The kids are alright (part 1)

I teach a class on e-commerce and marketing. Over the semester, the students in this class are developing and maintaining their own websites. They are a talented bunch. Check their stuff out!

Want to march against the crowd? Conjure up Caleb's chain maille jewelry

Feel the need for speed? Zip on over to Dustin's custom motorcycle gear

Just want to hang out and relax? Travis has the perfect handsewn hammocks

Craving more storage? You've got a future in plastics with Angela's Tupperware

Need to put on a happy face? Julie will make it impossible to control your beauty

Draw upon your favorite memories with Kara's custom portraits

Cross over to the good side with Brooke & Alex's handmade crosses

Draw upon Ryan's sketches

And finally (for today), show off your true colors with Cameron's handpainted coverings

Hey Recessionistas! It's a coming-out tea party!

Several great blogs including a personal fave - Pink Slips are the New Black - are calling for people to rise up and protest the bailout.

Check out their blog and rsvp.

There's strength in numbers. And collectively, we have more political power than we do sitting behind a computer screen tapping out words. Let's marshal our resources and rock the vote!

A bailout bucket for you, nothing for me

Santelli's rant has been splashed everywhere. While I don't agree with everything he said, I totally get the sentiment. My husband and I bought a fairly modest house that we could readily afford when we were both working. Now that my job is gone, we're using savings to pay our bills and mortgage. We're scraping by, but we're watching our savings dwindle down.

We haven't walked away from our mortgage because we put 25% down. We have a decent interest rate, but would love to refinance. We can't though. We won't qualify for a new mortgage now that I'm no longer employed.

It is terribly wrong that someone with no skin in the game (yes, I mean you 0% downers) can walk out of a mortgage that they shouldn't have entered into in the first place. Then, they can buy a short-sale house and profit off the foreclosure, entering into a much lower % mortgage than I have...and qualify for bailout assistance.

So yeah, I totally get the anger behind the tea party. It's an economic meltdown of serious proportions...it rewards irresponsible fiscal behavior. And, it's going to mean that I struggle for years not just under the burden of my own choices (which I am fully responsible for), but under the added weight of the poor choices and bad acts of others.

Stimulus? The only people feeling stimulated are the financially irresponsible and economic freeloaders. Oh, and of course those going on 'executive retreats' on my dime.

Shrew Beatdown: Joy Behar vs. Ann Coulter

Who is worse - Joy Behar or Ann Coulter?? Ann Coulter is mouthy and says things for shock value to sell books, but she's no fool. She frequently has to correct Joy on what she actually asked. Joy Behar is arguably a fool. She's uninformed and simplistic in her arguments and her interviewing style is to bait Ann Coulter. Hey Joy - words mean something!

The whole thing was a waste of time. Neither one provides any meaningful elucidation, discourse or proposes solutions to the many issues affecting our country.

These aren't really the best women that we have to offer in the national discussion, are they?

The Octo mom and 14 unfortunate souls

There is much shrill and judgmental press around the so-called 'Octo-mom' these days...the woman with six kids at home, who just gave birth to octuplets implanted in-vitro. Octo-mom is apparently unmarried, has no source of independent income and has been scolded publicly by her own mother. She also has been said to have had cosmetic surgery to emulate Angelina Jolie's appearance.

Some of that may turn out to be untrue or exaggerated. What IS true is that the six kids already at home are very young and they need love, shelter, consistency, security and parenting. The eight children in the hospital are medically fragile. They too need love, shelter, consistency, security and parenting.

Regardless of how much this mother loves her children, she does not seem prepared to meet their needs financially - or worse - emotionally.

Octo has made a website to enable people to donate, appeared on TV and by some accounts, is shopping a reality tv deal. Unlike, say Jon and Kate plus 8 or other multiple-birth families, this is not a feel-good story. Few magazine covers seem to await Octo mom. And, few companies have stepped up to donate diapers, formulas, a vehicle for their transportation, strollers, etc.

While I can understand the mom is toxic to corporate brands, those kids did not choose their circumstances. To not make sure that they have what they need or to establish a basic standard of care is unconscionable. The mom is a train wreck to be sure, but that train has unwitting passengers in need of protection, shielding and empathy.

Judd Gregg, the Secretary of Commerce who wasn't

Judd Gregg is the latest to withdraw his name from consideration for the Secretary of Commerce. Lou Dobbs is calling it a "political voodoo curse" on the commerce post. I don't know about that.

I don't know Judd Gregg or his motives, but here's what I do know:

1. Sometimes a prospective job opportunity seems great and you really want it, but then you have a gut feeling it's wrong. To not walk away at that point would not only be unfair to your employer, but also to yourself.

