ICYMI – Tech Update – Sony Nintendo Apple

Sony has announced two different versions of the Sony Playstation 5. One will be a digital download only, and the other will include a blu ray disc drive. The biggest accomplishment, yet one that is well long overdue, is the upgrade to the SSD – solid state drive – removing the old spinning technology that was the sad result of gamers sitting “LOADING” screen.  This feature alone has already caused pre-order big box giants to crash. Unlike Nintendo who has proprietary games, like The Legend of Zelda, Sony does not have anything for at least a year. Xbox had Fable, … and most license their games/software to make more money.
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With billions of gamers confined to their already safe man caves and basements, Chinese based Nintendo giant has reaped huge profits with their revolutionary Nintendo Switch. If you are unfamiliar with this little gaming genius piece of hardware, it triples as a handheld, small tabletop viewscreen, and also connects to a big screen via HDMI. Computer monitors can easily be converted as previously they only served VGA. This can be a big thing if kids are in their own rooms with no tv. Crazy as it sounds, not all kids are so privileged to have those luxuries. The Switch has a plethora of games via their download e-store, however, you will quickly fill up the 32 gigs that the device comes standard. I personally have been rocking my Wii U, as it has been impossible to find one in a store. So naturally it put me on a mission to find one in a retail store. After months of hitting every discount store in the Rocky Mountains, I did find one. No, I’m not kidding. I’m totally serious. It was in Rawlins Wyoming, last one of course. And THAT was the day I forgot my credit cards, so unfortunately I would not be able to get the extra year warranty from American Express. I did have just enough cash to buy the last one, and the latest Super Mario game.

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Members of the Cult of Mac:
Is your phone nagging you to upgrade like mine? It should be, and after watching some YouTube launch release videos, I decided it might be a good idea. I have the iPhone 11 Max Pro, in green, so decided I wanted my device to feel all shiny and new again. It is downloading the update as I type. One of the cool new features is sending a voice memo to someone via Siri. I’m not a iOs reviewer, there are already dozens of guys that do that. I do love my iPhone, and as a veteran in the wireless industry, I can say it will always be one of my wireless devices.

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As you know, I am not sponsored by anyone, and I only recommend products and services that I endorse. I do not own a PS4, but I am still rocking my PS3!  Rumor has it the PS5 may be backwards compatible, so you will want the disc drive model.

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Career Coaching

Check out the livestream feed from Denver! Yesterday it was smokey and 99 degrees, and today it is 34 degrees and raining in the metro. Up in the high country (the mountains) they are experiencing snow! So if you were praying for some cooler weather and precipitation also, our prayers have been answered. If you can see the video, it is a shot from what appears to be Bronco Stadium, at Mile High Field, overlooking I-25 traffic and the downtown skyline. As I a writing, the lens is kind of blurry due to the rain so I can’t say for sure.

 

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So the post today is about career coaching, and I think that this actually should be something that is used with high school students at an early stage. I’m not a high school teacher, but I was a college professor. Having a background in sales and marketing is super advantageous when looking for a job. So how do you choose a career when you are young and impressionable? My favorite question as a kid, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Hmmm, good question right? How the F would a five year old know the answer to that? Well, I suppose your parents could have your career trajectory all planned out for you, but for the rest of us, it was a — fly by the seat of my pants — kind of moment, and I just made something up everything I was asked. If you have kids, did you encourage the talents shown by your little students and introduce them to someone who is actually doing it? Because no one in their right mind is going to say, “Gee, I think one day I want to be a middle manager sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day.”

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So for years I have had the idea of doing something with all the human resource knowledge that I have acquired over the years and put it to good use. Sure I talk with individuals and help them along, but nothing on a large scale magnitude. I am pretty sure there are a lot of HR professionals who read these blogs. I did start a manuscript years ago, but I would rather just publish on my website to my readers, rather than doing an e-book or hardcopy. Why? Well, you can always load my blog on your phone easily and take me with you to read later. And it is SFW (safe for work). Although I am going to divulge some secrets from the industry that you won’t hear anywhere else. These are some things you need to know, and remember.

