to see old players, but once they are gone, the show in general is not good enough to hold my interest.

Survivor (#1)
Who Wants to the A Millionaire (#2)
The Amazing Race (#3)
Big Brother (#4)

All other reality shows are below the Big Four

Average Andy Out

#PEACE
#Survivor

#Marillion – A Better Way of Life