Dry The Rain

Sigh.
The rain is falling hard on this humdrum town.
And being unemployed is bringing me down.

I woke up this morning and applied to five jobs over the internet. I’ve pretty much lost faith on applying to jobs over the internet since I’ve easily sent out over 1000 applications via this method and I’ve gotten exactly two interviews this way. Not a good ratio. Granted, I’ve gotten plenty of staffing agency interviews, but they are always looking for people. Since moving to NC, I’ve applied at seven staffing agencies (one in Atlanta, one in Baltimore, one in Northern VA and four in Charlotte) and I’ve gotten only two interviews out of those agencies, both in the last 2 weeks in the DC area.
The staffing agencies really drive me crazy because I go there, fill out their applications and tax forms, give them my social security number, banking info, references and permission for them to administer background and credit checks on me, take around two hours of Micro$oft testing and then go home, never to hear from them again. Sometimes someone from the agency will talk to me for all of five minutes about my goals and what I am looking for in my next job, but that is not always the case. At the last agency I went to in Charlotte, they didn’t even tell me my test scores. Then I try and follow up with them after the fact and the never return my calls or emails. Thanks guys. Whenever I go through this process, it just makes me feel like a piece of meat with absolutely no dignity.
And these tests are complete bullshit. All they measure is if you know how to bold text and plug in Excel formulas. It's basically a test to see how good a robot you are. There is nothing in those tests to measure your professionalism, problem solving abilities, phone manner or work ethic. You can have of those things, but if you can't do a mail merge in Word, you are seen as worthless.
I am really shocked that I haven’t been able to find a job down here in the two months (!!!!!) I’ve been in the South. I think the fact that all my experience is in NYC is scaring off employers down here. They probably think they will have to pay through the nose for me. That’s why I’ve started focusing on the DC area. I think hope that I will be more well received in that area.
I know there are some other bloggers out there looking for work just like me. If you are, drop me a line and maybe we can all get a discussion going on what is and is not working for each of us individually. Maybe we can help each other out?

Best headline I've seen is quite some time When Bryant Doesn't Shoot First, Questions Asked Later. Seems like Kobe is pouting because his teammates haven't been happy with his recent shot selection or the rate at which he hoists them up, so he decided not to shot much in their game yesterday at Sacramento. That coupled with foul trouble for Shaq = a Lakers loss. So it wasn't Doug Christie's defense then. FYI - Kobe has averaged 34 points a game against the Kings this year. Oh, and Shaq still has a potty mouth. How long until NBA games are on a seven second delay. Hey maybe that's a career path I can look into. Curse word bleeper!

In case you are counting at home, a record 76 American troops have died in hostile action this month in Iraq, with 26 of those casualties coming in the last 3 days.

John McCain will not be John Kerry's VP.

Proof that Perry Farrell has lost his marbles, he thinks the whole jam band culture is cool. Yo PF, I grew up in that scene and it's not cool at all. Trust Me.

Did you know that you can order prints of John Squire's artwork form the man himself? Most of the prints are the artwork that came with some of the Stone Roses releases. Coolness. Unfortunately it will totally break your bank. A little under $500 to buy a print and have it delivered to the US.

OK, just so I am not a total downer today (I'm bringing you down, I know, I'm sorry) here are some pictures I found on my hard drive of the Morrissey DVD signing at the Union Square Mega Store in NYC in October of 2000. If you can't tell, I'm the guy with the large melon and shaved head. This is when I asked Morrissey if he indeed learned everything he knew from Limp Bizkit (it was something he kept saying onstage during his last East Coast tour) and he laughed and said "I'm still learning". Big ups to David T. at Morrissey-Solo dot com for hooking everyone up with the pics.

If there's something inside that you wanna say
Say it out loud it'll be okay
I will be your light / I will be your light
I will be your light / I will be your light
I Need Love, yeah / I Need Love