One of them said, "I'm the best plastic surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident, I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England."

One of the others said. "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident, I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in 5 field events in the Olympics."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat.

Now he's President of the United States."

I got a Job!!!

I have gone to work for a former client called SCW Fitness. I am their Web Guy. (I think that's my official title. I have gotten any business cards yet.) I will be managing and developing their website, connecting them to modern communications techniques (maybe podcasts, blogs, feeds, etc), and working with them to make sure that the internet is contributing to their success in every way that I can devise.

The company mainly does training for fitness professionals. If you want to learn to teach people Pilates, these are the folks for you. The basic businesss effort is two-fold. The main thing is the MANIA Health and Fitness Education Conventions. They also sell videos, books, exercise music, etc.

I go on the payroll Oct 1 but I have to tell you that I am already having a ball. For the last twenty-five years, I have been developing and pushing technical products. This represents an opportunity to learn a new industry, new people, new mindsets. I am already bubbling with ideas and expect that a few months from now I will be irrepressible. I can't wait.

I have to tell you all that I could not have survived this effort without you. Being unemployed and looking for a job is a mind game. It is a depressing situation filled with rejection, social risk, and a painful requirement to dream up something new from scratch every single day. All while going broke and worrying a lot.

Well, you folks made all of that irrelevant. Since starting this newsletter, I have received good vibes, suggestions, encouragement, leads, and all manner of general kindness. Following publication each week, I have gotten a set of nice emails and phone calls from people who want to help. It was nourishment, nutrition and salvation.

This is the last newsletter for the forseable future. I will miss the interactions that derived from it but will see most of you around. Please know that, if there is anything I can do for you, you only need to let me know about it. My gratitude is unbounded.

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

tqii

When I got back, I dived right into the job hunt again. I did make cold calls on Google like I said I would. I wrote them letters and generally was very active in trying to develop a relationship. Their response was sort of self-important and off-putting. I was keeping at it though when I got a lead to another company.

Inventables does inventor brainstorming support. They sell a subscription that results in a set of samples of cool materials being sent every quarter. They were looking for a person to manage that project. Since I am a science guy, a communicator and have experience in publishing and the graphic arts, I am a natural. I did some very good work with them (I was especially proud of this) but the guy eventually turned me down without ever even talking to me. I'll never understand what could have been going through his head.

Then I got another lead to a company called Webitects. They do website development and are growing fairly fast. I got connected to these guys and never even really did any applying. My friend mailed them a copy of my resume and that was as formal as it got. We talked a lot over the course of a week. They eventually decided that they couldn't do all of the things they needed to do right now and hire me. I think they are probably right. We parted friends.

In the meantime, SCW had shown interest. These are people that I have done work for in the past. My main website contact there got promoted and needed to replace herself. Turns out that, even though she already knew me, she wanted me to join the company (thanks Patty!) and the rest is, as they say, history.