Job 3

1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said: 3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’ 4 That day–may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it. 5 May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light. 6 That night–may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months. 7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it. 8 May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan. 9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn, 10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? 12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? 13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest 14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins, 15 with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day? 17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. 18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout. 19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure, 22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave? 23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24 For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. 25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

October Breeze + Interviews

Beautiful Autumn Leaves

I was walking home and I noticed all the beautiful vibrant colours on the trees. The leaves were red, yellow, green and orange. I love fall because it’s not too hot and it’s not too cold. The only reason I dislike it is because it’s before winter and I hate winter! I’ve been living in Canada my whole life and I honestly cannot stand the cold weather.

On Tuesday, I went to an Apple Store hiring session and man, it was INTENSE. I couldn’t believe the amount of people over 40 that applied for a part-time job at the Apple Store. I learned that most of the older people were laid off due to recession. While sitting in the crammed room with a group of thirty people, I realized how much I didn’t need the job. It would be nice to get the job but the chance of me getting the job is so slim. Plus the older people need it more than I do.

I had an informational interview yesterday at Oddly Studios and it went really well. It is a small interactive media agency. Tim Willison, the director of Oddly Studios was so helpful, nice and really easy to chat with. I learned so much about interactive media and the industry. When I asked, “What is the most important thing to know when going into the industry?” he said “Be humble and always keep learning”. A great quote to think about especially for people who are going into the advertising industry.

I can’t believe that reading week is almost over already. It went by so fast and I still have a lot of work to finish up! Halloween is soon and I think I’m going to go as a Princess. It’s lame but easy to be.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Be Humble and always keep learning” – Tim Willison, Director of Oddly Studios

SONG OF THE DAY: “Fireflies” – Owl City

Thanks for reading and have a great HALLOWEEN!

Piggy Bank :-)

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Effect Of Recession

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes

I’ve chosen to not turn my computer on until very late in the day this week.  I have dust bunnies to sweep up and walls to scrub, and it’s too easy to get ensnared for too long in the interwebs.  I may have tricked convinced my kids into thinking they rarely missed school because a little dust built up their immune systems, but the guy from the foster parent agency may not see things that way.  The house is looking clean and shiny!  This is a welcome change.

I became aware of a not so lovely change today, however, when I popped into the office for a visit on my way to Wal-Mart.  For the second time since we’ve moved into this building, our lovely office space is being downsized again!  Last time I got a bigger office, with even more window space.  This new configuration is giving me an interior area, with no windows, no doors, and not much privacy.  Like the rest of the world in this downsized economy, I am feeling the results of the havoc wreaked by greedy CEOs and inept politicians.  Lucky for me, though, I will still be working at a job I enjoy with people that I like.  And it’s only two months a year.  I was a tad spoiled.

I would feel a lot better about the whole thing, however, if we could force the jerks on Capitol Hill to give up their plush offices and fancy cars paid for by us, the poor downsized taxpayers.  It only seems fair!

Officially a Business Owner

As it turns out, being a student is quite expensive, but class times and homework make working a steady job quite difficult. So I decided to start my own small, independent business–Parading Pups, an Atlanta dog-walking service. I’m planning to walk people’s dogs around their apartment complex, around their neighborhood, or even on an excursion to Piedmont Park.

I’ll provide sturdy leashes, harnesses for all sizes, doggie seat belts for car trips to the park, and organic doggie treats.

My prices are as follows:

$10 for 30 minutes
$18 for 1 hour

($5 off for first-time appointments, and all appointments for Circus kids are half off!)

Any suggestions on small business advertising/operating are much appreciated. And if anyone knows of any friends in Atlanta who work during the week and would like a little extra love shown to their pet, please let me know!

You can also become a fan of Parading Pups on Facebook.

Parading Pups

26 October, is the most unproductive day of the year!

Love your workplace

According to new research, today, 26 October, is the most unproductive day of the year.

The clocks go back and UK workers’ morale hits a low as the dark evenings draw in.

The study – conducted by the Canary Island Tourism board – suggests that a massive 52 percent of us will struggle to get to grips with our workload today.   Although the good news is that 48 percent of us must be coping fine… Having work that is challenging and rewarding, a boss who motivates and gives credit when it’s due, and colleagues you get along with all make for a positive workplace. And a positive workplace means high morale and individual wellbeing.

So, if you’re struggling to get to grips with the change in season and you’re looking for a workplace to feel good about, then maybe it’s time for a change?

Sometimes I worry about Zombies.

In the film 28 days Later, a bike messenger  named Jim awakens in a coma.  When he comes out of the coma, the hospital is empty. No doctors. No nurses. No patients. Nothing.

Jim stumbles out of the hospital into a London that has been decimated.  The buildings are all still standing but there are no signs of life.  No signs of life.  Using imagery from 9-11, there are flyers posted everywhere; family members searching for the lost.

He walks the eerily abandoned streets of London until he finds a church.

In postapocalyptic London, perhaps the church will provide some answers? He walks into the sanctuary only to find a dead and rotting congregation.

A few heads pop up and then messenger is approached by a pastor vicar.  Something is not right though.

The vicar is a zombie! Jim punches him in the mouth (”sorry about that father”) and then runs for his life.  The pastor and fifteen other zombies from the church chase after him.

We showed this clip at Lockerbie Central United Methodist last night.    And had a conversation about congregations that act like zombies.

As our church has studied the book of Job this past month, we have looked at creativity and suffering.  Job might not provide us with answers about why we suffer, but the work does tell us some about how people have responded to suffering.  On this night, we looked at what happens when the church is not responding [creatively] to suffering but is actually causing more suffering.

The Zombie thread came from a blog post called “Zombie Congregations” that was posted in February. I wrote a post earlier this year called “Zombie United Methodist Church” about my experience at Lockerbie Central UMC as we struggled to transform the church.  Anyways,  the blogger, UMC pastor Dan Dick, writes

New people threaten the status quo. Zombies hang out together, and they look and act very much alike.  They only attack those who are different (i.e., those filled with life, energy, and imagination).  Many of our congregations say “we want new people” when they really mean is “we want more people exactly like us.”

It was an interesting conversation last night.  How do we make sure that we are creatively responding to suffering and not creating suffering?

ill keep this short and sleep because 1)i’m tired, 2)i have to edit a paper, 3)well… i’ll be honest. i’m just extremely lazy right now.

here’s the scoop::

*i think if i keep it up, i can get a promotion by this next year. which would be AMAZING. so here’s hoping all goes well…[cross your fingers guys!]

*i’m beyond excited for my birthday! [18 days, yay!] HE is taking me on a date then party time with all my friends down south. ohhh yesss!

*i secretly love my “shrink.” even if i’d never admit it to anyone who knows about her. which reminds me, i totally forgot to schedule my appointment. crappp..

*i’m obsessed with dollhouse. they better never cancel. that last episode? absolutely c r a z y. i wish i could fast forward to this weekend & the next episode.

*i know this may be a little weird since i’m not married/engaged/living with HIM/etc. buttt, i’ve been getting all these “baby urges…” like, i really want a baby. but i know that would be bad. and i do want to get married first. but for some reason i just really want a baby right now. is that odd? i dont know…

anyhoo… i’ve decided to wait till tomorrow to edit that paper. i’m gonna go sleep. i got all day tomorrow. [yay day off!] sweet dream loves.xoxo.

ಌeiliyah

Maximum Medical Improvement

One of the most precarious parts of a workers’ compensation claim comes when the claimant gets at or near the end of treatment.  We call this the point of “maximum medical improvement”, or MMI.  Sometimes, the claimant will be placed on permanent work restrictions, such as no lifting, bending, etc.  The insurance company is all about minimizing what they will have to pay on the claim, so sometimes they will get together with the employer to come up with a job that meets the restrictions, such as a desk job, just to show that the claimant can work and that work is available.  The problem is that often, that job will be eliminated soon after the workers’ comp claim is over.  These are “difficult waters” to navigate through, and should be done in consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. 

The bottom line is that if work is available that the claimant can do, we want him to return to work.  But we also want it to be a “real” job that will last for a meaningful period of time.

39 Things That Annoy Me, And 5 That Don't:

Disclaimer: I know I’m being pissy. But this is my blog so I can write pissy bullcrap if I feel like it.

