A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Career building

Notes from my Noodle: August 30 edition

It’s good to be back and have no worried about hosting issues…

For that last line to make sense, let me go backwards and tell the whole story.

When I post something to my blog, I have an application that automatically posts it to my Facebook wall as well as the wall for this blog (please hit the like button on the right side of the page! Shameless plug, I know!) When I have posts written ahead of time, the application still works.

I had Sunday’s post ready to go at like noon and it never posted to my Facebook wall. That seemed odd to me. So, I thought I might have put the wrong time in and I went to check my blog out.

I was greeted with a mainly white screen and these words…

“Bandwidth Limit Exceeded” (in large, bold typeface).

“The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.”

As you can imagine, I was shocked. I had never reached the limit before. It was several days before the end of the month and I didn’t want to wait it out. I needed to figure something out and fast. One think I’ve thankfully seen is a small growth in the number of visitors who come to my site. When I started doing this on a more regular basis, I would celebrate 20 or 25 visits. I’ve since grown and have seen that number go up by quite a bit, which is nice.

So the last thing I wanted was new readers to come and see that.

Panic mode set in, but after a few deep breaths, away I went to figure this out.

I went to the live chat with my host and discussed possibilities.

Let me say this — I have been with this host company since it was in its infancy. My price plan was excellent because I had done many things back then to get some special perks — such as unlimited add on domains etc. That was their way of saying thank you for writing reviews and such. The company has been excellent to deal with for more than 10 years, so I figured we could work something out.

The person that I chatted said he or she understood my loyalty, but the hands were tied. They couldn’t do partial upgrades. The reality was, I only needed some extra bandwidth. I didn’t need full upgrades.

The bandwidth increase with their basic package would have been way more than I needed. But it took away a lot of what I had earned and apparently the company couldn’t do anything about that. This person kept insisting I needed to upgrade to the “Silver package,” but didn’t understand that I couldn’t afford that big of an upgrade (to be fair, the price isn’t bad… but I didn’t need everything it offered) and I didn’t think it was fair that I had to pay for things I had been rewarded in the past, just to get an upgrade of bandwidth.

After 30 minutes of this, I decided it was going no where, ended the conversation and took it to support.

Tech support was much better to deal with, as they always are. They sent me to billing and the person there understood what I was saying. This person apologized that the company had the policy and he couldn’t do anything about it. That still meant for me to keep everything I had already, I needed to go to the silver package.

Argh!

Alas, this got better as the person I was dealing with offered me a loyalty discount of 30 percent, which brought the price down to almost the basic package. I was also told that price would remain with me. In the end, I decided to accept that offer and my site was soon back online. It also gives my site the ability to really grow as the bandwidth allowed is incredibly more than I had before. Let’s say this, I was on a plan that allowed 3.5 gigs of bandwidth per month and for the first time ever, I went over that. This new plan now allows 15,000 gigs of bandwidth per month. Yeah.

In the end, this host came through again. I have another host that doesn’t have a lot of bandwidth on it with one of my other sites. Though I don’t update that much, it has gone over bandwidth the past couple of months (that one is even lower than the 3.5), so I think I will be canceling that account and bringing that site to this account with the added bandwidth I now have. In the end, I’ll be breaking even on the price for the most part.

***

I'm going to miss covering football on nights like this.

Labor Day weekend is upon us.

In the past, that usually meant I was prepping for the high school football season. Previews needed to be written. Schedules and rosters typed in and proofed. Special sections needed to be done and then there’s the rush of the season. Friday night games with 30 minutes to write a story. Those things I will miss.

Since being laid off in February, this was the time of the year that I wondered how I’d feel. And it stinks. I always looked forward to high school football season and it was one of my favorite beats.

I still plan on going and shooting some photos. Maybe I can freelance for another paper or two. We’ll see. But it will be odd knowing I don’t have to go to a game. Or that I can just go to any game I feel like going to. That’s going to be one perk for sure. If I feel like watching this game over another, I can just head over and do so.

I will say this — I won’t miss the games where I’m standing under a downpour on a really cold Friday night. That’s what radios are for!

***

The waiting game in the job hunt is the worst.

I had a phone interview a few weeks ago for a job that I would love to have. It would be one of those where I think I could make it a career and be happy as can be. I’m not sure how the interview went. Unfortunately, though I thought I was very prepared, a couple of questions caught me off guard. I’m hoping I didn’t ramble too much or give bad answers as I think if I got an in-person interview, I could do really well.

I keep hoping and waiting, so we’ll see.

In the meantime, I keep the job search going and hope for the best. It’s a tough market out there and it keeps getting tougher. I am not sure what I need to do to secure good employment. So goes for that master’s degree really doing wonders for me.

