Drea comes home in a few hours. Which is wonderful. This stay was far longer and more demoralizing than the previous one, though she comes home far more healthy. Its funny how that works.

I terminated my leave of absence at Kodak today. It was a tough decision, but necessary for a number of reasons. It didn’t appear that any positions would open up (currently they’re only posting for 16 external jobs here in Rochester). And after news of the latest round of layoffs, I really had to question if that was an environment that I wished to return to. It’s bittersweet. I’m going to miss not getting back to seeing kodak.com’ers each day. However, we’ll still have tacos… hows next Tuesday?

And I’ve offically moved my Chicago graduation to December. Its a disapointment, but I need to do more research and reading to write the thesis I want to write. And at this point, I’d rather get it right then get it done. So perhaps, at the end of it, I’ll even understand Bourdieu.

Ok… before anyone else goes into a tizzy about my retail applications, allow me to explain. This is NOT a full time pursuit.

At all.
No way. No huh.

However, what I am looking for is a short term, part time source of income while I engage in a more extensive job hunt. There have been a few full time opportunities that have arisen. But currently none of them have been what I am looking for. And, for the moment, I’d prefer not to commit to a full-time position that isn’t right. Especially since the Rochester Scene doesn’t really allow for taking a full time position for only a few months. Plus full time would make it difficult for me to finish my writing tasks, and therefore my Masters. And finishing the Masters is the most important thing right now. Well, both that and being able to cover expenses.

So that’s why I’m currently looking at temporary retail jobs. And a few other avenues (TW I don’t have your current e-mail addy… could you drop at line to “mbernius at gmail.com”).

My goal is to have full employment by mid fall.

This is one that I should have seen coming a mile away and never even thought of: networked jukeboxes. This discovery begins with another revelation: a cup of premium coffee costs the same amount as a pint of beer. Plus, considering that I drink beer far more slowly than coffee it seemed to make good economic sense as well. And it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve, um…, lubricated my writing with an adult beverage. Conveniently, just last week I noticed that the MacGregors, a local watering hole, by RIT was offering free wireless access. So, after dropping off today’s series of applications, I opted to go there for a beer and to write.

Initially I didn’t pay any attention to the wireless registration process. What did catch my eye, was a neon monolith in the corner of the bar. The “Rock-Ola” stands about 5’7” and has a 14 inch flatscreen LCD at eye level. And just as I noticed the Rock-Ola, the screen stated that it was an internet juke box. Actually it was making the claim “I’m the coolest juke box in the world.” Upon investigating I have to agree.

Ecasting has a great model. Bars can buy a Broadband juke box, which then also doubles as a wireless hub for the establishment. And then patrons can choose from the already downloaded albums, or, for a slight fee, browse Ecast’s whole library and download the song/album that they are looking for. The download stays locked in the machine so there’s no fear of unlicensed distribution. We have a juke box that always has the song that you’re looking for.

And all I have to say is “Damn! Good idea E-Cast.

I’ve started applying to a number of retail jobs and all in all, its been an odd experience. I’m beginning to be exposed to the various frustrations that other professionals face when circumstances forced them to make this type of a change. Most of these applications really are not set up for salaried position. I keep getting asked for what my hourly rates were in previous jobs. I haven’t been hourly since I was in college. And its very wired to be applying for a $10 an hour job and listing your previous gig at somewhere around $30 an hour (And I’m not ever sure if thats right).

Also, at least two of the jobs have had online applications. While that process moves pretty quickly, both had these extensive Myers Briggs style personality based questions. Here are few examples, moving from the expected to the, well, kind strange:

• You change from feeling happy to sad without any reason
• You get angry more often than nervous
• You have confidence in yourself

  Ok… I can sorta understand those. But who can expect to be given an honest answer to the next two:

• You swear when you argue
• Right now, you care more about having fun than being serious at school or work

  Come on! Don’t you think saying “Yes, I always swear when I argue” is going to hurt you get a position? Or that “right now I care more about having fun than working” is exactly what employers are hoping for? Then we get to the interesting one:

• It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free

How are you supposed to answer that? And why is it there? If I disagree does that flag me as someone who approves of crime? Or if I agree is that a sign that I’m so reactionary? Weird.

But what is the most distressing is that the interview process has been reduced to a series of questions that don’t even need to be asked by a person. Again, we have the case of automation of a “fuzzy-logic” process. While its not a bot, I have to admit that this entire experience has been alienating. Especially because I got asked the same questions on both applications. And I realized that I was trying to remember my previous answers in hopes of not being inconsistent. I mean, what does it mean if I was hard on crime yesterday and not today.

I’m sure that the idea is that based on my answers I get flagged as a good canditate for one position vs. another. I wonder if there is a website there that offers coaching for how to answer these. You know: be hard on crime and ready to swear if your a cashier, but managers should be softer and never swear.

btw: if any folks out there know anyone at Harris Research, can you let me know. I’d really like to chat with someone from there.

