Looking for a Federal Government Job? Let’s talk!

It recently occurred to me that I have a wealth of information about federal job searching that could very much be of use to those who are novices to the process.  With unemployment hitting an all-time high, and the federal government being one of the FEW places that will CONTINUE TO HIRE PEOPLE well into the next few years, this might be a great time for those who are either looking to transition from another field, or just looking for a job that actually has SOME stability.

Right now, I’m not selling anything, nor do I even have a website, but what I’d like to do is possibly create one, and I need the help of federal job seekers.  Thus, if you think you might want to explore federal employment opportunities, and would like some helpful hints and useful information about the process, please CONTACT ME and lets help each other.  I’ll ask you a few questions about how your search is going, or what you’re planning to do once you get started, and you can ask questions about the federal government hiring process, and I’ll help in whatever capacity that I can.

SAVE american Government! Write a Letter!

Six months ago, President Obama stated one of the goals of his Administration was working to cut costs and eliminate waste in the federal government.  He called for the beginning of the painstaking process of examining “every program, every entitlement, every dollar of government spending” and asking the questions: “Is this program really essential?” and “Are taxpayers getting their money’s worth?“.

To this end, he announced the appointment of Jeffrey Zients as Deputy Director for Management in the Office of Management and Budget, where he was also to serve as the first ever “Chief Performance Officer“.  In this capacity, his job would be to work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout our government.

Recently, the federal government gave federal employees, the opportunity to submit their suggestions for government improvement through the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Award.  Known as “The SAVE Award“, this competition allowed Federal employees to submit their ideas for saving money and making government services more efficient.  Essentially, the SAVE Award is noted as part of the President’s commitment to a line-by-line review of the Federal budget.

As a former Federal employee, I found that I was not eligible to participate in the SAVE Award competition, however, as a taxpayer, registered voter, and private citizen, I felt it was my duty to inform Mr. Zients and President Obama of my suggestions for improvements that are needed for the federal government.  I feel that my opinion, as a former employee, is just as valuable, if not valuable, given that I have an understanding of the federal government’s workforce environment and I’m unrestricted by the threat of a loss of employment if I am candid in my opinion.

I think we should all take the time out of our busy day, and send a letter to Mr. Zients with our own suggestions as to the changes we’d like to see that will make the federal government better.  It’s not just our right, but our duty as taxpaying citizens to insure that our voices are heard.  Thus, I’d like to give you his contact information:

Mr. Jeffrey Zients,  Chief Performance Officer
The Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503

I encourage you to let Mr. Zients know what he can do to help improve government performance.  Even if you aren’t a federal employee, you still have valuable insights that he could use as he moves forward is making the government more efficient.

DEFERRED GENIUSES UNITE!

I figure, with damn near DOUBLE DIGIT UNEMPLOYMENT there have got to be MILLIONS of people out there feeling like me!  Not just those that are a part of the “unemployed masses” but those who are REALLY SKILLED, TALENTED, and READY TO WORK, but are under 35 and nobody really cares about them if they’re not pouring coffee at Starbucks!

Yesterday, I saw Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story“, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it!  It was very inspiring.  He asked for a CALL TO ACTION to replace capitalism with DEMOCRACY! I thought that was awesome,  and despite what I heard from his critics, it’s not about him promoting “socialism“, though I must say that today I am SIMPLY AMAZED by the number of people who talk about capitalism and socialism and have NO IDEA what either of them really mean, but I digress.

I decided, that I really do want to help people.  It was part of the reason I spent YEARS looking for gainful employment with the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, and subsequently became part of the reason why I gave up on it, because quite frankly, I could NEVER change the federal government as a “career employee” struggling to make it up the ladder.  That’s just not going to happen!  Plus, the federal government, for all its different agencies still exhibits a RIDICULOUSLY SLOW AND ANTIQUATED ADAPTATION to ANYTHING NEW (even with this here new fangled “21st Century President), and that’s a problem for me. I’M TOO ENTREPRENEURIAL FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! THEIR LOSS! LOL.