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Human Resources is NOT your friend. Wait, what? They are always so nice. Uh huh. We are trained to be nice. We smile at you when we recruit you and we smile at you when you sign your separation notice. We, as in HR, are here for the owner and the shareholders best profitable interest. We are here to mitigate risk, and assess talent to make money for the company. When you F up, we are here to performance manage you so we can fire you later. Yep, seriously, that is how it works. And when you file unemployment and try to sue us, we are there to show documentation that we are in the right and you are just a bad employee. Wow, that is quite a bit to take in — isn’t it?
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When I was in college, I was involved in the American Marketing Association. I actually was an officer and was in charge of fundraising and finance. Both of these roles are super important in the corporate world. We had a big name speaker, which I can’t remember now, come to campus to teach us all about the “hidden job market”. It was kind of a big deal. Looking back, there was some nuggets from that seminar. If you are an HR person, you know what I mean, and if you are not — then I am going to shed some light on the subject. If you are looking for a job in your field, I strongly encourage you to interview someone who is doing it now, as an active job. Why? Well, there is a lot of hidden wisdom here and when I worked with my college students, I made them, interview 3. 10 questions that included what they liked, loved and hated about their current profession. It was just for information and to determine if this was an actual fit for the individual. Hey you want to be a nurse? Did you know you have some shitty situations, and until you get those little letters behind your name, you will have to pay your dues. While not usually suggested for the interview, it is a really good idea  to know what your entry level to high level manager salary is going to be. You need to be able to translate what $15 an hour is annually, and know the reverse. So when HR calls and says we would like to extend an offer of $25,000 a year, that is actually only $12.02 an hour. Hmmm, not so appealing now. Take the annual divided 2080, which is the number of hours worked a year. Now keep in mind, HR usually is not the key decision maker and when you balk at it or sit in silence, know that they can’t and won’t just up the offer. You will need to thankfully accept the offer and let them know you will give them an answer in 24 hours. Now, you should have the email, and business card of the person who decides your salary. Talk to that person.

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I am not going to go over information interview protocols, as I am sure they are dozens of articles already out there. Keep in mind that at some point in your in person discussion, you may spark the interest of your interviewee. Like, as in, he/she may see the talent and potential in you and may want to recruit you at a later date. DO NOT take or give this person a resume at this point. Why? You will lose trust. You said you were there just for information and you secretly were trying to get a job. So inform him/her that you don’t have it, but you would be happy to talk about some of your most recent wins/achievements … now. Example: “As you know I am a big blogger with thousands of readers, and writing is sort of my thing. I’d really like to work for an editorial group like yours one day. A lot of your core goals and objectives align with my own, such as ______.” So you get the idea. You will be much more effective talking to someone in person, rather than having them read a bunch of very well written action statements. Like what you say? How about “High performing sales manager who consistently met or exceeded sales objectives and is the top  performing in the region.” Yes, well, now this is very nicely well written claim, can it be proven? Besides, you are much more charming and convincing in person that a black and white piece of paper.

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So practice on some of your friends and coworkers (from other departments) and see what the answers are. Who knows you might learn something from that person, or maybe he/she will help you look for new jobs that haven’t been posted on the internet.
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What is going to happen to our world?

The Global Economic State

Many of my fans and followers have been spending a lot of time reading the blogs, mostly as an escape, but many are also here to learn. Education at this point, is not so grand. I had a student tell me he learned more in my blogs than he ever did in school. Wow, that is quite the compliment, and warms my heart. Yes, I am a repository of a boatload of information. I totally get it. I mean, who wants to learn about history and math? Not me.
So, to address my topic, I was asked to shed some light as to my perspective of what is going on in the world with the coronavirus as well as the United States political economy. I have also had a large number of young voters who are looking to me for some guidance as to whom he/she should vote for this election in November. You would think that a lot of kids would look to their parents for guidance, but you also have to remember, there are thousands and thousands of children who have no such parent or role model. Whom do YOU look up to for advice about life decisions? If there is no mom or dad, then what? Did you see the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why? Wow, talk about some kids who have really bad role models. What if your dad left your mom and she was junkie bringing home nasty guys from the bar to have sex with while you are in the next room? Exactly. The world is a beautiful ugly place to live right now. There is fear, terror and most of, evil in this world. Let me repeat that. There is evil in this world. Now you can try to go around and point fingers and attempt to place blame on one person, or conspiracy theory.  But at the end of the day, what does that exactly accomplish? You are still you.

What Would Aaron Do?

