Fred Slocombe

My Internet squatting may soon pay off.

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:34:00 +0000

For over a year now I have been gradually orchestrating an exodus from Illinois, as I consider the state of Illinois to be a rife with bureaucratic dynasties and fiefdoms constructed on the foundation of "it's not what you know, it's who you know."

Everyone I know has nothing good to say about their supervisors, managers, bosses, and anyone appointed by politicians to manage something. They got their positions based on their relationships rather than their knowledge, and the fabric of properly functioning society in Illinois is rapidly losing threads in the form of people who have actual skills and knowledge.

Over the years I have been minimally maintaining a certain number of Internet domain names and Social Media accounts (SPFLD.net, SPFLD.tv, BachelorTimes.com, and many others), hoping that one day a void will be created by the collapse of the main-stream media. Until today, I was preparing to drop those domain names altogether, or hand them off to other local media talent before I left Illinois for good.

Now, Gatehouse Media has me thinking about staying and hanging on to those domain names. Gatehouse Media has been gradually consolidating the State Journal-Register, stripping away pieces from Springfield a little at a time, laying off Springfield staff little-by-little in a strategy one might call "creeping normality."

Today I heard that Chris Britt, Springfield's own political cartoonist for the State Journal-Register was, shall we say, "let go." One of very few liberal progressive voices left in Springfield. I'm reminded of Mark Thoma getting fired from WMAY AM 970, a local radio station where Jim Leach now remains as the one token liberal voice. Somehow that's supposed to make the radio station "balanced."

Springfield, Illinois is a hotbed of conservatism. There are enough conservative business owners in Springfield who, if offended by liberal progressive views, will pull their advertising and cause financial shock to the local main-stream media outlets.

Since local businesses have an overwhelming grip around the throats of all local media outlets that are dependent upon advertising for their survival, the only honest information can be found in media outlets that get all of their funding from subscribers. Not even PBS or NPR can escape influence because they have corporate sponsors.

The only remaining honest sources of information are from people who have independent sources of income, and who can disseminate their information freely to anyone who has access to the Internet. Springfield, Illinois has thousands of independent voices that fly in the face of corporate main-stream media, what else explains why the State Journal-Register is shriveling up into a dry, empty husk of its former self? Answer: because their only subscribers are dying of old age.

I've been working the night shift and sleeping all day. I think every five minutes or so, about leaving for the west coast, leaving Illinois behind me forever. But, now there will soon be a massive void in the form of local news media that will need to be filled with unbiased information grounded in reality, rather than one-sided perspectives. There may be a business of my own making in my future, and new careers for writers, photographers, videographers and artists.

I just need to organize a plan of action, acquire the facilities for the means of production, and develop a revenue stream for the effort. It's going to be a strange new model, but I can only do so much out of my room in my mother's condominium.

Another Illinois corruption story

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:18:00 +0000

I find yet another reason to leave the state of Illinois. A prison warden who was caught fishing while on disability was transferred instead of fired.

http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1722161215/State-prison-warden-transferred-after-disability-probe

Where do they get these ideas to transfer people around in order to sweep the problems under the rug?

Herd animals have morality.

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:15:00 +0000

I'm having one of those moments right after waking up and drinking the first cup of really strong coffee. I know there are distinct categories of values for the self-centered survivalist-oriented "Objectivist" Libertarians on Wall Street:

"You are responsible for your choices and you have the free-will to choose to learn how not to make the mistakes that keep you poor, and we (The 1%) have the right to take complete advantage of you for not doing so."

Then there are those weird conservative Republicans who tout "Family Values" and claim to be "Christian," yet behave in a way that would make proud both Ayn Rand and Niccolo Machiavelli.

It would appear that the "Moral Majority" in this case is clearly the most dangerous predator of our species, demonstrating a sociopathological value system that takes the most advantage of the least educated among us.

Most herd based animal species demonstrate morality by protecting weaker members of the herd against predators as best they can. They don't have religion.

