I woke up this morning to the high pitched sound of a leaf blower from a landscaper across the street from our house.  It brought a shudder to my body.

Not so much for the sound even as annoying as it is but for what it represents to me.  Summer is over, or at least all most and to be followed by fall.  And fall is going to be followed by winter and with that the bitter cold, the chill that fills the body, wetness, heavy coats and gloves, high heating costs and they will be high this year and of course the dreaded curse of snow and ice.


And tomorrow is the first day of fall. The starting signal for what lies ahead.

Manhasset Bay in the winter

As those who have read this blog know, I hate snow in the worst way.  I hope never to see it again except in a photo or a drawing.  One of the reasons as to why I want to move to the Keys.  There is no snow.

I would rather deal with the threat of hurricanes than the bitter winds that blow through the walls of this old building in the winter.  This building is so old, it is not cost effective to insulate it.  For when you take down the plaster lath walls, you will need to replace the old rubber and fabric covered wires as well.  Just by nudging the wires the rubber cracks exposing the copper underneath.  And like a sleeping bear, it is best to leave well enough alone.

At the end of the day if we do insulate and re-wire it would be cheaper just to keep dumping oil into the tank.  Which I hope will end if my prayers are answered.

Over the weekend I was looking at the webcams on Duval Street.  And I saw nothing but hog heaven!  Motorcycles everywhere.

 

From the webcam outside of Sloppy Joe's

From the roof on top of Sloppy Joe's.  Someone should clean the lens.

Nice handle bar grip he is grabbing

One thing is for sure, it must have been loud there.  The Sturgis of the eastern seaboard.

Looking at the webpage Mile Zero, it turns out that this was a poker run. A bunch of bikers ride into town, play a few hands of poker and then leave. In many areas it is illegal to play poker for money. But in something like this everyone turns a blind eye to it. No one is getting hurt, except the person who loses and that depends on how much. Plus it does bring money into the businesses from sales.

There was one here a few years back. But they were just passing through. They stopped, set up a few tables, played a hand or two and were on their way. No problems like the TV wants you to believe. Just a few people touring the area and stopping here and there for a freindly hand of cards.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but 20 more people from my former company were terminated.  Not a good sign.  I heard that everyone there that is left is worried who will be next.  One of them asked me to re-do his resume just in case.

Anyway, the weekend approaches and so does fall.  Back to sending our more resumes.

'till next time.

This is my last week of unemployment. The state has been very tight lipped about extended benefits so I don't know if I will get it or not. It sucks being on unemployment.

I've been paying close attention to the job ads, a lot of them are repeats. I've applied to many several times and not one call back. Very frustrating.

Even the head hunters and recruiting agencies like TekSystems have been a total waste o my time. So why bother sending an of them my resume? I am not even going to connect to anymore recruiters on LinkedIn either. Going back to the ads, I would say that 95% of them have been placed by recruiters.

A freind of mine who was fired from the same company that I was in for being over 45 as well is taking up marketing at night. She is going to a local university here for it. Maybe have her market me?

She is a great person. We hit it off the first few days when she started with the firm. We have been good freinds since. Nothing romantic, just good friends. My wife even knows about her and he knows about my wife.

We used to go to lunch a lot when we worked together. I always bought. I was raised to be a gentlmen. A bit old fashioned.

I learned that the company terminated 20 people on Thursday.  With the first seven that make close to 25% of the workforce gone.  I think they are going to be gone in about a year from now.  One of the people that wrote to me that was in that group even admitted that the firm is playing age discrimination games.  They want only the 20 year old set to run the business.

Speaking of layoffs.  I also learned that one of the people at the Hicksville DoL that ran a focus group was let go.  These groups did nothing but to try and build your confidence and try and make things look rosy.  They never helped.  I am sorry to here that he was let go, but now he knows first hand what it is like.  Then again I am sure with his connections through the state he will be working again in no time.  They take care of their own.

Finally we have a break from the oppressive humidty that Long Island is famous for. It was actually cold at night. A relief from the humidity but a sign that snow is on it's way. I hate snow.

I am still hoping for a job in the Keys before the snow falls. I keeping my fingers and toes crossed that someone will pick up my resume, give me a call, make me an offer. I would be out of New York so fast. By pushing it, I should be able to drive to the Keys in 24 hours non-stop. But that is pushing the limits.

'till next time

It has been six months since I was terminated from my position as CTO and replaced by a much younger person. Six months of being stripped of my dignity, six months of feeling useless, six months of sending out resumes with no interviews.

My unemployment is about to run out. I have no idea if I can get extended benefits or not. I inquired the state about it but all I get is silence. So I really have no idea what is going to happen. I guess I will be dropped from the unemployment roles thereby making the stats for the state clook better. The more people they can drop the lower the reported unemployment rate is.

I have applied to numerous positions in Florida with no response. A lot of times I see the same ad repeated for weeks on end. Makes me wonder if it is a legit job or not. I have no idea.