1. When people tap on my door and then enter without waiting for me to invite them
2. When people interrupt me to say “hi” even though I’ve been in the same house with them all day and spoken to them several times
3. When people come into my room and interrupt me just to lounge around because they’re bored
4. How much weight I’ve gained since moving back to Modesto
5. How much weight I’ve gained since Fall 06
6. That my meds make me crave carbs, thus adding to the weight
7. That I stuff sugar-filled products in my face to sedate myself
8. People who are too lazy to read directions and figure out for themselves how to wash their new shirt/use facebook/take a picture/upload music/chew gum and walk. so they ask me.
9. The fact that my own brother hates books/reading. This doesn’t just annoy me- it flat out pisses me off
10. When people ask stupid questions about a tv show/movie- interrupting plot developing dialogue- when they’d know what was going on if they just sat down and watched the damn show
11. When people interrupt the last minute of a movie/show/book/whatever
12. When people talk during emotionally high parts of shows- particularly during Grey’s. Grey’s is how I fucking cope sometimes people- I cry over Greys because I can cry over their stupid over-dramatic shit and forget the mundane crap that fills up most of my days. I’m invested in these stupid characters. Especially because THEY DON’T BREAK THE MOMENT BY SAYING SOMETHING POINTLESS AND NOT AT ALL FUNNY.
13. People who can’t deal with the fact that I do, sometimes, get genuinely pissed at the stupid stuff they do. Particularly when they make a habit of it. It doesn’t mean I hate you forever! And I’m not even gonna pretend I’m not a real pain in the ass sometimes, because I know how much of a self-righteous, self-important snot I can be.
14. That I go into most situations, particularly church-related ones, almost anticipating how I will cringe and roll my eyes at the stupid, watered-down slop they shove our way.
15. That I’m such a hypocrite.
16. That I’m too busy being annoyed and self-righteous to having a chance in hell of not winding up either stark-raving mad or a total phony or a friendless bitch.
17. When people act annoyed at my simple mistakes.
18. How annoyed I get at other people’s simple mistakes.
19. That my room smells like rat piss and cat shit. And cat litter.
20. How complicated it is to pick and apply to graduate programs.
21. That I’ve wasted two years before seriously trying to start grad school.
22. That I didn’t do more extra curricular activities, get all As, write for the University newspaper and English Department publication.
23. That bitchy, perfect Lily didn’t include any of my haikus in her precious Zine
24. How much I admire Lily’s talent and lust for life. And how much I envy her physical appearance.
25. When people say cliche bull crap feel good shit to me, as if they think they understand where I’m coming from
26. How easily I get annoyed
27. How often I get annoyed at people I care about
28. How few people I care about, and that there are even fewer I respect, and that I doubt many of those would think much of me
29. That I bitch and moan on a blog- where I can bear thoughts that should be private to the public world as a ruse called “honesty” that’s really only saying “if I point it out first, you can’t hate me for being it!”- instead of really writing
30. When people come in and look at my wall-quotes or character cards and comment on them, as if they’re up there for them to see.
31. That very, very little of what I do or think has to do with anyone other than myself, or how I worry others perceive me
32. That Joshua decided to “develop a thing for” me right before Oxford. Because now I can never know if the happiness I felt there would have still existed if I hadn’t been functioning under the delusion that I was wanted, as I so desperately wanted to be.
33. That Joshua is such a jerk to others
34. That I’m not as cool as Mallory
35. When people say snotty stuff about silly things that I like, just because they’re fun- like Twilight/vampires, various tv shows/books, etc
36. Romance novels.
37. When people recommend genre paperbacks to me. Just because I like Anne Rice, studied Postmodern Lit, and am amused by a smattering of YA book crack DOES NOT mean I want to invest all my reading time into crappy novels (note: Rice and Postmodern novels NOT being crappy, of course, even if YA stuff kind of is)
38. That hardly anyone comes to events I plan (ie parties)
39. That Jasper never cleans his rear properly, or even bothers to keep his tail down. I mean, gross.

1. When Jasper curls up behind my knees and falls asleep while I’m reading or trying to fall asleep
2. The inevitable insomnia that occurs the night before I start a new job. Sure it’s painful, but it almost feels like a preparation for battle. Strange, I know.
3. Evolution, in relation to its supposed threat to faith. I mean, really, is God so small that a little science will defeat Him? Pfft.
4. Peter Kent’s Hemingway-esque snobbery. My amusement/taste for it is more than likely not entirely healthy, haha…
5. When it decides to rain after I’ve ventured outside, resulting in my having to walk all the way back to my flat through the downpour, only to arrive in our doorway before Amy, looking very much like a drenched kitten. Some say “rat”- but those people are stupid anyway.

a curse called PRINSIPYO

PRINSIPYO. heavy duty and salitang ito. sobrang bigat hindi ko kinaya ang super kadufer powers niya. Isa akong robot na sunud-sunuran sa kagustuhan ng malupit niyang mga kamay. Minamanipula niya ang utak kong kahit anong dunong ay nagiging tanga. Binabaliktad ang tama ginagawang mali; ginagawang tama ang dapat ay mali.

Kaya naman I always succumb to him. Ano naman kasing ipanglalaban ko sa mga lubid na nakapalibot sa wrists ko?

Pero ano nga ba talaga ang kahuluguhan ng salitang ito? Karapat-dapat nga ba siyang iluklok sa pedestal? Gawing hari o reyna ng mundo mong walang ayos. Chaotic. Tas prinsipyo. Oha.

Hindi ka mapapakain ng prinsipyo..ang sabi nga ng ilan. Pero kaya nitong itaguyod ang iyong pagkatao. It can raise your character to such height. Be admired by many. Be their idol. At balang araw, huwaran sa lahat ng confused.

Tama masya yun. Ngunit subalit datapwat. Hindi iyon ang realidad. Me FUCKING norm. At si FUCKING norm ang namamayani sa lipunang puno ng hipokrito. Si FUCKING norm ang nag-uutos sa lahat na magpaalipin at maging sunud-sunuran kahit mayurakan ang iyong pagkatao.

At si FUCKING norm din ang nagpapahina sa karamihan ngayon.

Edi fuck you norm! Pero hindi madali iyon. Well madaling isulat at sabihin, pero you cannot deny the fact, norm is still norm man.

Kung ang ulam ay tuyo at trip mo ay kaldereta, ipagpipilitan mo ba ang gusto mo e sa iyon na ang nakahain? PWEDE naman talaga. Punta kang karinderya tas bumili ng isang order, swak!O diba nasunod ang prinsipyo mo na masunod ang nilalaman ng damdamin mo.

At sana nga ganito kadali manindigan ng prinsipyo sa totoong buhay.

Sa bagay journalism student ako. At naninindigan ang bawat peryodista.

So mabalik kay prinsipyo. Madaming nagtatanong kung tama bang idisregard nalang siya o sundin. Sa mundong puno ng hipokrito’t sinungaling at mapang-api, dapat bang itago nalang si prinsipyo sa bag at pikit-matang gumapang sa lupa?

Para sa akin. hindi. You should learn how to fight. Cause at the end of the day money and fame are material things. Pag nalaman ba ng uod na milyonaryo ka at makapangyarihan, hindi ka ba nya kakainin? INSANE!

Siguro nga sa hirap ng buhay hindi na praktikal si prinsipyo. At ang sunurin siya means death or near…STARVATION. Eto lang siguro masasabi ko. PAG GUSTO ME PARAAN, AYAW ME DAHILAN. madaming paraan para hindi magutom. At maraming dahilan para tamarin maghanap ng paraan.

May pagsisisihan nga ba ako? Tamang wala. Walang pakundangan kong susundin si PRINSIPYO. There’s always a silver lining. My whole life just began.

e pano kung sinunod ko that which i am not proud of? Nor happy about? Di ba mas curse yon?

INDIAN BANK RECRUITMENT OF PROBATIONARY OFFICERS & SPECIALIST OFFICERS

Designation: INDIAN BANK RECRUITMENT OF PROBATIONARY OFFICERS & SPECIALIST OFFICERS

Job Description:

Indian Bank,a premier bank owned by the Government of India,based in Chennai,is recruiting for Probationary Officers & Specialist Officers in various scales.Applications are to be submitted only through the website of Indian Bank.

Position – Vacancies :

1) Probationary Officers – 118 posts
2) Specialist Officers – 284 posts (refer below for departments)

Candidates are requested to apply online between 16.10.2009 and 16.11.2009 only through our Bank’s website www.indianbank.in. No other means/ mode of application will be accepted.

Eligibility for Probationary Officers : Graduation in any discipline Second Class with 55% aggregate marks / equivalent CGPA)

Application:
Candidates have to pay Rs.400(Gen/OBC) or Rs.50(SC/ST/PH/Ex.SM) in any Indian Bank branch using challans downloaded from the website.The details of payment have to be given in the online registration form.

Desired Profile:

Dates: Online Registration Starts – 16th October 2009
Online Registration Closes – 16th November 2009
Date of Written-Test – 3rd January 2010(for Specialist Officers)
Date of Written-Test – 17th January 2010(for Probationary Officers)

Details Here

challan for payment of fees

Account Executive, Sales Executive IT/Technology

Er du en virkelig succesfuld salgsprofil indenfor IT/Technology, som sidder i et godt job ?

Er du åben for nye muligheder, og har lyst til at komme videre i karrieren ?

Så er det en oplagt mulighed at sende dit CV i fortrolighed til contact@arnvind.com

Vi har løbende diskrete henvendelser fra vores kunder på kritiske salgsprofiler, så hos os får du hurtigt svar, om der er muligheder for et samarbejde.

Samtidig arbejder vi særdeles aktivt med de få udvalgte kandidater.

Se også www.arnvind.com

Glück#075

Würde ich mir einen Job geben?
Würde ich mich selbst einstellen?

Ich würde mir einen Job geben und mich selbst einstellen, weil ich zuverlässig, pünktlich bin und Humor habe. Fleißig arbeiten kann ich auch und wenn Überstunden gemacht werden müssen, weil das Projekt fertig werden muss, kann ich damit umgehen.

Als Selbstempfehlung für einen Job ist es etwas wenig, aber wer mehr wissen will, sollte mich kennen lernen oder mein Profil lesen.

Interviews for Internships for Students with Disability

Entry Point! a program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), offers outstanding internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities in science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and some fields of business.

