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Monday, November 11, 2013

Things I'm doing while I should be working on my resume...

There are probably thousands of reasons why I should be working on my resume right now with the top reason being...my husband said "do it!"...

I had a really nice resume made three years ago that I thought I still had somewhere, with somewhere being the operative word...I have a resume somewhere that really doesn't matter because the skills I have listed on it doesn't apply to any job outside of the radio world...And I know that because I just read a new article off of Monster.com AND LinkedIn (so it's got to be true) that claims that all the Fortune 500 jobs are using robots to read the resumes that are submitted for jobs. Depressing. And all this time I thought it was because my resume sucked. Nope. It was just because I couldn't get past the robots, making my resume sound like the equivalent of a Playstation game. All that is missing are headphones so I can hear all the other resumes screaming as they get shot down by the robots. No wonder I'm sitting here playing mahjong instead of typing up a new resume..."Why bother if I'm just going to get shot down by robots?"
Wearing the Bee head at the Wisconsin State Fair is not a job skill unfortunately, but it should be. I got a real headache from wearing that thing!

On closer read I noticed that this article gave some very good advice about what you should and should not do to get past the robots;
Use keywords, or adjectives that describe your work ethic (conscious, driven, consciously driven), and avoid abbreviations, spelling out manager instead of using mgr. This would be a real problem for me as I have never managed anything (my time, weight, money) so obviously it wasn't that particular word manager that got my resume bounced.

But this article by Eric Larson entitled Meet The Robots Reading Your Resume has given me some food for thought and that is I have a piece of broasted chicken left over from lunch sitting in the fridge that I really should eat before one of my kids get it...
I am a team player, my station needed someone to bounce in the bouncy thing and I jumped right in!

Opps...Team player is not on the list, but the words conscious and consciously driven are two words that I've intersected with especially in my last old job, before this one...
I am conscious of the fact that there is a mat in front of me and these girls are expecting me to perform a summersault.
I am consciously driven to make a fool out of myself.

Wouldn't that be cool if that got my resume past the robots! Especially if it was for a job that required bouncing!

Or wearing a big hat?

Or standing next to someone wearing a weird hat?

Or serving barbecue at a radio appearance at a furniture store?

This last thought has got me thinking...I could get a job where I serve food..."Would you like fries with that?"

Fries...that's right! There are a few fries left with that broasted chicken downstairs in the fridge. Man, I hope the kids haven't found that yet...I really should go down and get it...Oh wait, what about my resume? Forget it, my husband's asleep.

Monday, November 04, 2013

Nothing to say...

I have been sitting in front of this computer now for almost an hour with nothing to say...which is simply incredible if you know me, but explainable if you realize that 3 days ago I decided to sign up for NaBloPoMo on Blogher and almost immediately ran out of ideas...I'm not sure that counts as a coincidence or not. Deciding to write a blog a day for NaBloPoMo gives November a sense of purpose for me...it means that it's not just a cold, dark month with nothing to do but go to work or nap...Now it's a cold, dark month where I blog about going to work and napping!

But I skipped the nap today because I promised my girlfriend last week I'd watch her kid for her today. I picked this little cherub up from school and promised her all the things you promise a kid when you know you have to watch them for two hours but then get to give them back...it's kind of like being a grandmother...consider it a form of friends with benefits if by benefits you get to enjoy being in the presence of a child, but you don't have to buy health insurance for them...Oh! And did I mention you get to give them back...I took this kid to Barnes and Noble because I still have a membership card with them until November 18th, which means today I still get the 10 percent discount on the Hershey chocolate cheesecake! About 10 minutes later I noticed she had barely touched her cheesecake which prompted me to utter something I thought I'd never say in a million years to anyone..."Eat your chocolate, kid!"

