Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Cool geek stuff. I think I am particularly impressed at his efforts to make mobile technology user friendly for blind people. Since my cousin is deaf, I’m fascinated that his sister uses her T-Mobile Sidekick to use TDY services to talk to her brother by basically typing her whole conversation. It beats the old way of doing things by using a special operator who typed all your conversations for you.

Since he cannot precisely hit a button on a touch screen, Mr. Raman created a dialer that works based on relative positions. It interprets any place where he first touches the screen as a 5, the center of a regular telephone dial pad. To dial any other number, he simply slides his finger in its direction — up and to the left for 1, down and to the right for 9, and so on. If he makes a mistake, he can erase a digit simply by shaking the phone, which can detect motion.

Mr. Raman’s innovations have already made their way onto millions of PCs. At Adobe in the 1990s, he helped to adapt the PDF format so it could be read by screen readers. That was required for PDF to be used by the federal government, and it eventually led to the technology’s being embraced as a global standard for electronic documents.

“It was incredibly important to us as a business, and to the blind,” said John Warnock, the chairman and founder of Adobe.

I know this isn’t really about frugality, but for families who need tools and services like this, it’s good to know that some folks are out there pushing major technology to move accessibility forward as a cost of doing business versus making it custom for blind folks and charging extra for the feature.

I just made my last donation to ModestNeeds.org. I didn’t know that you had to email them to cancel donations. They sure make it easy to start a donation online. Surfing around to try and find a cancellation form was rather annoying, but it’s not the reason I’m choosing the cancel.

Because I can make donations through work, I decided to increase my donations to $1200 for two organizations that serve local needs in Arlington.

Modest Needs does great stuff for people, but I wanted to serve people directly in my own community through the food bank and local free health clinic without doing the selection process of finding someone ‘worthy’. These two organizations don’t require internet access. They are walk up facilities that directly impact a person’s ability to eat today, or get health treatment. Rather than deal with individual clients, I decided to step up the contributions and make life better for people around me right at home. (Many of the communities served at home don’t speak English and I can’t tell if ModestNeeds serves those communities. Not that it’s a big deal since they do good things for people. I just really wanted to stay close to home in my own area code. Not many people in Northern VA ask for help from where I live. Usually it’s much further away.)

I spent money on:
12/24 - Christmas Eve. I ate lunch and bought dinner at the airport.
12/26 - Boxing Day. Met an old friend for coffee at the mall, bought bought some Sanrio treats for myself, and a few groceries. ($25)
12/29 - Monday. Someone ran the kids to daycare and brought me a Starbucks coffee ($3?). I also bought some cold medicine before getting on the plane. ($18)
12/30 - Tuesday. I paid my long-term parking fees at the airport.
12/31 - Got $150 in parking tickets (long story).

I did not spend money on:
12/25 - Christmas Day.
12/27 - Saturday. I waited in the car while desserts for dinner were purchased and witnessed one toll spent ($4).
12/28 - Sunday. I watched someone pay for a park recreation fee ($5).
1/1 & 1/2 - Sick at home and did nothing but read all day for two days.

My holidays were wonderfully boring. I didn’t really do a lot to see more extended family, mainly because my cousin was feeling too sick to come over via public transit. I almost never rent a car during the holidays unless my parents come too and I have to act as a chauffeur. Doing nothing but roll around the floor with toys, little boys, and a fun little dog is just fine by me. The kids are only small once and it’s been fun reading stories, playing peek-a-boo and Lego Star Wars games.

However, being sick really was horrible. The only upside was not spending any money. There is nothing worse than your ears having sinus pressure during take off and landing. Few things in this world make me want to shriek in pain.

After reading that miserable article, I was IM’ing with a friend of mine at Complex Diagrams. (He’s a UI designer I know.) It struck me that what I really wanted to write was an article about the skills that have served me most in life, not just school, but the actual office.

1. Being able to read a lot, and fast. It will get you through college and through a lot of stuff at work when you’re on a deadline. I took a speed reading course during freshman orientation week in college. I was already a fast reader, but it did help me learn a few new tricks I still use today. Along with reading a lot and fast, is having a good vocabulary so you don’t have to drag out a dictionary all the time. (But if you need an online one, I recommend Merriam-Webster’s site. It’s my go-to site when I need help.) I don’t know how to help you if you have dyslexia. I have several friends with this problem and I just don’t get it. But all of them have extremely powerful memories.

2. Think critically. Be a skeptic. Not necessarily a nay-sayer, but a devil’s advocate. You want to be able to decide what ideas are meritorious and not just say no or be negative just to be a jerk. You can build something up by tearing it down in a constructive way. Knowing how to evaluate ideas, concepts, people, everything is really important. By doing this well, you will become the office resource for quality discussions.