AAAS has developed unique partnerships with IBM, NASA, Merck, Google, Lockheed Martin, Shell, NAVAIR, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, CVS, Infosys, and several university science laboratories to place students with disabilities in 10-week paid summer internships around the country. Most students relocate for the summer.

Qualifications: To be considered for an internship, successful applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Full-time student enrolled in an accredited institution
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Major in science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, or business ?Documented physical or non-apparent disability*
• U.S. citizen

AAAS does not disclose information about disability to partners without permission from the student. Students needing accommodations for an interview and/or internship placement will work with the partner and AAAS to make the necessary arrangements.

Application Instructions:

1. Sign up for an interview through ILink (http://career-services.tamucc.edu/).
2. Interviews will take place on November 18th and will be via phone or through video Skype.
3. Please send resume and unofficial transcript to Betty Kain at kainbetty@yahoo.com
4. Also, fill out the application form at www.entrypoint.org prior to the interview.

FROM: Randy Davis, http://career-services.tamucc.edu
Phone (361)825-2628

It's Not All About Us - Sermon for October 18, 2009

This morning’s Old Testament scripture lesson comes from the climax of the story of Job.  Job was someone who had had it all.  The Bible calls him a blameless and upright man who honored God and had integrity, so we know he had a good relationship with God, himself and others.  Moreover he was a wealthy person in good health with a loving family around him.  Who could ask for anything more?   Then one day, all his businesses collapsed at once, and even the building where his children had gathered for a birthday party collapsed, killing them all.  After that Job lost his health; Job himself got sick and then his wife got sick of hearing him complain.  Three friends showed up to comfort Job and they sat with him in silence for seven days out of respect for his suffering.  At last even they got tired of hearing him complain about the way God was treating him and they urged him to confess whatever it was he’d done to bring God’s wrath down upon him this way. 

According to some people’s theology, then and now, Job surely must have offended God to have all those bad things happen to him.  I call this “bargain theology” because it believes we have a bargain with God that goes like this: “I keep your commandments; you keep me safe, if not happy.”  While there are many covenants in scripture – the most cogent of which is “I shall be your God and you shall be my people” [1] – there are no bargains.[2]  This was Job’s theology as well.  He didn’t have any problem with the way his friends were thinking; he just couldn’t square it with what he knew to be true of his own life.  In fact, he was so convinced his theology and his life were right that he thought something was wrong with God.  So for most of the book, Job is shouting at God, “You have a lot to answer for.  Come down here and face me like a man!”

After thirty-five chapters of this, even God got fed up with the way Job carried on.  You’ve heard of someone having the patience of Job?  That’s not really accurate:  it was everybody around Job who showed great patience and restraint.  When God finally spoke to Job out of the tornado, were there any real answers to Job’s “why” questions?  Questions like…

• God why are you picking on my? 
• God, why won’t you answer me? 
• God, why did I ever pick people as wife and friends who love to argue so much? 

No, God did not answer these or any other of Job’s questions.  Instead, God just piled on more questions like, “Who are you?”

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up your loins like a man, [great irony]
   I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

and “Where were you?”

4‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
7when the morning stars sang together
   and all the heavenly beings* shouted for joy?

The questions continue along the lines of “What can you do?”   

Who’s in charge of the weather, Job? 

Who makes people wise?

Who makes sure there’s enough game for the birds and wild animals?

 Thomas Edward Frank, in Feasting on the Word, asks us to consider another question, “What if God really did show up at the invocation in church on a Sunday morning?”   Had you ever thought about that?  Further, what if God decided to answer us out of the whirlwind for every complaint we’ve ever flung against heaven?  And what if we got an answer a lot like Job’s?  Would we be tempted to just get up and leave?  Would we shout back at God?  “I don’t need this! I get enough stress at work!”  Would we flee and never come back?

Thomas Frank goes on to say, “God takes an enormous risk that Job will never want anything to do with God again, by responding, not about Job’s “why” but about the grandeur, beauty, and order of the creation.  If asking why is some feeble human attempt to get control of life and bring it to sense and better management, God’s response gives humanity even less sense of control than before.  In fact, human concerns are completely peripheral in God’s queries.  God has a universe to run, and human beings are only one among many species to be tended.”[3]

You see, what Job forgot – and what we often forget – is that it’s not all about us.  Part of the human predicament is that each of us has an individual point of view that encourages us to think of ourselves as the center of the universe when in actuality we are not.  So when things start falling to pieces in our lives as they did for Job, we tend to take it personally.  God’s response, in pointing Job to “the grandeur, beauty, and order of the creation,” should encourage us to get beyond that narrow perspective and realize that it’s not all about us, either as individuals or as a species; should encourage us to realize that something bigger than humanity is going on.  Of course, if it’s not all about us, we want to know what it is all about.  Maybe our second scripture for the morning can give us a hint to the answer.

That passage comes from the most systematically theological of the Apostle Paul’s letters, his letter to the Christians in Rome.  At the beginning of chapter 8, he finishes describing the two principles at war within believers: the perspective of life in Christ and the actuality of an ego-centric predicament.  Paul calls these two principles “spirit” and “flesh.”  They correspond roughly to freedom and determinism: the freedom of choice we experience as self-conscious (and, even more, as Christ-conscious) beings and the determinism of matter, subject as it is to the laws of physics.  The apostle’s interest, however, is not philosophical, but theological: the big picture is grounded in God.  So, having explained that there is a struggle between “spirit” and “flesh,” Paul brings it back to what for him is always the main point: the resurrection of Christ and what that means for us.

 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  (Romans 8:18-23)

The redemption of our bodies refers to the Christian hope of a bodily resurrection in which the matter that makes us up is transformed into something more appropriate to eternity, to divine time and space, when God recreates us beyond all time and death.  And yet the power of resurrection is already present in us by faith through the resurrection of Christ.  This is what I preach during Easter.  We have the promise of resurrection beyond time, but we have the power of resurrection now. 

As Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10-12,

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 1213

So when Paul writes, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us, he’s writing about the power and promise of resurrection.  The truth here about suffering – both the suffering of Christ on the cross and our own suffering which often feels like the suffering of Job – is that it is ultimately redemptive for us, though remember: it’s not all about us.  So the very next words read, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; all creation longs for its fulfillment in resurrection.  It’s not all about us; it’s about creation participating in the power of resurrection as we participate in its sufferings and longing for resurrection.  

For the creation was subjected to futility … in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  You and I are star-matter.  Every atom in our bodies was forged in the heart of a star where hydrogen fusion makes all the heavier elements that occur in nature.  We are star-stuff, and this star-stuff first became life, then consciousness, then self-consciousness, and finally Christ-consciousness which is the power of resurrection now.  Creation could not attain this; it could not find such power and awareness within itself, which is why Paul says it was subjected to futility.[4]  Creation does not contain its own fulfillment.  Therefore, the Creator entered creation in Jesus as the Christ to bring that fulfillment to birth; or to use Paul’s metaphor of a pregnant woman, to induce the labor that will produce the birth of that fulfillment.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; Job cried out for someone to explain to him the reason for his suffering, the reason he was born if suffering was to be his lot in life.  God’s response to him out of the whirlwind was to look beyond himself at the suffering of all creation and to realize, “It’s not all about you, Job.”  All of creation is suffering until it reaches its fulfillment in the once and future resurrection.  Our suffering is just one small part of the labor pains of creation as the universe gives birth to its fulfillment in the power and promise of resurrection.

 

 

[1] Jeremiah 31:33 

[2] With the possible exception of Genesis 17:23-33

[3] Thomas Edward Frank, “Pastoral Perspective for Job 38:1-7 (34-41),” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Volume 4 (Louisville, KY: WJK, 2009), 170-172.

[4] Robert W. Nicoll, Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 2 (Romans 8:20) – mataiths was used in LXX to translate the Hebrew word hebel, found in the wisdom literature, most famously in Ecclesiastes.  “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”  Viz. 1:2; 2:1; passim.  The word means looking for what one does not find, hence futility, vanity, etc.

Development Officer - Aberdeen Arts Centre

Closing date for applications Monday 8th November.

This vibrant arts facility in central Aberdeen is offering an exciting opportunity for a self starting and focused individual to contribute to the overall development of the Centre.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record in fundraising, marketing and communications.  This post is guaranteed for one year with the intention of two further years subject to funding.

Salary, flexible working and hours to be negotiated.

Informal enquiries to – Paula Gibson, 01224 635208

Application in writing plus CV to be sent to -

Paula Gibson

Venue Manager

Aberdeen Arts Centre

33 King Street

Aberdeen

AB24 5AA

website: www.aberdeenartscentre.org.uk

Interviews will be held in late November.

Can a Fool's Words Have Merit? A Study in Job

I’ve always struggled with Job.

While I consider God’s admonition in the last chapters of the book my second-favorite Scripture passage, I am never quite sure what to do with the rest of the lengthy chapters.

If you’re not familiar with the biblical Book of Job, the short version is that Satan asks God for permission to afflict Job with many painful situations after God cites that Job is His most faithful servant on earth. So God allows it. Job’s children are all killed, all his riches taken away, and his body inflicted with boils from head to toe. Wearily, he sits on his doorstep and scrapes at his boils with broken pottery.

That’s when his three buddies come to visit. Over the course of many chapters, they try to convince him of all kinds of crazyness. Then in the end God swoops in, reprimands Job and his dumb friends, and then restores everything to Job. Of the friends, God says, “I am angry with you … you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has” (42:7).

