Expanding my advice audience...

Way back when my profession was that of a software developer I used to go on interviews as if it was my hobby.  This may sound strange to many but even if I was completely happy with my current job or project I still would find a way to go to at least one interview a week, sometimes even got a free lunch out of it too.  When I first started doing it I was looking for different opportunities but as time passed and had done many different interviews it become more and more evident I was fine tuning my interview skills.  In a few short years walking into an interview was about like ordering drive thru at McDonalds, what I mean to say is it no longer was a nervous situation or the answers to questions had no struggle to them.  From that point on I could get just about any job I was qualified for, I won't boast like some and state any job because lets be honest for a second I don't know every field but if I did I could get it.

So lets fast forward a bit and look at the last few years, every time my wife has issues with her job, co-workers or just figuring out if it is time to leave she comes to me for the answer.  One of the first things I realized is even though we are in completely different industries what applies to mine also applies to hers.  A few weeks ago her and I were talking about a situation and it dawned on me that a lot of people could use this kind of advice but seldom have anyone to turn to for the answers, so I started up a website.  I mean come on, they have websites for everything so why not this, why not me?  

One thing that I think sets mine apart it comes from personal experience.  A good example of this is the article I wrote the other day and common mistakes veterans make on their resumes, looking at a few other related articles I quickly noticed something they all had in common in that they were written by people who never were in the military.  I did serve my country and have a firm grasp on what it is like to get out of the military and suddenly hit by the sledge hammer on how different the civilian world is compared to what you know to be normal.  This is usually compounded if you were like me and joined the military right out of high school.

If you find yourself looking for a job or just wanting to get a different take on your current job take a look at Workplace Politics.

I have to say, I liked it and he is still the smartest man in the room.  What was bewildering to me was the comments that followed afterwards because it clearly showed they neither heard what he was saying or understood it if they heard it.  Congress is more focused on an idea which is crippling this nation with each day, oddly enough we think terrorist do damage to the USA, just look at the damage this congress is doing... could be worse and should be criminal.  What does that say when the boss pays less taxes then those that work for him?  You can't tell me some line about it is so they can reinvest or hire more people to work because over the last few years it is clearly been shown that while companies are back to making profits (and in some cases record profits) they are neither looking to or actually hiring more.  We have had decades of cutting taxes for the rich and wealthy of this country and yet here we stood on the edge of a depression and they want me to believe that this is working?

One thing the President could do that would not just impress me but also get my vote is to start the ground work for both term limits on congress and put an end to lobbyist with regard to those who hold an elected office.  This might go a long way to cleaning things up eventually because at the current pace things will never get there.

Idiot of the Week: Tim Thomas

First off I know only 16 people will know who I am talking about, he is a hockey player.  What Tim Thomas doesn't know is the first President of the United States to invite a team to the White House was Andrew Johnson, this is called a tradition.  Here is his statement...

I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.

This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic.

Now I can see one of his reasons for this being his only public statement, that's because he is an idiot and knows he is about to be lit up by millions of Americans using their right of freedom of speech.  What he is clueless is about is some of actually served our country and we take traditions such as meeting the President very serious.  This isn't about politics or your own personal rant, this is about respecting the office.  This is why news reporters in other countries think it is okay to throw a shoe at the President of the United States, I mean why not... Look at Tim Thomas.

So the next time Tim decides to show his stupidity, perhaps he should forget about his rights and remember the people who died so he could have them and show the respect the Office of the President it deserves.

And this is why Tim Thomas is Idiot of the Week.

 

Easy Potato Wedges Recipe

Yesterday the NFL Postseason games were about to come on and I was wanting something different to snack on.  Now I will be the first to admit I am not anything close to a chef but I am more then willing to go into the kitchen and screw up some good food.  This was very easy though and fit that need for something other then chips while watching a game.

