Busy testing with Twitter and the Twitcam capability

This spring break (aka Tuesday) I've been testing with the webcam and Twitcam.  It works fairly well, but I don't think I'll be looking to get my family (vacationing in Florida) to use it to see me at the computer with the dog in the background.

Still, Twitcam works fairly well, albeit with much advertising.  More testing to come, but it's the easiest webcam launcher over the Internet that I've found.  Powered by Adobe Flash (which I will not link to).

Starbucks vs. Ramen

I read two books over the last three months for pleasure; believe me, I'm reading a bunch of dry textbooks, too. Both of the fun books were food/restaurant based.

How Starbucks Saved My Life is not a bad little book, but it reads too much like a plea to opt film rights, which is what I believe Tom Hanks has done. Michael Gates Gill came from affluence, rubbed elbows with Hemingway and bumped elbows with Queen Elizabeth II, but lost his job at the most prestigious NYC ad agency. Next stop, Starbucks as a 63 year-old barista.

He learns a lot about serving good coffee and the perspectives of the less fortunate, but no-less hard-working. He even makes some headway in improving the relationships with his children. Not a bad tome, but not the greatest read either. You'll come away from it thinking it's kind of a conversation piece to tell your friends you've read... over coffee.

A better read is The Ramen King and I, by Andy Raskin. Now this guy is a mess. An MBA fluent in Japanese, he is commitment-phobic and likely a sex addict, too. He leaves a trail of broken hearts through Tokyo, New York City, and San Francisco. Along the way, he becomes obsessed with ramen noodles. His counselor encourages him to pray to the inventor of ramen, Momofuku Ando. Raskin does this.

Are his prayers answered? I think not, but he does travel to Japan to attend Momofuku's funeral. Life lessons ensue. Raskin gets much credit for baring his soul and his weaknesses and obsessions. This book was one of the best DRM-protected works I've checked out of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Definitely worth a look.

Job market for librarians is picking up

...but not for this librarian. Still, more midwestern positions available this week than in weeks past. Indeed.com and LISjobs.com seem to have a higher-than-usual number of listings.

The Columbus Metropolitan Library keeps sending me rejections, but Ohio Dominican possibly could interview me. My hard-earned (unemployment) dollars go there, so I'm hopeful they give me consideration.

And apparently 47 is too old for customer support gigs. I've had three job interviews in the last three months where the hiring manager was a man my age or close to it. Seems to be the kiss of death for a job if someone who is demographically similar isn't interested in bringing you on board. I want to say, "But you're a late-40's, white man, and you get to work here! How 'bout me?"

Thank goodness I get to vent on this blog!

Library work? In Ohio?

Well, that fortnight went by quickly. How did two weeks come and go without a post? School work has taken precedence, and the job hunt has been curtailed to approximately two job applications per week. That's not enough to get any hits, and it's certainly a lot less than the eight or nine I had been firing out.

Most of these positions are in customer support (because that's what I had been doing at the amazing Oh, See Hell, See), and I may have applied at one of the Columbus Metro. branches for part-time work. Basically, there are no library jobs available in central Ohio. The job seeker must go back a month or more to find some outdated listings in Granville or Newark. I didn't apply to those: It's not cost effective to drive 38 miles each way for a $15/hr. position. Finding a call center post in Hilliard for $13 is more realistic, and it would cut down on a lot of wear on my car.

Got a job interview (customer support) on Friday, the 25th. I'm optimistic--someone's gotta hire me! Perhaps when I finish my second Master's degree in August, that will help. Good Lord, if getting as much college under my belt as a lawyer doesn't help, I don't know what will.

File under world's grumpiest librarian.

Sony Reader DRM title and expired status

I'm discovering that a whole week+ can go by without having a chance to blog. This post is just to show what a DRM-protected EPUB title looks like when the 14-day countdown is done. Note the "Expired" status to the right of Get The Job....

What's strange is that I was able to continue reading the book two days after the Expired status kicked in, because I hadn't stepped off this title. However, once I stepped off (by selecting one of my RTF files) and keeping the RTF file while a day elapsed, only then did the Expired status really delete the book.

With DRM titles, the Reader displays the expired book's length as one-page on the information screen. The "page" that displays just informs you that the title has expired.

Fortunately, I was able to renew the title online and I just need to sync it again to the Reader. So back to it as time permits...