Host:

Tonight they have another dance… another chance. Only one can take the trophy. Who will move a little closer? Live from Washington, this is “Dancing with the Politicians.”

I’m Norm Elrod. Tonight is the semi-finals. Let’s welcome our first star.

Dancing the Political Two-Step, former Texas Congressman, Tom DeLay and his partner, his own stupidity…

Host:

Let’s hear what the judges have to say.

Judge 1:

I’ve seen some of the legends perform this dance… Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton. And let me just say that you nailed it. The setup step – what some call the “bait” – was smooth and effortless. You took over the mic and dropped the most salacious quote I’ve heard in years. “All unemployed people want to be unemployed” is so ridiculous that people can’t help repeat it. And repeat it they will. But no Political Two-Step is complete without the walk-away. You teased us with just a vague hint of context. No elaboration… you let the meaningless words speak for themselves. That was pure magic to watch. Tom, you’re truly one of the masters.

Judge 2:

I have to agree. That was artistry in motion. The dance seemed simple in its execution, and the dancer void of a functioning brain. But that’s the uninhibited beauty you bring to it. The easier it looks, the harder it is.

Judge 3:

I felt my hips go boom, boom, boom. And then my stomach turned, a little bile came up into my throat and I tasted that tuna fish sandwich I had for lunch. But in a good way.

Host:

As we say goodnight, let’s thank everyone who makes this possible… the Republicans, the Democrats, the media and everyone who pays attention to politics rather than something useful. See you next week for our grand finale, when Tom shows us the Political Side-Step. Perhaps he’ll claim to be taken out of context. Maybe he’ll go the passive, mistakes-were-made route. Or he could simply claim to have never spoken the words. Tune in and find out.

I’ve been a horrible person. It’s not because I hate you, though I probably do, because I’m a horrible person. How’s that for circular logic? It’s because I’ve been ignoring my blog – the public manifestation of my unemployment. Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging, and have no plans to stop. (And I love you too.) Life just got very busy, in a very good way.

My short-term unemployment status is now in question. I don’t have a full-time job with an annual salary, health insurance and a 401K that will never let me retire. But I do have a desk smaller than a standardized test cubicle from elementary school to sit at every weekday, all day. I do get email reminders to delete files off the server and remove food from the office refrigerator. And I do have an ever-growing to-do list. But the most exciting part… the multiple paychecks in my future. Now if I could only remember how to turn them into those green pieces of paper.

A contact I’d recently reconnected with emailed me a few weeks ago. She was heading up a big project and asked me to participate. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. It didn’t matter what the work was, though given the source, I had a sense. Nor did it matter that sitting next to me would be “some New Jersey yokel who mainlines Diet Pepsi and eats cashews by the barrel,” as she described him. Okay, maybe my crystal ball told me that last part. It’s been a whirlwind two weeks. Who can remember what came from the all-knowing, all-seeing orb and what came from my soon-to-be temporary boss? But shortly after she contacted me, I was working. The orb portended good things.

That’s the upside, or the downside when it comes to my blog. In addition to a temporary full-time gig, I have smaller freelance projects, which keep me from sleeping much. And there’s the potential for more.

One small project came by way of wifey. A freelance client of hers found me through her portfolio website, and asked for help with his new website. He needed some editing and troubleshooting, and, essentially, a kick in the ass to get things done. It sounded interesting, by which I mean, it paid money and sounded interesting. And if there’s one thing I can do, it’s kick some ass.

An old dear friend reached out to me about some small-scale project management work. I have the skill in my repertoire, though the discussion was purely theoretical. I referenced a social media map I’d seen at a WordPress conference, and that became a short-term project. The discussion has since evolved and should lead to more work. She wasn’t just feeling sorry for me, as I first suspected.

There’s also been some extra blogging on the side. That’s right, not only have I ignored Jobless and Less, I’ve cheated on it with other blogs. It’s all out in the open now. And I’m not ashamed. One blog called SmartBlog on Social Media is about cooking or keeping a pet pachyderm. Or maybe it’s about cooking your pet pachyderm. The focus of the site was a little unclear when I started. So I wrote a piece on social media, as it relates to search engine marketing…

Let social media help your SEO

The other site is AOL; maybe you’ve heard of it. I hadn’t. Here’s a link to my first article there…

Seeking Stay-At-Home Dad… Positions Being Filled Now!

The second piece for both sites is written and could go live at any moment. I’ll post the links when they do. So my advice to you – hated and loved reader – is to stay on my site and hit [refresh] until they appear. That could be in an hour or a week. But the surprise of knowing will make the waiting worthwhile.