Ok. As an attempt to move away from the doom and gloom blogs, I’ll tell you about my current plans and solicit advice. As you might know, I need a job. And I’m currently in the process of applying to a number of places such as McKinsey & Company and Harris Interactive. However, both processes are going to take a while. So, I need something to tide me over. And since I have a thesis to complete, it really needs to be part time. So I’m thinking either Starbucks or retail. The benefit with Starbucks (or a similar type of Coffee place) is that I get a discount on Coffee, I get some level of indy cred (admittedly much less if its Starbucks) and if I work more than 20 hours I get some form of health insurance. On the other side, if I work at a place like the Gap, I get a discount on clothes and can revamp my wardrobe, which I really need to do.

So wadda ya think? Or should I go the Wegmans route? Advice would be much appreciated.

Drea Update: She’s doing better. We’re hoping Monday. Thanks for all the notes of support.

Thesis Update: Drea’s doing better. Visit Headnotes to see my latest issues.

One of my latest sticking points is the usage of pronouns to refer to bots. While I realize there is a longstanding tradition of using personal pronouns (she, he, her, and his) to refer to machines, I have real problems anthropomorphizing bots. It just strikes me as a slippery slope for an academic to engage in. At the same time, calling the famed Tifanny_bot “it” all the time is just clunky.

My solution to this dilemma came from an unlikely source: John Leguizamo. Driving home from the hospital I heard him interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air. Discussing his work on To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, he mentioned that the studio hired a Drag Queen to coach him and said something along the lines of: “They hired *pause* ohh, I can’t remember his real name. Her drag name was [X] and she taught me everything.” And that got me thinking about gender designations when it comes to drag. Clearly the absolute (genital/chromosome) sex of the performer never changed. He was a he. But while in the drag role the performer assumed the gender designation being performed. Like Lou Reed once wrote “then he was a she.”

What this suggests is that culturally the chatterbot program itself can be considered an “it” while the self it performs, Tiffany for example, can be referred to as “she.”

Or perhaps trudging forward. Drea’s recovery continues to be rocky. For every step forward she takes, she seems to fall a step back. So that has taken a toll on both our spirits. The current hope is for her to come home next Monday.

I’m trying to write. It’s tough to keep myself focused. And I just don’t have the energy to even train right now. So that’s a bit of a blow as well.

On the positive side, I’ve been pounding through “fun reading.” I just wrapped up on Douglas Coupland’s microserfs, which I’m most likely going to use as part of my thesis. I also finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in less than 20 hours. The Rochester D&C ended up running my capsule review on their website (you’ll have to search on my name to find it). I decided to write the review as a developmental exercise.

[annotation: *blows off the dust *... it's been a while. Over the next few days I will endeavor to lay out a number of ideas that are being developed for my research work]

One of the ideas that has been cropping up is that Chatterbots (in particular sexbots) can be used a a social sciences tools to identify the essentials of specific genres at a specific time. For a sexbot like the famed Tiffany to work it must be capable of deploying the characteristics and tools that a webcam girl is expected to invoke during a conversation. Thus by examining a successful bot, we can learn what is, at a bare minimum, expected of a genre during an interaction.

serendipitously, while pondering this idea, I happened to read the following passage in Douglas Coupland’s microserfs:

I mentioned to Abe about my lessons in shiatsu and the weird relationship people in tech firms have with their bodies. He replied:

I know what you mean about bodeis. At Microsoft you pretend bodies dont’ exist… BRAINS are what matter. You’re right, at Microsoft bodies get down played to near invisibility with unsensual Tommy Hilfiger geekwear, or are genericized with items form the GAP so that employees morph themelfves into those international symbols for MAN and WOMAN you see at airports. (Coupland, 1995: 198)

This in turn got me to thinking about the relationship between mechanization and the essentials of a particular role. Take for example, robotic factory workers. The ones that most likely spring to mind are those in car assembly plants. We’ve all seen the footage of them attaching doors and welding joints. The many of these robots are simply arms (often with integrated tools). Each role has been optimized to the bare essentials required of that position. Why create the whole robot body when only the arm is needed. Thus it seems, that by examining these forms of industrial mechanization, we can understand exactly what is essential for that specific role. Thus the chatterbot can be related to its robotic cousin working on the assembly line.

Bibliography

Coupland, Douglas. 1995. microserfs. New York: ReganBooks.

Here’s a more information. As I said, Drea experienced a Lupus Flare. This entailed painful intestinal swelling that prevent her from eating or holding down food. The response is to aggressively treat this with steroids. The problem was that she was tapered too fast off of her steroids. So while she was feeling great on Saturday, on Sunday, because she was on a reduced dosage, her symptoms returned. And because it was a weekend, it took until Monday to get the Doctors orders to increase the dosage. All of this left her feeling very defeated and weak.

Thankfully, we’ve turned a corner. Using a combination of Western Biomedicine and Holistic treatments her strength has increased and her mood has improved. Hopefully she will be coming home on Thursday.

Unfortunately, I’m not much further along on writing. The chances of a summer graduation are becoming more and more distant. I’m still writing and revising ideas. So perhaps it will work out. Only time will tell.

For MAPSSer’s, if I don’t graduate, I’ll probably still drive out to wish you all well and celebrate.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and good thoughts. Drea was supposed to come home yesterday, but things have stretched out a little longer. So we’re hoping Wednesday. I’m further along on writing. I’m not worrying about deadlines at this point and I’m just trying to get this out.