3. Argue effectively. Understand what’s really at stake during people’s conversations at the office so you can know how to argue for the right things. I debated in high school and in college. I also wrote a lot of essay and research papers in high school. And though I was a very bad writer in high school, I got to college and was well-practiced at documenting an argument. I still use those skills at work for emails, proposals, design and requirement documents.

4. Write grammatically, if not concisely. I will admit, I don’t know how to use a semi-colon very well, so I cover it up by using a period wisely. Knowing what an Oxford comma is not necessary, but spelling properly, using antecedents and subordinating clauses well goes a long way in communicating at the office. Do not underestimate it. Emails get forwarded and people who don’t know you will form an impression of you in text. In general, I am not a concise writer, nor speaker. But I know how to edit in text, which helps overcome my problem.

5. Focus and sustain effort. Being able to focus your energy and effort for 2 hours or more is really important. As I age, I realize what a short attention span I have at work. Judicious application of focusing myself has saved me, my team, and my project many times in life. Learn how to self-discipline yourself to focus.

6. Listen actively, and listen ‘through’ people for what they are not saying and understand their motives and agendas. Hearing and listening are two different things. I register aural stimulation when I hear, but I understand when I listen. Plus people like it when you listen to them. It makes them feel good, which segues into my next point.

7. Be generally friendly and nice at the office. Sounds weird, but just saying hello to people helps. I often have to talk to total strangers and if you at least give the appearance of being nice, when you do have to speak to someone out of the blue, they will be positive and helpful.

Ok, these are certainly not the only life success tips out there. It’s just the seven concrete life skills I think make a difference. My evidence is my life. When I am lacking in one skill or another, I can tell. I continually fall back on some of these skills at work no matter where I’ve worked or what I am doing. My job reviews, assessments, peer reviews, recommendations, etc, all mention variations on these themes. I am sure that there are quite a few other things I could have put, like self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses, but I think that comes later, after you build a foundation with these seven things.

What are your key life skills that have added to your personal success?

Man, sometimes I just don’t get what passes for a good online article. Yahoo’s HotJobs site has an article about hot jobs that pay 6-figures. I think this article stinks, but after explaining why, I’ll tell you what I think is a fast track for a 6-figure job in almost any line of work.

I don’t know much about a few of the 6 jobs listed by the article, but here’s what I know about two.

Professional Hacker
Ever hear of a certified ethical hacker? That’s the professional IT certification for a computer scientist that works as a security specialist, forensic investigator, or network defense architect for corporations, the government, and law enforcement agencies to help prevent hacking or to track down perpetrators. To get into the field, you’ll need more than the hacking skills you tweaked together in your garage. Begin by earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science or information technology. You can get additional online college training in network security. The top 50 percent of computer scientists earned between $97,970 and $123,900 in 2007.

What kills me about this paragraph is that while it does tell you that you need more than ’skills you tweaked together in your garage’, it fails to mention that the best of the best usually have master’s degrees in computer sciences, math, physics, or engineering. So factor in your student loans for a graduate degree if you pursue this path. BTW, I’m not sure that there is anything called a ‘certified ethical hacker‘. (There is, but scroll down to the Controversy section to understand why the term is crap.)

You want to get an inkling of what it takes? Try going to Defcon for a weekend. These people will be your colleagues, your ‘frienemies’, if you will. And yes, it’s true, you do get to work with some public agencies and with a lot of financial institutions. But ask yourself if it’s better as a consultant vs full-time employee. That will make a difference in the salary you command. Hired guns always make more, but mercenary work has very few benefits.

Mobile Experience Architect
The cool streaming videos and eye-popping CD covers that get delivered to the screens of millions of cell phones and PDAs each hour are designed to make you spend money. Information architects create the structure and mind-manipulating patterns (site maps) of each mobile delivery. You’ll need to learn about marketing, strategy, and user testing through a degree program in computer science, Web design, or business. There’s even an IT certification for professional mobile architects. Salaries range into six figures.

This sounds really glib. Most IT architects I’ve met have at least 7 years of work experience under their belts and User Interface designers get seriously into other academic fields like behavioral psychology and user-interaction design graduate work. Again, most of my colleagues and friends in this line of work have at least one master’s degree (if not a J.D. or Ph.D. as well). ‘Mind-manipulation’ has an actual discipline and it’s not very diplomatic to call it ‘mind-manipulation’. (Who writes this stuff?) When I talk to my friends about what they do, they speak about ease of navigation and use being more important than delivering sales messages. Navigation and ease should facilitate that, not make you buy something blue when you wanted a green one. If that were true, American car makers should immediately make an aggressive mobile ad campaign to make you buy their cars. Were that it was so easy!