So, a long time ago, I had a padewan/student who said I was a great role model. And rather than losing a temper, would pause and think what my response/reaction would be to the situation. Wow. That is pretty cool. I like to think I make the smart right choices in life, relationships, work, and friendships. First of all, I have watch Contagion, like a dozen times. If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it. I also watched Carriers, with Chris Pine a few times. Needless to say, I am sort of a germaphobe. I carry Clorox wipes and spray everywhere I go. Not to gross you out, but there literally millions of men that never wash their hands after using the toilet. Disgusting. If you just imagined one of those guys touched what you are about to touch, you would wipe it off too. So, keeping things I touch clean and not going out in public very often. Okay, I need things. Groceries, so I go when the store opens at 6 or 7 am when there is no one there and I am in and out. Boom. Nothing dirty to touch or get sick or infected. Now there are a lot of media outlets and even some well known celebrities that are posting things on social media that the virus is fake, that people aren’t really dying from it, the flu is more dangerous, …. you get the idea. Well, what do “I” think? I think I need to do everything in MY power to stay safe, keep living this sabbatical, and use the time wisely to create some terrific content for future events.
The reality is, people are going to die. Do you really need to be one of them? I don’t want to die. Is it so difficult to cherish the time in my castle and pick up an old book to read, or revisit an old manuscript? As I type this blog I have soft meditation music playing in the background to raise my harmonic vibration.

Rock the Vote

So if you were living under a rock, just got out of jail, woke up from a coma, or just landed on earth, … welcome!  I just wanted to share with you that in the last three years or so, there has been all kinds of ruckus in the United States, and unfortunately the school shootings have transferred to blacks being killed by police officers. Now that is not exactly everything, but it has caused all kinds of protests and marches. The leadership in this country hasn’t exactly been remarkable and the President was impeached this year, but due to dirty politicians, the Senate, did not approve it as there are more republicans than democrats. So basically the president is a liar, cheater, thief, and is immoral, and most of America seems to be okay with it. At least the racist hating republicans anyway. Hey there are racist democrats and independents too, so I’m not calling out one group over the other.
Hate is hate, and if you know me, then you know that sort of negative energy is self destructive. I like to focus on the love, not the hate. I love that I will get a tax return someday. I love that I can drive around with expired new car tags. I love that I still am healthy and keeping a positive mindset. I love that my readers leave me comments how I have inspired or helped them. Or in some cases, gotten a free lunch due to my content/articles.
So if you are undecided as to whether you should vote republican or democrat this November, I am going to tell you I am voting for Joe Biden. As you know, I am from Nebraska. Last year when the floods hit Nebraska, Trump did nothing for my fellow friends in the next state. When I was in the Walmart shooting in Thornton, Trump did not even acknowledge it or even tweet shit about it. So yes, I have personal feelings towards the serial pathological liar.
Alrighty, so here comes the hot stepper. Many of you were wondering when I was going to throw out some marketing statistics and “things”. First off, let’s talk about the thousands of voters dying everyday. We all know that old people are dying way faster. Cancer I think is still up there for high number of deaths. And I am only focusing on registered voters. I am not going to even GO there — kids missing. So first off, at a local level, we all know we vote for local issues. School bonds, funding, judges, and also some bigger issues, like senators and congress representatives. Oh yes, and this year, is THE commander in chief, mister president. Most people don’t understand economics or politics or government. Shit, most people can’t balance a checkbook or even have a monthly or yearly budget. Perhaps another day for an article on those topics.
For now I want those young  people to understand that in order for good and evil to balance each other out, those local senators votes are more important. It is BULLshit that one man is above the law. So it is my duty to come forward, speak out to young impressionable minds and tell you that regardless  who you vote for as president, the democrat senators must get your vote.  Now in Colorado that is a done deal. Former governor John Hickenlooper is running against askhole Corey Gardner. Basically he and Governor Jared Polis changed positions. Since the last election, there are less voting registered republicans and thousands more democrats keep moving to the state. Last election, millions of voters decided to sit it out and not vote. And now this is what happened.
Every day hundreds of minors turns 18. Every day an old dying baby boomer republican also dies. With the virus I bet the number is even higher, but they don’t report on what political parties are dying and at what rate.

Well that is all for now, I hope you enjoyed it. If you are not registered to vote, do it now.

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