The downfall or morality started when primates began to split into groups and fight over resources. Even individual monkeys hid food from other members of the same group.

Not too long later was born the distorted rantionale that such deception was morally acceptable because other monkeys should have been more aware of their surroundings and notices the deception in the monkey hiding the food.

What is especially disturbing is that such monkeys hiding food are not the alpha males of the group. They are using cleverness to undermine the whole group. This ultimately results in depletion of resources to the point where the entire group's survival is at risk.

The result is another group marauding through the group's territory, severing the leadership, plundering the resources and enslaving the members who are allowed to survive.

The stronger group that will overtake other groups will be the group that is honest and transparent of policy, and equitable and efficient with resources. Not the self-interested objectivist libertarians who claim they are God-fearing Republicans.

Blog apology

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:07:00 +0000

I would apologize for not posting here more were it not for the analogy of someone apologizing for not showing a hundred photos of their grandchildren.

I like to be concise. I'm posting all over Facebook and Google+.

Unfriending on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (SPFLDnet) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:25:00 +0000

I was checking my privacy settings on Facebook this morning and discovered to my dismay that a very long-time personal friend was blocked. I couldn't remember why she was in my block list. Our families have been friends for two generations and we always got along. I just unblocked her, but now I'm wondering why nothing was ever said about it by anyone else when it happened. But I digress.

I accepted the friendship of a few new people. I never met them before and they weren't mutual friends with anyone else I knew on Facebook, and disturbing of all was how attractive they are. It continued to bother me. I assumed they saw something I posted at an AP article, or some other major news post on Facebook, but that I wasn't absolutely certain.

I looked at their profiles and found no mutual friends, and not really anything else either. The major dilemma I have is that once someone brand new on your list of friends gets through your privacy by becoming a friend, they then can see your family and friends, unless you further restrict your privacy settings, rendering yourself almost invisible to even your closest friends.

Facebook should have a multi-tiered friend privacy setting where if you meet someone brand new, you can keep them quarantined for a while by tagging them as an "acquaintance" or if they are friends you want to keep for reasons you don't want to share with family, you might have them in a seprate "network" you can pop in and out of without leaving Facebook.

Unfortunately for now I had to unfriend some people who might have been perfectly fine, or were planning on infiltrating my family to steal identities. I have no clue.

Internet Explorer 9 PDF Print Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:25:00 +0000

I printed a PDF of a recent online job notification from Illinois Skills Match, using the latest Internet Explorer 9, and this was the result.

Printing the same document using Google Chrome was successful. Unfortunately, Chrome has only a fifty-fifty chance of finding it's ass from a hole in the ground every time I try to publish a blog with it.

Hazardous driving behavior

noreply@blogger.com (SPFLDnet) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:46:00 +0000

I drive Interstate 72 to work in Jacksonville and back. I notice that every time I pass an exit ramp, either before the New Berlin exit, Ashland exit, or Jacksonville exit, someone will always accelerate and pass me right as we both approach the on-ramp that follows after those exit ramps, as if they are trying to create a dangerous situation that will cause an accident if someone is trying to merge onto the interstate from those on-ramps.

This kind of behavior happens even when taking I72 across Springfield to the east. It never fails. There is always someone in the left lane that forces someone in the right lane to slam on their brakes to slow down for merging traffic because they can't merge into the right lane.

Those people who choose to pass cars between the off-ramp and on-ramp on the Interstate need to be fined until they learn how dangerous their behavior is.

Any state police officers can post themselves on the overpass and get a good view of this hazardous behavior. State or federal legislators should find a way to designate the zone between off-ramp and on-ramp as a no-passing zone, and the areas should be well-marked, or the public made aware of this hazard.

Finally, the repeating serial ramp-zone passers who relish and exploit endangering others on the interstate should be treated as violent offenders and charged with attempted vehicular homicide. I see the same people repeating this behavior every time I go to work and come home. Is it really that difficult to hang-back and wait until after passing the on-ramp?

Which is more annoying?

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Internet Explorer Pop-up blocker, or the actual pop-ups?