Anywhoo, I’ve turned my attention towards two things I’m very passionate about: SMALL BUSINESS and POLITICS.  One of which I’ve loved for most of my life, and the other I’ve hated until fairly recently, when I realized I  HAVE to to get involved with politics based OUT OF SHEER NECESSITY! Inspired in part by the Debtor’s Revolt that began with an angry Bank of America customer, upset about her astronomical interest rates, I’ve decided to not only join this movement, but take it one step farther.  I’m tired of the members of Congress receiving checks in access of $170,000 a year (as of January 2009, both Senators and Representatives make on average $174,000/year), and passing laws and legislation that effects REAL AMERICANS who only make A FRACTION of that, given that the median salary for our households are around $50,000!

I’m a part of that sector of america doing WORSE THAN MOST.  Over the past five years, I’ve had an average annual salary of about $11,000, as a result of frequent periods of unemployment and underemployment, despite the fact that I clearly have the skills, drive, knowledge, and abilities to be doing much better.  I thought about this, and I thought about the AGGRESSIVE job search I’ve been doing over the last couple of years, and how fruitless it’s been.  Clerical jobs and other “part-time gigs” that don’t even allow me to pay for the gas it takes to work at them!  RIDICULOUS! I realized recently, the answer to this is not re-tooling or changing my job search strategies, it’s putting the skills I KNOW I have to good use, and CREATING A JOB OR MYSELF! For some, this is a scary thought, but for me, I look forward to the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship!

That being said, I realize that I have to be VERY proactive with my plans, given that I’ll be running out of unemployment checks soon.  The small amount that I do get, I put towards keeping a roof over my head and working to make this business work!  After seeing Michael Moore’s movie, he inspired me to add something else to my amazingly talented repertoire: POLITICS.  I’ve always had a disdain for politics, because I don’t think you can be truthful, honest, forthright, and genuine as a politician.  The “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” nature of politicians is a PROBLEM as it breeds the corruption that we see running rampant throughout our country!  What I can do to combat this AND make sure I don’t become a part of the problem is: BECOME A CHAMPION FOR THE PEOPLE! As much as I like Barack Obama, he ran on what appeared to be a “movement of the people“, but it was still mostly financed by corporations!  I feel ANY TIME you accept corporate donations, you are beholden to them, and the truth of the matter is, it’s just human nature that you DON’T go against your own interests!  Thus, I believe that members of the GENERAL PUBLIC should fund my campaign, and I will accept donations from that public when the time comes.

This isn’t just some “flight by night” notion I got after seeing a great documentary.  This was something that was stirring around in my head since I travelled to Washington, D.C., wrote many letters and made many calls, and wasn’t able to meet with ANY members of Congress in any substantive way!  I understand they’re busy (we all are), but something is VERY WRONG when ELECTED OFFICIALS can’t find 15 minutes to meet/speak with a VOTING TAXPAYER!  I THINK THE U.S. CONGRESS IS TOO FAR REMOVED FROM THE REAL ISSUES EFFECTING REGULAR AMERICANS, THUS IT’S TIME THEY BE VOTED OUT!

To that end: I WANT TO BE VOTED IN! Here’s how I plan to do it using tactics that have helped many small business grow and flourish along their way to success.  There are a few locations where I have familial ties, but the truth of the matter is “I’m a nomad“.  I don’t really have roots anywhere (based in part because I’ve been unable to find a damn job) and as such: I can RELOCATE ANYWHERE.  I’d like for people who really want to see REAL CHANGE in their community to INVITE ME to their district/state to be the catalyst and the face of a NEW MOVEMENT! I’m not trying to be the president! I’m not trying to get into this so I can worm my way into a cushy corporate job once I finish my term!  I’m TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE, and as an educated, articulate person, I believe I can do that. I don’t have a law degree, but I can read and understand even the most complex subjects AND I have the ability to relay those topics to varied audiences in a way to help EVERYBODY understand.  I sure think that’s something that’s missing in american politics!

I’ll spend the next few months working to get other DEFERRED GENIUSES like myself behind this initiative, but this can’t happen with JUST ME.  There have GOT TO BE OTHER PEOPLE FEELING THIS WAY WHO WANT TO REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE! We can, if we work together!

If 1% of americans holds MOST of the country’s wealth, then it becomes incumbent upon the 99% with the VOTING RIGHTS to make sure they exercise them and get some JUSTICE FOR ALL!

Another OLD white man?

