Looking For Work as a Graphic Artist

These days, I continue to look for a full-time position as a graphic artist. It is not an easy task. I have gone to a number of job boards, which I am told is only a small percentage of a job search. Just going to job boards make you a "jammie jobber" which is what a speaker at Career Connections called it. You also have to network, spreading out connections the way a spider plant spreads out new baby plants and those baby plants spread out baby plants and so forth. In other words, word gets around that you are a decent graphic artist and somebody who knows somebody might be able to give your name to someone who needs just the kind of job you do, which in my case, is a graphic artist. Part of the job search also entails what is called "cold calls" which entails you going to the company armed with your resume and a business card and introducing yourself to the company. Many times you get as far as the receptionist whose job it is to weed out people like you so the people in the company don't get bothered and your resume and business card will end up in the file known as the trash can. If it is a busy day, especially in advertising where there are tight deadlines to be met, the last thing they want to do is talk to some possible new recruit. The key is to talk to someone on the lower rungs who works there and maybe they can get you an "in." I have also gone to job seekers groups and am involved with a local networking group. I have 500+ connections on LinkedIn and have spread the word there that I am looking for a graphic artist position. I am doing everything I can.

Also, if you do manage to get an interview, sometimes you will have to interview with the human resources person who probably won't know the lingo of the work you do. In my case, they might not know about InDesign or Illustrator and might think that 'Dreamweaver' was an old song from the 70's, not a cool program for developing websites. You would be lucky to get an interview with an art director because that person would know the lingo and would better know your skills and how they would apply to the job.

A problem I face is that I haven't worked in an office in advertising since the mid 90's. I was a stay-at-home mom for a number of years, doing freelance work when the opportunity arose. Being a stay-at-home mom, especially one for kids with learning disabilities (both of mine have ADHD and dyslexia) entails all of the skills required for many of these jobs which includes:

Multitasking (multiple school meetings, school programs, school projects, doctor appointments, testing )

Communications (with teachers, counselors,doctors, etc.)

Quality Control (making sure your children's modifications are being met, required ARD meetings, meetings with counselors and teachers, etc.)

You have many multiple jobs, it's a great deal of responsibility. You are the one in charge of the education your children are getting, nobody else will do it for you and it's a big responsibility. Plus, I worked part-time while being a stay-at-home mom and did freelance work, so I wasn't just laying around watching soap operas. Do people even watch those things anymore?

Another obstacle I face is that I am over 50, which in some circles, is considered a "senior citizen." They don't realize that those of us in that age range have children who are grown and they don't have to leave work or miss work for sick kids. We have a lot experience and a variety of skills that some younger people haven't acquired yet.

All I need is for someone to give me a chance. I have illustration, layout and design skills that would be an asset to a company in need of a graphic artist.

Drip Drip Drop Little Plumbing Problem...

 It was a typical gray, rainy Monday. I had been feeding the animals in the outside exhibit at the Heard Natural History Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary. I got a phone call from my brother. He doesn't call unless there's a problem and there was a problem, a big problem. He told me the water heater alarm was going off.  I had to leave Jeffrey who was also working at the Heard, there because he still had work to do.Fortunately, my work was done. I made the 20 minute drive home, it felt like it took an hour. Every light I came to turned red and seemed to last forever, meanwhile horrible visions of a water fall spilling down the stairs was going through my mind. What went wrong? How much water are we talking about here? It's amazing what your imagination can cook up. At the same time, I was hoping it was just a little seepage but that would have been quite an amazing miracle. When I finally got home and rushed inside, I heard the alarm we had put in the water heater pan years ago. It didn't give off the usual shrill screech, but sounded more like a sick bird. Meanwhile, I heard the sound of the pitter-patter of raindrops, normal for a rainy Monday, but not normal for inside the house. The song that goes, "Drip, drip drop little April shower" from the movie, 'Bambi' comes to mind, except it was November and it was inside.  It was raining upstairs inside the house! Dan had put buckets, pots and pans where the water was drizzling through the ceiling. I dashed upstairs to the attic and sure enough, the water was overflowing from the pan around the water heater. The alarm sounded like a sick bird because it was under water in the pan. It's amazing that it even worked at all!

I tried to turn the water off at the heater while calling my husband. The spigot at the top the heater was stiff and caked with calcium. I could not budge it. Steve suggested that I try to shut off the water at the street. I opened the lid to the water shut-off valve at the street, but even with the shut-off key, the valve wouldn't budge. I then tried to call a plumber we had used before. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing told me that they didn't have any openings, but they could come out for an emergency after 5 PM for $180 an hour. That was not an option.  Next I went to Google and typed in "Plumber in McKinney." 'Al's Plumbing and Heating' stood out, so I called them. They were very helpful on the phone. They said that we needed the to get the water turned off and since they couldn't get there right away, they said to call the fire department. They gave me a number to call them so I wouldn't have to call 911. The fire department got here very quickly and they were WONDERFUL! Kudos to the McKinney fire department! They couldn't turn off the water at the heater, so they went to turn the water off at the street. That was even difficult because of where the shut-off valve was, right up against the inside of the hole, but they shut it off quickly. Then they went into the attic, using our little carpet cleaner, they sucked a bunch of water out.  They were so nice and reassuring. They told us to contact our insurance company.