The point of all this isn’t to gloat, far from it. Nor is it to garner sympathy. I’ve averaged five hours of sleep per night for a couple weeks. And April may find me unemployed (or underemployed) once again. The point is to raise some important questions.

Can I really cobble together a living from all this? I don’t know. Do I want to? Again, I don’t know. Many people make a living freelancing, some a very good living. But freelancing seems like one never-ending job search, interspersed with lots of work. These are the opportunities presenting themselves. Being in no position to turn down work, I keep accepting. What choice does a long-term unemployed type like me have? I’ll give it a try and let you know what happens.

How I schedule my day. (courtesy of http://www.yourfunnystuff.com)

I spend a lot of time online these days, between reading email and cruising the Internet in search of gainful employment. And I’ve arrived at one immutable and irrefutable conclusion… lists suck. Feel free to disagree. Feel free to argue. Feel free to accuse me of crimes against the Internet for dressing down the vaunted list – king of the blog post and online article – in the public square. But know deep down in your heart that I’m still right and you’re still wrong. [Note: For the record, I'm rubber and you're glue too.]

I can’t open an email message or click a link without coming across a list disguised as an article. How to write a blog post… how to find a job… how to write a resume… 10 best ways to do just about anything. These lists are everywhere in my world, and most of them are bad retreads of bad retreads. Some ex-hippie with a ponytail turned corporate guru with a ponytail discovered (or decided) that information is more digestible in list form. He wrote an article. Someone cited that article. David Letterman adopted the theory for comedy. And before your friendly neighborhood unemployed blogger could come to the rescue, the world was overrun with lists of all shapes and sizes. The list has become the scourge of the online written word. But breathe easy, I’m here to take a golf club to its back window.

Allow me to present the top 5 reasons I hate lists, in an easily digestible format but no particular order…

1. Lists are lazy. The Internet is awash in re-purposed content. Everyone wants a blog or website and the untold riches that accompany it. Just look at me… I haven’t worked a single day in the last year. No one wants to create the content for that blog or website. It takes time and effort to write, and most of that time and effort goes unpaid. So they steal, borrow or quote extensively from other sources. Or they make a list from the stolen, borrowed and quoted and pass it off as original material.
2. Lists cover up bad writing. Write the whole damn paragraph, not just the topic sentence. This shouldn’t be a problem, if the author has thought through his ideas and has a decent grasp of the English language. Some complete sentences would be nice too. As would a few transitions, to take the reader from one idea to the next.
3. Lists don’t convey enough information to be useful. A bulleted list of topic sentences for would-be paragraphs is fine for a PowerPoint presentation. The speaker adds in the relevant details, while directing attention with a red laser pointer that always makes me think there’s a sniper in the crowd. But this approach doesn’t work so well online. Lists give the reader the what, without the who, where, why and how. Links may lead to additional information on other pages of the site. “Click here for more information,” the screen beckons. But why isn’t that information found on the original page? Answer: to increase website traffic and click-through rates.
4. Lists tell me things I already know. This is more a function of the lists I’m reading than lists in general. Only so much can be said about how to network, write a resume or become a better job candidate. Yet people keep saying it, over and over and over and over. Job search methods just aren’t changing that fast. So either come up with something new and interesting or stop pinging me with the same old advice. I already know to spell-check my resume.
5. Lists are boring. No one reads lists for fun. We read fleshed-out paragraphs strung together into some sort of narrative. People read lists for information on how to do something or how to do something better. And sometimes we get that information and smile because we’re happy. We may even accidentally enjoy reading the list. But potential enjoyment isn’t what got us there and will soon be taking us away to ESPN or The Onion.
6. Lists create anxiety. Lists remind me of all the things I have left to do rather than all the things I’ve done. One task – find a job – has locked down pole position for over a year. And my list keeps growing, even as I check things off. I feel further behind every day.
7. Lists remind me of the grocery store. Don’t get me wrong, I like the grocery store; there’s lots of yummy food there. But many of my trips to the grocery store involve lists of vegetables and spices needed for a recipe. And I can never remember what’s what. It’s all green and leafy and looks kind of the same to me. If only they packaged veggies like cereal… I could identify the kale or arugula from a goofy cartoon martian on the packaging. Sometimes I figure it out on my own, and sometimes I don’t. But the uncertainty provides undue stress.
8. Lists speed up life unnecessarily. No one has time to read anymore, not even us unemployed. So people scan emails and articles on PDAs while walking down busy city streets, running into people and glaring at them because that person didn’t get out of the way. Lists facilitate and perpetuate this behavior. Lists make it easy to “read” what should be saved for later, back at the office, where I’m not walking.

