With the number of people we read about who get fired for
blogging about their companies, it’s common sense that if you make
embarrassing posts or put criticisms about your company on the
Internet, it can be hazardous to your career. But what happens if you
are a job seeker who posts online? Would it affect your ability to
find a job?

You bet it does.

I’ve been part of search committees where in looking for a qualified
candidate one of the first places checked is not references, nor prior
employment. No, Google is the first place many employers look to find
out the “real” story behind candidates. It’s human nature to look and
verify – if not for the sake of thoroughness, for the sake of curiosity.

Perfectly qualified people can become unqualified if their homepage or
Net posts are offensive, weird or critical of their current company.
I’ve seen it happen more times than I care to mention.

Nick Corcodilos of Ask The Headhunter says you need to take accountability for what you do online as well as anywhere else. He says, “it fosters responsibility and, if your words have value, it builds credibility.” Obviously, having seen prior posts and online activity come back to haunt some job candidates, I believe this is true.

The
good news is that you can also swing this pendulum the other
direction. You can add some good to the world. Teach one of your
skills online. Let your professionalism shine through and it can
demonstrate your writing and documentation skills. Get enough people
to your site and it shows you can market. Simply put, you can
demonstrate your value to potential employers – in the very first place
they look.

Technorati Tags: career, job search, google, reputation

Just some stuff that crossed my mind during my vacation.  You be the judge.
If you are going to buy a boat…

If you are going to buy a runabout for fun get togethers, you may want to consider buying used.  Here’s why…
I ran into a boat dealer on one of the docks during my vacation who said the newer models are adding more electronics and gadgets.  That’s good to an extent, but one of the most important accessories to have on your boat is an ice chest.  Used runabouts often have the coolers built into the boat itself. 

In fact, I didn’t realize I had one built in until he pointed it out to me.  The compartment I was using for storing cleaning supplies is actually an ice chest.  Woot.

No stumbling over an ice chest.  Just throw a bag of ice in the onboard cooler, dig in some drinks, put your sandwiches on top and you’re ready to go.

How to beat the heat
- be lazy, save your more difficult and strenuous tasks for another day.  They’ll still be there when you get back. Or hire someone who likes to work in the hot weather to do it.  Many of the hotter climates accept this as the status quo.  While in Hawaii, helping my grandmother move, none of the others would show up mid day.  I asked a lawyer friend who lived there about why they never showed up on time.  He said "It’s Hawaii man, too hot , no show..  Nobody does.."

So skip it…your work will still be there when it cools off to 80 degrees or so.

Book Review
While on vacation, I read the true thriller Under and Alone.  It’s a true story about another North Carolinian William Queen who went undercover to infiltrate the violent underground Mongols motorcycle gang in California.   If you like reading suspense.  I recommend you pick this one up.  It’s a real page turner where I found myself reading some nights till 2am.  Yep, it’s that thrilling

Camping Psychosis

No matter whether you consider RV’ing camping or whether you tent camp.  There is a strong likelihood that camping psychosis can set in.  Camping psychosis is a temporary insanity that occurs when you go camping with someone you don’t know very well. 

Here’s an example of it.  For one person, camping means "it’s not quite camping until you have a cup of hot chocolate prepared using stream water heated over an open fire." 

For someone else it’s not quite camping if it happens in an RV…only tents. 

Others say "it’s not quite camping until you use the bathroom outside under a tree."

For me, "it’s not quite camping until you catch your own fish for a dinner."

But whatever camping psychosis that makes it’s way into your vacation, we all need to realize it’s not really camping in a true sense unless you are dropped off in the woods with a knife and nothing else.  That’s real camping..it’s not for me…probably not for you either if you are accustomed to luxuries such as electricity and the Internet… Who knows could be wrong.. But I don’t think so.

Pale People Unite!

One observation that occurred to me on this vacation is pale people don’t have a club. 

You see, as a decendent of Irish heritage, I have red hair and pale skin.  I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my skin tone unless I am at a pool or in a game of shirts vs. skins football.  But I noticed at the lodge’s pool there was a general lack of paleness.  Even among the other redheads in the vicinity.  Hey, I know you guys are wearing spray on tanner!