I did send something else out today, so let’s see what happens. I’ll keep pushing along.

***

I’ve been having a good time with the blog as it’s been a way for me to keep writing and such. As it grows in size, however, I know I have to start doing some other things with it. I am working on some features and some journalistic-style things to have soon. I want to do a few series of stories on some things that I have been slowly trying to figure out. I have contacted a few people for each subject, so hopefully it will work out well in those parts. These series of stories, if done the way I have envisioned, will be posted in several installments over a few days.

I’m also working on making the HooHaa 9 stories a weekly thing until I fill the team (and likely keep going). But before I start releasing them, I want to have a couple written so I can be working ahead. Therefore, those probably won’t start until a week or two after Labor Day. There is, of course, the weekly Snapshot Saturday. I don’t want each day to have a “set item” as I do still like having the freedom to write about whatever. But I will be having two or three “set things” for a few days per week.

I have some other ideas for contests and such that I want to start running, so as soon as I get those figured out, I will post them as well.

If you have any good ideas for some topics I can blog about, or a series of stories I could work on, please let me know. Drop a comment or send an e-mail. I’m not looking to break news, rather I’m looking to show a different slice of life.

***

I made a booboo with Postcrossing.

I have wondered why none of the 10 or so postcards I sent recently had arrived at their locations. Well, it turns out I had forgot to send them. Ugh! They have been sitting here on my computer desk, covered by a few other papers and notebooks. I will be getting these out ASAP so they can get to where they need to be!

I have a good pile of postcards here, too. I need to start scanning them and doing some blog posts about them. There are some really wild looking cards and some nice stamps, too.

For those of you who haven’t heard of or have never tried Postcrossing, I highly encourage it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

The next step…

OK, so the past couple of weeks, I’ve sent a few applications out for jobs. But I got a wake-up call earlier this week when I went and had my resume critiqued.

You can read all about that in an entry I had a few days ago.

The past couple of days I had jotted some notes and ideas on what I could do to make it better. One thing was told was that this was a marketing tool. I am trying to market myself.

I’ve written about people my whole professional life. Whether I’m working in public relations or journalism, it’s been a part of my job. Sell an organization, person or product.

Never myself.

I learned differently with this experience. I spent probably — on and off — six hours today writing this thing. I did a simple, but much better design than I had on my last one. I’d like to be able to use a design program and make it slightly flashier, though I do like simple resumes. If it’s too fancy, I think you lose room to put certain things out there.

I ended up making it one page. By doing that, I had to cut several things out of the resume, including some experiences (which is fine), my freelance experiences (again, not a bad thing as I’m not really looking in the newspaper field as much anymore), and my awards. Those, I was skeptical about. I figure it’s a good thing to have those. The person who has helped me with my resume notes that I should have them on a separate page, kind of like having a references page. I’ll see how I feel about that as I move forward.

Anyway, the resume — for now — is done. I’m sure in the coming weeks, it will change a bit. I’m going to go to a resume/interviewing workshop next week, so hopefully I’ll get a few more tips to make my resume even stronger.

But, for now, I hope it has the right words and look to at least get me some extra glances at a few jobs I found online the past few days. I’ll be sending out the applications and such for those in the next few days.

Steps forward are happening. I just have to keep it up and keep positive.

More later!

The hunt is on

This week, I really dived into the job hunt.

I have several that I am applying for and am in the midst of re-working my resume and working on some cover letters.

So I come to you, the blog public, to ask some thoughts. How is your resume?

I have to admit that I am not that fond of my resume. It’s pretty basic and I wonder if it has been something that has hampered me in my job search in the past. I need to work on getting it all set to stand out a little bit.

At first, I had thought about hiring one of those professional resume writing services. I had thought it would be good. And, of course, the websites are beautiful and show some glowing testimonials. That can be said about any site, however.

So I’ve called around and ended up chatting with someone from the local Workforce place. I’m heading over there Monday to have them look at my resume and a couple of past cover letters in the hopes of being able to strengthen things.

I have a lot of things I want to apply for. I have determination. I have a drive. And, I don’t want to be unemployed for a long time. I am ready to take the next step in my career. I don’t want to look back. I don’t want to step backward. I want to move forward.

There’s no other direction for me to go.

If anyone has any resume or cover letter tips or ideas, feel free to post them here in the comments section. I’d love to hear about it.

Things I wonder —

  • Is a career objective or summary really something to have on a resume? Seems silly to me.
  • What comes first? Education? Experience? A list of skills and such? Is that needed?
  • How many pages for the resume?

And what about the cover letter?

  • How long? Three paragraphs? More?
  • What to put in it?
  • How to know it is “right?”

