David E. Bowman Squidoo Lens a hit!

Was it a good idea to build a lens on Squidoo.com about me and my search for employment?  Well thus far the answer would be "Yes."  Launched just days ago, http://www.squidoo.com/davidebowman is currently ranked  #125 in popularity.  To add perspective to that, there are reportedly about 20,000 lenses currently up and running in Squidoo, so 125 is pretty good in my estimation.  I would consider it to be a hit so far.  Hopefully that base hit will lead to the homerun I am seeking in finding a new job.  That remains to be seen.  If you have not seen the lens yet, check it out.  Please send me your feedback on how I can improve it.  If you have never seen Squidoo, definately don't stop at my lens.  There are so many great lenses on so many interesting topics that you are sure to find something amazing.  I have Squidoo loaded into my Firefox search bar so that when I need information about a topic I am just a few keystrokes away from an expert.  For those who have already visited the site- and this one- thank you for your support.

Squidoo : David E. Bowman

InBubbleWrap: WINNER!

Well I may not have a job right now, but I will be able to spend some of my time off reading  my free copy of  Paul Ardin's "Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite," thanks to InBubbleWrap.com. This marks my third time in the IBW winners circle, and I must say that it feels just as good as the first two times. What the heck is InBubbleWrap.com you ask? It is only one of the best sites on the entire Internet, and a brilliant marketing tool for 800CEOREAD.com IBW gives away free books every day. New day-New book. The books are provided courtesy of 800ceoread.com and the giveaway provides great exposure for the authors and the site. It is as simple as receiving an email or rss notification everyday at 10:00, logging into the site, answering two questions that are always new and usually funny, and then waiting until the next day to find out if you are the big winner. Even if you don't win the freebie, they are always running discounts on the books they promote, and exposing new titles that might otherwise be overlooked. I am so excited to have won. My sincere thanks go out to Ryan and the rest of the IBW crew. With my book buying funds on temporary freeze until I get a job, your timing could not be better. CHECK OUT INBUBBLEWRAP.COM today, and voice your opinion on it by leaving a comment below.

InBubbleWrap: Opposites Don't Attract - They Rule

Amazing Juggling Finale - Google Video

Thanks to my friend D Wade for passing along this video. Check out this guy, Chris Bliss,  juggling to the end of Abbey Road. As a fan of the Fab Four, juggling, and creativity, I must say "Great Show!" Google Video, You Tube and the like make sharing this stuff so easy, the real question is how to juggle your time to take it all in. Incredible.

Amazing Juggling Finale - Google Video

Squidoo : David E. Bowman

The job search has created another first for me, with the creation of my new lens on Squidoo. Will the site be the key to helping me find the job of my dreams? I don't know, but it sure can't hurt. The site has a wealth of information about me, my career, my interests, and my search for employment. I will continue updating and refining it to make it better, but it is up and running. I am excited to see if I can generate traffic with this site, and ultimately generate a new job. Thanks to Seth Godin for creating and promoting this great and FREE tool known as Squidoo. Please check it out for yourself, e-mail the link to your friends, co-workers, hiring managers, business owners, television stations, movie producers, and anyone else who may be looking for someone to energize their business. Voice your opinion of the site by leaving a comment below.

ALSO:
Thank you to everyone who has been so helpful in this process. Finding a job can be frightening at times. The support and encouragement I have received helps to remind me that this is going to result in something great very soon. I am so lucky to know so many wonderful and generous people. I can't wait until I am able to put up the post describing my next job to you all.

Squidoo : David E. Bowman

Give Firefox a Try!

Why Firefox?  Well the answer to that question is different for everyone.  The reason I chose to use Firefox was out of simple human curiosity. I had seen it recommended, and thought I'll give it a shot. I was not unhappy with Internet Explorer. How could I have been, because I had never used anything else. IE was all I knew. So I tried Firefox. At first I thought, "OK, so what is the big deal?" Then I found out about the built in RSS feeds. I enjoyed that a lot, but I still was not convinced. Then I discovered extensions that allowed me to customize the tools I use to surf the web. Now I was on board. Then I got into tabbed browsing, which meant I did not have to have multiple windows open at once. I could use simple, easy to navigate tabs to power surf the net, and then I was hooked. Shortly thereafter, IE announced a big repair that was necessary to keep my computer safe. That sealed the deal for me. I have never turned back to IE, except when I must use it on a site that does not support Firefox. (That is a short list now, and there is an extension that will automatically open IE for you in such instances) I switched out of curiosity, but that may not motivate you. Perhaps your motivating factor for trying out this awesome tool is security. Well now is your chance. Microsoft announced that it is again going to release a patch to fix vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The patch is expected to come with a scheduled update on April 11. Until then, why not give Firefox a try? You will reduce your exposure to potential harm, and you may just start to love using the internet again. Tabbed browsing, extensions, themes, search bars, and it is FREE… Firefox is, in my humble opinion, safer, better, and so much more fun. So knowing that you may be at risk between now and mid April, now is the time to take Firefox for a test drive. Take it for a three week spin around the net. If you hate it, go back to IE when it is fixed. If you love it. Keep using it, customizing it, and enjoying the new web!