Today former Democratic Party chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. was sworn in as the replacement to Ted Kennedy as a U.S. Senator representing the state of Massachusetts. I don’t know much about Kirk, and truthfully don’t care, but what bothers me is that YET ANOTHER old white man has entered the United States Senate. Another thing that bothers me about this situation is that I’d heard a few days earlier that ‘the Kennedy family approves of Kirk‘ as if to say that their “blessing” somehow makes it okay, where they are the be-all, end-all of Massachusetts politics. It’s ridiculous that the Kennedy’s have the power to “ordain” someone into a publicly elected office! What ever happened to THE PUBLIC being able to represent the public? Oh wait, my bad, that never happened. It’s always been the privileged few, with ivy league law degrees who are deemed as “important enough” to shape this nation.

I think I want to run for U.S. Senate. Now I just have to find the place where I can pull it off. I can’t do it here, they’re too racist, and I’m not originally from the area which would just be another nail in the coffin. Subsequently, I can’t do it in my home state, because a) there’s too much political corruption, and I’m not apart of, nor do I want or have access to, the “machine” that elects public officials there, and b) people would be quick to label me as an “outsider” given the length of time that I’ve been away. They’d swear I don’t know what’s best for the state and its inhabitants, especially since I haven’t lived there in years, though there’s irony in the fact that it was the conditions of that state that prompted me to move elsewhere and look for work, so I do very much know what MANY in the state are feeling.

I realize that the latter issue would be something I’d run into, regardless of where I decided to run. Everyone would label me a “carpetbagger“, especially if I simply moved into an area just to run for their senate office. But my desire to run for the United States Senate comes from my desire to help shape this country as a young person growing up in it!

I suppose I naively believe that I, as a mere taxpayer and registered voter, could actually WIN an election for a statewide office, even given the entrenched vehemence I’m sure to face if I’m seeking to put current government workers and senator aides out of a job. The second big issue that I’d face is my unwillingness to join a “popular” political party (read as ONE OF THE BIG TWO: Democrat or Republican). The 2008 Presidential election really solidified my opinion on being politically INDEPENDENT. I don’t think Democrats or Republicans have the PEOPLE’S best interest at heart, but instead they’re looking out for their own interest and the interests of the corporations that back and lobby them. I’m not that young that I can’t see how politics isn’t NEARLY as “of the people” as it should be, nor how it was intended to be by our “forefathers” (though I do admit that perhaps they were beholden to corporate interests as well, but it just didn’t appear to be that way, given that corporations weren’t really existing at that point).

Essentially, I’d like to run for office as an Independent candidate of a progressive state that wants REAL change AND fiscal responsible. People who want a healthcare option that’s not going to bankrupt them AND doesn’t bankrupt the government. People who want to work, keep their money, and use it to build a future for themselves and their families, and not have their money given away foolishly to corporations and for-profit entities whose CEOs should have known better! I want to work on behalf of people (like me) who are just trying to work, save a little, and leave the world in just a little better shape for their kids than it was when they got it! People who want to succeed the generation before them, not just financially, but emotionally and environmentally! I want people to join my cause, not because of their own self-interest, but because it’s the RIGHT thing to do, and I will stand for WHAT IS RIGHT!

If Barack Obama can adopt a change mantra and “ride the wave of change” into the white house, I should be able to ride the wave of POSITIVE CHANGE onto the floor of the U.S. Senate.

VOTE FOR ME!

The first step in my campaign: Tell me the 3 things you want to see improved in our country.

Why Blockbuster Is Now Obsolete

I’ve been a Blockbuster Online Total Access member for a few years now, but prior to that, I was a regular in-store Blockbuster customer. I grew up on the Blockbuster brand, so when they introduced the online rental option I was ecstatic!

Now, I admit, when online rentals first came out, I went to Netflix first. It was cheaper. I didn’t like how long you had to wait for new rentals, and I especially didn’t like the fact that Netflix didn’t ship on Saturdays. At the time, when I switched over to Blockbuster, it was because they offered more value to me where I could not only get DVDs in the mail, but also exchange them in local Blockbuster stores. Though I had a problem with receiving new releases from Blockbuster, I worked around this issue by receiving older movies in the mail, and exchanging them for new releases in the store. Theoretically, it was a GREAT arrangement!