These are all things I’m working on and have been for the past several days. I, unfortunately, had some computer problems Thursday, so I was dealing with that and doing some of this other work on my laptop, but so be it. I’m hoping after my trip to the Workforce on Monday, I’ll have a better grasp of my resume and cover letter and be in a situation to push forward and send out many applications during the first part of the week.

I’m starting to get positive again. Things are looking up. Maybe I can dig myself out of the doldrums, realize that this is the next step in my life and get it going.

More later!

Random thoughts from my noodle…

It’s time for some random thoughts.

First, this job hunt isn’t easy! I’ve slowly started finding some decent things and I’ve filled out a few applications. But it’s not the process of the job — it’s waiting to see how the unemployment works, it’s paying your bills or talking to people to see if payments can be lowered etc. It’s a full-time job in its own right.

That being said … I’ve felt a lot less stress since becoming part of the unemployed. Though it’s still there — I need to work on something to make sure a check comes in — it’s also refreshing knowing I can take the time to find some jobs where my education and experience will hopefully be used. I look forward to seeing where this will take me and I’m excited about my future. I’ve sent a few applications out and I’m working on several others. I’ll be crossing my fingers a lot over the next few weeks.

I’ve spent several hours today on the hunt and have a handful of places I’d like to apply. The rest of the night will be working some cover letters and getting things ready for the mail or for e-mail.

***

As the HooHaa 52 — a 52-week photo project — starts to wind down, I find I am way behind. I need five weeks worth of photos to post to the group (including the current week’s theme). I’m hoping to get out with my camera soon and rectify the situation. I want to finish this project strong.

***

Speaking of photography, it looks like my 70-200 lens motor isn’t working. It recently got dropped (thankfully, my camera equipment is insured) and hasn’t been right. I need to send it in to get fixed and get an estimate. I have a $250 deductible, however, so we’ll see what the estimate comes back as.

***

Baseball is here!

Spring training has been going on and games are going to start soon. I love this time of year. Though the snow is still around here in the Northeast (with another 5-7 inches being called for Friday), games being played in Florida and Arizona make me hopeful that the spring isn’t too far away and that baseball will soon be upon us with games that count.

And, with the Phillies adding Cliff Lee and having Roy Oswalt for a full year to go along with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton, I am very excited for the season.

***

The state wrestling tournament is this weekend. I’ll miss being there as a reporter as this has always been one of the most fun weekends for me. I love the sport of wrestling and it’s one of my favorite events to cover. I’ll keep an eye on things from afar, however, and if a certain wrestler from our area reaches the state final, I’ll head up with my brother to watch the championships.

If, by chance, he doesn’t, we’re planning on heading up to the Albany area anyway to catch a college hockey game. Quinnipiac plays in the the area twice this weekend and it would be nice to see my alma mater play.

***

For you journalists out there, the site Overheard in a Newsroom is an excellent stop.

One that it had yesterday made me chuckle — though it hurts as I know the feeling of having these during pay periods.

News Editor to fellow editor after looking at new time cards: “It’s never a good thing when your time card has a spot for furloughs.”

It’s the state of the business. That being said, at least some people are getting time cards. Just saying.

***

I recently ordered my new geocaching signature item.

For those who know me, my sig item for most of the time I’ve cached has been a wooden nickle. I’ve a few renditions of the coin, but I’ve usually had the coin to drop into certain caches. Alas, I felt it was time to try something new.

So, with my recent love of disc golf, I decided to go with golf pencils. (I actually would have loved to have gone with mini discs, but it would have been too expensive).

I found a place to order the pencils at a decent price. In fact, it’s only about $23 more than I would have paid for another 100 coins. And with these, I’m getting 720 pencils with erasers and three lines of text. Though 720 pencils is so many, I figured I’ll have them for several years. And I can also use them disc golfing.

My main online personal is softball29 — which combines that I play softball and my uniform umber. With these pencils, I attempted to mix my love of geocaching and disc golf.

This is what I am having imprinted:

softball29
Flick it, find it
www.hoohaablog.com

The flick it is in reference to disc golf. The find it is for geocaching (well, likely could be disc golf, too, at times). I got some assorted colors, so I look forward to seeing them when they come.

***

Speaking of geocaching, I’ve started working on a couple of event ideas for this summer as well as a series of caches that I’m planning on doing with two other area cachers. That series will be a lot of fun as it will require a long bike ride (or some serious hiking) on a great trail system in our area. All flat and a nice long go, so we’ll be able to have a lot of new caches. I already have a ton of ideas for it and I have a spot picked out for the event, so hopefully it will go well.

That’s it from this trip inside my noodle.

More later!