So here’s what I’ve always battled with: is there any merit in the words of Job’s friends throughout the Book of Job? Can we quote those passages out of context as Truth?

It seems to me that they do say some insightful things:

“See how happy the man is God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty” (5:17).

“We were born only yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow” (8:9).

“It is impossible for God to do wrong and for the Almighty to act unjustly” (34:10).

Working in the world of Bible studies, I know we HAVE done exactly this, taken the friends’ words for the wisdom they seem to be. But God Himself said the friends were fools? It’s a strange dichotomy.

I believe that everything in Scripture is there for a reason. Certainly there are many truths that can be scraped from the falsehoods in this text. It’s a life lesson not to let even your most trusted friends draw you away from what you know to be true. A perfect example of standing up for what you believe in and remaining pure in heart.

But still, I wonder. Can we quote the words of fools as good, as Truth?

What do you think?

Staying Positive "Unemployment 1yr 3 mos"

I was talking to a friend the other day when he said something to me had to address. He asked me “why arent you completely depressed by now when youve have been out of work so long?” He then ended his question with “how do you stay so positive?”  I was happy to answer him.

First off, I told him, was that you can make two choices in life when confronted with adversity. One is to curl up in a ball and hope it all goes away, to give up on the world and feel sorry for yourself. That little “pity party” might help you in the short run, but it doesnt solve the problem. The second option is to keep moving forward despite the setbacks, despite the naysayers. To keep throwing whatever you can up against the wall until something sticks. I told him that I choose the latter.

The next thing I said, that I do stay positive is to stay active, to feel like you matter. Sitting at home allows you to think about your situation too much, you succumb to cabin fever and start to move toward inertia. I choose to be out in the world. Sure, Im not employed, but that doesnt mean I dont matter. It doesnt mean I dont have value. I chose to stay in aviation by volunteering in the Civil Air Patrol, to help others find work by assisting with the “Pink Slip Parties” that bring job seekers and recruiters together. I continue to get out and network like crazy, to reach out and talk to people because it’s always been my philosophy that you never know where your next job is coming from. When I am not volunteering I am out with my wife, enjoying the day or a free sporting event, or even just a walk.  Just that little bit of activity can completely change your outlook.

I told my friend that I chose to look on the optimistic side of things. When confronted with a challenge, a setback, I just work twice as hard. Zig Ziglar, a motivational speaker and legendary salesperson, often says that those who are most successful are the most persaverent. Many people can directly tie their success to the fact that they NEVER gave up. Think about it, if you really want to be a pilot did you let anything stop you? If you are flying now the answer is no. Its that perseverance that got you were you are. I look at it the same way with my job search, if you just keep pushing forward, eventually something has got to give and that “something” is employment. I treat each morning as a new opportunity and a fresh start. Thats where my “Todays  the Day” mantra cames from.

Lastly, I told him that I believe strongly that reflecting a positive attitude is more likely to get you hired. If you go around disgruntled and disheartened what kind of image are you giving to others? Are you the kind of person people would want around them? This is also true for networking, I find that others feed off positive energy and are repelled by negative attitudes. Much of the networking assistance I have gotten so far has been a result of this attitude. Yes, times are tough, but you keep the faith that “this too shall pass” 

I know its hard for many to be positive when the bills are mounting up, when the leads end in dead ends, but you have to keep going no matter what. Thats what I told my friend and I think he found solace in it.

At the end of the conversation, I just smiled and repeated to him what I say every morning  “Todays the Day” because one day it WILL BE.

Last day of fencing before the tournament!

So I got to work again today. It was really slow at the beginning, no one got there until just before seven. I did have to download and print some attachments for Jerry, and one of them was not cooperating. It was a .docx document, and it was opening in code. I think Donna and Jerry eventually figured it out, but I didn’t feel very happy about that happening anyway.

Jerry gave my epee lesson tonight, there were no other coaches. He combined my class with the lower level class and one of his private students, Jacob. We did footwork drills to music. We were supposed to find the beat of the song and then do footwork combinations to it. Some of the songs were really difficult to do that to. Jerry did say later, after I was finished with all of my bouts, that I did well though, so that’s good. I didn’t think I was doing that well. Jacob, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant.

After that, I had a short break, indulged in some raspberry tea, before I started bouting. I started with Dave. It wasn’t a real bout though, which kind of made me sad, but a teaching one again. It was useful though. Then I went up against Wally and lost 5-1. After Wally, I fenced Warren twice, won both, the first 15-9 and the second 15-11. Then I fenced Wally again, still lost, but 5-4 this time, so I was finally warmed up. After that, I only fenced Matt. I eventually lost track, but I think I fenced him 9 times, and lost all of them, but about half of them were really good bouts, and one was absolutely spectacular. I started off slow, losing by more that I’m comfortable with, but then things started to pick up and I was back to my normal against him, i.e. 15-6 or 15-7. I actually did better than that once and went 15-9. Then we had a water break. When we went back to fencing again, I did extremely poorly. I actually lost 15-0! It was terrible. Then I went 15-2. After that bout was my extraordinary, absolutely amazing one. I still lost, but it was only by two points! I actually scored 13 points on Matt, the most I’ve ever done! It was just amazing. We were tied for most of the bout, but  I was actually beating him most of the time until we got to 13-13, then Matt scored twice in a row and won, but it didn’t really matter because I was just feeling great about myself anyway. It completely made up for losing 15-0.

We had another break. Jerry asked if we were finished, and I said one more (because Matt was like “That’s up to her,”), but one more turned into three more… I lost all of them fairly badly (15-1), (15-2), and (15-4), but I think I was also getting pretty tired, even though it didn’t feel like I was. By the last one though, I knew. Plus it was past 10.

In the way of bruises, I acquired a few new ones on my legs. Thankfully, my already painfully bruised arm was avoided and no one beat up on me again. I have the tournament on Saturday, I do not want my arm to be out of commission. I’d be very upset.

Vous n'avez pas peur aux yeux...alors essayez le "recrutement B2B"!

En business to business, difficile d’entrer en contact avec un décisionnaire auquel vous n’avez pas accès directement ? Il choisit, et évalue les idées ou les propositions mais s’appuie sur le travail réalisé en amont avec ses équipes, sans que vous puissiez argumenter directement auprès de lui. Et ce filtre peut vous empêcher de présenter votre projet comme vous le voulez…

Et puis un jour par hasard, vous croisez ce décideur dans l’ascenseur, au restaurant, lors d’un cocktail… La rencontre est furtive. Pour bien saisir l’opportunité, vous ne disposez que de quelques secondes pour éveiller son intérêt. Que lui dire ? Comment ne pas rater cette opportunité et savoir rebondir ? A ce moment précis la technique de l’accroche de l’ascenseur peut vous permettre de faire mouche.

Elle se déroule en trois étapes : Accroche, présentation flash et demande de rendez-vous. Elle repose sur une bonne préparation et un entrainement, car tout se joue en 10 secondes. Comme un spot publicitaire, si vous voulez faire mouche, il faut aller droit au but.

Comment font les publicitaires ? Ils nous vantent les bienfaits que leurs produits vont nous apporter. Il faut faire comme eux. Parlez des bénéfices que votre idée, produit ou projet peut apporter au décideur (lui ou l’entreprise).

Mettez vous à sa place. Il ne connaît pas le détail de votre proposition, il ne sait pas qui vous êtes, et à ce moment précis il n’est pas concentré sur votre projet, il pense même sans doute à tout autre chose. Par ailleurs, il a l’habitude d’être importuné par de nombreux interlocuteurs et sait très bien les éconduire poliment, en renvoyant à ses services.

Votre première phrase est déterminante. C’est l’accroche. Elle consiste à présenter en quelques mots votre idée ou vos projets formulés en bénéfices pour le décideur. Parler en bénéfices est très important, avec ses mots habituels. Il doit vous comprendre tout de suite. Visualisez ou quantifiez vos arguments pour qu’ils soient le plus explicites possible. Montrez lui que vous connaissez son entreprise ou sa problématique.

Attention, ne faites pas de fausses promesses, elles seraient vite démasquées. Ne parlez des bénéfices que vous pouvez démontrer.

« Mon entreprise peut vous faire gagner 10.000 euros » ; « Je viens vous proposer d’augmenter de 15% la fidélité de vos clients » ; « Je représente un produit qui vous permettra d’élargir vos gammes vers… » ; « Je peux améliorer la performance de votre équipe de… ».

Votre accroche est immédiatement suivie d’une présentation Flash. Si vous avez éveillé l’intérêt de ce décideur, il doit savoir qui est en face de lui. Dites-en peu sur vous, vous avez peu de temps. Donnez votre nom, le nom de votre produit ou de votre entreprise, et dites-lui avec qui vous travaillez chez lui. Il peut ainsi comprendre de quel projet vous parlez.

Indiquer nominativement quels sont vos interlocuteurs habituels est très important. Un décideur ne contourne pas ses collaborateurs sans connaître un dossier.

« Je suis Jean Dupont, de l’entreprise Durand. Je travaille avec le service de François Dubois ».

Laissez ensuite un court instant de silence, afin de permettre à votre interlocuteur reprendre la parole. Dans ce moment, le silence est une forme de question. Gardez les yeux posés sur lui, avec sérénité. Il peut ainsi réagir à votre accroche et votre présentation.

