11.27.07 What's News?

• This was another of those great days where I went in early (the upside of insomnia), and left reluctantly. Fall and Winter are great times to be a workaholic. It is difficult to be like that during the Summer and in the Spring. I was thinking about what I wrote last night. It has been brought to my attention that it sounds like I'm doing shoddy work, and I am surprised my employer keeps me around. That's not the case. I work hard, I work smart, and I am surprised my employer keeps me around. One big catalyst for me getting serious about my Associates degree was the phrase “Don't be left at the end of the contract”. It means that our contracts represent periodic 'slimming' of the staff. In my case, not having a degree when the contract ends would be a great reason to “trim the fat” until the next contract comes along. There is no doubt that there would be others standing in line with 4 year degrees from respected schools to replace me. In a way, one could say that I got my degree to keep my job. It sounds stupid, but when they made the offer, I was thinking to myself, “F**k a paper degree, I have real world experience.” I go through periodic spurts of stupidity. At any rate, there have been several rounds of “Corporate Weight Loss” over the past 6 months. During one of these, I was transferred from one project, which was overstaffed, to another, which was understaffed. While I did not know most of the newly unemployed, the ones I did know all had more education than myself. I kind of feel like having lower education makes me more “keep able” in some ways, but I know from experience that having low education makes it harder to get on board in the first place. With that being the case, my one major question right now is as follows:

  • Should I postpone getting the bachelors degree in favor of a higher paying position, if the position is offered?

I have a strong feeling that the position will be offered. While I do value education, I also know the value of the money. As they say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. I also know another saying, “Out of the kettle, ...”. Right now, I would consider myself as a person with a lot of “professional acquaintances”. Periodically, I keep in contact with people who actually know me, but for the most part, it's my family, and the people at work, many of whom don't even know any of my most charming attributes. Come to think of it, I don't even know my most charming attributes. Personal note: Find out what my most charming attributes are. The Yehuyans (Stratford Place) are good for talking about the same “fat shit” we have always talked about, but they, like myself, have always fumbled through the employment, rather than navigating through the career. Needless to say, I would never consider asking the “professional acquaintances” about any of this, but I wonder what they would do.