October 2008 Archives

"Yes,' said I, 'I have taken to living by my wits." from Shirley by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is Part Two in a series of articles about finding a job by using the wealth of resources available on the internet. This article focuses on Rachel Olivier and her eleven month job search and how she found employment within walking distance by casting a net across the world wide web.

More

Discussion:

What do you get when you throw in curiosity, technology, inspiration, music, art and liquor into a petri dish?

Purpose: To find Inspiration through "Enlightened Debauchery"

More

Have you ever played "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"? The game was born in the early 1990's and is based on the premise that the world is so small a place that we can connect with Kevin Bacon within six degrees. It's this phenomenon that brings us now today to the internet. We are connecting daily with new people through Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Plurk, Pownce, Facebook, SocialMedian and one that I am going to focus on called LinkedIn.

More

As I cautiously pilot the roadways of Los Angeles, I make it a habit to observe the people that cross my path, not only out of curiosity but for the safety of my living breathing physical being. When the "Hands Free" law went into effect July 1st, California motorists were required to use a hands-free device to talk on a cellphone, I thought it was safe to venture out again without the fear of being side swiped by another multi-tasking driver. Yet to my dismay, people are still driving Hands Bound. While dodging Driving While Distracted drivers, I made a list of the most common infractions and texted it to myself while I was idling at the light...

More

6:15 am, Los Feliz, CA

I ride down the hill from my house on the brakes until I get to the entrance of Griffith Park, from there it's uphill for 2.5 miles to the Observatory. The sun hasn't risen over the San Gabriel mountains as yet, the moon sits above my left shoulder casting an arc of white light that sits the sparkling city, like a tiara on a beauty queen. The buildings downtown have half their lights on, chopping blocks of light into the black skyline.

More

Found on Twitter

Search: Porter Ranch Fire

mellemusic @ophelia I can see the smoke from our office and we also watched the planes (carring H2O) take off from our conference room last night

twitpic - Freeway was closed! Sean Geraghty

twistedcat: the porter ranch fire has jumped the pass above calgrove

iamhannah: The Porter Ranch fire seems to be picking up again.

yeohbaby: Bags are packed as we wait to see if we need to evacuate. Sesnon/Porter Ranch fire is 0% contained right now.

Mightypeter: I'm coughing up parts of the Porter Ranch fire, and loving it.

jaym: Porter Ranch fire - Moving at 10mph on 101e. Thinking of hopping of freeway and take Ventura blvd. Oh, ye, it smells like a fireplace.

bloomsday16: They think the fire near Porter Ranch could burn all the way to PCH (15 miles)! http://tinyurl.com/42ggzt (expand)

tbone37: @kittyalague . . Is the fire in porter ranch/granda hills away from ur grandpas house?

More

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in.

Los Angeles is a city of re-invention and of hyphenates...Our resumes can be compared to layers upon layers of paint that is never allowed to dry, because we are constantly changing the perception of who we are.
Our definition of what employment is about re-invention as well, we are historically a nomadic work force and because of this our freelance workforce is the highest in the country, 36-38%, almost 20% higher than the rest of the country. We are nomads that travel from village to village selling our wares and services, client to client with a laptop in tow.

More

The following are posts from Los Angeles Craigslist under "Missed Connections":

Blonde on the 405 
I am the guy with the shaved head, we have shown up next to each other where the 5 and the 405 meet a couple of times now. 

me: pink razor scooter, blood stained jeans.  
i remember you, but i'm sorry to have to tell you that i won't be able to meet up with you. you have to now that i'm completely in love with that blonde girl you saw me with and that shes the only person i want to share any [uninterrupted] time with. the sad truth about all this is that you saw me during what [quite possibly] is the best 2 days of my life to date, and i owe that to no one but that beautiful, leggy, modelesque, asian women. i hope you understand.

Our eyes Locked.....at Ralphs
There was instant chemistry when our eyes met, then you glanced my wedding band, and you kept walking down the aisle. But what if........ 

More

At most recent Potluck Dinner at Peleg Top & Rick Hoyt's house in the hills of Silver Lake, I tasted my first Carrot Souffle. It had all the flavors of the Fall Harvest, sweet, with a hint of the soil that the carrots sprung from. I asked Peleg to introduce me to the talented chef, Ronna Jones. I expected to have to wrangle the recipe from Ronna, but she happily shared the recipe, which lead us to a conversation about giving, and she told me about how she joined the 29 Day Giving Challenge during a stressful period in her life. For her first day, she went to her mother's and cleaned the entire house, an act of love that brought her and her mother closer.

The Los Angeles-based 29 Day Giving Challenge was started by Cami Walker (pictured to the left) who left the world of advertising after it had become unfulfilling and because her struggle with Multiple Sclerosis made it imperative to change her life path. It is a simple challenge; for 29 days you give one gift a day, it could be anything from money, food, clothing to a kind word or thought.

More

Click. "404 or Not Found error." Or more rarely: 403 “Forbidden.” ; A 404 is a standard HTTP response code indicating that the client (you) was unable to communicate with the server (them). Or in plain English, the page you are looking for doesn't exist on the web.

In real life, a 404 is a common occurrence in Los Angeles. You drive to a store, only to find it closed and a Starbucks in its place. My answer would be to flip open my cellphone and Google for the closest alternative, while my car idles at the curb with the air conditioning blasting my hair back like I had my own personal tornado. Angelenos are accustomed to an ever changing landscape; we are so blasé that when new area codes are added we just blink once and roll through another stop sign. We blithely move through do-overs, makeovers, rehabs, and, even when the ground beneath us moves, we take it all in stride and look for the next new thing. With each metamorphosis we are assured that the only sign of permanence in Los Angeles is Angelyne's age.

More