Il ne répond pas, ou refuse d’aller plus loin. Vous aurez créé un contact furtif qui peut-être sera utile plus tard si vous le recroisez. N’insistez surtout pas, et respectez son choix de clore la discussion. Réfléchissez néanmoins à la qualité de votre accroche qui n’aura peut être pas été assez percutante.

S’il marque un doute sur votre accroche, proposez-lui de l’en convaincre par une démonstration étayée. « Vous en doutez, voulez-vous que je vous le démontre ? ». Sa réponse précisera sa position. Ne forcez surtout pas son choix.

Il vous demande d’en dire plus, proposez lui un rendez-vous en présence de votre interlocuteur habituel dans l’entreprise. De toutes les façons, il n’aura pas le temps d’en écouter beaucoup plus tout de suite, et il pourrait être gêné d’intervenir directement dans les dossiers de ses collaborateurs. Sur le champ, vous risquez de développer un argumentaire non adapté au moment.

Enfin prenez congé, avec une poignée de main franche, les yeux dans les yeux, en lui disant « à bientôt ».

Même si vous ne savez pas quand vous en aurez besoin, une accroche de l’ascenseur ne s’improvise pas, vous n’aurez pas le temps lorsque vous croiserez ce décideur. Entraînez-vous à vous présenter en quelques mots, formulez vos propositions en bénéfices clients. Soyez prêt, le décideur que vous voulez croiser prend peut –être l’ascenseur aujourd’hui. Vous disposerez de 10 secondes…

http://www.lexpansion.com/carriere/pour-seduire-un-decideur-pratiquez-l-accroche-de-l-ascenseur_199842.html?XTOR=EPR-178

My Progress

While I was out and about this weekend, a couple of people asked me how everything is going with my writing. Since I haven’t given an update in a while and the main point of this blog was to document my transition into the freelance writing world. So for those of you who are wondering here we go:

Clients
I have done pretty good getting new clients. I am still applying for 5-10 writing projects a day, although I have to admit that it gets a little old sometimes. I have managed to get quite a few projects this way and a couple of times lately, I have had so much work, that I haven’t had time to apply for jobs every day. Just last week I signed a contract with a new client that will keep me pretty busy through December which is exciting!

Financials
My money situation is better than I thought it would be at this point. That being said, I am only making about half of what I was making in my full-time job. One of the reasons for this is that I’ve taken some lower paying jobs, just to have something to fill my time and bring in some form of income. Now that I am having a lot more work come my way, I am trying to narrow some of the lower paying jobs down and only take higher paying gigs so I can hopefully bring my income level up.

Published Work
A while back I said that I was going to start sending queries to more magazines. That is still hit or miss for me. I feel like querying magazines takes a long time. It’s something that is worth it, but it’s certainly not paying my bills right now. However, I’m happy to announce I do have an article that will be published in November in a local publication. To see my name in actual print again will be awesome and I can’t wait!

Overall, I am finding my weeks more and more full –I even have some projects lined up for the future which is great! I am definitely becoming more comfortable telling people what I do, giving my rates to clients and in general with running my own business. I even have business cards now! Most days I really feel like I am on my way to success and that right there is an accomplishment.

Why Do You Have a Job? Five False Beliefs That Lead People Into Jobs They Hate

If you acquisition yourself ashore in a job that you don’t adore or in a aggregation that isn’t fun to plan for, the aboriginal footfall to authoritative a change is allurement yourself, “How did I get here?” Your accepting actuality at this time in your activity is not a accidental event. You accept fabricated choices and decisions forth the way to get here. Your alone adventure has led you to this exact point.
And you are not broken. You don’t charge to be fixed. No one is to blame. You accept fabricated choices based aloft behavior that you accept held. And behavior are annihilation added than anticipation habits. They are account that you accept anticipation over and over afresh until they became a belief. Like an old record, you may be ashore in a canal or a acceptance that no best works for you.
So, afore you adjudge to leave your job or aggregation or accomplish any change, it is a admired exercise to abeyance for a moment and appraise your beliefs. If you don’t yield the time to do this, you will accomplish choices based aloft old behavior and end up in the aforementioned place.
In alive with my apprenticeship clients, I acquisition that there are 5 key behavior that advance humans into a job that does not accompany them joy. I will outline them here.
Belief #1: Money: Accepting a accumulated job is the best way to accomplish money. We are all conditioned to accept that accepting a job is the best way to accomplish money by our parents, teachers, and abounding well-meaning adults. There is a systemic acceptance in our association that a job is the best aisle to wealth. It is artlessly not true. You will never accomplish cogent abundance (of the retire early, be absolutely financially free, abridgement of money doesn’t adviser my decisions blazon of wealth) by traveling to a 9 to 5 job.
I generally apprehend acceptance in boilerplate magazines of humans who retire aboriginal by accepting two assets earners in the family, active acutely frugally, and extenuative about all of their balance for retirement. Not a absolutely fun way to reside in my estimation!
I would rather acquire lots of money accomplishing what I adulation on my own time agenda and not cat-and-mouse until I retire to accept fun. Can I do this in a approved job? I couldn’t. I was authoritative a six-figure assets alive batty hours and traveling constantly. I fabricated beneath money aboriginal in my career accomplishing the 8:30 to 5:30 bullwork but I wasn’t accepting any fun and I spent every dollar that I earned.
Why can’t you acceptable accomplish money in a job? First, alone the top bulk of workers accomplish over $100,000. The arrangement is set up this way – as a pyramid. The accumulated pyramid has lots of low-paid artisan bees and alone a few high-paid executives. Second, you are burdened heavily on becoming income. The tax arrangement is advised to account corporations. Third, you don’t get any balance assets – already you stop working, the dollars stop coming. You aren’t architecture up any acquiescent assets streams. You may architecture a artefact or software for your aggregation – but the aggregation gets the acquiescent or balance assets from your efforts.
Equity = wealth. All disinterestedness goes to the shareholders. It is abundant to plan in a aggregation that offers its advisers an buying pale – in actuality I wouldn’t accede alive for one that doesn’t. The alone downside is that you don’t accept ascendancy of a lot of of the decisions accepting made. I apperceive abounding humans who accept been downsized out of tech companies because the administration aggregation fabricated bad decisions.
Belief #2: Responsibility: I should get a accumulated job – it is what a amenable developed does. Already again, this is a acceptance that is drummed into you early. It goes something like this – abstraction harder in school, get acceptable grades, get into a acceptable college, maybe get a alum degree, get a celebrated job and the money and success will breeze to you. This is the aisle that amenable humans choose.
I accept this path. Did able-bodied in school, B.A. from University of Virginia, MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Money and success did breeze to me. But I was overworked, bromidic and accepting austere out and depressed. Is accepting at plan all the time, accepting austere out, and depressed what a amenable developed does? I don’t anticipate so! Yes, I accept a albatross to accommodate for my ancestors – but if there is a way that I can do this after sacrificing my angelic ancestors time and accord of apperception – don’t I accept a albatross to chase that path?
Belief #3: Importance: If I get a high-paying job and an absorbing title, I will be important. Interview 100 acknowledged humans and acquisition if money and appellation absolutely fabricated them feel important inside. You ability acquisition 1 or 2 who will say yes, but this is a apocryphal belief. We are important because we are here.
We all accept the aforementioned bulk of antecedent activity central of us. Call it “God”, or “energy” or “goodness” – whatever resonates with you. I accept that as concrete beings, we are on the arch bend of alertness and our job is to create. We actualize by accepting in blow with our antecedent and allotment accomplishments in alignment with our joy. The alone affair that you will yield with you if you cantankerous over into the airy apple is your amplification of consciousness. You will not yield any concrete ascendancy or appellation or award. You will alone yield your body and the acumen it has acquired during this concrete manifestation.
Belief #5: Security: I will be defended if I accept a good-paying job. If you apperceive anyone that has been fired, laid-off, or downsized you apperceive that this is not true. Yet, so abounding of us wish to play it safe. We let our fears adviser our decisions rather than demography risks and afterward our bliss. If you accept a job, you are at the benevolence of your employer. You may be abandoned with your absolute administration or accursed because a aloft doesn’t like you. It will be accidental and out of your control. Accurate aegis comes from accepting your own boss.
Belief #4: Enjoyment: I will adore alive in the accumulated world. I chose a in activity consulting because I was apathetic with all of my added s – both in the accessible and clandestine sectors. I anticipation – now this is something that will claiming me. To get a in consulting I bare to get an MBA – so I did. But I did not adore activity consulting. It was intellectually arduous but I didn’t adore the accumulated environment. It seemed too bogus – not real. I couldn’t be my accurate cocky – I could alone acknowledge the smart, analytic and adult part. I wasn’t accepting fun putting on my accumulated bold face and arena the game. It is accessible to adore a accumulated if the plan and ambiance are in alignment with your accurate calling. Unfortunately, it is rare.
Take a moment to reflect aloft the aloft beliefs. How did you accept a accumulated ? Were you afterward a acceptance or several beliefs? Or were you afterward your affection and intuition? Do you still accept this acceptance or accept your behavior afflicted but your affairs not changed?
Before you yield action, plan on replacing your old behavior with new, absolute ones that serve you better. Meditation, journaling, and absolute affirmations are acceptable means to ascendancy your acceptance system.
Find out how to breach chargeless from the accumulated world. Debra Thorsen is a blessed accumulated escapee who helps individuals actualize absolute abundance and beatitude after 9 to 5 s. Visit Fearless Guides for chargeless tips on career change.

