Mallrats

The Boss and I just returned from an evening at a local upscale shopping mall. The Christmas decorations are out in force and you know that it's the Yuletide season when Mr. and Mrs. Claus have set up shop in the middle of the mall for photographs.

I was reflecting on the holiday season in general and it occurred to me that this has got to be the aboslutely most miserable time for a family that is not doing financially well. The entire atmosphere is filled with the sights and sounds of money being spent - granted it's being spent on happiness. But that's the point. Commercialism is turning happiness into something that's directly proportional to the money that's spent.

Does money buy happiness? Hmmmmm.....

Winter Blues

The past few days have been quite...well, let's just say that it hasn't been as enjoyable as the past few weeks have been. I think that the stress of the term so far has finally taken its toll on my overall cheerfulness. It doesn't help that the job hunt (or rather, then internship hunt) has started in full swing, and the stress about that is overwhelmingly high.

The key to getting a job or an internship here lies in one word - networking. Well, that's 99% true. The other 1% is consulting type jobs where networking doesn't hold as much value as does a strong resume and great grades. In addition to the networking, one needs to write a really impressive and distinctive cover letter (which ideally should be based on information gathered during networking). Only then, will one have a chance to even interview at most of the companies.

Sometimes I think back to when I interviewed out of grad school in Cinti and remember fondly how easy that process was. It consisted of three steps. 1) Send resume by email (preferably in text format so that MS Word is not needed to read it. 2) Get called for a phone interview. 3) If you impress in the phone interview, it's free travel and lodging for an on-site interview. Of course, the implicit assumption here is that your resume is getting read by someone! :) And of course, that means that you ought to have had a network to begin with.

It's clear that the more people you know, the better your chances for a successful career. This is probably true for almost any profession. So much for grades, right?

Kerry gets Bush-whacked

During the last few days leading up to the elections, the Boss and I found ourselves following the election polls and last minute campaigns quite closely. It was a contest, and darn close one, wasn't it? In any case, watching both candidates, I found myself warming up to Bush far more than I did to Kerry. In general, I am not someone who follows the election campaign issues. I mean, in general, I am still unsure of what each candidates platforms are. All I'm saying is that watching two men try to talk to their audience, Bush came across as being more empathetic to me. Call me a dumbass, but that was my perception. The other thing that was very clear to me was that Bush was very clear on his policy/views on a given topic. He hardly dithered and was unafraid to take a stance. Kerry was more circumspect, and it seems that this might have been what cost him the Presidency. I'm sure that the pundits are out with a million more tangible reasons, but there you go : That's my $0.02.

In school, I'm reaching a point where I'm barely holding on to my schedule. Days are passing by at breakneck pace and sometime I feel as though I'm in some kind of time warp. The number of companies coming to campus are dwindling, and this time of year is spent preparing resume and cover letters for job applications : ammunition for January, when companies return to campus for interviews. .

On an entirely different note, I'm wondering what I can do to improve the performance of my laptop. It's become really very slow and is clearly in need of more memory. Memory is expensive however, and the fact that I no longer earn money makes it difficult for me to spring for it. . There are advantages to working, I realize! :)