It turns out this little girl hates cheesecake, too bad for her but hey, hey, it was my lucky day because I'm not signing up for Weight Watchers until tomorrow, or next week, or maybe even next year...hard to say. I got her a consolation hot chocolate and then started to help her with her homework. We started with math. It was something to do with graphs. Graphs. She's an eight year old. That's when I decided it was probably time to take her to my house so I could search for one of my adult children...one of them just graduated from college this year, and the other one took math last semester. Thank God. My daughter offered to help...I kid...she did help...but that was after I begged her...I promised to let her use this computer right after I wrote my NaBloPoMo blog for today...

That was two hours ago...my friend came and got her kid, and one hour ago I sat down in front of this computer and started playing Mahjong while I waited for lightning to strike me with an idea...my daughter has been in twice asking when I'm getting off this computer but seriously I have nothing to say...

Cindy Huber

NaBloPoMo November 2013

Saturday, November 02, 2013

Emails from Heaven...

I really don't know how to start this other then to say losing my mom has been a lot like I would imagine falling off a cliff would feel. I recently checked my facebook posts from last year, and just about every post started out "please pray for my mom"--OR--"My mom is in ICU again..." And then there were all the emergency trips to Iowa.

Then my mom died. And you would think that in a small way, I would feel some peace of not having to worry about her; from wondering if she's taking her heart medications, to whether she left the water running in the kitchen faucet and is it flooding the basement again...but seriously, I don't. What I feel now is what I imagine hitting the ground would feel like, pain followed by numbness. Even in my dreams she's ill. My mom was so sick, for so long, I can't even remember what she was like when she was healthy.


Recently I got a call that required a resume, and as queen of the "put off today what you should be doing, and tomorrow you'll still have that problem." That's me, I invented that saying! But I was excited none the less, because I knew I had a copy of my resume somewhere in my old email folders...You know, the archives...where you're suppose to stick all your crap so it doesn't clog up your INBOX, or my INBOX, which, the last time I counted (a couple of minutes ago)had 125 emails, 80 of them unread. My email box is like that TV show Hoarders, except much less exciting.

But back to my resume, I knew I had done one 3 years ago when I last lost my job (before this), but it wasn't in there...not in any of the 3 archive folders I have, which, as you might suspect...are jammed.

But what I found in one of my folders was far more precious then any old resume I might have found...I found several of my mom's old emails to me, back before she got so ill, back before she got so cloudy she couldn't remember how to dial a phone, or turn on the computer. The first email she ever sent me is dated February 13, 2008 and is labeled Love you...other subjects included How much do I love you, only a mother would know, Thinking of you, I bet your asleep, To my sweetheart, Praying for you, Have not forgotten you...with the very last email she sent me, February 2, 2010, Missing you;

Dear Cindy,
It is about 11:00 p.m. Have been on the phone for 1 and 1/2 hours to a lady named Sonja that I met at the animal shelter quite a few years ago. She called to let me know that a young man that worked there probably about 35 years old died today with pancreatic cancer and wondered if I remembered him. I just don't. Maybe if I saw a picture of him I might remember him. But here again is a young man or young person with pancreatic cancer. I sometimes think that a lot of this cancer is caused by a poor immune system. The younger generation has been raised on McDonalds, Burger Kings and wouldn't know a cabbage from a cauliflower. Also we have a lot more additives in everything. I agree with you also that food kept in plastic containers or water is a cause of cancer. Years ago most things were kept in glass containers. Well your dad is waiting for me. I love him so must call it a night.
Missing you with all my heart but so thank-full for the time we had. My how it flew.
Love and kisses,
Mom

If I had won the Powerball I wouldn't have been more excited. I didn't know I had saved these, it's like the back of my closet, I don't even remember the last time I checked there. It was like getting my mom back again, even if it was only in a few emails. It was like getting an email from Heaven.



But the best part came last night, I had that dream about my mom again...She is lying in bed, hooked up to a million and one cords, but this time I wasn't sad, I reached over and said "Mom! I'm so glad to see you again, I love you!" As I was giving her a hug, I woke up. And I now have some peace.

NaBloPoMo November 2013