Very Easy Oven Potato Wedges
Ingredients:
    4 medium sized potatoes
    2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    1 teaspoon ground black pepper
    1 teaspoon seasoning salt
    1 teaspoon onion powder
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.     Rinse then thoroughly in cold water, just to clean off any dirt
3.     Cut the potatoes into wedges, I do 6 per potato
4.     Add oil and toss the potatoes around so they are evenly coated (hands work fast and great)
5.     Add all of the spices and the cheese and toss so they are evenly coated (hands work fast and great)
6.     Place on a baking pan in one layer (preferably lined, makes for easy cleaning) and bake for around 30-40 minutes, depending on person preference of potato texture.
7.     Serves great with a little sour cream, next time will add some cheese after they cook as well.

   
    I added a little salt after they cooked, brought out the flavor I thought but only do that based on your taste and desire

I am fairly sure that because of these potato wedges both teams I was hoping to win, won.  Patriots and the Giants are off to the Super Bowl.

Finding things on the web/internet

Finding things on the web/internet

Every lose something, I think we can safely all agree that we have and know the feeling all too well but in this day of age we also lose things on the internet.  Now google serves a very good purpose there especially when you really started to understand how to use it but more on that later, today I am talking about some of the vast information sites that change format over and over and then suddenly you can’t find something you once could before.  I recently had this problem, I knew the material existed and has existed since about 2001 but the website it was on is both huge and ever changing so finding the same material again turned into a very challenging task.  Every few days I would show back up at this site’s search or google search and try a few new words that might inch me closer to the desired destination but each time was greeted with countless pages I didn’t desire or nothing.  I knew it was downloadable material, knew a few of the key words that should of got me some good results but nothing was working. 

So when this happens to you, head over to web.archive.org or commonly referred to as the wayback machine.  I knew the site I was looking for so the first step was easy, let’s look at the site but what this allows me to do is to look at the site the way it was years back. (of course if wayback machine crawled if but so far it has hit everything I wanted and experimented with)  The material I wanted wasn’t showing up, so I started going back in time.  Each time it kept the link as it was but let me look at the same page moving backwards in time until finally, there was the age old page really to give up its secrets.

I suggested if you are looking for something on a public site and having issues, give it a try.

Links

http://www.archive.org

Gingrich's ex-wife claims he sought an 'open marriage'

First let me state, no one really knows if he did or didn't want this and we all know how pissed off an ex can be.  At this time it is mostly he said she said kind of stuff but given Newt's track record with adultery in his past can this really be that farfetched?  Do any of these candidates have a clue or politicians for that matter? 

I personally am more or less an independent or as I like to call it, I vote for the smartest person in the room.  As an independent I really and I do mean really hoping for a good election this year, two candidates who knew what they were doing and we would have a solid choice to make.  The reality is the republican field is so week I think Hillary Clinton should join them and make her run for office, I know it sounds part funny and strange but she would clean the floor with these people.  Then you have Rick Perry, he came into this election field as if was a rock star, until people stopped for a moment and heard what he had to say and believed in.  Does this man get drug tested because he seriously is drinking some the same pool Sarah Palin is and it isn’t pretty.  Only thing going for Rick Perry at this point is at least he didn’t quit as governor of Texas.

Free advice for Newt Gingrich, your ex is going to bury you so you might want to balance the books and get out now. 

Online tools or offline tools?

For a while now I have pondered developing another npc generator and even put a lot of work into what I call Evolution.  Evolution is a interface platform that would allow me to easily create new tools without the hassle of having to create a unique application each time.  I have to say though, the more I do website work and learn PHP, it does have me wondering why not develop an npc generator like that of NPC Designer but online rather then offline.


First is can it be done, NPC Designer - 3.5 NPC Generator does a lot of fancy things that based on what I see from other npc generation software just isn't done.  I do think it can be and PHP seems to have the needed functions to make it happen, I think the real issue will be speed but we will see.  I already started coding the basic building blocks to any npc generator and with those some smaller scripts just to test out functionality, like a potion generator, wand generator and now even a spellbook generator.  I will be posting these online at www.rpgattitude.com in case you wish to take a look and see how they work or give feed back on how to make them better.

Related Links
NPC Designer