Yesterday was quite a day. Extremely busy. Between recruiter calls, Lucent calls, other calls, the phone was very tired mid-morning and wanted a recharge. And I wanted away from the phone for a few moments. That’s where my neighbor Bob came in.

Bob is staying at Point of Rocks Campground too. He comes here 6 months a year, and 6 months in MN as well. Retired police officer, and climbing junkie. Bob is 67. And after looking at all the climbing prints at his trailer he climbs like somebody in their 20’s. His handshake also tells you, this guy can hang on to some rock!

Well, yesterday was another cold one, so we stayed away from the climbing. I’m going to need quite some time to build up to it again anyhow. But bouldering will help.

Since we skipped on the climbing Bob asked if I’d like to do a hike in Sedona. Little did I expect what we’d be doing, so I said sure.

Prior to a long hike, stretch folks, stretch!

We headed out afternoon, and didn’t get to the trail head until 2:30. I dragged along all the photo gear (Canon 10D, SD550, and the Sony for good measure). So, heavy pack for sure. Bob dragged along 1 Nalgene of water and a light jacket.

The trail was easy. Boynton Canyon was the hike. While it was an easy trail, it was a little long. And given the time we set out I knew we’d be losing daylight on our trip back. So, I kept a very brisk pace and pretended that I was still in hiking shape. This morning all my cramps tell me I’m not in that shape!

It was funny. Only a few minutes into the walk Bob told me I was bright red and that I should put some sun screen on. I’d done the SPF 45. Just me getting warm and going red. I should get used to the comments by now I suppose. Maybe I should tell people I’m constantly remembering questionable jokes, and I’m in a state of perpetual blushing.

We shared the trail with many other hikers as well. Pretty funny to see the assortment of people. Several of the guys who we passed smelled like they bathed in cologne. Also, a few looked like they should be in an office, not on a trail. Sedona is an extremely popular tourist spot, many resorts in the area, and I guess many folks only bring their “resort” outfits.

The walk back from the box canyon was a little hard on me. On the walk in the wind was at my back. Coming out it was in my face. And Sedona has been a good bit warmer than Prescott. That means things are in bloom. My eyes were so red by the time we returned to Bob’s truck you’d think I’d been out for a very hard night on the town! Popped a chewable Benadryl, and reminded myself of all the pretty scenery. Worth it!

Today will be quieter. I’m in need of a BIG MASSAGE!  Think I’ll pick out a few movies and spend some time on the couch. 

Yesterday I took another ride along the Peavine Trail. If you like “Rails to Trails”, this is a great one. 4.5 miles one way. Also it connects to the Iron King Trail. You’re not riding this one for jumps, crazy single track, or speed. You’re riding it for wonderful scenery and a nice ride.

The first attempt at a bike cam setup didn’t go so well, but I thought I should still post it. Way too shakey, but it was worth the effort. While it might be a little jarring, the scenery is still fantastic. And it will give you an idea of what riding through the Granite Dells in Prescott, AZ is like.

Hope you enjoy the show, and don’t come away too shaken! 

 

 GAC EXTRA - The shakiest podcast ever! [10:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yesterday didn’t work out exactly as planned.  Climbing?  Nope.  Just a tad cold.  Brrr.

So, early afternoon I decided to take a short ride along the Peavine trail again.  And this time I tried a little Bike Cam 1.0 setup.  I’m not satisfied with the setup.  Too much vibration comes through to the camera.  But it was a good first effort.  You’ll see in the “Extra” podcast episode (if I can upload it today).

The Peavine trail is only a 4.5 mile ride (one way).  The scenery is wonderful.  Cycling through the granite fields here in Prescott.  So many pretty views.  And as you clear the dells, you pull into some lovely open rolling fields.  For me it’s not what I expected to find in Arizona.  A very nice surprise.

The round trip takes well under an hour.  And that’s if you’re riding slow and not rushing.  No big ups or downs.  A pretty consistent level grade, with only a little uphill and downhill riding.  What will slow a rider down is the scenery. 

I hope you can see through the latest photos, this is one pretty ride.  And given how many places there are in Prescott, if you’re looking for a place to do a few days of off road cycling, this could be it.  If you see me on a trail, give a wave. 

I’ve been spending way too much time on all the internet jobs boards.  So today I’m not looking at them at all.

Instead I’ll be heading to “Little Granite” with my neighbor Bob.  I met Bob several days ago.  Really interesting person.  Former sherrif, well traveled, enjoys fishing and rock climbing.  Bob is 67, and he’s got a hand shake that is nothing short of crushing.  I’d been asking around the park about climbing groups, and one of my neighbors told Bob I was interested in climbing.

