LinkedIn Personality Clash

A few months ago, I started a LinkedIn profile to consolidate my professional life and to try and make real-world working connections (it's not what you know, but who you know, right?).  I had all the skills I thought I could do at least halfway decent posted (leastways, at the forefront of my mind at the time), acquired professionally or otherwise (volunteer work, theater experience, scholastic-accomplishments, et cetera), and I was ready to go!  Unfortunately, most of my "endorsements", the things people know you CAN do well, are in stuff like "Facebook" or "Social Media".  Nowadays, hundreds of millions of people use social media, so it really doesn't help me stand out from my competition.  Basically, I'm an Eagle Scout with a 3.86 GPA, a Study-Abroad experience in Ecuador, and an Environmental degree from the University of Oregon...and I can marketably do Facebook.  ...  Kind of pathetic, in some ways.  I think the problem is the people who ARE endorsing me found me through Facebook, hence the social media nods.  On some level, I feel like the hapless worker, promising prospective employers with a pathetic plea of "I can do...stuff."  On the other hand, maybe I'm being ungrateful to my peers and for their endorsements.  In fact, there are marketable qualities to knowledgeability in social media (eg: communications; global consumer trends; et cetera).  Maybe I could get an environmental job involving social media to mass communicate issues imperative to society and the world at large?  ...  Or maybe not?

What do you think?

Meanwhile, I'm still looking for a job...

--
-Thomas

Lubuntu, Sweet and Simple

'Tis a gift to be simple...

Most friends know that I've been using Ubuntu Linux for a good long while.  I like that it's free to own and distribute (along with much of the bundled software like Libre Office), easy to use, relatively virus-free, and it's a good conversation piece when talking about computers.  When I got my current laptop last Christmas, it had Windows 8...for about a week or so before I switched to Ubuntu.  It's not a perfect relationship, with occasional glitches, set backs (iPod not working, etc), and needs to completely reinstall Linux (usually due to a mistake on my part).  However, I digress, I'm really happy with it.

In the past few weeks, my Ubuntu had been acting funny (I had been running LTS 12.04.1).  Randomly, it would say there was an internal error and either nothing would happen or I'd have to reboot.  I looked up answers to this problem, but nothing was giving me the long term solution I was looking for.  Either out of impulse or whatever, I decided to switch to Lubuntu.

Lubuntu is Canonical's variety of Linux for those with low power machines, based on the LXDE platform.  My last laptop (with a 1.6 ghz processor and 2 gigs of RAM)  had it and ran it beautifully until it died, ultimately living a LOT longer than I or most people would expect.  It's not meant to be flashy like Ubuntu, but if you have an older computer and/or simple needs, Lubuntu is definitely a viable option.  It's giving life and purpose to outdated computers in the face of designed obsolescence.  It made me happy to feel that my old laptop could run circles around newer machines equipped with Windows 7 or 8.

It would seem like overkill to put an OS designed for low-end computers on a machine that's anything but low-end.  However, I know my needs and I feel that Lubuntu addresses those superbly.  While I'm not particularly big on Abiword or Gnumeric, Google Docs works fantastic in the Chromium web browser (then again, with most things related to productivity moving online, it seems all you need IS a web browser nowadays.  Just be sure to save to the hard drive once in a while in case of service outages).

Source: http://xkcd.com/934/

All the same, I love my Lubuntu because it's sweet, simple, and fast.  So far, I haven't had many problems with it (mainly iPod related), but I can see myself using this for a good, long time.  I don't "need" the biggest or baddest computer or OS.  Just give me something simple and I'll be content.

iLove/Hate U, iPod.

I've had my iPod Touch a little over a year now. It's a generation two that I got on Craigslist, so it was already "ancient" by technology standards. Since then, we haven't exactly had the perfect working relationship.

I got it right before the Spring Break 2012 trip to Utah because most of my peers would have the ubiquitous Apple players. I wanted to bring music on the trip, but a 3DS might go over some heads, so I thought I'd give Apple a shot (peer pressure? Nah...). Other than the grievances, it's a good device. I LOVE the web browser (it's WAY faster and more compatible with the web than the DSi or 3DS browser), the apps are cool (BlackBoard and Notes were handy for school), and it can do enough things that I rarely turn in my laptop anymore (I did a good chunk of my homework down in Ecuador via Google Docs on it and I'm also writing this blog). The email and calendar features are handy to have to stay up to date. Overall, while apps for it are slowly disappearing (ie: no longer supported by iOS 4.2.1, like Facebook), for being a three year old "out-mode" (no camera, et cetera), it's still got a lot of pep its step.

