Job Fair? Not really

I went to a relatively large Job Fair at the local community college a couple of days ago. With the rising unemployment rate I figured it would be busy, and that there would be television coverage, and I was right.

Only I wish they had billed the ‘Job Fair’ as what it really was. It was really a place various branches of our Armed Forces to hang out their shingle and recruit.  The handful of businesses that were there weren’t actually offering jobs, they were just collecting resumes in the event that maybe the federal stimulus package would let them hire at some point this year.

I spent all of 10 minutes there, dropped off two resumes and left. I wish they had simply called it a ‘Resume Collection/Military Recruiting Fair.’

That would have been accurate.

Yeah, this was worth discussing!

I don’t often stray anywhere near politics in my writing. There are people far more passionate, and knowledgeable, than I am. Today, though, I have to make an exception.

I generally love the writing of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. Today, though, I have ask. Maureen, what on earth are you thinking?

You wasted an entire column on the subject of whether or not Michelle Obama needs to cover up her arms in public because they are too muscular?

Are you serious, Maureen? Without Dubya in office (thank goodness) is this the best you can do?

We have serious problems. An economy on the brink of complete disaster, hundreds of thousands of people losing jobs each month, a war to find a way out of and more. And you want to write a column telling the First Lady to cover up her sculpted biceps?

C’mon, Maureen! I thought you were better than that.

Blogging is taking over my life

I began blogging about three years ago as a simple hobby, just a way to express some opinions and fill some empty evening time with something other than television.

It has become an obsession. Hours spent each day scouring for items about the New York Yankees or New York Giants, about whom I do most of my writing. Time spent each day checking and re-checking the sites for comments, and often responding to them. Time spent checking stats and promoting the site by pushing stories to aggregators like Ballhype.

I love doing it, and right now I have the time to devote to it. Yet, when I came across an article on ProBlogger.net entitled ‘Bloggers Without Boundaries‘ I was startled. It talks about the way blogging changes your lifestyle, at least for those like me who are committed to it.

It’s Sunday morning, you’re up early, the house is still quiet. And, like any self-respecting blogger, you take this time to meditate, set-up your day and plan what you’ll do with the family, today. Not!

That’s what you know you should do. But, instead, you wander over to your computer, check your blog for comments, check your subscriber and traffic stats and maybe crank out a quick post or video. Then, you jump on twitter to check your timeline, follower numbers and reply to any @’s or dm’s.

A few minutes later, the kids wander out and your day really begins. Breakfast, then the day’s activities. It’s all great fun, yet, you still find yourself reveling in those random moments in the rest-room, where you linger a few extra seconds to check your e-mail, IM, twitter and stats once more on your trusty iPhone.

Congrats!

You’ve become a card-carrying member of Bloggers Without Boundaries.

You’ve lost the ability to separate your virtual community from your real-life community. And, in fact, what happens in the ether, for you, may play an equally important and impactful role in your life as what happens in flesh and blood.

Without question, I see a lot of myself in those paragraphs. I am at the computer, cup of coffee in hand, almost as soon as I am out of bed in the morning. Checking my sites is one of the last things I do at night. When I am home, I check them several times each day and I spend way too much time looking for almost everything written about the Yankees or Giants.

Pro Blogger asks:

What’s the net effect on our humanity and ability to maintain intelligent boundaries between work, play, family and friends?”

Has the expectation now become that bloggers and social media marauders are available 24/7? For people like us, is there such a thing as a fixed workweek or office hours anymore?

I don’t know the answers to those questions. I know that I enjoy the communities I participate in, and that I feel like I am doing something worthwhile.

Am I really, though? Are my priorities out of whack? Am I spending too much time at this for, really, very little gain? I certainly am not making a living from all this writing.

I just don’t know. But, maybe it isn’t for me to answer. As long as I enjoy it, why should I stop?

Don’t complain to me about your job

My wife came home from her job the other day and agitatedly told me the story of how many of her co-workers had been complaining at a meeting that day.

She works in a school system and, due to budget cuts here in New York state, some shuffling is being done. Early retirements are being offered and accepted, and staff are being asked to pick up some different responsibilities.

Apparently, some folks aren’t too happy about that.

My reaction? Are you whiny jerks kidding me? I mean, seriously. Are you freakin’ kidding me?

There were 667,000 people in the USA added to the unemployment roles in January. That is the most in 26 years. There are now more than 5 million people — including me — out of work. That is the most since the government began tracking unemployment figures in 1967.

And people who have jobs, good jobs that pay very handsomely, have the audacity to complain about having their responsibilities shifted around a little bit? Are you being laid off or asked to take a huge pay cut? I don’t think so.

Get a clue people! Look around you. Watch the news, for crying out loud. Look at your friends, your neighbors, members of your extended family. We all know people who are hurting right now. People who want to support their families, but don’t have a way to do that. People who would jump at the chance to do the job you are whining about, or, for that matter, any job.

You should have had lunch with me Thursday. I met with a former co-worker who lost his job last fall at the same time I did when our former company let one-third of its workforce go.

Between the two of us, we probably have 50 years of full-time work experience. We have college educations and have held leadership roles. Neither one of us has even gotten a whiff of a new job.

My friend is talking about finding work on a road crew, something he did in college. At this point, I would mow lawns, run errands, deliver phone books. I don’t care. Whatever it takes to make a living.

So, whatever your job is don’t go complaining about it. Be thankful you have one. The way things are going, you might not have it much longer.

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Surprisingly, I have become an expert

I started blogging about sports maybe three years ago. I am a former sports writer, I have opinions about the sports and the teams I love, and blogging was a simple way for me to write about things I enjoyed in my spare time.

