Being Overqualified to Occupational Fatalism

Can you imagine meeting with your friends over beers or coffee to talk about your excellent jobs, relationships and the consumer activities that we are supposed to take part in?

As I am applying for jobs, I came across an article about being overqualified. As much I would like to think that someone is beyond a prescribed number of tasks and responsibilities, it so many cases a new environment, so rarely will we not learn something new. With regards to the idea of evolving in a career, one may find satisfaction in higher levels of prestige, recognition, salary etc. However, one cannot deny that the goals that one sets defines how we will feel about the outcome. In contrast a lack of goals can stunt any desire or volition.
Although there are some jobs that do make people's lives better, such as in health care innovation, prevention and urban planning to improve access to services. I just hope that doing a job which will me more assurance that the sole democracy is this world is to become nothing more that dust with a lot of organic matter.

What are you supposed to to do when you do not feel like the protagonist in your own life

Does fatalism seem like the best form of agency to you? Do you feel that the decisions should be left your mother, father or the person who claims to be your better half?

Don't worry, you are not alone. Well, you are, given we probably do not know each other, and there is no else other than yourself who has the power to change the way you feel. I know that by experience as I have not yet succeeded to change the way I look at the world. It does not help that I am unemployed, but I have also had colleagues that are somewhat unhappy with doing a job just for the sake of the money and keep the family finances going.

Unless you are in member of the cabinet or an influential business person, it is unlikely that your day to day decisions will make a difference in the lives of people. Surely enough, you may be developing a community program, a technological innovation to assist a segment of the population, but a sweeping change like pegging your country's currency to another country's or regions could have very profound effects.

Where am I going with this? Economics are a fact of life, but the do not merit to be blamed for a condition or another. For example, as much I am losing some steam in applying for jobs, I am becoming increasingly accustomed to the condition. Am I using my time effectively by learning programming skills(even though I do not want to be a programmer) or by composing music (although I have lost most of my interest in music)? Not really. I spend most of my time reading the news, playing video games, taking hikes, and thinking of what I should do next.

I almost feel like saying that applying for jobs is like playing a video game which not nor interesting, fun or worth talking about. "I applied for a ________ position..."

Would becoming an entrepreneur be a solution to my problem? What types of projects would I like to be involved in? Do I have enough experience? Is it a good job? How will my relationships change?

Scammers are to be found everywhere

I am a little ashamed to be tweeting or blogging this, but I am appalled for having just encountered three Filipino women who asking for donations for an organisation "Children of Asia". They first asked if spoke Spanish, but then demonstrated no command of the language whatsoever.
As I quickly showed my disinterest, they asked if they could have some change.

I regret not having spoken with them longer, got the website or contact information.

Sitting in a café with a computer is the norm

I should be outside going for a hike. Unfortunately, I am in the process of looking for work. That means that I have wasted thousands of hours customizing my resume, writing cover letters and failed attempts to making contact with people. Mingling for finding employment simply is not fun.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to avoid how the the tools we use, or the products we buy can fit into our identity. I have found a certain loyalty to a brand. It comes down to a number of factors and the excellent customer service.

If you want to feel as though people are looking at you, sit under a TV screen. In fact people may not be looking at you because they find you attractive, the programming, even on mute is keeping their attention...

Stay away from Patriot Compact Flash

I just purchased a Patriot Memory Signature Line 8GB compact flash card. It is a 266x card, but it’s performance leaves a lot to desire.
Most people using a flash card, will take photos or video. Therefore the write speed is extremely important. For some strange reason, only the read speed is written 40MB/s.


It doesn’t look great, however it is a disaster if you want to run Windows on it. I would like to run another operating system, but it will take me a lot of time to get the undervolting working properly.
Using flash fire, http://flashfire.org it works much better, however I am unsure if the CPU load is increased.
An immediate feeling is that installing programs takes hours, literally. Reading from one location and writing to another on the same flash does not seem ideal.
For 20$ I can have a silent system, however the cut in performance and in space is not ideal. I would recommend going with a IDE to SATA adapter and getting a real SSD.

