Chrome Toe

My Comments (2080 so far…)

The unemployment rate is at a 26-year high. What's the longest stretch you've gone unemployed? How did you eventually find work?

They still have them. But in this state at least it’s called "work source". they operate the same way they used to but they also do a lot of training. Sometiems they even have money for people to go to school on if you qualify for a certain program. My best friend just went to work for them this year doing some of their training stuff for folks. She’s great at curriculum and i wish all unemployed people could take her classes! However… she tells me they are serving more than double the number of people with half the jobs they used to have available.

The unemployment rate is at a 26-year high. What's the longest stretch you've gone unemployed? How did you eventually find work?

Eileen - i got paid upfront. I charged a "retainer" and then took a portion of the media budget. So i got paid based on the size of the account basically. The retainer was based again on how much work the account was going to take. If you’re doing just copy you need to be paid BEFORE you do the work. I get paid upfront now for the GAL work i do when it’s client pay and not court pay. I bill them first and tell them it’s due upon receipt. I’ve only been stiffed once. And i went into it figuring i’d be stiffed. But did it anyway. Before i did advertising work i did probation and parole. so i have no problem being assertive and authortative lol. Which comes in handy when you need to collect money.

Super Stressed-Out? Call Your Girlfriends, by Dr. Roberta Lee

Oh yes Belinda… I am sooo with you on the walk! Nothing makes me feel better than a good walk! I live about a mile from the grocery store and I often walk there. Put on my backpack and head to the grocery store. it’s soothing and energizing all at the same time.

How to Make Mary Wells Crazy

"my brain cells wear pin striped suits"… that’s great! that would make a great title of a book or an article.

The unemployment rate is at a 26-year high. What's the longest stretch you've gone unemployed? How did you eventually find work?

Caren, probably a dumb question as you work in advertising a long time and i’m sure thought of this… but what about your own ad agency? You know… a single person full service buy the media write the copy agency. In my other career outside of social services I did advertising. In my final incarnation in that industry i went out on my own and took a handful of small clients to service and made really good money on my own for a couple years (had to give it up due to a family crisis that i had to handle). Didn’t really love advertising either. the end of that business was the beginning of my "searching years" that just recently ended.

The unemployment rate is at a 26-year high. What's the longest stretch you've gone unemployed? How did you eventually find work?

I was on purpose unemployed last year for the year. But I’d been kind of "searching" for about 3 years by then. My searching had led me to a job as a child protective services investigator. at which i loved the "work" but hated the "job". It was the hardest most demanding thing i’d ever done in my life, with the absolute most horrific bogged down ridiculous maddening bureacracy one can imagine. So I left. My plan was a simple one…. just keep moving and picking at opportunity. so i did. and I found what i’d been looking for. I work for myself now as a paid Guardian Ad Litem in family court cases. and i absolutely love it. I’m learning how to make it a real business. that’s the hard part. i’m good at the work and not great at the business side. but getting better. i gave myself a year of having to figure that out. i’m on track.

Candice Bergen Breaks Her Unemployment Spell

I’ve always wondered how that works with actors…. you’ve been working pretty steady for a lot of years now. But i always wonder about those actors who are not the lead or the A list or even the B list. But the ones that for twenty years seem to pop up as an important but minor character in things. I wish i could think of a name! But they are usually people whose names you don’t know but faces you do. you know what i mean? What do THOSE people do to support themselves? how do they stay in the game when they don’t work for a year at a time? Darn i wish i could think of someone specific. You’ve been doing this long enough and are succesful enough for it to be a "hiatus" when you’re not working lol!

It's been one year since Obama's election. Knowing what you know now, would you change your vote?

The recession is ending. Entirely due to things that this administration did or approved of doing. So i don’t get what the criticism is about on that level. As far as unemployment… we’ve seen it before. and it isn’t/wasn’t the fault of this administration. The president is working his ass off on health care. just like he said he would. And he’s attempting to push through a government option just like he said he would. So no surprise there. for people to be surprised or dissapointed is amazing to me. the last big piece is afghanistan. The President very distincly stated that he would pull troops from Iraq and increase them in Afghanistan. I don’t agree with increasing the troops but i didn’t when i voted for him. I think on the whole the guy is doing or attempting to do what he said he’d do. any back tracking is based on new information. that’s called… using your brain. the conservatives are freaking out as are the bigots both closeted and not closeted.