My problems with Blockbuster started within my first few months. Having approximately 800 items in “My Queue” at the time, I still wasn’t having items shipped to me nearly as fast as I felt they should be, given that I was returning my mailed discs to stores as promptly as I received them. Then I read about “throttling“, the process of sending DVDs slowly to the highest volume users. I had read an article about this process, and later saw news releases from Blockbuster claiming they don’t participate in this process, but I now know as a soon-to-be-former customer of their service: THAT SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE. Over the past few months, I’ve meticulously followed how often items are shipped to me, and how long it takes for returned items to clear “My Queue”, and there’s ALWAYS a multi-day lag, sometimes spanning 3-4 weekdays when absolutely nothing is happening on my account. On several occasions I took to contacting Customer Service and alerting them to the apparent issues I was having on my account, and 95% of the time, I was told to make sure I have at least 15 “Available” items listed in My Queue for shipping (which I did, having roughly 900 items on the list, where at least 80% were always Available), and usually about 50% of the time I’d be offered a free in-store rental for my inconvenience (blah).

At another time, due to website malfunctions on the side of Blockbuster, “My Queue” was unavailable for about 3-4 months, and I could not edit it, and after contacting Blockbuster’s Customer Service SEVERAL TIMES (including twice through snail-mail), I was given the option of having my account deleted (i.e. all of my movies in the queue being deleted from the account) and having a new account set up, where I’d have to reconfigure a new list. I’m sure from Blockbuster’s perspective this would have been a GREAT DEAL, as they knew it would be unlikely that I’d remember the 900+ titles I had in “My Queue”. In fact, the Customer Service Representative actually said “You have like 900+ titles on here, I don’t think the system is designed for that“. I pointed out that I’d read in their website’s Help Section, that you could have up to 999 videos in “My Queue”, and if that wasn’t a possibility, then it shouldn’t have been published on the site, and more importantly, if I’m not supposed to have 900+ items in “My Queue”: WHY ALLOW ME TO DO IT?! The situation ended up resolving itself eventually and “My Queue” returned a few weeks later, in tact.

Most recently, amid the credit crunch and rising unemployment, I have a need to tighten my belt, thus Blockbuster is the FIRST thing to go. It’s actually the only “luxury” that I have on my monthly expenses, having already turned off my cable and no longer attending movies or entertainment venues anymore. It was the last bastion of “fun” that I allowed myself on my “shoestring budget“, but their service is just CRAPPY!

Blockbuster has become obsolete because the “specialty service” they offered has now been replaced by that of Netflix and RedBox! These days Blockbuster doesn’t ship on Saturdays anymore, so they no longer have that advantage over Netflix, and as far as pricing goes, they’re pretty much neck-and-neck with Netflix, and there’s no real reason to keep a Blockbuster subscription.  Essentially, I can get older movies through Netflix, and get new releases from RedBox, so Blockbuster SERVES NO PURPOSE anymore. They made themselves obsolete by “thumbing their nose” at their faithful customers like me.  I can understand from a business perspective that you’d want to reduce expenses while increasing revenues to maximize profit, but I think they went about it all wrong.  For every person like me, who received DVDs in the mail, promptly returned them in-stores, and then returned the in-store rentals, there were people like my friends and family members who are Blockbuster Online Total Access members who RARELY USED THE SERVICE. They get DVDs in the mail and forget to return them either in-store or via mail for MONTHS at a time.  I’d be inclined to believe that “heavy users” like myself are a rarity, thus the reason the business remained profitable.

Time and time again I kept getting the feeling that Blockbuster didn’t really value me as a customer, and it showed every time they allowed my account’s shipping to lapse without letting me know there was a problem prior to me informing them of one.  In the past few months, I’ve gotten the excuse “we’re having shipping problems out of our X-warehouse that’s assigned to your region, so shipping’s taking a lot longer than it usually does“, and they knew this yet didn’t offer me a discounted subscription rate, knowing that I wasn’t able to fully take advantage of the service during the several weeks they were encountering this issue! SHODDY CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A POOR BUSINESS MODEL! THEY DESERVE TO BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS!! I do feel bad for the people who’ll lose their jobs as a result of Blockbuster’s corporate ineptitude, but at the same time, they’ve put themselves out of business by being crappy towards the people that help effect their bottom line.

I recently read that nearly 1000 Blockbuster stores will be closing soon around the country, and I can’t help but say “GOOD RIDDANCE”! Currently, there are 5 Blockbuster locations within a 10-mile radius of my home, and when I first moved here I thought “is Blockbuster really THAT popular to have this many locations” (because when I moved here, it was actually 6 locations, 2 of which were less than 2 miles apart).

