next graduate class: drama control

No matter how many times I've gone to the university bookstore to buy the texts for my courses, the textbook prices are always shocking. It's a racket!

Still, the books at left and the graduate level couse I'm taking this summer, crisis communication management, should be interesting. I have experienced a number of crises as a communicator in various work situations that I hope I can apply to class discussion and case studies. Knowing how people react and predicting what they will want to know (or hear) is a valuable skill as a public affairs or communications specialist.

Yes, the blog entries have been sparse of late, but I can't complain. Bites for job offers have happened almost daily, albeit mostly from headhunters asking me if I want to work for some kinda "financial services management" position. Didn't they read my resume? It takes a bit of time to call and screen to sift through the jobs I'm actually interested in, vs. filling a slot in a job that pays well but will ultimately not be to my interests. There are still a lot of irons in the fire though, and I'm not sweating at the moment.

It is interesting to compare my situation now as opposed to five years ago, when the dot-com workers were flooding the job market. Either my experiences and skills have become richer, there are fewer HTML jockeys in the market, or HR people are using online resources a lot more. Or all of the above. These days "content management systems" (CMS) are the shit, as opposed to just putting 'HTML' on your resume. Thankfully, I don't have to build or manage the CMS, just manage content in these new jobs. CMS has taken a lot of grunt work out of managing websites, so writers and content managers can focus on what people are really interested in - valuable information and interesting things to read. It doesn't hurt that the system I/we use to blog is also a kind of CMS. I've been doing this for over 10 years, so it's a breeze. Please don't tell anyone it's easy! The tricky part is letting the hiring people know I use Moveable Type, Greymatter, Dreamweaver, Contribute or Serena Collage without leading them to this here blog. Probably another reason I'm blogging less, and more G-rated of late.

In my spare time, I've discovered that there is a wide selection of Klingon bat'leth - double-bladed ancestral weapons - available at the pawn shop north of 14th and R, NW, on the west side of the street where Sparky's used to be. I'm totally serious.

60,000 Pacific or "White" Sturgeon are swimming around in a ball-like mass, forty feet below the surface, just downstream of Bonneville Dam in Oregon's Columbia River. Scientists believe it's not unlike the Saliva Pit behavior observed at Blowoff and Shirtless Men Drink Free at the Green Lantern. Wildlife biologists call this behavior staging. For example: "TJ was last seen at the staging area just left of the DJ booth, milling about in a ball-like mass with a bunch of Bears and masc buds."

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Saves Iraq Reporter's Soul (NPR audio archive): Buffy-as-Mystical-Spirit-Guide is not unusual among geeks. What would Buffy do in your situation?

The much-anticipated 4th Edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game is in print. Here's a review. My players have rebelled against changing over from 3.5, mostly due to the needless destruction of many beloved regions in the Forgotten Realms setting. Who's the asshole who decided to blow up the magocracy of Halruaa? At least Thay made it through the crisis, but jeez...