I had my IE pop-up blocker turned on until now. Every time I would post a comment, or type something that was about to be posted on a website, IE would flash the bar at the top of the screen asking if I want to temporarily allow pop-ups. I would be forced to click on that bar, and everything I typed up to that point, or the file I spent the last five minutes fishing around for on my hard-drive disappears, and I must do it all over again after I allow pop-ups.

So I just turned off my pop-up blocker. Now I don't have to do everything twice. I would not be surprised if that was the whole intent. It's a demonstration by Microsoft of contempt for the every-day user.

My about myself

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:58:00 +0000

I really don't like writing about myself. I'm not a sales person, I tried sales a long time ago and decided I hated it.

Please don't claim you saw my resume at Careerbuilder.com and then ask me to join your insurance or financial services pyramid scheme, it blatantly shows that you didn't see my resume.

I'm currently working as a security guard, mostly nights, which makes me almost non-functional during the day when I need to do things like run errands, apply for other jobs, or produce content for my SPFLD.net sites.

I would really like a dual-use property, a place where I can live and work. A nice store-front with a studio in the back and living space with at least two bedrooms.

I doubt anything like this will be found in Springfield, IL. If you don't own the property you work from here, and you don't have an established lawyer in your family here in Springfield, IL., your business and your family will get the life sucked out of it. I'm only still alive today because we have some farmland. I'm sorry I can't say the same for my father and his father before him who were killed by Springfield.

Fox News Comes Out of the Closet

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Another pocket book

noreply@blogger.com (SPFLDnet) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:21:00 +0000

The last one doesn't live up to expectations. Sure it can be used as an hourly calendar, but I need something smaller, like a 3" by 5" book that will actually fit in my pocket. Nobody seems to publish and bind on-demand in that size, so I guess that's out. Onward.

I'm publishing a collection of stories from my Menagerie of Madness blog as a paperback. I decided to pick the cheapest shipping cost so it will be a while before it gets here. I still have more stories to add to it so I may be doing additional volumes. I figure it would be a great item to sell at airport gift shops because most of the stories are only a couple of pages. Most of them are really stupid and incomplete too, so I really don't have any expectations.

The waterproofing guys are in the basement below me right now, boring holes in the concrete walls. I hope they don't split the foundation and cause an avelanche of dirt and bricks, burying themselves and their tools. I hope the back wall of the condo doesn't crumble like dominos all the way across the back of the rest of the units.

A pocket book at Lulu.com

noreply@blogger.com (SPFLDnet) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:23:00 +0000

I've been working around the clock. Three days I'll work from 7 A.M. to 3 P.M., other days I'll be working from 11 P.M. to 7 A.M., other times I'll work from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M., or 3 P.M. to 11 P.M.

Because of this madly rotating work schedule I must schedule exactly when I can sleep and when I have time to run errands and do other things. It's just exhausting all the time. So I made up an hourly calendar.

This is it. It's generic so you can enter the date on the first day you start and there are enough days for at least a year and a few days. I still haven't gotten the first copy yet so I'm not sure how it will work out. The problem is the price. It seems a little pricy for its size, but it's supposed to fit in your pocket.

I got tired of hand-writing all the hours in spiral notebooks that fall apart, so I published this.

Back-to-school spending flap on Wall Street

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:30:00 +0000

The obligatory back-to-school spending registered on Wall Street as a general indicator that the economy is improving, however, parents who begrudgingly went further into debt to spend money on their children so they can get a decent education, will be retracting spending severely until the beginning of the Holiday season.

Reuters reported that Wall Street was flat because the financial sector balanced against the gains of retail.

Better watch out. There's going to be a steeper drop between now and Black Tuesday due to the back-to-school effect.

Organizing my time

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:51:00 +0000

I apologize for my neglect of the other blogs. I have a work schedule that changes frequently and spans all of the 24 hours of the day. I'm perpetually tired and I don't get paid for blogging, so sleep is usually my priority. I also don't have time to access my computer that has all of graphics software so I've been unable to produce any illustrations.