More than anything out there, you have go to slog your way through the trenches and earn your salary. No one is going to pay you big dollars without some mad skillz to show for it. (l337-er, the better.) All of my friends who do these two kinds of jobs make great money, but they worked a long time to get where they are. In your mid-30’s, everyone could be within a stone’s throw of making 6-figures if they’ve stuck with their fields and worked really hard. (This is coming from someone in her mid-30’s who did a complete career makeover at the age of 25. It’s taken me a while, but yeah, I could be making 6-figures soon because I earned it from working hard and maneuvering for the right experience and the right job changes, not because I got a degree in computer science, because I don’t.)

My advice, especially if you think you want to become a ‘certified ethical hacker’ for our government is to get a “Top Secret w/lifestyle-poly” clearance. That is the fast track to making a lot of dough in almost any field, administrative, financial, etc. You can get them with just a CISSP which is all most IT security job listings are looking for anyway. I don’t know of a single agency that publicly looks for a CEH cert. (More than likely you can meet a Fed that’s recruiting for a job like this at Defcon. They make it a game. ‘Spot the Fed!’)

If you take this path, you are agreeing to have the government do a very invasive security check into your life, a polygraph test and pee in a cup. Sometimes it’s also called a “TSCI w/poly”. Be sure you have a been a boy/girl scout for the last 10 years. You can document every foreign trip you’ve ever taken. You have very little financial debts, and no skeletons in your closets, etc. Getting one of these means premium pay, even directly with the federal government (and not just as a consultant).

My friend, Dean, has a website on how to fix your own credit. It’s pretty detailed because it’s what he did himself, for free, to fix his own credit. No joke, it’s the real thing. It’s not flashy and he’s not out to make tons of money by having the site. He has a real day job and a real life. The site has minimal ads. He just wanted to get the information out there.

The advice he gives is similar to the advice I give when I’m teaching a financial management course, and it is very effective. If your score is under 700, it’s worth doing. However, it can’t hurt if your score is a 750 to clean up the bad items on your credit report just to nudge it higher.

It’s a good time to do this since you can get a free report online and send out the faxes immediately while you have time off before the new year. I’m about due to check mine out and will probably spend a hour on the first few days of January to do it. (The link is to the free website for credit reports, not an ad or affiliate.)

My advice is to do everything via fax so you only have to write things once and can put ‘RESEND’ at the top if you need to send it again. It kind of perks up their attention and you don’t have to labor with mailing stuff out, etc. Keep a copy of the transmission records and be detailed about things.

An old post what is a worthwhile reads on the subject:
Kiplinger’s FAQ article on boosting credit scores

I gave my mother the red lace shawl for Christmas. I can always make another and I was really proud of it. It’s perfect in color for her to wear with her mink coat. (Yes, my mom bought one. It’s a black mink swing coat since she really doesn’t need a full-length one.)

I made another shawl out of Socks That Rock yarn and it’s been keeping me warm at work. I am super glad I have it. I have one more skein of Socks That Rock but there isn’t enough to make a full shawl from it. I think I might have to make a dreaded shrug or poncho. There are just some knitted looks I hate. Boyfriend got me a lovely silver shawl pin for Christmas and it looks great against the shawl’s blue colors. (second one down on the right) I was waffling on what to get for myself because I liked so many of them, so I let him pick. It makes us all happy.

I might have to make another shawl, but I’m thinking of an actual sweater too. I have enough stash, but there is yet another baby blanket to make and it wasn’t getting done on my vacation. (in a good way)

Happy holidays! I hope 2008 has been a wonderful year for everyone.

Posting will be light over the next few days but in the meantime, please enjoy some posts:

2008 Bathroom Renovation
2008 Goals
Using Up Flexible Spending Funds (oldie but goodie)

From December 2007 till March 2009, my friends will have had 12 babies. Or is it 13? I can’t remember. Most of them are first children with a few 2nds and 3rds. Last week was the week of baby photo Christmas cards. I was inundated with them once I picked up my mail. (I was dog sitting for boyfriend and not checking mail daily.)

The babies are all happy and healthy as far as I know. But man, I am behind on the gift giving.

Silly breeders!

Sometimes, you get what you wish for, and sometimes it’s not good.

Lately I’ve made myself so valuable to a project that I’m sacrificing my vacation to get some tasks done on my project. It sucks and I’ve had to get several people on board so I can carry vacation over into 2009. (It’s usually use-or-lose time unless approved to carry over.)

I’m glad to get the carry over but I was really looking forward to that week between Christmas and the first Monday of the new year to get some crap done.

I miss the days working in manufacturing industries when the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day meant factory shut down and vacation time.

Blah. I guess I’ll be blogging till the end of the year with no vacay but Xmas and Boxing Day.