Who should profit from Facebook's IPO ?

The news about the importance of social media seems unavoidable. Now that Facebook is trying to increase its value through an IPO, it may indeed increase the R&D revenue and provide more services, however the content, the knowledge "created" (even though it may be a post of a plush toy and delicious chocolate cake) is the property of the users.

Although you could make the same argument about applied sciences where an inventor would make millions from a patented and marketed idea where the majority of the work belongs to thousands who made contributions to develop the materials, mechanisms etc.

As for the web boom of ad based revenue, it is hard to believe that people actually make revenue from web-based ads. I cannot think of a single person that doesn't use Adblock Plus. Then again, it is maybe just be - actually no, the number of Facebook "refusniks" ( I feel that the term is unjustly misappropriated : from being a movement of social justice from Israel against occupation of Palestine, we use the term to describe people to have better things to do than go online and attempt to socialize.)

art sells

A position that is so strong at one point in life can feel totally absurd another. I have found myself purchasing a larger number of video games in the past few months. Here have been my motivations :

• entertainment
• historical representation
• costumes, sets, layout

Marketing and the shallow nature of pushing products

More often than not, I am considering refining my skills to incorporate something "useful" or lucrative as I have heard. Given a background in social sciences, without a particular focus in the medical field, being in the industry which develops a strategy for making initial research from third party sources, targeting a given demographic, designing questionnaires, recruiting subjects, acquiring data, analyzing data and finally making conclusions is what I am set to do.

Unfortunately, I am competing with other people who may have taken the goal of working directly in the field of being innovate in influencing people. Marketing can be for all sorts of activities : government programs for health and physical activity, but also something as shallow as making people buy a new phone which is thinner than the version released the year before. Like in the days of strong governments and brainwashing ideologies, it was essential to create short phrases which are easy to memorize composed of words which inspire people to imagine themselves like part of a collective, but also give up some freedoms. In the world of marketing consumer goods, some of that effect is the similar : although words may not be necessary but commercials with imagery, celebrities and innovative soundtracks, the satisfaction of consumer is somehow linked to the expenses incurred by consumption.

Artistically wrong

I would love to claim  the title of being an abstract / modern / installation artist. Unfortunately, I have not accomplished much so far. The photo above of my laundry and dresser is not representative, nor does it express anything in particular. It may actually look more like a documentary moment in my life before I fold my clothes before putting them in a drawer.

When going through galleries, looking through books, or visiting websites online, I stand in awe and think "I want to do things like this." There is one problem : nothing to express. Although I do have strong feelings about somethings, I am not convinced that those very feelings are anything worth writing or making a display about. There is a need to recognize a structure, and work with it in order to make the message, if there a specific one, understand how my method of communicating can be accessible.

Science and technology evolved with all the other fields whether they be literature, theology, arts,etc. In many ways it is difficult to imagine how any technology can be developed if there is no link to other a purpose or meaning. Agriculture is a science, and a feat of engineering. Climatic conditions can be relatively stable, but there is a goal of having better output, using less human or machine effort and ultimately making the enterprise most profitable.

Harper's Lack of Political Will

Although many of the same could be said for the Liberal, it is evident that Harper's Conservatives are bringing us in the wrong direction. Nobody likes taxes, however taxes are necessary if we want roads, schools, infrastructure ( ie. better public transit ), services, health care etc. On the taxes front, we have not experienced a drop in taxes being paid, but an erosion of services. Furthermore, the privatization of services, such as two tier healthcare, results in an increased cost to the tax payer without the innovation or competitive gains promised from which are supposed to come from a private system.

Over the next 3 years, the Conservatives complete their mandate by :

• Improving infrastructure ( roads, public transit)
• Establish a social housing program
• Revise a tax scheme ( inheritance, tax brackets per income level )
• Adopt international standards for schools to restore credibility to Canadian institutions
• Reduce the GHG emissions by implementing cleaner energy production including wind and nuclear
• Modernize and enforce environmental policy 
• Eliminate homelessness

The goals above should be discussed in greater deal, however they are ones that all governments must do.