I doubt we’ll climb today.  No shoes for me, or harness either.  Additionally, it’s been so cold I don’t think either of us want to hang on to frigid granite.  But we can take a look at one of the areas he enjoys.  Prescott is loaded with bouldering, top roping, and several lead climbing opportunities.  Maybe I can rebuild my climbing skills once more.  It’ll take time.  No two ways about it, I’ve gotten squishy. 

Further job hunt thoughts

Alright, here we go on the job hunt again.  Let me ask you something.  How do you feel about spam?  Not the weird meat in the can, I mean the wonderful wad of garbage that hits your e-mail box every day.  How do you feel about junk mail?  If you’re like me, you really want to send it all back.

So far I’ve been contacted by 5 organizations that are offering to help me with my job search.  They’ll read my resume for me, critique it, suggest edits, etc.  Then they’ll help create a “targeted campaign” to get my resume to several hundred of today’s Fortune 500 companies.

The high end organizations offer a mailing service.  They’ll print up hundreds of resumes and cover letters, and send them out to companies.  It’s not like they’ll be sending because we’re aware of a particular job opening.  Nope, we’ll just send them and see what sticks.  Geeze, sounds like resume junk mail, doesn’t it?

Others offer a similar service to the one mentioned above.  They don’t sound as cool as the high end company (charging $1K - $2K).

One really got my attention.  They’ll fax my resume to a pre-selected list of companies.  They have a database of corporate fax machines.  Ok, if my fax machine in my old office started spewining unsolicited resumes I’d keep them.  Not because I want to hire these people.  I want to remember the names of the folks who felt spamming my work place was ok.

As I’ve been reading about these services on the Internet an interesting theme has popped up among those using the services.  There’s no way to verify that your mass mailing / faxing has occurred.  The only way you know is if you get a call for a job offer, or a call to let you know you’re an idiot for spamming a company.

Clearly, I’m avoiding these services.  I do deal with several respectable recruiting groups.  But the bottom line in my job search is that my network of former co-workers is probably what will find me my next role.  That’s the feeling I got yesterday, and I figure when I find a job it will have nothing to do with recruiters, resume services, or Intertnet job boards.  The only thing the Internet job boards has gotten me so far is a load of new spam.

Nice.

Yesterday I decided to catch up with what’s happening at the Airstream Life Tour Site. Hey there Rich!

It’s funny, his recent posts relate to the hunt for a house, transition to a home life from a full-timing life style. In the meantime, my thoughts have been focused heavily on a job hunt in an area I like. Two different blogs and bloggers, and both places evolving. Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll both continue documenting fun places to visit as well. But hey, everything evolves.

Now I’m going to shift gears, because I’m steamed this morning. The job hunt brings out some interesting items, and I think I should warn people about another “quasi-scam”.

Great Work from home opportunity

There are several “web development” companies out there trolling for new employees. At least that’s what they’ll have you believe. The intro letter sounds extremely interesting, nearly perfect. Amazingly enough, many of these companies send out the SAME EXACT LETTER. I’ll give you an excerpt here…..

Our tech department involves working as a team to constantly maintain and upgrade our website. The majority of our Programmers/ Website Developers work from home maintaining contact by telephone, e-mail, and instant messaging.

We offer our Website Developers the following:

Highly competitive salary
Bonus plan that can add 25% or more to Base Salary
Medical, Dental, and Vision plan
Expense Account
Paid Vacation
Tuition Reimbursement
Rapid Fast Track Advancement Program

I’ve gotten letters from 3 different web sites with this exact phrasing. To a T. Nothing deviates at all. So, I checked out one of the sites.

A potential candidate needs to fill out their little intial application. Want to see what it looks like? Here’s a screenshot.

Now, let me show you a screenshot from another supposed company looking for employee’s as well:

So, do these look similar? Gee, I wonder if these two companies work together. The examples are from TooSpoiled and Worldvoice. I’m not giving their full information, they don’t need any more visits if you ask me.

If you ever stumble across a site offering jobs with a screen like this, use an e-mail address you don’t mind receiving spam at. The tip off is the bottom of this fraudulent application. Would you like to hear about educational opportunities. That gets you on a mailing list for offers from online schools, etc.

Once you submit the application it gets even better. You’re suddenly offered discounted services as a bonus for being an applicant at their site. Alright gang, let’s rephrase. They’re now allowing you to sign up for offers from their advertisers.