Here’s a much easier way of dealing with the social problem of having fair skin.  Show it off, be proud of it.  Put on your 55UV sunscreen and avoid the fake tanning sprays and lotions. 

Only until we of pale skin accept ourselves and our skin will we start to see an end  to the  bombardment of images and attitudes that our appearance at the beach is somehow unacceptable. 

Acceptance means not wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts to the pool.  It also means not trying to cover it up with the self-tanning stuff.   

So if you’ve got it, flaunt it – pale skin that is…

Since I am studying to renew my technical certifications and my wife is back in school, I thought I’d share with you my successful flashcard study technique. Arguably, for many people, myself included, flashcards are one of the best ways to learn and study. They are fast, portable, and if made properly help you learn difficult subjects almost automatically.

If the flashcards are made properly, you will be surprised by the difference in how quickly you’ll learn. Since you can carry them anywhere in a purse or back pocket, you can study anywhere – on the train, in traffic, in the bathroom… You can whip out your flashcards for a 2 minute study or a 20 minute study. This means you don’t have to make time to study.

Although you might think making flashcards is simple. I know, “everyone knows how to make flashcards Brad!” Hold on a minute. I was a technical trainer once. I thought everyone knew how to make flashcards too. However, after looking at some of my student’s homemade flashcards, I found very few students who did it right.

Unfortunately, the cards some students made were not efficient. They had put too much work into each card. They had put too much information on each card. Others made cards with information they already knew and didn’t make cards including information they didn’t, so they wasted a lot of time and energy making them at all. If they aren’t made just so, flashcards become a headache to make and use – but if they are made correctly, watch out! You will be shocked how you learn stuff
without even trying.

So here’s my recipe for effective flashcards you can use for optimal learning…

Technorati Tags: focus, Goals and Goal Setting, Productivity

1. Each card should only have 1 question and 1 answer – You aren’t copying down information verbatim when you make a flashcard. It should be quick (i.e. “Flash” card) not a synopsis or a bibliography. So 1 question and 1 answer.

• Right way: A flashcard that has “Who was the main actor in Mission Impossible” – answer on other side: Tom Cruise.
• Wrong way: Who was the main actor, supporting actor, key grip and set designer for the movie Mission Impossible? Answer: Who the hell knows?

- Notice how intimidating the second card is.

2. When studying or in class if there is a subject you don’t know make a flashcard. This is very important. Some students skip over complex subjects and think “I’ll just study that later.” Make sure you do study that later by making a flashcard really fast. Like I said above since each card has only one question and one answer it’s easy. You don’t have to put off the complex stuff anymore. Tip: If you are in training and have a question, write down
the question, then ask the instructor. Write down his or her answer on the back..instant flashcard.

3. Keep your flashcards in your pocket or purse at all times. Since flashcard study is so fast and efficient, you can study at any time. Study while waiting in line at the bank. Study while waiting for someone to arrive at lunch. Heck, I’ve studied while riding elevators.

4. Set a goal to review each flashcard in your pack 3 times per day. Do you remember when I said you’ll learn some stuff automatically? I can’t quite explain why, but if you simply read through each card 3 times a day you will be amazed at what you pick up. Maybe it’s like how Tony Robbins says “repetition is the mother of skill.” Topics you formerly thought “I’ll never get this”, will begin to make sense very quickly.

5. Set aside the cards you know ONLY after you can answer them correctly after a night of sleep. Let me put this another way. If you work through your cards 3 times today and on the third try you answer a card correctly, do not set that card aside yet. Wait until the next day’s first rotation. If you get it right again the next day, then you can discard it – you’ve learned that topic.

If on the second day you get it wrong again, sorry, you have to wait another day to answer that one correctly. This ensures you aren’t accidentally answering cards correctly or guessing at the right answers.

