Mobile office, articles and taxes

If you get to that point where you're running around town networking or interviewing, having access to your documents starts to become a problem. My latest solution is to keep everything on a jump drive and hopefully back it up somewhere. I say hopefully because it's just a matter of time before I lose this thing.

The following are some better options that I'm exploring:

Key chain jump drives
These have been around a while but Kingston has released a really small USB drive that uses a microSD card (Kingston 2GB MicroSD Flash Card with 2 adapters). It's really small and easily attaches to your keys. If you loose those, you probably have larger issues to deal with. MicroSD has become the standard of phones and mp3 players and with adaptors will work in any SD card enabled device. I bought mine at newegg.com but I've seen it other places.

Online documents - Web2.0
I've used googledocs (http://www.igoogle.com)/ for awhile and had pretty good success with spreadsheets. It has great collaboration and version control and once you get the hang of the formatting controls, it is easier to use than Microsoft Excel. On the other hand, I think you would drive yourself crazy trying to maintain a resume here. Mostly because the metaphor for Word and html are pretty far apart. Cells and tables seem to function better together.

There is also a Microsoft version of online documents called ThinkFree Online. I have not used it but it is supposed to have good MS Office compatibility, including MS Office 2007. Let me know if you try it.

Online storage and retrieval
If you're a geek like me you are probably leaning towards ftp storage on your own web site (you have one, don't you?). On the other hand, if you have better things to do, try Microsoft's new site called Skydive. It's part of the Windows Live suite and is free. You get 2 gigs of folder storage, the option to share documents with friends or make them public. Go to http://skydrive.live.com/
and sign up. You probably need an Live account (formally Hotmail or MSN) but its worth it.

Bottom line: there are some inexpensive and free solutions for accessing and managing your documents from anywhere. For example, with my Windows Mobile phone, I can get a resume, reference lists or saved articles to just about anyone, anytime. Did I mention Google bookmarks? Maybe later...

Interesting articles on job search
As I mentioned before, I will make some articles available for those in my network. If you know what I'm talking about, drop me a line and I'll make them available to you. I intend to use the Windows Live Skydive.

Taxes for 2008
Finally, Troy emailed and interesting clip form an IRS publication that pertains to all job seekers who still have to pay taxes (let me know if you found a workaround to paying taxes). I will post it in a live location in my Skydive public folders.


--JohnF

Transition happens!

It looks like another season of change is upon us in 2008. Our office is closing as part of a "bold" move to salvage the business. I will ignore the rationale behind this decision and instead focus on moving forward. I work with a variety of professionals who besides being proud of the products they produce, have a high degree of loyalty to the overall team.

Over my many years of work, I've been through more than my fair share of transition. This has allowed me to accumulate tons of resources on networking, resume writing and general job search. I will start listing those resources here for all to use.

My first recommendation is the mother of all web resources, The Riley Guide. Everyone should review this site at least once a month. It's the open source outplacement service.

Pearl Harbor Day

Sixty five years ago my dad, uncle and grandparents were just waking up in a beach house in Haleiwa, Honolulu to the sound of Japanese Zeros. Haleiwa is on the north side of Honolulu Island and many of the planes crossed over on their way to Pearl Harbor. My grandfather was a navel officer and new something was wrong. He borrowed a neighbors car and heard for Pearl Harbor. According to a letter my grandmother wrote, he was gone for at least a week. He ended up spending most the the war patrolling the Aleutian Islands.

Please remember the the 2,900 sailors who lost their lives on the 7th day of December.

For more information, visit http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm.

JohnF

Network re-entry (without a loss of employment)

I finally went back to one of the networks I attended during my transition. Manufacturing Professionals is a once a month network that targets manufacturing and logistics professionals in the Chicago area. I made some good friends through this network and enjoyed going back. Juan Chapa who facilitates the meetings has done a great jo giving back to that fluid community of “jobseekers”.

More about targeted networks later.

Welcome back

Has it really been 2 months since my last post? Well, shame on me! Here's quick rundown on what's kept me off of the blog.

• I was the raffle ticket chairman for the 4th of July this year in my little village. Just before Memorial Day the hard drive in my laptop died. So much for being prepared. I recovered all my data and ticket sales weren't held up but it was close.
• I bought a DVD player for the car and it has already died. So much for going cheap.
• We drove to Virginia for a week and besides not having enough days on the beach, it was a blast. The car accident on the way home was a disappointment but no one was hurt so we have that to be thankful for.
• Finally, as my mother once said,

  All families are dysfunctional in their own special way!

  this vacation did not disappoint.

I'm still waiting for Paul G. to weigh in. I also started networking again. I'm not looking but I made a promise to myself to stay involved. It's time to fulfill that commitment.

Unemployment surprises

I thought I’d send a quick note to those in transition concerning a recent experience I had.

I was out of work for most of 2004 and like most people, collected my Illinois unemployment checks. I’ve been back to work since Jan 3rd of this year (its gong great! Thanks for asking!J) Last week I received a notice or audit from IDES that I had reported income from my previous employer totaling five weeks and I owed the State $2,200. I thought about it all weekend and knew something was not right.

I called the number supplied and in discussing it with the IDES rep I realized the dates they had corresponded to dates were I had exercised some soon to expire stock options. Fortunately, I had all the transaction confirmations pulled together for tax reasons so I was able to fax them in on Monday. By Friday I had received the letter clearing me of all obligations.

The biggest thing for me was I didn’t see it coming so I spent about 3 days stressing. Bottom line: between taxes and IDES, good record keeping is critical. It was even more important on my taxes but that’s a happier story for another time.

Sitting in the airport in Frankfort, Germany

I’m finally on my way home after a great meal last night at the Sheraton and 3 hours of sleep. I’m not sure why I couldn’t sleep in India but I hope I don’t have the same problem in Chicago.

This has got to be the most confusing airport ever. I had to call Airport Information because my gate information didn’t give me a terminal. I have a 4 hour layover so I thought I’d knock out a blog or 2.

I had a couple of pretty good beers in India, Black “something” and another one (name to come later). Sorry, can’t remember shit right now. I also watched a fair share of Bollywood videos which at like P-rated. Lots of symbolism and seduction but nothing your kids couldn’t watch.

I got board on the plane and listened to 4 hours of podcast. Some Bitterest Pill, Coverville and Dawn and Drew. Who knows how much I’ll listen to for the next 11 hour leg. I can’t find any electricity in Frankfort. They just finished moving everyone out of the terminal for a security check. This is not one of my favorite airports. Next time, I’m bringing an extra battery and a GSM phone.