2. Sometimes a prospective job opportunity should be perfect, but you realize early on it isn't. In spite of your best attempts to convince yourself otherwise, you just can't. It may not make sense to other people, but sometimes it's best, healthiest and smartest to walk away.

3. If the worst your prospective employer can say about you when they're disappointed that you walked away is that you pursued them...that's pretty sad sack. And it's irrelevant. And it shows that you probably made the right decision not to make the move.

So whatever drove Judd Gregg to pull out, here's to everyone who is willing to take the road less traveled and remain true to self.

Jake Tapper, great American hero

I've come to despise the field of "journalism." Especially journalism as carried out by The Washington Post. Ever since they wrote about the 'sunlight gleaming off of Obama's chiseled pecs,' or some other such drivel, I vowed off of the Post and its ilk.

That's not to say I disrespect Obama or the enormity of the job before him, but rather I cannot respect any legitimate news source that prints such fawning adulation and over-the-top platitudes about anyone at all. While I am not particularly a Bush fan, I don't think he deserves the vitriol that seems reserved for him. Nor do I think particularly badly of Obama, but I don't think he deserves the messianic fervor that many celebrities, legitimate opinion leaders and media seem to bestow on him.

And all of that is why I'm such a big fan of Jake Tapper. Obama's entire campaign - in fact I daresay his entire brand positioning for his administration - is around change, transparency and ethics. So when Jake Tapper actually asked some pointed questions of his press secretary, it was an exchange worthy of noting and feeling better about.

Tapper showed class and restraint while asking follow-up questions that held the press secretary accountable for his words. And that's as it should be. Pertinent questions, indeed. In fact, Jake Tapper's questions were the first pertinent questions I've heard asked of an Obama spokesperson during the campaign, much less post-election.

Adventures of the Unemployed - II

Well, just when I thought revisiting the temp agency experience couldn't get any worse, it did. In the testing room of one temp agency there were IBM Selectrics. Yes, typewriters. I haven't used a typewriter since high school. I thought I was in an episode of Mad Men, but sadly there were cameras and no Jon Hamm in sight.

Oh and as a bonus nod for the EEOC, I was asked to provide my height and weight. I declined, but it was cause to give this prospective Kelly girl a case of stomach upset. Too bad I'm not the one in need of a good cleansing.

Adventures of the Unemployed - I

In which I begin to better understand the shadow world of temporary agencies who are still at least 20 years behind the times.

I decided to register for temporary work until my new company launches. I haven't worked at a temporary agency in nearly 20 years. Resume in hand, I drove to employment agency 1 to apply. If you haven't been in a temp agency in awhile, they're not nearly as luxurious as your doctor's waiting office. And they probably have no fewer germs. The office had a sign on the door warning people not to bring in children at all. A second sign hung just below that says that if bringing in children not to leave them unattended. There's also a third sign prohibiting cell phones, loud talking, smoking and handguns. It's unclear whether they mean the children that aren't supposed to be there...or everyone who enters.

When I ask to apply, I'm told I have to come back. It's 10 minutes till noon and the entire office shuts down from noon to one for lunch. Of course I'll return. Why end the fun so soon?

I run some errands and return a couple of hours later.

Inside the temp agency, I'm given reams of paperwork to fill out, including drug test, background check and credit check authorizations. For temporary work. For about $7-8 dollar an hour. Wow.

I fill out the forms and am granted a "professional interview." My interviewer says she's glad to meet me, but barely makes eye contact. We go through the employers I've had over the past 10 years and she asks me about a 2 month gap that I've had in employment over the past two years. When I express unbelief that anyone seeking temporary help should be concerned about a two month gap in 10 years time, she does meet my eyes. I tell her I was taking classes and she asks me if I am planning to return to school. She also asks whether I will get good references when they call. Other important questions we get out of the way - how many times in the past five years have I been sick (none) or late to work (none). Glad they're setting the bar high.

She tells me that she isn't going to ask me about education attained, because it doesn't matter to the temporary employers. But then she asks...do I really have a MBA? (Yes.) And exactly what is that? (Sigh.)

And then she asks me the best, most thoughtful question yet: in which of my jobs have I learned the most about clerical work? I am speechless. I don't know how to answer and tell her so. What does that possibly mean when ALL the jobs I've worked in the past 10 years have been office jobs. She asks do I just want her to put all of them. Yes. Yes, I do. So she does.

I then go to the "Prove It" testing system to demonstrate that yes, I really am capable of computerized data entry and typing. Oh, and that I know Word, Excel and QuickBooks. I've used QuickBooks once in 20 years, but score a 90% on the test. I'm not sure what this says about me, them or the "opportunities" that await in temp work.

Three hours later, I leave. Will I get a call with work? I'll keep you posted.