I had no idea when I started that it would become an obsession for me, which it has. I also had no idea that people would dissect many of my opinions the way they do. Or, that I would end up being considered an expert when it comes to the things I write about. Which, apparently, I have.

I have had my baseball writing featured by ESPN columnist Rob Neyer. I have written pieces for the New York Times ‘Fifth Down’ football blog.  I have done radio interviews speaking about the New York Giants, and have answered countless questions from other bloggers seeking information about the teams I write about.

It amazes me every single time. And, it happened again just the other day when a writer from the Web site Football.com asked me for comments in regards to a story about the Giants’ unsettled wide receiver situation. (Read the story here).

Every time I simply hope I don’t come off sounding like an idiot. I have no access to these teams. I am just a guy with opinions, the time and willingness to research them a bit, and the Internet as a conduit to express them.

I never thought I would end up being an expert.

Big Blue View

Pinstripe Alley

Consulting career hits a snag

So, it seems that my plan to make a living by freelancing, doing consulting or project work, and continuing the blogging I love has hit its first major pothole.

I signed a contract almost four weeks ago now to build a series of user guides for a company I am familiar with. In fact, it is the company that let me go in the fall.

The work is budgeted for about 200 hours total, and I was excited by the opportunity to actually complete a project I had started before the financial crunch affected my employment status.

Unfortunately, this is where it gets sticky. Nearly four weeks after we hatched an agreement, none of the work is done. I am getting very little input, training or direction from this company. In fact, I have probably put in less than 15 of those 200 hours at this point.

I am not sure what to make of this, or what to do about it. These are people I have worked with, who I like and respect. They also know and like what I can do. Those are the reasons we agreed to this.

Now, though, I am not sure how to proceed. I don’t want to back out of this deal, but I also need to be able to seek other projects and give an honest assessment of my availability. Oh, and I need to get paid.

If you have thoughts on how to approach this, especially whether or not I can set an end date for my availability, let me know. I can use the advice.

Beginning a new venture

If you follow my sports blogging at all (and I hope you do), I have a new home for my baseball writing.

I have moved from Bugs and Cranks to Pinstripe Alley, one of the finest and longest-tenured New York Yankees blogs on the Internet.

Nothing will change about my writing style, or the topics I choose to cover. What will change is the atmosphere.

Rather than being the sole Yankee writer surrounded by a sea full of Yankee-haters, posting at Pinstripe Alley puts me in front of a very much pro-Yankee audience, and a larger one to boot.

So, I’m thrilled. I hope you will stop by and join the discussion.

Golf season can’t come soon enough

Apparently, I am not the only one getting antsy to scratch the golf itch.

It is still mid-February, it is 35 degrees here in upstate New York this afternoon, there is snow on the ground and more expected to hit some time this week.

Yet, lately I have found myself longing for the golf course. Stopping, when no one is looking, to practice my swing for no apparent reason.

I drove past the local driving range just a little while ago, found all the bays filled with folks shaking off the winter rust, and a line of people waiting to hit.

Like I said, seems like I am not the only one in a hurry for golf season to get here.

Golf is an obsession. If you don’t play, you don’t understand. Don’t get started if you don’t want to get hooked. I’m not very good, but that doesn’t matter. Every time I play I can’t wait for the next opportunity.

Here is a great documentary called “The obsession with golf explained.” It’s long, but if you enjoy golf you will consider it time well spent.

Great day for a debate

It seems like I am in a debating mood today.

At ‘Bugs & Cranks,’ where I write primarily about the New York Yankees I wade head-first in the Joba Chamberlain debate. Should he start? Should he relieve? I say both. Start now. Relieve later.

At ‘Big Blue View,’ my New York Giants site, I am wondering why we always have to determine which game, which team, which play was the best of all-time. Basically, I think it’s impossible.

Looking myself in the mirror today

I have been coaching youth sports of some kind for close to 15 years now. Basketball, baseball, soccer. I have done them all.

I have seen my share of wonderful moments while coaching, and my share of bad ones. I have probably helped create some of the good ones, and, if I am to be honest about it, caused some of the bad ones.

Over the weekend, while coaching a 7th grade boys youth basketball team, one of the bad moments occurred.

I had a young man tossed from a game for an extremely flagrant foul committed out of frustration during a game in which my team was getting beaten badly. Unfortunately, I am pretty certain a great deal of the young man’s frustration was directed at me.

I had been tough on him during the game, tougher and probably more critical than I intended to be. I believe that since the young man could not take out his frustration on me, his coach and an adult, he took it out on an opposing player.

Yes, I am disappointed. Not in the young man. In myself.

I got into coaching many years ago to avoid things like this. I remember watching a man I had known since childhood reduce a group of second-grade boys to tears over a basketball tournament. Yes, second-graders! I vowed to get into coaching right then, and to make sure stuff like that did not happen on my watch.

My goal is to always keep my ego out of the equation. To make sure kids all get a fair shake, that they learn something and that — most of all — they enjoy themselves. If a child decides to leave a sport I never want to be the reason. I want their last memory of playing to be a good one, not to be ‘Coach Valentine wrecked it for me.’

This has been a tough season for my 7th grade boys basketball team. We are in way over our heads ability-wise in most games we play, and are winless on the season. I think I have allowed my ego, bruised a little by the losing, to creep in. Maybe even a little of my frustration at being unemployed for the past few months.

Beginning tonight at practice I will fix that. These kids need to have fun and feel good about themselves, win or lose. It’s my responsibility to make sure that happens. And I will.

– For more on positive coaching, check out the Positive Coaching Alliance.