So, as my monthly subscription renewal date is rapidly approaching, I am powering down “My Queue” and preparing for the possible leap over to Netflix.  I’ve still got a few months of fiscally responsible budgeting while I wade through the current “unemployment crisis“, but once things get back up and running, I doubt I’ll ever think about Blockbuster again.  As far as I’m concerned, they’re now a NON-ENTITY!  I imagine they’ll cease to be important in more and more consumers minds as times progress forward.

Hopefully Netflix will welcome me with open arms (and fast shipping DVDs).

National Embarassment: Joe Wilson

I don’t understand why Representation Joe Wilson of South Carolina hasn’t been run out of the United States on a rail?! Where are all the patriot, rabid americans that would do anything for this country who love america so much they bleed the flag? Why isn’t it the utmost display of disrespect for this man to shout out at OUR PRESIDENT like some common hoodlum, yet not lose his job?  What would happen if you went to work tomorrow and yelled “YOU LIE” at your boss while they were speaking to a group of colleagues? Joe Wilson needs to resign!

Deferring Genius

A while ago, a friend and I were talking about our relative states of “genius“, and how we hadn’t achieved nearly what we thought we should have at our ages (which then, was mid-20s).  It’s not that we had these ridiculously high hopes of things we hoped to accomplish, but we didn’t expect to be over-educated, over-indebted, underemployed or unemployed, and living with our parents, or in living situations that were otherwise “less than ideal“.

Unhappy as we both were with our lives, we started to look inwards and ask the question “what am I doing wrong to cause all these things to happen“.  See, people with an internal locus of control, tend to do that.  So, we both came to the conclusion that we were obviously doing a number of things that were hindering us from being able to take advantage of whatever opportunities lie ahead for us (even if that only meant we weren’t putting ourselves out there, so that the opportunity would have a chance to cross us). At the time, the revelation was profound. For the first time, I became aware of myself and my own culpability in what’s happening in my life.

Now, admitting that I’m part of the problem, was again only PART of the problem.  We aren’t a bunch of lazy bums. We’re a bunch of really talented people that haven’t gotten the chance to come across the right people. Keeping this thought in mind, I made a “radical” change in my life and pretty much ended up where I am today: Unhappy, unemployed, and still having my “Genius” in “Deferred” status.  I have tried. I’ve gone out, and met “the right people” and networked with “the best of them“. You know what they netted me: NOT A DAMN THING! Everytime I meet someone new, they drop the name of “so-and-so” and I know them, and have most likely talked to them and interacted with them, but it hasn’t changed anything about MY situation. Someone told me that perhaps part of my problem is that I appear to be too independent, and that people don’t KNOW I need help, so within the last 6 months, I’ve started to ask for it more, and put myself in the position where people know that I am in need of assistance, and am open to receiving it. Ironically, I was then told that “you don’t want to look too desperate“.  So, it’s just a never-ending case of constant excuses either way. Networking works for other people, just not me. I have a better chance of having a complete stranger off the street help me out and present me with an opportunity better than I do someone who knows me and has had a conversation with me (to date).

All this being said, I do realize that part of the fault of why my “Genius” is “Deferred” is because I am holding me back.  I currently have an impending deadline for something that’s very important and could be a life-changing experiences, but I’m considering not meeting it, because it will take a lot of work, and a significant investment, and I just don’t want to WASTE MY TIME AGAIN, barking up the wrong tree and nothing ever comes of it other than time expended.  Some people would say I’m “giving up“, but at some point, you have to ask yourself “is this insane“? Isn’t one of the popular definitions of insanity “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results?”. If I continue to strive towards success and continually try to place myself in front of good opportunities that never come, aren’t I insane? Shouldn’t I be more realistic and set lower goals? I can’t help but think if all I had wanted out of high school was a job at the post office, I’d be blissfully happy with my life right now, or at least I’d be content and not thinking of ways to die that look like accidents (ok, I’m being dramatic with this last part here for effect, but still…I had you going for a second there, didn’t I. LOL).

Friends in Low Places

Arguably one of the BEST Garth Brooks songs ever made, and I don’t just say that because it’s one of the THREE Garth Brooks songs I’ve ever heard of! LOL.