Microsoft is warning users about three serious security problems in its Internet Explorer browser

When not getting what you want is good

Imagine my dismay when just over a week ago the brackets were released, and I discovered that my beloved Tarheels and my equally beloved Buckeyes would be playing right up the road at the UD arena. “Why would you be dismayed Dave?” “That sounds like good news.” The dismay came from the price of the tickets and the fact that while on the search for a job, it probably is not a good idea to spend the family nest egg on March Madness. But, I really wanted to go. Instead, I opted to save my money, hang with my family, and try to catch what I could on TV. Thank God! Yesterday was nothing short of a disaster for both teams, and I would have left UD arena a broken man. Sometimes not getting what you want is a good thing. As it stands, I had a great weekend, watched some hoops, and continued my tradition of burning my brackets after week 1. Cinderella is great until she takes your spot in the dance. Oh well, it will be fun to root against Duke, and it keeps me from having to endure CSI Omaha, CSI Topeka, CSI Toledo, Air Force CSI, and Law and Order CSI on the tube. Long live March Madness.
North Carolina Tar Heels, NCAA Division I Mens Basketball, George Mason Patriots - CBS SportsLine.com

gladwell.com: The PitBull Paradox

Malcolm Gladwell has a great post on his blog about the danger of statistics. He has an uncanny ability to look at a situation or problem from a unique angle, and he demonstrates it again in “The Pit Bull Paradox.” Are Pit Bulls more dangerous? I have a friend who has one that is a great dog. She happens to be a great dog owner, which may actually make a bigger difference than dog type. It seems that Pit Bulls are great students, and if taught to be vicious, will do so consistently and completely. There is no in between for this breed. Once taught how to behave the dog will not likely hide nor change its temperment. It is an interesting way of looking at a dog which has been widely demonized across America. They are illegal to own in Dayton,very difficult to own in Dayton, and if a Pit Bull attacks someone it is almost always the lead story on the local news. I personally don’t know how comfortable I would be with my one of my neighbors owning one, but this post by Gladwell certainly makes me think about it more deeply. Every time I read his work I find myself saying “of course, that was so obvious, how could I have missed that angle.” Whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, there is little doubt that he is brilliant and his work is compelling.
gladwell.com: The PitBull Paradox

Zookoda

Yesterday I put together a newsletter composed of recent blog postings from “voice” and sent it to many of my friends.  I wanted to remind people of what I am up to, and to give them a chance to share it with others.  I think that it was pretty well received.  To put it together, I used a software called Zookoda.  I learned about zookoda on Ehub, a great site that features freeware and shareware, earlier this week. Zookoda is a free software application that takes your recent blog posts and formats them into a newsletter.  You can also use it to create completely original emails and then legally and safely distribute them to an audience.  It allows for list uploads, provides reports on your response rates, and even has a new subscriber feature built into it.  The software ensures that you are legally compliant with Spam laws, is very easy to use, and creates nice, simple newsletters.  I am also using it to promote the Dayton AMA blog.  If you are part of a group where you need to send out an e-newsletter, perhaps for your church, sports team, or small business, give Zookoda a try.  Voice your opinion of Zookoda,my newsletter, or the blog in general by leaving a comment below.
Zookoda

The World is Flat

I just completed reading The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, and I recommend it to anyone who is literate.  This book is a fascinating look at some of the most important trends and events of the last decade.  It paints a very different picture of the future world.  While Friedman is not a doomsday author, his book is a real wake-up call.  China, India, and the developing nations of the world are embracing technology and growing at unprecedented rates.  Friedman discusses this trend and how it will change everything we are accustomed to.  There are countless points that are relevant and insightful.  My copy of the book is so filled with Dog Eared pages that it will barely shut.  Friedman basically asserts that the world as we know it is flat, in so much as all people around the globe are much better able to compete, collaborate and create world changing innovations.  He lists his 10 Forces that Flattened the world which include 11/9/89 (Fall of the Berlin Wall), the public offering of Netscape, the rise of Outsourcing, Offshoring, In-Sourcing and more.  It is an amazing book.  The 450 pages plus fly by, and you will probably find yourself wanting to re-read it again once you have made your way through it.  Friedman closes the book with a great quote.  “The most important attribute you can have is a creative imagination.”  I am very excited about the “Flat” world.  Voice your opinion on “The World is Flat” by leaving a comment below.

Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times “Foreign Affairs” columnist and author of “The World Is Flat

Oh how I miss bracketology!

One of the worst things about being downsized out of your job in the spring is that you miss out on the brackets for March Madness. While I am no gambler, I love to fill out the brackets, and follow my predictions to their disasterous end. Typically I am done by the end of day one, but it is always fun to see how you fare versus your co-workers. So as you fill out your brackets this year, think of me. I will be busy looking for my next job opportunity so that in March of 2007, I am not left out of the fun. By the way, in last year’s tournament I correctly picked UNC to win it all. I must admit that my pick has less to do with my psychic powers or sports knowledge, and more to do with the fact that I pick the Tarheels every year. This year is no exception, but the brackets will sit all alone on my desktop. (Go Heels!) North Carolina is actually playing right up the road at the UD arena in the opening round of the tourney. With tickets going for upwards of $1,000 and me still looking for employment, I think I will settle for CBS in the basement.

As a note, Microsoft is offering a modified Excel Spreadsheet to fill out your brackets, complete with a tracker.
Who is your pick to win it all? Voice your opinion on March Madness by leaving a comment below.
2006 NCAA men’s bracket w/tracker

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