Single Parents

Being a single parent presents the same challenges all parents face but you have two less hands to help. When you are raising a family by yourself you are the one getting lunches ready, giving baths, and driving to and from football practice. You can’t use the good cop/bad cop routine. You don’t ever get a break.  Many single parents work long hours or even work two jobs. You are faced with the financial and time constraints of a two-parent household with one income. Luckily, there are a few simple changes you can make that will help you support your child without adding stress to your already busy life.

Create a “home base”
For your “home base” you will need a calendar, a basket for incoming schoolwork, a spot for backpacks, and space to write. Your home base can be a corner of your kitchen, a side table in your living room, or an office. Announce this spot to your children as the hub of your home and remind them to use it as such. Use a different color pencil for each child’s activities to keep your children’s schedules straight. Encourage your children to keep track of their own activities. Designate a basket where your children can put notices that you need to see and forms you need to sign. Keeping all the forms in one place ensures you don’t miss important information. Keep pencils and pens next to the basket so you can fill out forms immediately and put them right back into your child’s backpack. Your time is valuable, and having a home base keeps you from wasting time searching all over the house for forms, notices, and assignments that need to get sent to school.

Ask for help…and return the favor
Don’t be afraid to ask a neighbor or friend for help. Most moms know that no matter what the circumstance, being a parent requires lots of juggling. Asking a neighbor to drive your child to school in the morning is fine, but be sure to return the favor and drive the kids to the school dance over the weekend. Remember- a simple thank you goes a long way. A bouquet of flowers, a gift card for a coffee shop, or a batch of cookies are inexpensive ways to show you appreciate the support you get and it has not gone unnoticed. A handwritten note to say thanks for the help does the trick, too.

Communicate with the teacher
Let her know what days or times are best for you to meet or to speak on the phone. Give her a time frame in which you intend to return her calls or notes. If you know you work late and don’t always get to her notes right away, let her know she can expect to hear from you within 48 hours. If you have a day off during the week, ask for her consideration when scheduling meetings. Being clear about communication with your child’s school leads to consistent and open interactions.

Prioritize
You can’t be in three places at once so choose the meetings, school events, and games that mean the most to you and your children. Include your children in the process by letting them choose an event they want you to attend. Be honest with your children about why you can’t be at all their events but don’t dwell on it. Refrain from constantly reminding them that you are the only parent helping out- they know this and you should vent to your friends, not your children. When they get home ask specific questions about what happened in the big game or the school play. If you want to volunteer at your child’s school but can’t be there all the time, ask if you can help stuff envelopes or make phone calls and do some of the behind-the-scenes work for events.

Remember that you are one person taking on a huge job and can only do your best each day. Pat yourself on the back for maintaining your children’s safety and security.  Give yourself credit for taking care of all the day-to-day responsibilities by yourself. Enjoy the time you get to spend with your children and stay positive- your children will model your attitude and you can be a happy and productive family together.

Jennifer Cerbasi teaches at a public school for children on the autism spectrum in New Jersey. As a coordinator of Applied Behavioral Analysis programs in the home, she works with parents to create and implement behavioral plans for their children in an environment that fosters both academic and social growth. In addition to her work both in the classroom and at home, she is also a member of the National Association of Special Education Teachers and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

i hate my job

every day i think about calling in so i can go look around for other jobs. there is just too much crap. too many changes. too many assholes there. they don’t pay me for my work. i don’t get to put my degree to good use. no one knows what the fuck is going on because the new broad that’s over everything feels like she needs to make her mark so she’s making all these decisions that affect everyone else without consulting us or even considering how it affects how we do our job. zero appreciation, zero respect. its a horrible job. being stuck in that little cubicle all damn day, not even having a window. crazy ass people to work with. i wanna cuss out a lotta people there, and i often daydream of setting the place on fire. i don’t think that’s normal. or healthy.

i have issues, i think…

No matter what - I will bless the LORD at all times

Many decisions that ought to be taken are not taken due to one of the following reasons:
1. we try to rationalize the situation assuming that our finite and limited human minds has infinite comprehension and abilities or
2. we think of the consequences of the decision and are paralyzed for fear of life or fear of being ridiculed.

In today’s text, taken from the book of Job, we will look at Job, who chose to bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT.

Speculated to be chronologically one of the earliest books of the Bible, the book of Job tells the story of a man who loses everything, his health, his wealth and even his family, in spite of the fact that he was an upright man. His record begins with a heavenly debate between God and Satan and moves through three iterations of earthly debates between Job and his friends, in which they try to answer the question – Why; why is an upright man persecuted so gravely, that at one point, he even wishes death over his misery. In conclusion, the divine diagnosis yields the conclusion, that no matter what, the sovereignty of God is in fact unquestionable and mere acceptance of that is what God seeks of each of us. Job does indeed receive in return two times more than what he had lost (Job 42:10), but that is not the highlight of the entire account, although it may seem to be the case.  The highlight of Job’s life is his integrity and resolve to bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT and despite him, losing his position (his servants were slain), his property (cattle taken away) and his paternity (children killed), he makes a very powerful statement; one that each of us should live each day with, which states “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away: blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). Interestingly in parallel, Philippians 1:21 states, For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If Job had rationalized the situation, he might have concluded that God was indeed evil, for having subjugated him under intense emotional, physical and mental turmoil, and he would have probably ended up like anyone else who cursed God and died. His act of integrity not only did it deliver him from all his troubles, but it also restored unto him twice as much as he had before, aand before he died full of days, he saw four generations. But most importantly, his act of integrity, did not let the head of God hang in shame. See God had boasted about Job to Satan and had questioned Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Job’s fervency and resolve to bless the LORD at all times, helped God to hold His head high and in essence, it would not be far fetched to say that a befitting conclusion to the life account of Job, is reflective of this testimony that God had of Job – there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?. Can this be said of us?

Points to ponder:

1. Are we blessing the LORD at all times?
2. What is God’s testimony of you/me today and what will it be when your/my life is over (hopefully full of days as was Job)?
3. Can we have the heart of Job, one of integrity, that will bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT?

We are hiring

The Normann Copenhagen salesteam is looking for an additional member to service our retail and contract partners in selected markets, mainly Europe.

You know and understand the world of design

• You can SELL and have the results to prove it.
• You understand and define excellent customer service
• You will work with our existing partner and find additional ones.
• You master a pc and surf the web with ease.
• Your suitcase can handle about 100 days of traveling
• You get inspired by looking at our website and blog
• You base will be our HQ in Copenhagen.

You must speak the Scandinavian languages and English as a must – if you can perform in Dutch, French it would be a benefit too.

Want to learn more about us?
Learn more about our products – visit our homepage
Learn how we “talk” – read this blog
See how we present ourselves at tradeshows around the world
Watch us, our designers, friends and much more on Youtube
Listen in on our Twitter or Facebook channels

Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact Sales Manager Peter Husted.

How to apply.
Send a email to Peter Husted: ph(at)normann-copenhagen(dot)com. Want to do it differently? – as long as it works, its fine with us.

Not interested?
No problem, but maybe you know a friend that would be the perfect candidate. Please tell him or her ASAP.

Simon Karkov the designer of the product that started it all, the Norm 69 lamp.

42. No Escape

Meditations in Job : 42.  No Escape

Job 16:6 Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away

Within the various ‘speeches’ in the book of Job, we find various themes or refrains being repeated. It’s a big book with many words, so it is indeed helpful to be reminded from time to time the same things. Job has just been expressing what he feels about his friends but now he moves on to express again something of the sense of hopelessness that he feels, locked in to what is happening to him, unable to do anything about it.

This sense of helplessness is common to sinful mankind living in this fallen world. In its simplest form we find it when we go to the doctor and he tells us that we have ‘a virus’ and so all we can do is go away and rest. We can’t just get rid of it. We may try and suppress the common cold, but we are stuck with it until it works its way out. We break an arm, say, and we are stuck with a plaster caste until it heals up, and that takes weeks! We give way to some wrong act and are caught. Now there is the process of law which grinds on. We wish we could turn back the clock so that it had never happened but we can’t and so we are stuck with it. Then there are the prisons of living in a deteriorating body or a body that just doesn’t function fully or properly. There are the prisons of addiction and we wish we had never started down this path, but now we are trapped in this prison. Or there is the prison of simple poverty or debt and we can see no way out. As we look on these things, we realise that, humanly speaking, there seems no way out.

Job clearly felt like this.  “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.” (v.6). Whatever he says does nothing to relieve him of his pain and if he stays quiet, it is still there. He feels utterly exhausted and there is nothing he can do to change it: “Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.” (v.7). It has affected the whole of his life and so there is nowhere to turn for respite. How terrible it is when families are split up and you find yourself in devastating circumstances when you really need the comfort of the family, but there is no one there for you! How many children in the West today are with only one parent and feel bereft when the trials of life hit and they long for the other one to be there for them.

He declares this is the work of God, which in some senses makes it worse for there is no escape from His divine, sovereign will: “You have bound me–and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.” (v.8) You have bound me! This is no accident of life; this is a sovereign work of God. Bound? Tied up in this situation so there is no escape. It has become a witness? The fact that he is locked into this position of suffering, unable to do anything about it, suggests that all it not right in his life. His friends suggest it is because of sin.  My gauntness rises up and testifies against me! His obvious appearance speaks volumes.