After all the buildup from the other day, everyone has no doubt been hanging out on my site, refreshing the page every five seconds, waiting for my next post. How do I know? Because I’m watching… always, thanks to Google Analytics and an abundance of free time. Think of me like Big Unemployed Brother, who, rumor has it, sleeps in his parents’ basement these days because he can no longer make rent. Big Mother likes having her boy around. Big Father wants BUB to get out of the spying business and go into sustainable energy. I also know you’re out there refreshing because this is what I do every Sunday during football season. I repeatedly refresh the box score for my fantasy football game to see if Larry Fitzgerald or LaDainian Tomlinson has another touchdown. It’s a way of life in the Internet Age. As of this moment, I’m winning, barely.

So, sorry to keep people waiting. Without further delay or digression, here is my entry for the America’s Next Great Pundit contest…

The words “jobless” and “recovery” are now inextricably linked. Because every ongoing current event requires a snappy name, economic cousins have become bedfellows. Forcing these words to coexist in Gosselin-like harmony – in print, online, over airwaves and in conversation – feels wrong.

A jobless recovery isn’t really a recovery. It’s a stock market rally, an uptick in economic activity or an improved economic indicator blown out of proportion. It’s also unemployment that numbers in the millions and a nation of employees scared for their jobs. “Recovery” suggests improvement. “Jobless” proves otherwise.

Economists first trotted out the term “jobless recovery” in the early 1990s to describe the new post-recession phenomenon of concurrent economic growth and high unemployment. Some experts blamed higher worker productivity born of increased automation. Others pointed to increased labor market slack, as workers switched jobs and industries. Whatever the cause, “jobless recovery” appeared again after this decade’s first recession, and once more earlier this year. The experts who failed to forecast the Great Recession needed a term to signal its end.

Conditions were right for “jobless recovery.” The economy was bottoming out, and everyone was scared. A pervasive need for good news – any good news – provided traction. Stories about unemployment’s slowing growth and stockbrokers turned ice cream men no longer cut it. Consumers needed something more positive to boost their confidence and open their wallets. Because without consumers, who provide 70% of our economy’s spending, actual recovery cannot occur.

But job creation remains non-existent; jobs are still disappearing. The national unemployment rate is approaching 10%. Add in underemployment and that figure is 17%. Include frustrated jobseekers (those who haven’t looked for work in a month), recently minted stay-at-home parents and new workforce arrivals who remain jobless, and that figure passes 20%. Companies, for their part, continue to cut pay and benefits rather than lay off still more employees.

This is the workforce that’s expected to spend money. But they’re not spending. Nor will they be for the foreseeable future. Just ask any retail outlet about its projections for the upcoming holiday season. Companies refilling their depleted inventories and the resulting excitement on Wall Street are driving the perceived recovery. It’s not real. And it won’t be until the public finds gainful employment and a renewed sense of security. The “jobless recovery” will continue. But only because it’s more palatable than “continuing recession.”

And this is why I should win, aside from my general, overall awesomeness…

I am a laid-off marketing professional and former freelance music writer, who has an opinion on everything. And I need a job. My current bout of unemployment is now pushing a year. In that time, I’ve improved my writing and job skills and submitted hundreds of applications. I document my unemployed life on the Jobless and Less blog (www.joblessandless.com) and keep up with the news in my now extensive free time. None of my hard work has paid off yet. Though my wallet (and my wife) tells me that needs to change. I can start right away.

Now back to your regularly scheduled life.

Entering a contest for a job… sound familiar?

Relive the economy's crash on the big screen for only $10 ($78 in NYC)

I’ve heard for years that a Wall Street sequel is in the offing.  This is the first confirmed report I’ve seen…

Douglas, Stone head back to ‘Wall Street’

Why not? If the actual Wall Street can reprise their crimes against the public every decade or two, then Hollywood should be allowed to too. It’s just business, right? Nothing personal. To be fair, the original is a pretty good movie. It follows young stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) in his quest to get filthy, stinkin’ rich and maybe buy himself another syllable for his name. He falls in with his hero – corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) – and soon takes to insider trading to stay in his good graces. He gets rich and lands a hot blond chick (Darryl Hannah) with really bad taste for an interior designer, even in the 80s. They shack up and make pasta and eat sushi and get all lovey-dovey against the Manhattan skyline. And then s**t goes down. I won’t ruin the story, but the huge egos (and glasses – you can see into space with those things) are fun to watch.