Looking through these sites, they claim to offer some service or other. But taking a closer look at the site….. they’re nothing but an ad service. Their money is clearly made by hooking up their users with advertisers. And getting new “applicants” to scroll through 7 service offerings sure helps them get a few dollars more!

I tried one of these applications with a junk e-mail address I use at hotmail.  The second question I was asked after completing the application was about how I paid for college.  Have you ever had an employer ask this?  No, not normally.  Of course real employers aren’t selling your information to loan consolidation companies……..

So, watch out for these types of things if you’re searching the web for tech jobs.  These guys are out there.  While not a 419 scammer, I don’t have any more respect for these folks than those.

Later I’ll tell you about how you too can have your resume spammed to corporations across our fruited plains.

Just returned from popping my head out of the Airstream.  My power went out a little while ago, so I took a look around to see if it’s just me.  Everybody is out.  Other folks staying here were out checking around as well.

The owner of the park then drove up and told us what happened.  A power pole came down in the winds.  Apparently it came down on a car (that’s what those sirens were).

Hopefully the folks who were involved in the accident are ok.  I’ll be sitting tight for the afternoon, the winds are wild!  The Airstream is rocking a lot in these winds.  Glad I’m not in the open desert for this.

The one plus for all of us here at Point of Rocks Campground….. We all have our own power plants in our rigs.  So while I won’t be using the microwave for a little while, I still have my own electric supply for computers, the heater, etc.  Nice to have a self contained emergency shelter. 

Hopefully I won’t blow away tonight!

Yes, I’ve been missing again.  So there’s some catching up to do on the blog.  Been a little busy around here the past few days.

The job hunt continues, but there are some decent prospects.  I’ll say no more for the moment (cross your fingers).  The one unfortunate item during the hunt is the lack of tech stuff here in Prescott.  Everything I’m finding is in Phoenix (shocking).

Yesterday I popped by the local Mac reseller (they have one here) and chatted for a while (waiting on the Zyrtec at Wal-Mart).  No booming tech work, and most computer and network types in the area end up in Phoenix.  Quite a long ride.  We’ll see how it all works out.  I’d really like to pitch a flag here and call Prescott home, so where there’s a will there’s a way….. Right?

Mid-day I had a knock at my door.  One of my neighbors is an avid rock climber.  Early 60’s, and this guy has a grip you wouldn’t believe!  I’ll be getting a tour of the good spots on Thursday.  I’m not in any shape to set out on something yet, but hey I can give bouldering a whirl again.  My neighbor was thrilled to chat, and thinks we can get me up and going in no time (ah, glad he’s confident).

Today has been another day on the computer.  To break it up I hit the dermatologists office.  He’s thinking that it is something airborne which is affecting my skin.  So we’ll be trying some type of cream for 2 weeks.  I’ll see how that goes.  Maybe once the pollen season is done here it’ll improve.

Shifting Gears

During my job hunt I’ve come across a disturbing new trend, and I thought I’d share it.  When the 90’s tech boom was in full swing, recruiters called anyone who owned a computer many times per week.  Job offers were insane.  If you wanted to hop jobs once or twice a month you could.  Recruiters and headhunters would even call me in the office (bad manners gang).

Now things have changed.  Many of the fly by night companies have expired, and with their expirations many people have lost out on the early retirment dream.  Sorry all.  And with those changes, a new approach to finding tech jobs.

Recruiters usually called with many offers.  Now there are new “recruiter” types scouring the Internet job boards.  These guys offer something different.  They will charge you to review your resume and then send it to companies across America.  For $1K -$2K you can have your resume “spammed” via snail mail to many large companies.  Do they currently have a position to fill?  I don’t know.  Do they appreciate your junk mail?  Not sure either.

In the past 2 weeks I’ve been hit up by 4 organizations offering the same service.  Resume customization, and then a mailing campaign to select companies.

I’ve always been annoyed by the 419 scammers.  They play on people’s greed directly.  They’re also easy to identify (the english is horrible).  But these new resume services….I don’t think they’re a far cry from the gang of thieves doing the 419 scams.  Maybe some people land jobs thanks to these groups, but from what I’ve found on forums and private blogs, they take your money, schedule a few calls with you, and then tell you they’ve mailed out your information.  If you get a call, great.  If you don’t get a call….are you sure they did what they advertised?