He continues: “God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.” (v.9) He feels that God is angry with him and is tearing him to shreds, and is glaring at him. The result of the Lord’s activity, he says, is that, “Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.” (v.10) He is a laughing stock, he says, and everyone says the same thing.  He is sure that this is God’s work: “God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.” (v.11) When God moves it has practical outworkings in our everyday lives. God has given Job over to others it appears. He further describes what he feels: “All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.” (v.12-14) His life had been fine until God moved against him and like a wrestler threw him down, or like an archer pierced him with many arrows. It seems like He comes at him again and again in a whole variety of ways.

Now this is certainly not the most enlightening of Scripture but it does reveal the sense of awful, almost fatalistic, inability to escape from these apparent attacks from the enemy. This suffering of Job is not merely like having a headache; he is covered with sores, you may remember, is in immense discomfort and pain, looks terrible and is the scorn of all who pass by and see him. It is a reminder to those of us who may have friends who are going through hard times, not expect them to “snap out of it”. It is quite likely that they just can’t do that! They feel totally unable and whatever victorious viewpoint we have arrived at in our Christian lives, THEY may not be in the same place, so ‘praising the Lord’ or whatever other medicine you use, may be just be outside their reach at the moment; later on they may be ready to receive help and climb out of the slough of despair, but for this moment, they may be stuck there and just need your comforting presence.

I like the story I once heard on a well known TV series in the past: a man was walking down the street at dusk when he fell into a very deep hole left by the road workers. He cried out for help but there was no one there. A little time passed and he heard footsteps. A doctor arrived and peered down at him. He scribbled on a small pad and threw down a prescription and walked off. The man felt utterly alone. Just then he heard more footsteps and a Rabbi peered over the edge of the hole. “Rabbi, pleased help pull me out of the hole,” the man cried. “My son, the hole is too deep,” the Rabbi replied, “I will go away and pray for you.” And with that he left. Time passed and he heard more footsteps. To his delight, when he looked up the man saw his friend, Joe, peering down. “Joe, help me out,” the man cried. Suddenly the opening of the hole was darkened as Joe jumped in. “Joe, what are you doing? Now we’re both down here?” the man asked. “It’s all right,” said Joe, “I’ve been down here before. I know how to get out.”

It’s not smart or even critical words we need when we’re ‘in a hole’, it’s loving friendship, that understands and accepts. If only Job had received that!

16 days

I have 16 days left at the job. At the end of this month, I will officially be unemployed and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that I will not land another job. I am stuck with a half complete revamp of my resume, a dwindling self esteem and a whole bunch of questions.
This week’s highlight: my boss, a.k.a. The Jackass, took the rest of the office out to lunch … To check out a coffee shop that I recommended for an event… That a co-worker thought of. So I took a two hour lunch.
And worked on my resume.

THE GRACIOUS VERDICT

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  John 3:17-21

Desiring to be in the Light

Did you catch that last part – the part about those who desire to and actually come into the light?  How awesome is it to see a heart truly transformed for God’s glory?  There’s no faking it.  There are no traditional or cultural reasons why they do it.  They simply do it because they desire to be right with God.  They love His Son and don’t claim to be in love with Him.  This person is the one who doesn’t have a walk that looks different from their talk.  I admit that I have been the opposite of this person in my past, thinking that I was right with the Lord, but honestly my heart was far from Him.  To believe that Jesus is who He says is different from truly believe in Him.   How so? 

There are many who already believe that God exists, and even more that believe He that Jesus existed, but they don’t believe in Him.  Man!!  Even the demons do that (James 2:19).  But these people don’t plan on giving their life to Him for Him to do as He pleases.  They don’t desire to have everything wrecked that they’ve worked so hard to build (their current life).  They only want Him to be involved when times are tight and when things are great and their greed wants more prosperity in what they already have.  No, these people simply believe, but fear their evil deeds being judged, so they do as Jesus said.  They will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. v. 21 

The one that Jesus speaks of in the passage above is one who has laid their entire life before God and said “have your way.”  This seems so hard to do when we try to comprehend it with our fleshly, finite mind, but when our heart is sincere and desiring true salvation from the Father, then our Spirit trumps our flesh and we make that true decision to “come into the light” of God.  

But here’s some encouragement for the fellow believer, the one who thinks he believes and the non-believer alike.  God has already judged sin and taken action of punishment on His one and only Son.  What that means for each of us is that we have the opportunity to come before God without fear that we will be condemned to “fire and brimstone” because of our wickedness.  In fact, just the opposite happens.  When we realize who God is and what His Son has done for us, then we can make the decision in our hearts to surrender our lives to God, repent of all our sin, and receive the free gift of forgiveness due to Jesus’ sacrifice!  How awesome is that?  This decision is more important than any other you will ever make in life.  It’s bigger than deciding to get married, or whether or not to have the baby at the risk of the mother’s life, or even ending life support for that loved one who you can’t seem to depart with.  Yeah…it’s that big.  It’s eternity!!  It’s awesome and shouldn’t be taken lightly or made on a whim.  You have the same opportunity that I had.

I remember the day I said the “sinner’s prayer,” but it wasn’t the same day that I gave my life to Christ.  No, that happened when I realized what I’m sharing with you now.  Evaluate your life and know for yourself where you stand with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

NOTE: It’s not often that I get a post on here that is all about lubby-dubby grace from God and zen-like love, but I wanted to provide my fellow believer’s in Christ who have a hard time reading postings of judgment and rebuke.  However, let me say that if you are a person who is all about trying to lead people to Christ by only talking about how he was “nice” and “loving,” you’ve done everyone a disservice.  John 3:16, itself, is about the entire wrath of God that we deserve being placed on His Son for our many sins.  That’s brutal!!  Get it right!  Man, I almost made without any correcting.

40. Sinful Race

Meditations in Job : 40.  Part of the sinful human race

Job 15:14 “What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?

As we have commented before there are some Christians who focus on sin and failure and in this respect they are like Eliphaz who, you will remember is speaking against Job for the second time. Previously when he spoke, he indicated that he had received the spirit encounter and the result of that was a mindset that put man down and derided him. We reminded ourselves about being made in the image of God and of being loved by God. We may need to do that again!

So here he is having just put Job down by suggesting four times that Job’s words were rubbish. Now he goes on to speak again of the failures of mankind. Essentially our verse today says that no person born of a woman can be pure, everyone is a sinner. Now of course we have no dispute with that, for Paul said, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23). The difference between Eliphaz and Paul is that Eliphaz gets bogged down in it while Paul goes on to say, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24). Paul only speaks of our sin in the context of our salvation. Eliphaz follows the same track that we saw in Ch.4 & 5, referring to the ‘holy ones’, the angels. In chapter 4 he had said, “If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay.” (v.18,19). Here he says, “If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!” (v.15,16). It’s the same old argument being repeated. God doesn’t trust his angels who are close to Him, so why should he trust mankind. As we commented when we considered that earlier passage, that is only true of the fallen angels, and as we now know, God loves us and sent his Son in human likeness to die for us so, no, mankind is not abhorred by God, but loved.

Eliphaz now says he wants Job to listen to him on the basis of the wisdom that he has picked up from the elders through the years: “Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers.” (v.17,18). You obviously are clueless, Job, is what he infers here when he says patronizingly, “Listen to me and I will explain to you.” And why does he think he can teach Job some things? Because I have seen it, I have picked it up from the wise men before me who passed on all they had learnt from their fathers and “(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them)” (v.19), i.e. right at the beginning when no one else was there and they were the first in the land. That’s where MY wisdom comes from! So what has he learnt from them?

“All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.” (v.20-22) i.e. the wicked (who he surely associates with Job) and ruthless man will receive torment, and enemies will attack him and leave him in despair (yes, this is Job!) He piles it on: “He wanders about–food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,” (v.23,24) i.e. he feels utterly hopeless, in darkness, filled with distress and anguish. So, Eliphaz, you do understand what Job is going through, so why can’t you feel for him? Answer, because you would rather condemn him! There’s a reason behind all this, continues Eliphaz; it is “because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.” (v.25,26) You’re a rebel, Job, and you’ve brought all this on yourself! Watch how he now piles it on Job, heaping him with more and more negatives and there can be absolutely no doubt that this is specifically about Job: “Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,” (v.27) Is Job so well off that he is rather over developed? Well it’s unkind to mention it anyway! Moreover “he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.” (v.28) – his home will be desolate and as a general statement, “He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.” (v.29) – his riches will have been taken. But it’s worse: “He will not escape the darkness,” (v.30a), the anguish of darkness will go on and on and he won’t be able to escape it.  “A flame will wither his shoots,” (v.30b), the burning irritation of his sores will undermine his life, “and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away,” (v.30c), i.e. God’s decree will undermine his security and carry him away.

Note that although Eliphaz hasn’t directly referred to Job, it is obviously him that he has in mind, so now he brings him a warning in the same indirect manner: “Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.” (v.31). Whatever you seem to be trusting in will not help you, and “Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.” (v.32,33). You are going to be cut off so that any fruit that was apparent will be stripped away. Job had appeared prosperous but now that is all stripped away and he has nothing. Why? “For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.” (v.34) God sorts out the godless so they will not be fruitful and when they take bribes, God’s justice will fall on them and their homes and possessions will be taken. “They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.” (v.35) This sort of person breeds trouble and, by implication, it will turn round and bite them!