I'm in the minimum wage work-a-day meat grinder that so many people face. Everyone around me is struggling with debt and raising children, some in second marriages, most with college loans on top of credit card debt. Some don't imagine themselves getting out of debt for fifty years if ever. It's become a way of life from which there appears to be no escape. I was almost there too, but since I'm alone, I was able to sell my house after I lost my job in 2001, pay off my debts and move in with family.

Now my problem is earning enough money to finally get out on my own again. March of 2012 will mark a decade of living with my mother. I try to help wherever possible and I'm amazed that she tolerated me so well for so long. The unemployment rate is still very high. The underlying message of the current economy is "be your own boss" but public education counter-message has always been "get a career."

I graduated from tech school and college with a degree in communication. This education has afforded me the ability to observe and analyze behavior of people in their daily environments, their conditioned responses, various values and perception of short-term and long-term consequences.

Working at my current level of society is fascinating. Gradually the evidence is accumulating in favor of the conclusion that this segment of society is suffering from Stockholm syndrome, accepting their conditions as normal. I would like to find a way to break the conditioning without appearing unpatriotic or un-American.

Life lesson from a toad

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:53:00 +0000

I was checking exterior doors for security one night when I saw a toad sitting on the cement under a light. Insects swarmed the light and I knew the little toad was enjoying a Smorgasbord. I leaned down and said "hello Toad, how are we this evening" and gently prodded the toad with my finger thinking it would hop a little bit.

Nope.

This toad reared back, raised its head and stood its ground. I was surprised. This little toad was not going to budge. It was defiant. This toad had an attitude. It was Master of the Universe and was not going to be pushed around by anyone, not even a human.

When I was a kid, toads would hop as soon as you came within a few inches of them. They hopped a lot and if you picked them up they would pee on you. There was something definitely different about this little toad.

I guess most animals have resigned themselves to the fact that they will not be here very long, that their lives are short, and they take stock of every moment. Is this a new development? Are animals developing attitudes?

What will our pets be like after a million or so years of evolution?

Outside looking in

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:33:00 +0000

I always wondered why people thought I was crazy or about to go berserk. I was at Fritz's with my sister and mother for dinner one evening when my mother jokingly asked if I was going to kill her. I said "it would be impossible" and "there's no way I could get away with something like that." I'll never forget that she said that. I can't believe she would say such a thing. That was well over a year ago. It must be how everyone feels about me. I must look scary to most people.

It's tough being alone but it gives me an opportunity to look at public behavior from an outside perspective. I have to question why people behave the way they do and react to certain things. I'm looking for a way in, a way to participate in the community, but the more I think about this community, the more I doubt that I want to participate.

I seek interesting people who like to discuss philosophy and science instead of sports, celebrities and deities. I found thirteen live-ones in a community of around a hundred thousand, and over two hundred and fifty on Myspace.com, scattered around the world.

At Myspace, everyone finds and posts articles that are emblematic of their perspective, and that's how we find one-another, but actually gathering members in real life at an event is next to impossible because we all keep such drastically different schedules. It gets lonely.

Foot status

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:39:00 +0000

My foot pain is getting better. I was eating lunch at restaurants instead of getting healthy raw vegetables and fruit at the grocery store. I can't eat anything processed anymore. There are far too many chemicals, highly concentrated salt, fat and sugar in pre-packaged and most restaurant food. I can't eat beef or seafood, but I can eat some chicken.

I went from a waist size 48 down to 44. There's a long way to go yet, but I can see a difference, not only in my appearance, but in the way other people treat me. Now if I only had hair.

My quality of life

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:08:00 +0000

The pain in my foot has kept me down for days. I keeps coming back and the only way I know to fight it is to starve myself and only drink water.

My quality of life has been bankrupt since 2001 without the help of medical jackals. If my quality of life is further diminished by debt from medical bills, it really doesn't matter if I live anyway, what's the difference?

Today

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:34:00 +0000

Today for lunch I drove in a huge loop around the perimeter of Springfield. Every next intersection I found nothing that interested me.