However, it's an iPod, a music player, first and foremost. Because I run Linux, putting music on is a crapshoot, depending on how temperamental either the iPod or laptop is being (the inspiration for this blog). I was having issues, so I did a restore this morning with my friend's laptop (he has Windows 7 with iTunes). I took it back to my laptop (running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with RhythmBox). After three hours of picking new music and syncing the iPod, I unplug it and find that the player is only recognizing one song, as opposed to the 1,700+ songs I had queued. The iPod's information says there's a huge chunk of data being used, so the songs ARE on the device's memory. This has happened before a few times. I'd either need to do another restore or the iPod wakes up and realizes there is more music and updates it's queue.

Sometimes I think about Lisa Simpson in that episode of The Simpsons where she eschews her new Malibu Stacy Dollhouse in favor of a simple shoebox home she made for her doll, that maybe I should reset my priorities and lifestyle and go back to something simpler, like my 3DS, DSi, or "Little Blue". Do I necessarily "need" a thousand songs when a smaller number of favorites would suffice? Can I, in good ecological conscience, endorse a company that designs its products to be obsolete after a short time on the market? Do I need my email checked all the time?

...but I digress. Again, it hasn't been a perfect working relationship, with tech headaches from time to time (like this morning). However, when it DOES work, I have no complaints, but praise for what it can do and has done.  I also acknowledge that this is a "first world" problem, that there are more important things going on.  Again, I digress, I love and hate my iPod Touch.

I wish I knew how to quit you...you lovable scoundrel.

Musical Journal (circa 2009)

A few days ago, I got my old MP3 player back.  I had let a friend borrow it years ago (using my DS and eventually my iPod to play music in the meantime), but all the same, I got it back recently.  It's a little blue 512mb Sandisk Sansa m230 that a friend gave me back in Virginia, eventually becoming my go-to music player for my odyssey to the west coast.  Because of it's small space, it could hold around 150 songs, enough for a day's drive.  While it's convenient to have all of one's music on a larger device, having a selected mix of favorites can make for a more pleasant trip (and less skipping).  So I bought a AAA battery for the Sansa and the player came to life with the familiar SanDisk logo flashing in the tiny screen.  To my surprise, the music library I'd left on there when I let my friend borrow it was still intact (she mainly used it for the built-in FM Radio during her gym time).

 

 

"Little Blue"

I've been thinking about actually using the MP3 player again, just something to carry around for when I go running or on car trips.  However, I don't have it in me to clear the current playlist.  I look at it like my time capsule or a school yearbook.  Also, I already have three other perfectly capable portable music players (my DSi and 3DS for "selected" tracks (1GB each, twice that of the Sansa) and my 8GB iPod Touch for a larger library), so the environmentalist in me (while screaming that I have too much stuff to begin with) is saying I don't "need" another device and would probably do well to donate the little blue.  It also doesn't help that the Sansa is having connectivity issues with Ubuntu.  I know I could just make a copy of the playlist and use that.  The whole thing makes me wonder about attachment to things and memories.

As I browsed the songs, memories and feelings came flooding back to me.  Seeing Eddie Vedder on the player brought me back to Mt. Rainier, driving amongst the tall trees of Gifford Pinchot National Forest as carefree and young as I could with "Big Hard Sun" playing on my car speakers.  "I Don't Feel At Home In This World" by the Gospel Keys reminded me of the excitement of the wannabe gypsy life, traveling and having little but making the most of things (admittedly contrasting the song's actual meaning of spiritual pilgrimage on earth).  Modest Mouse WAS the music of the Pacific Northwest, with "Dashboard" bringing a Walla Walla, WA fish and chips flavor to my mind's tastebuds (sad to learn that the little fish restaurant closed down).  This little Sansa was essentially my journal, my thoughts and feelings from my 2009 self reflected musically, each song a memory, feeling, or issue I pondered ("Strawberry Fields Forever" queried life direction and "Wicked Game" was about relationships).  Whether or not I keep the Sansa, it was great to go through and reminisce what was essentially one of the greatest summers ever.