Clearly the world of tech head hunters has imploded.  Companies used to pay them big bucks to find the right person.  Now it seems they’re charging employees for an extra shot at getting in the door.  Problem is, as an individual it’s pretty darned hard to verify the job they’re doing for you.  Be careful out there all!

Off to see why my power blinked out.  Probably the wind storm we’re currently experiencing.  If I flew a kite today I’d end up in Flagstaff!

Been fairly busy here in Prescott, AZ! Yesterday was another gray day, but I still got to tour around the town. There are many interesting little shops throughout Prescott, and I got to take a look in almost all of them. Fun!

Today things cleared out. So I finally took my ride over to Jerome and Cottonwood. Another adventure on 89A! And yes, dashboard cam was up and running. There will be a ton of editing, as there were some scary curves and drops. Not to mention I was singing a little too much, and nobody wants to hear that.

I didn’t snap any photos of Jerome.  Sorry all.  There was nowhere to park.  The town is built right into the mountain, and I mean built into the mountain.  Many tourists were there, and all the parking spaces were loaded.  Fortunately dashboard cam was running there too, so the next podcast will include Jerome.

For the ride home I decided to take the longer route.  I’d had enough of steep drops, sweeping vistas, and motorcycles racing past me on 20mph hair pin turns at a much higher rate of speed!

A little after noon I returned to the Airstream for a few minutes.  Then I took a ride back out to Thumb Butte.  I’d looked around there the other day, but with the rain and over cast sky there were no great photos to be had.  Not the case today.

As I hiked up toward the butte there were many fantastic views across to the Granite Basin rec area.  Hey, I might not have mentioned it, but I might be living really close to the rec area in the near future (there’s the teaser for the day).  The views were fantastic the whole way up.  But I found myself getting winded pretty quick.  Steep climb, somewhere in the 6500 foot range.  Plus a bag full of camera equipment. 

Most of the day the moon has been visible too.  So I got one photo with part of the butte in it along with the daytime moon.  Pretty cool.

There are many warning signs posted along the trail to the butte.  Perigrin Falcons are nesting, so there are areas that are closed off to hikers and climbers for the time being.  Later in the year the rocks are opened up, and are clearly a popular spot for climbers.  I could only imagine what it would be like to go up these rocks.

Along with the clear skies and great views, the pollen was back in force today.  As I sit here typing I’m finding my eyes are burning!  Should have known.  And the red red color has returned to my cheeks.  If this place does become home, I know the season I’d like to leave and visit other areas.  But at least I’m able to deal with this a little easier now.

Well, that’s all the information worth posting from Prescott today.  Tomorrow will be another day of scouring job opportunities in the area! 

Rain continued off and on all last night.  Pretty muddy outside today.  Ah well, as I noted, the folks around here that I’ve met say they really need this.  I’ll be interested to see if the lake rises, and if it is noticable on the rocks in the lake.  If you look at the lake photos in earlier posts you’ll note a different color near the water on the rocks, indicating prior water levels.

Figured out the rash.  Tried some Benadryl cream yesterday, and poof, gone.  So it must be something in the air right now.  Allergies again!  Maybe I should stop rubbing tree branches on my face….that might help. 

Today will definitely be a quiet one.  Guess I’ll see what I can find for indoor activities in the area.

The rains came today.  Some thunder too.  Stepping out the door I found big puddles everywhere.  Honestly, can’t remember the last time I’ve seen this much rain in the past few months!

Currently the thermometer now reads 38 degrees.  Wow, quite the cool off.

Tomorrow apparently holds similar weather in store.  So I guess no fun photos will be getting posted tomorrow either.  Unless I feel like taking a few photos of a grocery store, or a Best Buy. 

Actually, the grocery chain out here, Fry’s, is really nice.  Decent little section with all the stuff I look for now.  Big plus.  Also, there are several other intersting shops in town.  No Wild Oats here, but there’s a place that rivals it.  Can’t remember the name, but I’ll jot it down next time I pay a visit.

I was hoping to take a quick trip to Jerome & Cottonwood tomorrow.  With the weather though I don’t know if it’s such a great idea.  More extremely curvey roads with many switch backs.  It would be fun driving something like that again without the trailer.  But in the rain….. not so much.

Maybe I’ll take a look around the local mall and see what’s there.  No REI’s close.  And EMS is an east coast thing only.  Of course, the local outfitter shops are well stocked.  The one I stopped into in Sedona was impressive as well.

The rain seems to have eased off for the evening.  Much quieter in the Airstream now.   Guess I’ll see what the temperature works out to be in the morning.