The storyline for Wall Steet 2 is still a secret, though a studio executive assures us it will have something to do with current events. Thanks, that’s really helpful. Maybe you can help me with another question. Will baseball be played at the Mets game tonight? Or will the teams perform some sort of interpretive dance? Since the studio is being vague on the less-than-f**king-obvious details, I came up with my own story. Until I hear otherwise, I will assume it to be accurate.

The film opens with Gordon Gekko’s cronies bursting through my front door. He saunters in shortly after, careful not to get dust on his sport coat, designer jeans and Italian loafers. Corporate raiders have embraced business casual in the sequel. I’m sitting at the dining room table, and wifey at her desk. Gekko takes our wallets and checkbooks and then slaps each of us. He’s wearing shiny rings that leave a mark. Then he looks at our 401K statements and starts to laugh. The statements flutter to the floor in slow motion. On the way out he kicks each of our cats. The rest of the movie alternates between me looking for a job and wifey and me watching news stories about the government giving Gekko’s company billions in tax dollars. And here’s the twist: the movie doesn’t end… ever. Take that, Oscar.

I haven’t worked out the dialogue just yet; genius comes in stages. But the movie’s tagline will be, “Greed is good, having a bitch is better.” This won out over, “Every dream has a price, and that price is four.” The former just pops more. I expect all of you to visit your local theater on opening night. And bring lots of money for popcorn and jujubes, and a sleeping bag, because you’ll never leave.

Sweden has given us so much over the years, but nothing as important as Ikea. The store, for the 12 or so people who live under a wifi-enabled rock, sells stylish furniture and home goods for people on a budget. I don’t know a single person whose home doesn’t include an Ikea product. In fact, all of Sweden’s major exports can and should be experienced and enjoyed through Ikea.

The Ivar shelving unit is perfect for proudly displaying Dolph Lundgren‘s groundbreaking cinematic masterpieces on DVD. The Kassett CD box easily stores the ABBA, Yngwie Malmsteen and Swedish Death Metal CDs you’ve long since digitized and uploaded to 17 different devices. Fine Swedish media – like fine wine – is best enjoyed reclining on a comfy Ektorp couch with feet up on a Leksvik coffee table. When hunger strikes, whip up a tasty smorgasbord of Swedish meatballs, which always taste better on Ljuvlig plates and Busig cutlery. And two weeks later, when your Ikea products break, you can take them out back and blow them up with Swedish-invented dynamite. The cycle of life – and capitalism – begins again.

Add in some more cliches and extra consonants, and America is really in the hole on this one. What have we given Sweden in return… a real estate bubble, unemployment, Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels? We should be ashamed of ourselves. America has a major trade deficit with our Nordic friends. But that’s all about to change.

I was interviewed earlier in the week by a New York-based correspondent for Sweden’s TV4. The news segment, for all the non-Swedish speakers about, discusses how the current economic downturn is hitting the more educated much harder than it is the less educated. The piece aired yesterday, I believe, kicking off the giving back. Sweden now knows the glory of Jobless and Less. In the coming days, weeks, months and years of unemployment, my expert and insightful commentary should repay our country’s debt in full, and then some.

The video is above for your viewing pleasure.

Tell your story in the Global Recession Forum…

Can't touch this, nor do you want to.

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people want my money. There’s not that much of it, even when including the change jar, the Altoids tin for quarters and whatever the cats collect with their miniature coffee cups (and “will ignore you for food” signs) down by the subway tracks. The number of companies with hands outstretched has only increased in unemployment. Didn’t they get the memo? Didn’t they read the billboards? Didn’t they see the handiwork of the skywriter I hired to fly over the Super Bowl? Well let me sum it up… I DON’T HAVE A JOB!

That might be exactly the point. Marketing to the unemployed and others hit hard by the down economy is everywhere. It’s growing into quite a cottage industry – one to be wary of – as this excellent San Francisco Chronicle article explores…

Unemployed? Tell me where it hurts.

According to writer Chris Colin, “the downturn has given rise to an army of consultants, coaches, advisers, experts and others…” who want to help those hurt by the economy. Some were layoff victims themselves, and are looking to make lemonade out of lemons. And some may even have people’s best interests in mind, insofar as they match up with their own profit motive. We still live in a capitalist society, sort of. None of this necessarily means that we need – or can afford – what they’re selling. Nor does it mean their products and services are worth the price.