What an example of ongoing condemnation! Now there may be a number of truths built in there but the trouble is that these generalities DON’T apply to Job. This is not happening because he had defied God (v.25,26), he is not godless and doesn’t take bribes (v.34) and he doesn’t breed trouble (v.35). These are all FALSE ASSUMPTIONS of Job in Eliphaz’s mind. Zero out of ten for wrong assessment, Eliphaz!

Marx & Lenin

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Marx and Lenin Revisited

Oct 06, 2009 - By:  Paul Craig Roberts

“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.” Karl Marx

If Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin were alive today, they would be leading contenders for the Nobel Prize in economics.  Marx predicted the growing misery of working people, and Lenin foresaw the subordination of the production of goods to financial capital’s accumulation of profits based on the purchase and sale of paper instruments.  Their predictions are far superior to the “risk models” for which the Nobel Prize has been given and are closer to the money than the predictions of Federal Reserve chairmen, US Treasury secretaries, and Nobel economists, such as Paul Krugman, who believe that more credit and more debt are the solution to the economic crisis.

In this first decade of the 21st century there has been no increase in the real incomes of working Americans.  There has been a sharp decline in their wealth.  In the 21st century Americans have suffered two major stock market crashes and the destruction of their real estate wealth.

Some studies have concluded that the real incomes of Americans, except for the financial oligarchy of the super rich, are less today than in the 1980s and even the 1970s.  I have not examined these studies of family income to determine whether they are biased by the rise in divorce and percentage of single parent households.  However, for the last decade it is clear that real take-home pay has declined.

The main cause of this decline is the off-shoring of US high value-added jobs. Both manufacturing jobs and professional services, such as software engineering and information technology work, have been relocated in countries with large and cheap labor forces.

The wipeout of middle class jobs was disguised by the growth in consumer debt. As Americans’ incomes ceased to grow, consumer debt expanded to take the place of income growth and to keep consumer demand rising. Unlike rises in consumer incomes due to productivity growth, there is a limit to debt expansion.  When that limit is reached, the economy ceases to grow.

The immiseration of working people has not resulted from worsening crises of over-production of goods and services, but from financial capital’s power to force the relocation of production for domestic markets to foreign shores.  Wall Street’s pressures, including pressures from takeovers, forced American manufacturing firms to “increase shareholders’ earnings.” This was done by substituting cheap foreign labor for American labor.

Corporations offshored or outsourced abroad their manufacturing output, thus divorcing American incomes from the production of the goods that they consume.  The next step in the process took advantage of the high speed Internet to move professional service jobs, such as engineering, abroad.  The third step was to replace the remains of the domestic work force with foreigners brought in at one-third the salary on H-1B, L-1, and other work visas.

This process by which financial capital destroyed the job prospects of Americans was covered up by “free market” economists, who received grants from offshoring firms in exchange for propaganda that Americans would benefit from a “New Economy” based on financial services, and by shills in the education business, who justified work visas for foreigners on the basis of the lie that America produces a shortage of engineers and scientists.

In Marx’s day, religion was the opiate of the masses.  Today the media is.  Let’s look at media reporting that facilitates the financial oligarchy’s ability to delude the people.

The financial oligarchy is hyping a recovery while American unemployment and home foreclosures are rising. The hype owes its credibility to the high positions from which it comes, to the problems in payroll jobs reporting that overstate employment, and to disposal into the memory hole of any American unemployed for more than one year.

On October 2 statistician John Williams of shadowstats.com reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has announced a preliminary estimate of its annual benchmark revision of 2009 employment.  The BLS has found that employment in 2009 has been overstated by about one million jobs.  John Williams believes the overstatement is two million jobs.  He reports that “the birth-death model currently adds [an illusory] net gain of about 900,00 jobs per year to payroll employment reporting.”

The non-farm payroll number is always the headline report.  However, Williams believes that the household survey of unemployment is statistically sounder than the payroll survey.  The BLS has never been able to reconcile the difference in the numbers in the two employment surveys.  Last Friday, the headline payroll number of lost jobs was 263,000 for the month of September.  However the household survey number was 785,000 lost jobs in the month of September.

The headline unemployment rate of 9.8% is a bare bones measure that greatly understates unemployment.  Government reporting agencies know this and report another unemployment number, known as U-6. This measure of US unemployment stands at 17% in September 2009.

When the long-term discouraged workers are added back into the total unemployed, the unemployment rate in September 2009 stands at 21.4%.

The unemployment of American citizens could actually be even higher.  When Microsoft or some other firm replaces several thousand US workers with foreigners on H-1B visas, Microsoft does not report a decline in payroll employment.  Nevertheless, several thousand Americans are now without jobs.  Multiply this by the number of US firms that are relying on “body shops” to replace their US work force with cheap foreign labor year after year, and the result is hundreds of thousands of unreported unemployed Americans.

Obviously, with more than one-fifth of the American work force unemployed and the remainder buried in mortgage and credit card debt, economic recovery is not in the picture.

What is happening is that the hundreds of billions of dollars in TARP money given to the large banks and the trillions of dollars that have been added to the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet have been funneled into the stock market, producing another bubble, and into the acquisition of smaller banks by banks “too large to fail.” The result is more financial concentration.

The expansion in debt that underlies this bubble has further eroded the US dollar’s credibility as reserve currency.  When the dollar starts to go, panicked policy-makers will raise interest rates in order to protect the US Treasury’s borrowing capability.  When the interest rates rise, what little remains of the US economy will tank.

If the government cannot borrow, it will print money to pay its bills.  Hyperinflation will hit the American population.  Massive unemployment and massive inflation will inflict upon the American people misery that not even Marx and Lenin could envisage.

Meanwhile America’s economists continue to pretend that they are dealing with a normal postwar recession that merely requires an expansion of money and credit to restore economic growth.

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Paul Craig Roberts [ email him ] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term.  He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal .  He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

5 Items For A Successful It Career Through Education

1. Receive a Bachelor’s Degree In today’s competitive workforce certifications are not enough. To get the job, Computer, or promotion you want a bachelor’s degree is almost necessary. This will be, Computer, on your resume forever and distinguish you as part of the highly, Computer, sought after educated workforce. Many employers will use a degree as the first step in weeding out applicants, this is a simple and efficient manner for them to automatically find higher qualified applicants. Having a degree will get your resume viewed by more hiring managers than if you did not have one. Make sure you get a degree from an accredited university. You may want to seek out a traditional university, an online university, or alternative specialized university. Whatever choice you make the most important thing is that you learn new skills and get a degree. 2. Get Certifications Attend a university that you will not only get a Bachelor’s degree but also certifications. Some certifications you, Computer, could receive are the Microsoft MCSD certification, Java 2, WebSphere, DB2, and more. This will help you meet requirements for high-end technology jobs. Think about what you want to do in the future, almost every computer field has specialized certifications that employers are looking for. Try not to waste your time getting a certification in a field that you do not necessarily want to pursue a career in., Computer, If you want to be a programmer do not waste time getting an A+ certification. 3. Gain Experience Experience can set you apart from the competition when applying for a job. Find a university that has a strong emphasis on project-based learning or internship opportunities. Universities that help you gain more than an education by offering several projects you can participate in are worth pursuing. I have known many students who waste time away in college working as a waitress or telemarketer. In almost all fields you can find lower entry-level jobs that will give you a paycheck plus valuable experience that will be useful in, Computer, the future. If you follow this guideline you will graduate, Computer, with a list of, Computer, experience that is impressive on your resume, Computer, and, Computer, be far ahead in the game compared to your fellow students. 4. Seek Out Financial Aid Gaining an education costs money, but for those that need additional help there are programs available to help pay for tuition and education costs. Request more information from universities, Computer, to see which financial aid plans you may be eligible for. If you are academically advanced, a minority, or financially disadvantaged there, Computer, may be scholarships available to you as well.5. Time is of the Essence! Many people spend 4-6 years at a traditional university to obtain their bachelor’s degree. This is ok in many cases because traditionally universities still look the most impressive on a resume. However, Computer, if you know you want to work in the computer industry you may consider an accelerated program to assist you in getting, Computer, the skills and education you need to get started in your career sooner. Online universities and specialized technical universities often offer programs where you can get your B.S. degree in, Computer, under 2 years, this is worth looking into. It is also common knowledge that traditional universities often do not give their computer science graduates the actual programming skills, Computer, they need to be competitive in the workplace, their, Computer, curriculum often consists mainly of theory compared to application.About Neumont UniversityNeumont University’s class of 2005 averaged a starting salary of $60,700, thirteen percent above the national average.* The accelerated bachelor’s degree program lasts just 28 months. That allows our highly qualified graduates to enter the workforce 1 years earlier than their colleagues at four year universities. The campus is located in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah. Each quarter, student teams work on a real business project. Each team works with the business representative and mentors to develop solutions that are ultimately implemented by the businesses. With more and more employers demanding real-world business experience from graduates, Neumont University’s curriculum is proving to be a boon for students and their future employers. Most of Neumont’s graduates are placed in their jobs before they even graduate, due mostly to the coursework our students do with businesses. Our first graduating class had a 91% percent placement, and most of, Computer, the graduates had two job offers before graduation.