One of Those Tangent Threads

[Frank Macikas]

Just checked the 10 day and as of now there is very little chance of rain after today for the next 10 days leading into the 4th of July weekend. Could it really be true? A chance for levels to drop and water to clear heading into a 3 day weekend?? I also just got a good lead on a new job that would bring me closer to where I need to be financially. I took a job out of desperation about 10 months ago for less than ideal money and not sure how I have gotten by so far but if I can pull down the new job I will be able to stay afloat pretty comfortably. Got my fingers crossed and feeling really good about my chances. Actually feel less stressed just with the possibility! If the rain holds off I'm going to top the day off by taking the kids to the pond for some largemouth and bluegills!

[Ken G]

Congrats on the possible job change, or should I hold off saying that just yet.
I've always meant to start a post asking what everyone does for a living or what they like doing on the side that can make them a few bucks.

For example, I've seen Matts' bamboo fly rod and a spinning rod he built. The day I got the extra money to have him custom build a rod for me was the same day I got laid off. That was that.

Rob does some outdoors writing and I'm sure others have other interests.

One of the other things I used to do years ago was Mac based computer consulting. I'm a little behind, but I probably forgot more about networks than most people will ever know. I'm starting classroom training on July 5th, unpaid of course, and if everything moves along smoothly I'll be a cable guy around the 1st week of August. Cable, internet, phone installs. The place I'll be working for, hopefully, is a contractor for Comcast. I can do those kinds of installs with my eyes closed. The company also does all kinds of other wiring installs that I've done in the past, so I guess anything is possible.

And you are right, just the possibility takes away some of the stress.

I really should start that thread.

[Special Ed]

I've always meant to start a post asking what everyone does for a living or what they like doing on the side that can make them a few bucks.

I really should start that thread.

You are a graphics designer by trade though, correct?

What would you give yourself as a title if you were going to try to sell yourself to the Media Services Division at Argonne?

[Ken G]

I'm one step below what is called a graphic designer. We were production artists, now they call us production designers. After the designer does the initial concept and some quick sketches, now on computer, of how they want it to look, I do all the nitty gritty details of making it look better than envisioned and the printer will have files that will actually print.

Everything you see printed has been touched by someone like me to make the pictures look good, typography is correct, take the endless client edits to whatever it is. Much more difficult than it seems. Since designers are the visionaries with their heads in the clouds, you wouldn't believe how they can screw up files. No big deal when it's a single page, but imagine them screwing up a 300 page catalog so bad that not only does editing it take 5 times longer than it should, the printer can't print it. Seen that.

Got contacted today to go on an interview next week at an ad agency. One of the ones where I was deemed "old."

The conundrum is . . . stick with an industry that thinks I'm old and when they slow down and I'm gone again in a few years, I'm right back to where I am now. Or go with an industry - cable, internet, telephony - that is never going to go away. 10 years from now in the graphics industry I'll be even more worthless, in the other I can probably be training others how to do things correctly.

For now, I'm playing them all out.

Didn't this thread start out about something to do with rain?

Life is a series of semi related tangents.

[Special Ed]

Life is a series of semi related tangents.

That's the deepest thing I've ever read from you this year. You need to fish more.

My shop is next door to the print shop. I'll spark up an inquiry "at the water cooler" this week or next. Unlike the industry you are used to, the lab works for the gov't and is always printing something for advertisement/information/directories/catalogs/etc. That print shop is ALWAYS busy, and you should see the pallets of good looking print I have to throw away on a regular basis.

My Dad is in the print industry (sales) and the company he last worked for left him without the 150k in commissions they owed him because they filed bankruptcy. He ended up taking a job in Milwaukee selling because it's just so slow around here. He's less than 10 years from retirement age and nowhere near able to do so.

[Ken G]

One of the best jobs you can have is anything to do with the government. That's one of the reasons to vote Republican even if you hate them. For all their talk of reducing government and getting big government off our backs, every Republican controlled administration for the past 100 years has done just the opposite.

The godfather of that attitude, Ronnie Reagan, more than doubled the size of government. All while overseeing the most corrupt administration from top to bottom since Grant.

Yeah, I'll come work for them. Job security if we ever get that Obama clown out of there.

Tell your dad that with his sales skills he would probably make an excellent bartender. Unless he went to Quad Graphics. I hear they treat their people well and they own damn near everything.

Please don't tell me your dad is my age.

Who did he work for around here?

[Special Ed]

He used to own his own Direct Mail company called "Direct mail Promotions". After the tech explosion, nobody was buying print media, so he went to work for a company out of Lake Zurich, "Affinity Processing" (you will see my dad's name here: http://www.manta.com/c/mm46ls2/affinity ... ng-svc-inc - Sales Exec.) and they filed bankruptcy last year I think... maybe the year before. It's been a nightmare for him, and I'm glad he landed something paying him what he is worth, even if it is in Milwaukee.

Unfortunately he is about your age. Fortunately for you he was a young teenager when I was born, so you aren't an old-timer yet. (he is a grandfather though)

Funny thing about politics...... I can't stand talking or hearing about it. They are all corrupt, they are all liars, and none of them have ever or will ever do anything to change my mind. This Country is going to hell in a hand-basket, and there isn't anything any of us can do about unless we rise up against the machine that we built "to protect us".

My final word on the Obama vs. Bush debate:

I lost a great many friends in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom I considered brothers. I don't think we should have been an occupying force in either location. I only blame the administration that sent us there for that one.

On the flip side....

The first two years at my "g-job" (Bush years) were scary times, lay-offs, furloughs, and the omnipresent "continuing resolution" budget crisis made it hard to feel secure here. After "Ba-Rocko" (as my son so eloquently calls him) took office and took my grandchildren's money from them before they were even born, things have been much quieter around here.

It's a love hate relationship I guess......

[Ken G]

In my previous marriage, I would have eventually inherited a house on a lake out in nowhere Virginia. The plan was to go completely off grid and basically become as invisible as possible. That's gone.

My new father-in-law owns 40 acres of hunting land in nowhere Missouri. Rumor is a will leaving it 50/50 to his two favorite kids. One of which I'm married to. Di's attitude toward politics is identical to yours. New plan is again to go completely off grid and become virtually invisible.

They are all corrupt, they are all liars, and none of them have ever or will ever do anything to change my mind. This Country is going to hell in a hand-basket, and there isn't anything any of us can do about unless we rise up against the machine that we built "to protect us".

I've mentioned this before, 1970ish Abbie Hoffman wrote the anarchists handbook "Steal this Book" so my brother stole two of them. We memorized that thing. So, rising up is easy. Just pick the time.

I'll be the propaganda minister.

I need to get this book again.

Steal This Book

[Rob P]

where at in missouri?

its easy to get lost down there..

i know the ozark region pretty good.
lots of creeks and big bass lakes.

heading down tomorrow.

[Special Ed]

heading down tomorrow.

Take some pictures!


I hear the water is clear, bet the underwater shots would be great.