Desperation makes people ripe for exploitation. Many marketers rely and prey on it. Take it from someone who’s been around the block a few times and had zillions of fliers shoved in his face (and loves talking about himself in the third person), people want money and have interesting ways to get it.

Look no further than your good friend, the job site. Moments after posting a resume, the ridiculous emails offering useless services start coming in. The resume fax blast might be my favorite. For a low, low fee, JobsByFax promises to get a resume into the hands of Human Resources at top companies. I can just picture the scene at Super Big Company Willing To Pay Me Lots of Money, Inc. Jobless and Less Happy Fun-time Players, take it away…

JOAN, president of HR, hovers over department fax machine looking concerned.

[Beep] [Beep]

JOAN

Come quick everyone, we’ve got a resume coming through on the fax machine.

STEVE, vice president of HR, comes running. He’s out of breath from chain-smoking unfiltered Marlboros at his desk. The tips of his fingers are black from making carbon copies.

STEVE

What’s his name?

JOAN

I can’t read it. But if he faxed his resume, he must be a technology expert. And we really need a technology expert.

STEVE

My PET Computer‘s been acting funny lately. I’ll get him on the phone right away.

JOAN

See if he will start tomorrow. Offer to pay him whatever he wants. I have to have him working for us.

(Cut to the late 1970s)

Come on, does anyone even use a fax machine anymore? I can’t remember the last fax I received that didn’t involve Caribbean cruises or deals on toner cartridges. This service seems like a great way to lighten your wallet, waste paper and guarantee continued unemployment.

I found a site the other day called Government Job Search that helps people find jobs with federal and state governments. This could be a perfectly reasonable service, in theory; applying for government jobs can be daunting. The site provides basic job listings for free. Their premium service delivers “…all of the information that a job seeker would need to assess their qualifications for a position, analyze the complete job requirements and apply for the position.” It costs approximately $36.50 per year, or as they price it out on the site, less than ten cents a day (the Sally Struthers model applied to job search). Of course, federal and state governments generally offer the same job listings and application info on their official sites (USAJobs, for example)… where users can actually apply for the jobs… for free. I’m not really sure what value this site provides.

I can’t seem to get away from all those Cash4Gold commercials on TV. You’d think the obvious solution would be less late-night television. But they air on every channel all the time. That’s right, some channels have actually done away with programming in favor of an all Cash4Gold schedule. I have to admit, the one ad with Ed McMahon looking really old and MC Hammer looking really desperate is pretty funny. This service – exchanging unwanted gold for cash – is perfectly situated to capitalize on desperation in hard economic times. People in need of money put their gold stuff in an envelope and mail it off to the company, which remits payment based on weight, purity and market prices for gold. I’m guessing the margin between what they pay out and what they sell the melted-down gold for is pretty big.

There are so many problems with this setup, my brain hurts just thinking about it. Mailing your valuables in an envelope addressed to “Cash4Gold” is like saying, “please steal from me” to everyone who handles that envelope. Of course your valuables are safe once they reach Cash4Gold headquarters because the “entire Cash4Gold process is monitored by our security enforcement staff.” That’s reassuring. The gold owner is relying on this company to honestly assess the gold and place a value on it. We can’t trust our most esteemed financial institutions not to steal from taxpayers, yet it’s somehow reasonable to trust a company that uses “as seen on TV” as a major selling point. I could go on, but what’s the point?

There is at least the suggestion of value in all of these services. A faxed resume could reach an HR person. The government jobs site may have a worthwhile resume-editing service. And Cash4Gold will probably send some amount of money in exchange for gold. I just don’t think this is enough reason to take the risk. Here’s one simple rule of thumb for judging any service aimed at those hit hard by the economy… if the website sucks, the company and its services probably do too. Is the company established? Is the company likely to make good on its promises? A professional website is a good indicator. And a little research can lead to answers too. There’s no need to get suckered while trying to get by, especially now.

I’m starting to think that people actually like me, or my blog, or a career train wreck they can watch from a safe distance. Or maybe everyone is just bored to tears of job sites and their incessantly optimistic emails. Whatever the circumstances, a really cool site called FLYP has included me in an article about unemployment…

Unemployment 1 America 0

I’d never heard of FLYP until the precise moment they contacted me about this story. Turns out they do a bang-up job over there, good enough to warrant a bookmark. Still, I’m a little suspicious that this swell of attention will come crashing down. It might all be a clever ruse, perpetrated by my cats, that everyone in the world is in on except me. The little furry ingrates probably thought that my unemployment would mean hours of treats and belly scratches for them. Little did they know I’d be glued to my computer and all but oblivious to their pleading. I kind of suspected my comeuppance would come right soon. But this retaliation, should it turn out to be that, is grand indeed. Touché, my fine feline friends, touché.