Recent events have caused me to think about friends (or perhaps even the lack there of).  A while back, I had someone whom I guess I would have called a “friend” tell me to check his blog for updates about him and his life.  Despite the significant amount of time I spend on the Internet for work and other related purposes, I admittedly don’t do much of the “social networking thing”.  At first, I thought his suggestion seemed a bit off, and it was just an attempt for him to drum up more traffic to his site, so I did visit it once or twice (though I never bookmarked it, or made it a regular place to visit, in part because he rarely updated it, and also because it just wasn’t that interesting to me).  Several weeks had passed, and he and I lost contact with one another, but I sent him an email to catch up, and gave him a brief rundown on what had been going on with me during our weeks of non-contact.  When I inquired about what he’d been up to, he said “I hate to keep saying this, but check my blog, it has all the info you need“.  We haven’t spoken again since, and I doubt we ever will.

I took offense to this “digital marginalization” via social media, but I overlooked it as what I thought was a strange phenomenon among someone that I happened to have met through a social medium.  Most recently, the person who up until a few weeks ago was my best friend in the world, has done the same thing.  I was shocked that 6 weeks had gone by without her returning my call, only to log into facebook (a place I vehemently hate and rarely inhabit) to find out all sorts of things about her and her new life.  I’d known for quite some time that she was dating someone new, and that her life had pretty much started to revolve around him and his social calendar, but I was just surprised to see how deeply interwoven the two were now (and also how much of their life and whereabouts are shared with the public via the web).  Needless to say, I found out all sorts of things that were happening with her over the past six weeks, including bouts of depression and major family illnesses and a host of other things that I’d have thought someone who was supposed to be my best friend would have shared with me.  Nevermind the fact that I’ve been having a really tough time lately dealing with a number of issues in my life, but I just think 6 weeks without a call simply sucks!  A few weeks ago, she called me and left a message on my voicemail saying she hadn’t heard from me in weeks, and she was wondering what was up (as if I was the one not returning numerous calls!).  We haven’t talked, and I don’t think we will again, so there’s one less person in my ever-dwindling social circle.

I realize that things change as you get older, and I’ve been watching my inner circle of friends get smaller and smaller.  I start to think: “is it me that’s unfriendly?” Or is it just my unwillingness to invest in new people the older I get? Because as time passes and the decades start to pile on, you realize you simply don’t have room for new people and their crazy baggage!

I suppose at the end of the day, the true testament to what I’ve done with my life can be reflected in the people that love me (or lack thereof).  I take full responsibility for the way things have turned out in my life, but I don’t see how I could have (or would have) done anything differently.  I just don’t think I should have to compromise myself and my beliefs and ideals just to make friends. And I’m not the hardest person in the world to get along with, I just don’t have time for a bunch of the superficial dalliances of human interaction.  Don’t ask me a question you don’t want an honest answer to.  Don’t put me in the position where you force me to tell you the truth when you know it’s going to hurt your feelings.  I’m not a jerk, and I don’t go out of my way to hurt people, but don’t put me into the type of situation where you’d expect me to hold my tongue when I’m witnessing foolishness, because we both know that’s not going to happen!

Another ranting post, read by none, about nothing in particular.  I suppose if I had real friends who returned phone calls, I could express my anger and anguish with them, but since I don’t, I lash out in a blog!  Damn, isn’t the Internet fun!

Definition

People are often defined by what they do. Its one of the many ways that people make value judgments about other’s character. It’s one of the reasons why a lot of unemployed people feel so crappy about themselves, because many times, not having a job and a title takes away a significant part of their identity. Nevermind the whole “non-productive member of society” aspect of not making a living wage and contributing to the economy, I think the emotional toll of unemployment is something that most people (who aren’t experiencing it) really even think about. But I digress…

Someone recently mentioned to me that it’s important to find “like-minded individuals“. That was certainly the thought behind “genius school” as a kid. More than anything I felt it to be stifling. A room full of “geniuses” (or genii, as I like to facetiously call it) is one of the most boring and simultaneously pathetic scenes you could ever witness. People who can solve the most complex mathematical problems with the ease of which other people breathe, yet can’t manage to have a conversation with the person standing directly in front of them in a social setting. I always felt like I didn’t belong there. Especially since I was a “natural talent“, as opposed to being of the “self-taught” variety as many of my counterparts were. But I’ll digress again, because I’m really just rambling idly as I wait to get sleepy for the night.