All the while I tried to imagine doing something different, wondering if there was some gathering place of interesting people who liked to discuss real issues instead of consumer distractions.

The next intersection, I thought, should have something new and interesting, this was not to be. Restaurants were still restaurants,different names. One bar became a used-car dealership.

I drove South on Rote 4, then East beyond the campuses of UIS and LLCC, north on Dirksen until I reached Walmart. I then headed west on Sangamon Ave, passed the state fairgrounds.

Culver's, Steak-n-Shake, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Denny's, Subway, bob Evans. Fat, Salt, Sugar, Wheat, Caffeine, Carbohydrates, Cholesterol.

Is such the fate of Springfield? How many times are they going to try a new restaurant at the same location before they figure it out? How many more steak houses and condominiums does this town need? I suppose as many as there are people who will grow tired of caring for their lawns and who tranquilize themselves on beef and potatoes, falling asleep in front of the television at night.

Still driving I wound up going south on Route 4 again from the state fairgrounds all the way to Wabash again, and finally stopped and ate at Panda Express, the first place I told myself I was not going to eat.

As I drove, I remembered my father subscribed to Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines, cooking, drinking and listening to baseball on the radio in his condo. When I visited him as a child I would often look out the upper windows across the repetitive architectural landscape which appeared vast and lifeless during the day, but which came to life at night in the form of dull bluish flickering glow in the windows, of television light shining on the drawn translucent shades. The streets empty, lit only by the amber glow of streetlights.

His fate was that he be overtaken by his lifestyle. I can't help but think I am trapped here, that our futures have been laid before us on rails set by capitalism that appeals to instant gratification, set by the inevitably shrinking variety of choices we are allowed by our corporate masters, simply because we chose gratification over sustainability.

Everywhere I go, every intersection, every turn, every large building serves as a reminder of my history here in Springfield, and a future shared, but ignorantly so, by all.

Between Christmas and The New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:25:00 +0000

I don't know how I feel about the period between Christmas and the new year. Most employers are not in the mood for interviewing until at least a week after the beginning of the year. It's going to be a strange time for me because I theoretically could load up my car and hit the road out of this town for good.

Here are some reasons I feel like I'm on the verge of walking away.

I have no debt. The only thing I really must wait for in the mail is my W2 from last year which should be easy because I was unemployed the whole time. It's just a matter of where to go and how to forward mail.

As soon as I hear from one of the myriad employers I contacted, I can start making some definite plans that will land me on the ground at my next destination.

If my own productivity leaves me with enough income it won't matter where I go.
I'm not currently bound by any mortgage or any rental obligation.

Places I thought would be cool to visit are now basically disasters of job shortage or drought.

I really just need to know that if I pick a spot somewhere in the world, I could find reasonable shelter there.

My Christmas shopping is done

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:45:00 +0000

What do I do now? I would like a job, but right now everyone who is capable of hiring is dealing with banks who refuse to lend them money. While I'm bored I should do some thinking exercises.

The one thing that frustrates me is wishing I had done something earlier. I must force myself out of my short-term thinking process. One way to do it might be to imagine that an upcoming event is either moments away from happening or has already happened. I'm not sure if this method will work, but I'll give it a shot and see how long it takes to generate ideas that would normally not occur until it is too late.

It turns out that there is an event horizon of thought processes that affects nearly everyone. It's the threshold between long-term planning and short-sightedness. Everyone has short-term thinking, it's called "thinking in the box."

It's the time we tell ourselves "I wish I had done..." or "I wish I had thought of that earlier." You know, "Should have, would have, could have" and so on.

For example, some legislator comes up with the brilliant idea to cap malpractice liability claims at half a million dollars, the idea being to prevent doctors from fleeing the state of Illinois due to rising malpractice insurance premiums.

Unfortunately, the insurance companies caught wind of the idea long before its enactment, and the insurance companies raised premiums in advance, to a level based on the assumption that the law was passed.