I get lip service from recruiters. At least those few that responded back. Not one of them has lifted a finger to place me as far as I can tell. I don't think I will answer ads from them orcreach ou to anymore of them. So far in my lifetime of business they have been a total waste of my time and energy.

So far the only tech job that I found n the Keys was at the Dolphin Research Center. It was right up my alley. A perfect fit. I sent them my resume and I got back a rejection form letter. They never spoke to me.

I have to wonder if it is because I am currently in New York is the reason I am not getting hits in Florida? But before I relocate I want to secure a position. Why jump from the frying pan into the fire?


I am slowly but surely gathering information to answer my questions from a few posts ago. Most of it is coming from government websites. I have to remain skeptical of the data from them. Partly it could have been adujusted and not give the full and complete picture but mostly because government sites are often way out dated with the data they display. At least it is a start.

I still wish that a few people from FB would respond to my survey. But for now, data mining.

'till next time

The schools start around here this week.  The mad rush is on for school supplies and places like Staples are crowded beyond belief.

The usual items are to be had like pens, pencils, note pads, composition books, binders, loose leaf paper, book bags.  And in many cases calculators and laptops are on the list.  For those going away to college will also require bedding, lockers, microwaves, coffee pots, TV's, mini-fridges and what have you.

I learned from my nieces that this year for the public schools here there are some new items that are required.  Toilet paper and baby wipes are now mandated to be brought in.  Toilet paper?????  Really give me a break.  We pay some of the highest school and property taxes in the entire country and they want the parents to supply toilet paper!  Is the school budget here so screwed up that they can't afford the necessities of life? 

Now what happens if they don't bring in the toilet paper?  Will they have to tear pages out of a book (watch the staples)?  Loose leaf paper?  Leave skid marks on the hall floor?  Or finger paint?  Our schools here are out of control.

Maybe if they didn't pay these part time teachers (they work only 9 months out of the year, 6 hours a day and even then they do not work) over $100,000 each and a lot of then get a new Mercedes every year the schools could afford toilet paper. That's right a lot of teachers here drive Mercedes. You should see them rushing out of the parking lots at 3.

And I will guarantee you that the next budget will be even higher.

And you wonder why I want to get out of New York.

Oh how I wish someone from the Keys would make me an offer so I can relocate there.

'till next time.

Labor laws were designed to protect the rights, health and safety of the employee.  In New York they barely did that until 2011 when things got worse for employees.


New York like most states is an employment-at-will state.  This means an employer can fire you for any reason what so ever.  As an example if your employer does not like the way your hair is combed, out the door you can go and so forth.

Very unfair and it gives the employer almost unlimited power over the employee.


New York also condones and supports the practice of age discrimination as well. I posted about it in an earlier entry.  Plus to show you how NY supports age discrimination they had an employment site called Hi-Tech NY.  The images of all the people on the website were under 30 except the Governor.  A nice subliminal message.  Now the site points to another website but the home pages still has a person under 30 on it.


In NY if you work more than 8 hours in a day for one employer or more than 40 in a week for one employer you must get time and a half pay.  But according to the NY DoL that is not on your base pay.  The time and a half is based on the minimum wage only.  So the employer has a way of screwing a person over with their pay.

Let's do some math.   Let's say you earn as a base pay of $20 an hour.   For a 40 hour week that is  $800 gross pay.  You work an additional 8 hours over the 40 hours.  You would think that the time and a half rate should be $30 for that 8 hours which would give you in theory an extra $240 in your gross pay.  But in reality according to the NY law time and a half is based on minimum wage only.  NY minimum wage is $7.25 and the time and a half rate is only $10.88.  So instead of getting that $240 you were expecting you get only $87.04 extra.

But not many employers know about that thankfully otherwise they would take full advantage of that.  I learned this directly from the DoL themselves.


Prior to 2011 if an employee worked more than 6 hours in a day for an employer they would be entitled to a one hour break.  It could be a solid hour, broken up into two 15 minute breaks with a half hour lunch break or some combination of such.  But in 2011 that has changed.  Now you get a minimum of 20 minutes only.  If you start after 11 then you would be eligable for an hour.  So you start at 8, work until 6 all the employer has to give you is a 20 minute meal break, period.


Prior to 2012 you were not allowed to work for a single employer for more than 6 days a week.  Now they can demand and have you work 7 days a week without a day off for weeks, months or years on end.

Prior to 2011 you were not allowed to work for a single employer for more than 18 hours in a 24 hour period.  Now that has changed.  An employer can now demand that you work a 24 hour shift non-stop.

I learned about the information presented in the last three paragraphs when I did some research for my son who works in a new supermarket and the boss there has him come in at 5AM and leave at 8PM with only a 30 minute break during that time frame every day for the past week and a half straight.  And he has yet to have a day off.  I wanted to pull out the statutes of the law directly from the NYS DoL to help him and that is where I learned that in 2011 the laws changed taking even more rights and protections away from employees.  Welcome to New York.

I told my wife that was the final straw.  We really need to get out of New York.

