Podcast on Vacation

Hello everyone,

Yes I’m still around however have not done a podcast for a few weeks I know. Let me just keep you up to speed on what is happening. Three weeks ago I quit my job after being there for 2 1/2 years. I quit for about two dozen reasons, one being… do I stay aboard a sinking ship till it hits the bottom of the sea or do I jump ship in my life raft until I climb aboard another ship (metaphorically speaking of course).

What happened three days latter was the wife was laid off work…wow,  isn’t that a wet towel smacked in your face. It’s not so much of a problem for the wife to get a job being she is a truck driver. Truckers have a saying.. “As long as you’ve got a class 1 license you’ve got a job”. As for myself finding a job that will take a little longer due to our current location where we live. I have a few great prospects but only time will tell.

I will however get a new podcast out shortly. I already have all the text parts of it ready, but just have to do the audio part. It’s hard to find a time in this very small apartment to get quiet time to record it. Should be done in the next day or two.

CompTia A+ Certification

I’m tired of not having any certifications to back me up. I thought long and hard on what to do as to go to school or learn on my own by own. I can go to school and pay anywhere from $4,500 to $17,000.

What troubles me is on what these schools are teaching. 50% of the course is on material that I will rarely use like Microsoft Excel and Access which will cost $300 bucks each. Also some redundant courses like MS Word and Outlook cost another $300 each.

The main CompTia A+ course costs almost $2500. and it’s done the same way as doing it on your own by going to Comptia.org and paying $300 bucks just to get your CompTia certification. Gee, now thats a hard one…pay $2500 or $300…can I ask the audience Regis ?

Getting certified will open new job prospects but I know it’s not the end because I will continue to advance. Also looking into getting certified with Hp. I noticed that there is a shortage of qualified laser printer techs. Getting a certification in Hp Laser printers can open more doors and those techs make mega money because they are in high demand.

Need a better Job!

Being a tech support professional is a good stepping stone job, but not a carrier. The pay is low however the benefits are good. I started in desktop computers, then moved to laptop and now in the laser printer area. I still have a lot to learn in printers and it does feel good when you learn new tech related issues, however I feel like my present job is not a replacement for real tech training. I need to go to a technical school and get a certificate or diploma so I can get a real tech job and make good money.

I could also start my own computer repair business however I see everyone else gets a degree then starts a business fixing/repairing pc’s and also going on house calls to do networking. Thats not what I want to do. My dream is to have a pc repair shop and recycling depo. To get older pc’s at no cost or little cost and refurbish them into decent workable low cost machines with a open source operating system like Linux or Unix. There is enough pc’s in Canada to do this but the real trick is to have that edge on how to start this project/idea. I need to get into business with someone else but not sure who as of yet. Some people I thought in the past I could get into business with turned out to be somewhat untrustworthy.

Better late then never

I never had an interest in it before and I thought it was just a fad that will blow over in a few months but …well…I’ll admit, I was wrong. What am I talking about ? I’m talking about Twitter. Yesterday I just set up an account with them and so far it’s not bad. I knew a few podcasters/bloggers that have been twitting (if that is a word) for several months now like for example Dwight Wallbridge who I follow on The Geeks Blog and The Caffination Podcast with Paul R.J. Muller.

I have briefly tried Myspace, but never really took a liking to it and besides some lady with her picture holding her kid requested me as a friend after about a week. I never posted my picture, only a brief bio. I have no idea who she was nor do I care. It just freaked me for a moment with a picture in my head of the kid asking “Are you my daddy?” and the mom asking “How much money are you making?” To #1 is “no” and question #2 is “a McDonald’s manager makes more then I do”.

I finally did it!

I was pondering starting my own podcast for a very long time. I did attempt and succeeded to do a mock one, a few months back but my issue was not with the audio but with the web site. I do have what I would call a fair knowledge of building a basic website however the issue I was facing was on trying too hard to perfect it. I wanted to do it like “the big boys” so to speak. All those semi-professionals that have been podcasting for years and were doing an excellent job of it. I tried to copy some of the source code off of their web site and make it my own. Since I have not successfully studied java script it was like trying to put words together of a language you are only familiar with to make a sentence. I felt like an utter failure and did not go back to it for several months. Does anyone know what it feels like to have just enough knowledge but not enough to excel in something?

What I came to realize of course is that I cannot just jump in and be like “them” in a few days or weeks. Other podcasters started out also doing a bad show and in time their knowledge grew. I’ve have to take baby steps like in the 1991 movie “What About Bob?” (Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss).

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My new podcast can be heard at:

http://13mtn.mypodcast.com/2007/10/Pilot_Episode-49401.html

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After hearing it myself I did not like it but knew that it will improve…. I have to because podcasting to myself is no fun!

Until next time everyone, Take care

Michael Long