To date, the one thing I’ve consistently been was “smart“. It’s what I am. I can’t stop my brain from functioning and never could. I can’t help that I think of 1000 things at once and am capable of processing multiple ideas and multiple thoughts at once, and can’t just do one specific thing for the rest of my life. It’s guided my academic and career choices. I shake my head at the countless hours I’ve wasted looking for federal employment. I almost feel slightly mentally defective for thinking for one moment that I’d have something of use that the inefficient federal government could use. People like me don’t do well in such scenarios. The only thing is “people like me” don’t really do well in any scenarios outside of an academic classroom, and perhaps that’s where I went wrong. Maybe I should have never left school.

The Empowerment Experiment

I will be the first to admit, this blog has no “direction”. It’s mostly a hodgepodge of ideas and random thoughts that I have and was created as an outlet for the frustration I felt at not being able to find gainful employment. It later evolved into a sounding board for my unhappiness with underemployment and rantings of the ineptitude of my then-current employer (the federal government). It has now evolved once again, though I’m not sure what this new direction can be called. Rather than spend another half-hour deliberating on the virtues of the new and improved direction of this blog, I’ll just get to the point of THIS post:

I recently came across “The Empowerment Experiment“, where a middle-class African American couple have committed themselves to a year-long “Buy Black” initiative. The family has publicly made a declaration of their intention to spend as much money as possible with Black businesses and among Black business professionals. I think their story is inspiring, and I’m amazed that this has been going on for months, and I’ve only now heard about it after 75% of the year has almost past. In any event, I wanted to do my part and spread the word here, despite the fact that I doubt that I have any readers! LOL.

I’m going to make a point to follow their blog, as well as keep up with them on Twitter, and I hope that they manage to update each more often. Of course, since I’m not opposed to working with Black businesses myself, I’d like to extend my “Social Networking Services” to them if they find that they’re in need of a full-time dedicated Social Networking Specialist (yes, I did just make that title up, though it probably exists already, as I’m sure someone’s being paid $1000s a year to do this for larger companies). My site right now doesn’t look like much, but that’s only because I don’t have an active brand sponsor or an initiative to promote!

Since this just turned into an advertisement for myself and my services, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer a truncated copy of my résumé, just in case, they (or someone who happens across this blog) are in need of a Social Networking Specialist to catapult their exposure on the World Wide Web. Yes, I am serious! Stop shaking your head at my shameless self-promotion! LOL.

But I digress, since learning about “The Empowerment Experiment” I’ve been doing everything in my power to catch up on what they’ve been up to and how the experiment is going. Since I really do have some areas of expertise in social media and networking, I’ve been especially interested in the “user-created” aspect of their movement, and by that I mean reading the comments from random readers and internet users about their initiative. It appears that many people are accusing them of “reverse racism” (which is an idiotic term if one knows what that really means) and have charged that this family is practicing some form of racial exclusivity. I’m not surprised that naysayers play up this aspect and want to focus on the BAD in this movement. Jews practice the “art” of having a dollar exchange several Jewish hands before it leaves the community and I rarely hear anyone haranguing about that and charging them as “racists”! I can only imagine the hate and negativity this family has endured with this project, thus I again say KUDOS TO THEM! In some ways, I just don’t get why people don’t see that it’s incumbent upon us as Black people to help ourselves and not wait on “someone” (which most people would simply view as “the government”) to save us from a perilous fate. There’s nothing wrong with BLACK PEOPLE saying to other BLACK PEOPLE: “Hey, look here first; Put your money to a better use and help you and those that look like you, for once“.

I might be digressing again, so I’ll get back to the point:

I APPLAUD THE CALL TO ACTION BY THE ANDERSONS, and I agree with them. They’re a threat simply because they have done all “the right things ” and gone to “the right schools” and socialized with “the right people”, and don’t fit the standard “Black Militant profile”. They’re speaking out instead of simply laying back and enjoying “the american dream” that I’m sure they both worked very hard to achieve. They’re asking for US to take care of US through self-empowerment, and I laud their accomplishments to date!

I encourage anyone reading this to GET INVOLVED, or at the very least do what you can to support Black businesses in your community or even the online community.

If I had more to give beyond this blog post, I would, and hopefully, as time progresses, and things get better for me, I will!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!