I don't know what the labor laws are in Florida where the Keys are (obviously),  but I am going to look into that.  It has to be better than New York where you are now reduced to a little more than a piece of dirt for some employers amusement.

Is anyone in the Keys looking for a good computer tech?????  Anyone?????

'till next time.

A few weeks ago I posted a survey that I asked people from my FB friends list to take part in. The purpose of the survey was to see what type of business climate there is as far as being a computer consultant goes.

It was an idea that was in the back of my mind and from a phone conversation I had with someone there.  And at the same time one of my LinkedIn connections told me that they saw a lot of computer consultants come and go and after 10 years of poor economy there they cannot wait to leave.  They lost over 50% of their business with the down turn.

Would it be feasible to open up my own business in the Keys?  I don't know.  I need more direct information about the area.

Next there were some general questions about living there, floods, invasive species like pythons and what have you. I don't want to move into a bad situation that I cannot get out of either.


So far not one person has responded. No one. It is very disappointing. I was hoping for some up front
honest answers from a few people. Now I have to continue using prepared data that I find on the net which could be highly massaged and not give accurate information.

Maybe people don't want to be identified even by emailing me?  I am thinking of using say Survey Central to run it again.  Something to think about.


Seeing how I have not had one interview since I was replaced by a 26year old snot nosed, back stabbing, brown nosing, two faced punk with no experience in network engineering 6 months ago, plus getting jerked around by those few employment agencies that would take the time to speak to me (I can count the number on one hand), I figured I would dig deep and go to school for computer programming. I hope that I would be more marketable.

Years ago I studied FORTRAN, ASSEMBLER, COBOL and of course BASIC in high school.  I never used them for these were really brief classes of about 4 weeks per language and please do not ask me to write any code from any of them.  It has been that long.


So tonight I start class at a local university for part 1 which will last a semester. The whole thing can take several years to complete. But I have to start some where.  I had to dig deep into my cash reserves to attend this class also.


This way I might land a job as a developer. And good thing I can do it remotely since the language is JAVA and I already have a compiler. It could open a new door for me or at least make me more marketable.  But since this in New York and age discrimination is well practiced and condoned by the state I might just be wasting my time and money.


In the meantime if a business in the Keys makes me an offer, I would drop everything run and rent a U-Haul, stuff it with everything that we own, hook up the car and in two days of driving (I can make it in about 24 non-stop but that would not be wise) I'd be fighting the traffic through the construction on Roosevelt Blvd. to live where I dream of living.  Not a problem there.

Seeing how some people there have complained about the delays along that road, they should come up here and deal with the Long Island Expressway during rush hour.  The world's longest parking lot.  And people wonder why I want off Long Island?

In my last post I included a photo from one of my FB friends that he took during the storm.  Naturally I gave him full photo credits.  He was thankful that I did the right thing.  It was a great shot of some minor flooding along Duval.

Time to start to get my things together for my first night of class.

'till next time.

Sunday Isaac was headed for the Keys with the promise of becoming a Cat-1 to a Cat-2 hurricane. Windows were boarded up, a lot of establishments were closed, at least those I could see by webcam. There was even a loss in communications with a lot of the webcams either from the storm or by being used by other people wanting to see the action.


Well as far as the Keys is concerned, Isaac was a flop. It stayed as a tropical storm and never made it to a Cat-1. But don't think that a tropical storm is a walk in the park for a lot of damage fan be done. Yet thevpeople in the Keys are used to those and are better prepared all around, so for them a tropical storm is a walk in the park.


Looking at the webcam outside of Sloppy Joe's I saw some very minor flooding if you want to call it that. From where I sat the water was in the gutters of the road and never really made it to the crown of the road. There were some big puddles in the intersection of Duval and Greene, but nothing bad. We get that here in a good rain storm.


Sunday night at about 11:30 PM Sloppy's was closed but the Green Gecko was hopping. People were having a great time. I looked at the Hog's Breath and saw leaves scattered all over the place as a result of the winds. Monday moring they were all cleaned up before 9 and the Hog's Breath was ready for business.

On Facebook people were posting videos of the storm. Chris did a fabolous job as he went about Key West during the storm. One person, Corey James posted a photo of a section of Duval where the water did cover the sidewalks. I included it here.

Photo by Corey James

Even though the storm left the Keys, the ocean has not calmed down.  That will take a little while.

 Now life is returning to the Keys, the plywood is coming down, restaurants are opening up, and in no time at all it will be business as normal.

Plywood coming down at Anna's

Workers are setting up for business once again.

Plywood coming down in the background on Duval Street

Some stores still need to remove their plywood (this was at 9AM on Monday)

Sunset Pier has a big job, put everything back from storage.

But at 12:30, they are busy setting up to reopen.

The Hog's Breath is ready for action.

Now New Orleans is in the line of fire from Isaac. That area was devastated a few years back with Katrina follwed by another storm. I hope and pray that Isaac will not do any damage to the area. I don't think they can take too much more.

'till next time.