Mr. wOw gives James Cameron's 3-D Movie 'Avatar' an F

subjectivity is a funny thing isn’t it? some of the movies others raved about that i hated: legends of the fall, silence of the lambs (when she’s going into the home of the guy with the chick in the hole i’m thinking "die already"), napolean dynamite (OMG), Million Dollar Baby (cheese cheese cheese please)… and on and on!

I’ll agree that by the time Leo was chattering his teeth I was getting dry eyed from the sheer lenght of it all…

Mr. wOw gives James Cameron's 3-D Movie 'Avatar' an F

I have to ask Mr. Wow… i have never understood people who hated Titanic. I get that it wasn’t the BEST movie ever made. But it certainly was one of the most entertaining (as evidenced by it’s almost rabid fan base). I can point to a bzillion movies that were way worse. And frankly True Lies was one of them. The so incredibly over the top special affects. The scene with the car and the helicopter or plane or whatever it was. And let’s face it… it had Schwarznegger in it! The guy is one of the most mysterious how did he EVER have a movie in careers since he can’t act stars on the planet. As opposed to Winslet and Decaprio? Really? And sure Jamie Lee was fairly well showcased in True Lies but certainly not doing anything out of her range or out of the norm for her. A rather walk through it easily performance and script. Do the strip tease to show of "the body" you’re famous for….. she’s had much better scripts for sure. So ya… i just don’t get all the Titanic haters. splain yourself mr wow!

What is it about professional sports that fuels grudges and vehement reactions to the opposing teams?

My husband thinks the world series is a scam. and his argument is pretty simple… how is it that they just HAPPEN to ALWAYS play the full seven games of the series? in reality that’s now how it should play out. I don’t know anything about baseball and have never watched a game. but his logic made sense to me.

As to the actual question. i have no idea. I can’t get real emotional about a game of any kind frankly. I’m a terrible sports fan as i don’t care who wins or loses anything. I enjoy the stories about the people. If i get invested in an individual or a teams "story" i may care about the outcome of the game. other than that i have just never "got it" in general frankly.

And don’t even get me started on the parents of kids in sports. they all think they’re kid is going to be David Beckham or Tom Brady and behave like absolute morons. then when they’re kid doesn’t even play high school sports or certainly not even college they end up behaving like a total idiot for no reason. it’s amazing.

Liz Smith: The Redemption of Alec Baldwin

I loved the "get over it" comments about the Chateau. Very funny!

As to Alec Baldwin. I watched a loved one, a man, have his children horrifically systematically alienated from him during a divorce. The mother would not allow her children to even call him dad in her presence. They referred to him as RC (stands for Richard Cranium - dick head). If they slipped up and referred to him as dad she would act devastated and hurt and as though they betrayed her. It’s way to long of a story to go into. But it opened my eyes to something i had no idea even existed in those days. Now i work in family law as a Guardian Ad Litem so i’ve seen parental alienation in several settings. However… due to my experience and background I kind of understood Alec’s outburst. didn’t think it was optimal parenting or adulthood. But understood it. I also was happy to see that he is attempting to champion men in these situations as a public voice for them.

How I Survived the Madoff Scandal, by Kim Rosen

Kim - beautiful piece. Many years ago when i was in the midst of suffering horrible anxiety attacks I had a similiar experience. A friend gave me a book (that i wish so badly i could remember the name of). It was mostly beautiful illustrations with a few very simple poetic words to go with each illustration. They were all about letting go of fear. Each night i would huddle on my couch with that book looking at those pictures and reading those words. Soon my body would relax and my mind would relax and for a short period i would have relief. Eventually one or two of those poems became a mantra and the mantra became intrinsic and the panic went away. It has never come back. I beat it with poems!

I also wish you could get your money back. But in lieu of the money I am glad you found kindness.

Dining room table? Fur coat? A new house? What was your first 'adult' purchase?

Dona, I posted below on this but my first house was 28,000 dollars. Twice what yours was but then we bought it in the early 80’s. Isn’t it bizarre to think of those prices? But then… the wages were different. That payment was a big deal at that time.

Dining room table? Fur coat? A new house? What was your first 'adult' purchase?

Since my daughter was born the day before i turned 19 years old i’d have to say a baby bassinet. But aside from that when she was 5 I bought a house. 28,000 dollars. You can barely get a car for that now! I remember waking up the first morning in that house and sitting on my couch (the one my mom gave me years before) looking out the window with my cup of coffee and feeling sooooo grown up and "arrived". that house payment was 220 dollars!