Sharing Stories Online

     Years ago, whenever I would go on a trip somewhere, I would usually send friends and family an email updating my adventures with photos to go along with it.  It was my electronic postcard to the people in my life, showing my trip through my eyes while saving on postage.  However, a couple of years ago, I stopped adding photos to emails, favoring to put them on Facebook instead.  Doing it this way let me put all of my photos from a trip in one place, so I only needed to send out a link and let folks pick and choose which ones they wanted.  Also if my computer were to die, I knew I could retrieve them on Facebook if I didn't back them up on my external hard drive first.  After a while though, the emails slowed down and eventually stopped.  My rationale was that most of the people on the email list for travel stories were on Facebook, so I need not bother them with news that I went on an adventure, relying on the microblog nature of the Facebook wall.  After a while, it made me feel...complacent about sharing, almost lazy.  I could easily say that I was busy with school and having less adventures, but a peek in my albums to two Spring Break trips to National Parks in Utah AND an internship to Bahia de Caraquez in Ecuador calls bullcrap on the notion.

South of the equator, man!

     All the same, Facebook was convenient and my go-to for sharing photos with a LOT of people in my life versus a select few...until recently.  Last week, my girlfriend and I went on a trip down to San Francisco and heading back up to Oregon via the US-101.  We had quite an adventure (sketchy hotels, curvy coastal roads, and grocery store jojos) and I got some pretty good photos.  When it came time to share said experience with folks, something hit me.  I didn't feel comfortable with posting my recent adventure with Facebook.  I'd done it before, many times (nevermind Facebook's right to use anything you post online.  ...  That goes for Google as well...you too Twitter (Scroll to part 5)), but it didn't feel right this time.  Rather, I wanted to share my experience with people I knew would appreciate what I had to say.  I opened my laptop, opened my Gmail, and wrote my retrospect to my Travel Group...and it felt amazing.  Being able to connect with a few people felt more rewarding than trying to connect with a larger group of people.  I even learned there were friends who abandoned the Facebook Empire over privacy concerns.  Not saying connecting with a larger audience is a bad thing (as an artist, one prefers to reach as many people as possible), but the email felt more intimate and I could share more with the reader.  Also, I could pick and choose a few really good photos instead of folks wading through hundreds of photos for the good ones.

     So there you have it.  I think I'll do my travel emails again instead of relying on Facebook.  Mind you: I'm not anti-Facebook.  I love that I can reconnect with friends (for free, no less) from high school that I haven't seen in years (further validating my hypothesis that high school reunions are a general waste of time for mine and future generations...but I digress).  I just think sending this last email hit all the right buttons for me.  A friend told me in her reply that she tells people she goes on a virtual trip.  To which, I say "welcome aboard."  :)

My photo policy has generally been, so long as it's not-for-profit, you're free to download and do what you will with my photos (ala Creative Commons).

Professional Volunteer/Student

     To assist my job hunt, I started a LinkedIn Account.  From what I could surmise, it's basically a professionally oriented social network.  Facebook sort of has a place for listing employment history, but this aspect is the cornerstone for LinkedIn.  Anyway, I signed up and posted my job history, education, and skills, with the hope that someone may come along and offer me a job.    The skills portion really bugged me in that I had only a few skills posted (Microsoft Office, Ubuntu, etc).  I had a Bachelors Degree, but few skills to tangibly market to a prospective employer.  Mind you, I don't like to think I'm a proud person, so I don't like to pompously boast abilities.
     A few days later, I decided to add some more skills, specifically things I did when I was in a club or volunteering.  Experience is experience, right?  I didn't want my profile to echo the sentiments of a desperate "I can do...stuff."  Problem was, I didn't know exactly what to add.  I logged on with my iPod and, to my surprise, everything I could think to add (or didn't think) was there under "Suggested Skills."  It's like the career gods read my mind and put everything there, waiting for me to add to my profile.  I went all out and added everything I could build a case for (volunteer coordinating, event planning, and photography with the Anglo-Celtic Club way back in 2007-08; record keeping and teaching with the Geology Club; research, editing, and social media as a student; experience with a non-profit and Spanish in Ecuador; et cetera).  When I was done, I had dozens of skills added, up from a paltry four or five.  Even though most of what I had added were acquired as a student or a volunteer, seeing a tangible collection of my abilities on the screen definitely made me better about what I could offer in the professional world.