Following the law's passage, the insurance companies had the luxury of flattening their rate increase for a period long enough for the politicians to proclaim that the law worked. A brilliant strategic illusion based on the assumption that the public's short-term thought processes would draw the same conclusion, which they did.

Insurance companies and credit card companies have all the experts that study consumer behavior patters, and specifically, the way consumers think in terms of short and long. Between the two lies the golden median, the big money-maker.

Yeah, I wish I had thought of it earlier, but It's one of those things that I would not have learned without spending enough time in my current situation.

My blue card arrived yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:34:00 +0000

My Permanent Employee Registration Card arrived from the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

The card says "The below named individual has met requirements for registration under the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security and Locksmith Act of 2004."

I waited for this card for over a month. I only got it because someone was interested in hiring me, but wouldn't interview me until I got my card.

I assume that by now they already hired someone else, I guess it wouldn't hurt to look into it anyway.

Now I'm waiting for my "Illinois Blue Card."

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:52:00 +0000

A security company was interested in hiring me, but they wouldn't interview me before I got my "Illinois Blue Card" or "Permanent Employment Registration Card" (PERC) through the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations.

It's been a month and I'm still waiting for my PERC card. At least my finger prints cleared through the F.B.I.

I want to start my own business, I have some hardware and software but I have no capital or collateral for a loan because I sold my old house back in 2003 to get out of debt. At least I'm debt-free for now.

I'm an E5 military veteran who graduated from both technical school and college, who has a clean record verified by the F.B.I. who also happens to be debt-free. Anyone in Springfield interested in hiring me?

visit http://www.fredslocombe.com

Still looking for work

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I'm still looking for work.

I picked up yet another domain name for my menagerie. www.Buylocalspringfield.com

There are all kinds of local non-profit organizations with people who know about getting grants or have themselves set up to legally accept donations for their causes.

I don't.

I'm just a technical person who knows a little about computers, the Internet, graphic design, video production and photography.

Here's what I have to date.

http:www.atheistinsurgency.com
http:www.bachelortimes.com
http:www.buylocalspringfield.com
http:www.coffeecoup.net
http:www.empiredusk.com
http:www.fredslocombe.com
http:www.iicc-iesi.org
http:www.menagerieofmadness.com
http:www.sageofspringfield.com
http:www.spfld.net
http:www.spfld.tv
http://safeworkspace.blogspot.com

There are blogs, Google accounts, MySpace pages, Ning.com accounts, and many message board accounts associated with most of the aforementioned sites.

I'm not really a business person, but if I were to start a business, my model would be unrecognizable.

I can't just do the typical in-your-face advertising everyone else does. I did that for eight years working for the cable company. I have this idealized sense of justice and service to small local businesses who are being steamrolled by multinational conglomerates and I'm tired of the same type of advertising.

It's better to just be easily accessible, direct, concise and associated with community support programs. The main contest is exposure, exposure exposure. The opponents are the national franchises and multinational conglomerates.

I only have my one PC and a few gadgets.
I wish I had an office somewhere accessible to local businesses.

The newest way to do business - do favors.

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Slocombe) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:21:00 +0000

Since I was downsized, I'm focusing on my skills at my computer and with my digital camera. I'm gaining experience by doing favors for people. Digital photography and Adobe Creative Suite 4 allow me to create fliers, posters, websites, electronic forms, presentation slides, T-shirts, mugs, calendars, magazines, posters, and other forms of communication, for free.

Yes, free. Just because I'm unemployed doesn't mean I shouldn't stop gaining experience.

I enrolled in online training at Lynda.com and every day I spend at least two hours training on software such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash, Acrobat Pro, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more.

If you visited www.spfld.net in the past you may see some improvements as a result of my continued education. I’m currently working my way through Flash Action Script 3.

The rest of my time is spent looking for work. I occasionally volunteer at a PBS television station, work on other websites, and get involved in political and social causes.

So the new way of doing things, since no one is willing to pay me, is to just keep doing it for free. If you have a problem with that, hire me before I officially start my own business.