On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:13:42 -0500, Jim wrote:

My wife just got cold called to go sell road signs for $70,000 a year
plus expenses and benefits so some people can still find work.

Sure she did. And I just got a cold call offering me a great
opportunity to sell phone booth services to local merchants.

There are definitely jobs out there for people with the right skils
and are willing to work. I was talking on the phone today with a
Marine Refrigeration and Air Conditioning company in Naples, FL about
a repair and parts issue with our trawler. Apparently they thought I
knew what I was talking about since they offered me a job sight
unseen. I politely declined and money was never discussed. Around
here A/C and refrigeration guys charge about $85/hour, same as diesel
mechanics which are also in short supply.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:13:42 -0500, Jim wrote:

My wife just got cold called to go sell road signs for $70,000 a year
plus expenses and benefits so some people can still find work.
Sure she did. And I just got a cold call offering me a great
opportunity to sell phone booth services to local merchants.

There are definitely jobs out there for people with the right skils
and are willing to work. I was talking on the phone today with a
Marine Refrigeration and Air Conditioning company in Naples, FL about
a repair and parts issue with our trawler. Apparently they thought I
knew what I was talking about since they offered me a job sight
unseen. I politely declined and money was never discussed. Around
here A/C and refrigeration guys charge about $85/hour, same as diesel
mechanics which are also in short supply.


There's always unfilled jobs, even in a deep recession.
And retired guys are always being offered jobs, even in a deep recession.
Those already working are offered jobs, even in a deep recession.
Jobs are like musical chairs.
When the real unemployment rate is probably close to 20%, there
just ain't enough chairs.
No matter how you spin it.

Jim - I'll sit down now.

On 8/17/10 4:13 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:18:41 -0500, wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:13:42 -0500, wrote:

My wife just got cold called to go sell road signs for $70,000 a year
plus expenses and benefits so some people can still find work.
Sure she did. And I just got a cold call offering me a great
opportunity to sell phone booth services to local merchants.

There are definitely jobs out there for people with the right skils
and are willing to work. I was talking on the phone today with a
Marine Refrigeration and Air Conditioning company in Naples, FL about
a repair and parts issue with our trawler. Apparently they thought I
knew what I was talking about since they offered me a job sight
unseen. I politely declined and money was never discussed. Around
here A/C and refrigeration guys charge about $85/hour, same as diesel
mechanics which are also in short supply.


There's always unfilled jobs, even in a deep recession.
And retired guys are always being offered jobs, even in a deep recession.
Those already working are offered jobs, even in a deep recession.
Jobs are like musical chairs.
When the real unemployment rate is probably close to 20%, there
just ain't enough chairs.
No matter how you spin it.

Jim - I'll sit down now.
One thing that nobody talks about is the number of marginal employees
an employer has the luxury of letting go of in times like this.


Or the good ones close to vesting in a company pension.

--
I'm the real Harry, and I post from a Mac, as virtually everyone knows.
If a post is attributed to me, and it isn't from a Mac, it's from an ID
spoofer who hasn't the balls to post with his own ID.

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:27:57 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:15:36 -0400, Harry ?
wrote:

One thing that nobody talks about is the number of marginal employees
an employer has the luxury of letting go of in times like this.


Or the good ones close to vesting in a company pension.

Companies have pensions? That surprises me. IBM pretty much did away
with pensions in 1996.

i just joined my current company 2 years ago. they have a
pension...which i'll get 500 in 10 years

bpuharic wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:27:57 -0400, wrote:


On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:15:36 -0400, Harry
wrote:


One thing that nobody talks about is the number of marginal employees
an employer has the luxury of letting go of in times like this.


Or the good ones close to vesting in a company pension.

Companies have pensions? That surprises me. IBM pretty much did away
with pensions in 1996.

i just joined my current company 2 years ago. they have a
pension...which i'll get 500 in 10 years

Nice!

On 8/17/10 5:27 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:15:36 -0400, Harry
wrote:

One thing that nobody talks about is the number of marginal employees
an employer has the luxury of letting go of in times like this.


Or the good ones close to vesting in a company pension.

Companies have pensions? That surprises me. IBM pretty much did away
with pensions in 1996.


Some do.

--
I'm the real Harry, and I post from a Mac, as virtually everyone knows.
If a post is attributed to me, and it isn't from a Mac, it's from an ID
spoofer who hasn't the balls to post with his own ID.

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:53:32 -0400, wrote:

I have people trying to get me back into the computer business from
time to time but I would rather do just about anything else.
There is certainly a lot of opportunity but it is not hardware, it is
just integrating PC software. Plenty of windshield and telephone time,
frustrating support structures and buggy applications. I would rather
work on a shrimp boat. ;-)

Maybe. :-)

My diesel mechanic used to own a small fleet of shrimp boats at FMB
but gave it up mostly as a result of low priced imported shrimp taking
the profit out of it.

I think the best computer opportunities are with networking and
security but I'm kind of enjoying retirement.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:53:32 -0400, wrote:

I have people trying to get me back into the computer business from
time to time but I would rather do just about anything else.
There is certainly a lot of opportunity but it is not hardware, it is
just integrating PC software. Plenty of windshield and telephone time,
frustrating support structures and buggy applications. I would rather
work on a shrimp boat. ;-)

Maybe. :-)

My diesel mechanic used to own a small fleet of shrimp boats at FMB
but gave it up mostly as a result of low priced imported shrimp taking
the profit out of it.

I think the best computer opportunities are with networking and
security but I'm kind of enjoying retirement.


My loving 48 year old bride won't let me retire until she does, dammit.

--
I'm the real Harry, and I post from a Mac, as virtually everyone knows.
If a post is attributed to me, and it isn't from a Mac, it's from an ID
spoofer who hasn't the balls to post with his own ID.

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:30:21 -0400, wrote:

I think the best computer opportunities are with networking and
security but I'm kind of enjoying retirement.

Here in SW Florida there is a crying need for small system
integrators. Small businesses have a kludge of PCs running systems
that do not talk to each other. If you could assemble a suite of small
business software that also included POS, security, inventory, payroll
maintenance logs and scheduling, there are about 200 gated communities
who would beat a path to your door.

I spent an entire adult career dealing with big business systems that
didn't talk with each other. Technology has gotten a lot better but
it's still a lot of work/resources to get everything so it
inter-operates reliably.

Why do gated communities need all of those capabilites?

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:32:21 -0400, wrote:

Why do gated communities need all of those capabilites?


I am talking about golf/country club communities
They typically have a 4-6 person business office, 40-100 employees
(seasonal), a significant inventory of equipment, gates with bar code
readers and key pads, security cameras/DVR (PC based), scheduling
systems for the tee times, activity room reservations, a cable TV
channel (PC based) and point of sale equipment in the club house and
pro shop. My wife has 5 different systems running plus the normal MS
office suite. None of them can share data or talk to each other and
there are 3 different software vendors.
This is bigger than a lot of communities but far from the largest.
Like anything with the word "Pelican" in it ;-)

Interesting. One thing you don't want or need in an operation like
that is payroll processing - too many security/privacy/regulatory
issues, and ADP/Paychex do a good job at a reasonable price. They can
also do the HR processing and time keeping via internet based access.
Interoperability, as needed, can be written into the contract.

Equipment inventory/asset management can be done via shared files on a
LAN, same with tee time and room scheduling - could be something as
simple as shared Excel spreadsheets with some security and an audit
trail wrapped around it. Excel can hand off data in many different
formats.

Point-of-sale will require the co-operation of the software vendor to
develop data handoffs and reporting in some mutually agreeable format.