All in all, flashcards are a great way to learn on both the front end and the back end. On the front end, you are acknowledging the stuff you don’t know and creating questions for subjects you don’t understand. By turning a difficult topic into a question you have to THINK as you write it. Sometimes you’ll even feel your braincells working overtime while creating these question and answer cards. On the back end, the quick speed of reading through your daily stack makes learning a breeze.
Throw in the automatic learning results you get from the repetition and you’ll have a new way of mastering difficult subjects that cannot be beat.

You can give the new Google Health a try before it’s unveiled. It is very similar to the normal Google search. However, it has quick links based on your search that point to Treatment, Research papers, From medical establishment, Symptoms, News and Alternative medicine.

“Google will launch a new feature Wednesday: Google Health, that will help you find treatments, symptoms or alternative medicine treatments. You can try it today (be sure to set your Google interface to English).

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Here’s an article that continuines with the theme of how important it is to have your own stake in the ground (i.e. your own side business). FastCompany has posted a humorous, yet too commonly accurate article about the 5 most common lies in business as per Paul LaFontaine.

Lie: “People are our most important asset.”
Lie: “This was a rational decision.”
Lie: “We judge people by their performance.”
Lie: “This is business, it isn’t personal.”
Lie: “The customer comes first.”

The article goes on to tell what’s really going on behind each of those statements.  Does your company tell any of these lies?  If so, what’s the real truth behind them?

Link: The Five Most Common Lies in Business

Technorati Tags: work, carreer, boss, lying

One good source of Internet humor is a small group of eBayers who leave funny feedback and walk the delicate line of eBays abuse policy. Phoneloser is the original and most talented of the funny feedback guys.

Laughter is the best medicine, so go get some… :0)

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I spotted this on the Today program this morning.  A small business named Dogwood Energy is manufacturing stills that turn corn into moonshine fuel.  You need a license to manufacture ethanol in the US, but once you have one, you apparently can make a gallon of gas mix for 85 cents.  It looks like it takes up a whole lot of room, so I won’t be doing it in my backyard or anything, but if I lived on a farm, it would be tempting. 

You’ll need a still, and you will need to ferment beer, or wine, from corn, barley, kitchen scraps, or even molasses.  You can build your own still or buy one already assembled. We have all the information you need to manufacture your own fuel. You can build this reflux still.

Link:  Building Your Own Ethanol Still

Technorati Tags: gasoline, fuel, ethanol,

The late Earl Nightingale used to stress the connection between learning your native language and your success.  Since the first indication of your education are the words that are uttered from your mouth, if you do not have a good vocabulary, it immediately shows. 

He went on to say most people only learn a dozen or so new words each year.  So it’s pretty easy to get an edge, he recommended making vocabulary a study to add as many words as possible to your repertoire.

Considering 1 Billion words are now registered in the English Language, you now have plenty to choose from. 

A massive language research database responsible for bringing words such as "podcast" and "celebutante" to the pages of the Oxford dictionaries has officially hit a total of 1 billion words, researchers said Wednesday

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Technorati Tags: language, vocabulary, success, learning

Well, it looks like Google has done it again.  They have released an online calendar you can use to manage your schedule from a web browser.  Their Google Calendar is in beta and looks to be stable and easy to use.

• Seeing the big picture

  With Google Calendar, you can see your friends’ and family’s schedules
  right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail
  conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other
  interesting events that you find online.
              

• Sharing events and calendars

  You decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view.
  Planning an event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep
  track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote
  events, too.
           
     

• Staying on schedule

  You can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications,
  and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in
  search tool.

Google Calendar via TechCrunch

Technorati Tags: gtd, productivity, google, calendar

If you are looking to give up the daily grind in favor of being your own boss, sitepoint has a good article about doing just that.  Neil Flanagan and Jarvis Finger have put together a self-assessment quiz and outline about how you can “fire your boss!” and start your own business as an independent consultant.

“Most people, at one time or another, have a job that rewards their time and effort with wages or salaries. An increasing number of people, however, are becoming dissatisfied with that time-and-effort economy and seek the greater rewards that a results economy can provide.”

Link: Fire your Boss! The Successful Home Freelancer’s Guide

Technorati Tags: entreprenuer, success, goals and goal setting, work from home