The record industry trudges on, in a sort of synchronized, death march. Consumers have stopped buying compact discs (or lately anything else), and labels don’t quite know what to do except stay the course and ask themselves, “why doesn’t this work anymore?” CDs had a good run, but sales have declined for much of the past decade. And digital downloads haven’t picked up the slack. Who, besides the federal government, wants to pay for something they can get for free? Oddly enough, there’s as much great music out now as there’s ever been… maybe more.

Selling music is about to get even harder for labels…

Like a Virgin Megastore, shut for the very last time

All six Virgin Megastores in the U.S. will be shuttered this Spring, including the New York locations in Times Square and Union Square. And that’s a big chunk of floorspace dedicated to CDs gone, never mind the 1000+ people who will find themselves unemployed. New York will also be left without a major record store, though Other Music suits my occasional need just fine. The closings will mark the end of an era, closing the door on the dreams that brought me to New York in the first place.

I moved to the city in the summer of 1999 on the hottest day in the history of the universe. Unpacking the U-Haul, I actually managed to sweat through my leather belt. My hope was to make it in the music industry (whatever “make it” means… probably not repeated layoffs and unemployment). At that point in time, consumers were buying CDs like they were (ahem) going out of style. This consumer was broke and unemployed. I didn’t know anyone, except for a new roommate and one friend who lived an hour and a half away by subway. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square was my place to go. It was open to the public and no one cared about people hanging out for hours listening to music. Staff probably didn’t even notice, given all the traffic. The store felt social, inviting. And it was the only place I knew. Every trip to NYC prior to the move included a visit to stock up on CDs. In the days before Amazon and other online stores (nevermind iTunes and eMusic), Virgin was the place to find the obscure music to match my obscure tastes. It felt like the center of the city that was the center of the music industry. And to me there was an air of possibility.

What did I know? I was fresh off the bus, as it were. Within weeks of arriving, I learned to loathe Times Square and avoid it at all costs, like any self-respecting New Yorker. There were just too many people in too small of a space aiming cameras in every which direction and pointing at tall buildings. Besides, the Virgin in Union Square, 30 or so blocks south, was way cooler. That’s where locals went, and that’s where I began to go. (Again, what did I know?) The store was centrally located between work and home and perfect for meeting friends – having bribed, err, met some – before a movie or dinner or a show. And who cared if they were late? I was surrounded by music, some of it even good. I killed many an hour perusing the aisles and sampling the albums on display. Some nights, that was my sole destination and my sole activity.

Jobs came and went, inside and then outside of the music industry. Bands came and went, leaving many more CDs on my shelves. Much of my discretionary income ended up in Virgin’s tills. But somewhere along the way I discovered that downloads were cheaper and took up less space. I became more patient and selective in my CD purchases. Amazon always seemed to have a better price, and waiting two days mattered less than the extra few bucks. I also discovered that the music industry wasn’t going to give me the life and career I wanted. It would be lucky to survive in some recognizable form. I moved on not because I wanted to, but because I had to.

I haven’t been to Virgin since Christmas. In that same time, I’ve added at least 30 albums to my collection. (Like I mentioned, there’s some great music coming out these days.) Many of them I even paid for. Virgin’s moment has passed for me and most consumers. But I’m glad it was here to occupy my time, take my money and usher me through my first decade in New York. That decade, unfortunately, seems to be ending the way it started… broke and unemployed.

Thanks Richard Branson. Try not to get yourself killed jumping out of an airplane or anything.

Every now and again I get a little press. And being a generous bloke, I like to share it with the world. I wish I could to teach the world to sing and buy it a coke too, but I’m tone-deaf and unemployed. Links are about the best I can do.

The other day The Wall Street Journal ran the following article…

Windows Into Lives After a Layoff

I have my very own paragraph about halfway down. Some other interesting bloggers are mentioned, including one Rachel Levy, whose site is packed with helpful online marketing tips. She is personally to blame for doubling my to-do list and, as a consequence, halving my TV-watching time. I won’t forget this, Rachel! And neither will Peter and Brian, the talking dog, or the gang on M*A*S*H.