Steve got here when the fire department was here. I can imagine what he must have thought, seeing the huge fire truck sitting in front of our house with it's lights blinking. Steve was wonderful. He went and picked up Jeffrey at work at the Heard after helping me find paperwork with our homeowners' insurance number on it. I am very thankful that I was able to speak with an insurance agent at this time because when I tried to contact them a few days later on an issue regarding restoration, everyone in the office was in a meeting and nobody was available to talk.

Then, my brother and I had to get the cats so they wouldn't dash outside or up into the attic. They were freaked out by all of the activity, the water in the house, the fire department and stuff like that. Finding them was not easy, although it was easy to find Sprinkles. She was on top of the refrigerator, her latest secure spot to keep away from the other cats. We found Tiger. We had a lot of trouble finding Yukki, she was really freaked out. After what seemed like an hour, my brother finally found Yukki and we put her with the other cats in the master bedroom, which is off to the side and thankfully was unaffected by the water.

Then, Al's plumbing arrived and got started. At least the water hadn't gushed out of the water heater tank; they had to drain the tank and it's a 50 gallon water heater.  They got it replaced pretty quickly.They hauled out the old one and hauled the new one up the stairs and up into the attic. That was a feat there because you have to get to the attic using this extending ladder. The plumbers would have hauled off the old water heater, but the insurance company told us to hang on to it so they can see it. Now we look like hillbillies with an old water heater sitting out in the backyard. The plumbers recommended a company called 'Dry Force' to come in and dry out the mess. They called them for us. I had to get an okay from the insurance company because they had another company coming out, but we never heard from their company and we were told that the drying process has to begin as soon as possible. The new water heater was installed and ready to go. That was expensive! I'm glad this house doesn't have two water heaters like some do!

Dry Force arrived and the doorbell rang once again. Our dog, Mocha, was going nuts because every time the doorbell rings, she thinks it's the pizza man arriving. She really likes the pizza man. She really likes pizza. The guys from Dry Force were wonderful. They were very reassuring and explained everything they were doing. The plumbers said these guys would find the water, and that they did. When water leaks, it does all kinds of things and goes everywhere.  When I had first come home, it was only raining upstairs. Then it started raining through the air vent in the downstairs bathroom under the stairs. After that, it started raining in the garage. These guys have electronic sensors that beep and light up red when moisture is detected. They were running these sensors all over walls where the water had come down and finding out where the water went.

I'm sure we were real popular with the neighbors that day, we live on a small street and at one point there were two Dry Force vans and two plumbing trucks in front of our house and that was after the big fire truck had been parked in front of our house a little earlier.

The ceiling of our garage with water coming through and the tape sagging down with water. 

They told me that if the water isn't taken care of in 48 to 72 hours, that mold would start to grow. At first, one insurance agent had told us not to start anything. Then, one of the guys from Dry Force and I had a conversation with another insurance agent over a speaker phone and this guy said it was our responsibility to get the water taken care of as soon as possible and gave Dry Force the okay to start drying things out.

They had to tear out wooden flooring in the attic, baseboards along the wall under the water heater. They had to remove lots of insulation. I saw it sitting in a huge plastic bag with water pooling in the bottom of the bag. I was very happy that they were taking care of it. They also had to rip out wet padding under the carpet; the carpet in that area had squished with every step. They cut two holes in the ceiling of the bathroom downstairs so that the inside of those walls could be dried out.

Ceiling of our downstairs bathroom with holes

Then they had to remove the ceiling sheet rock in most of the garage as well as some of one of the walls. You could see where the water had run across the ceiling. There were stains around the tape. I'm just glad that most of it was in the garage and hadn't gone into the kids' rooms or any rooms containing a TV or computer, or my husband's guitars. Then they brought in the air movers and dehumidifiers. The air movers are large squirrel-cage fans that really put out the air. The dehumidifiers were about the size of skinny dishwashers, much bigger than the kind we used to put in our basements in Ohio. One day earlier at the Fort Worth Zoo, there was a tube you could get into to feel the force of 80 mph wind like from a tornado. Jeffrey tried it and I'm sure a fan like this was used in that tube.

Jeffrey in tornado wind booth at the Fort Worth Zoo

 An Air Mover

Air movers and a dehumidifier drying out the upstairs hallway

They worked until about 11:30 PM, they even had another shift of technicians come in about 8 or 9 PM. They would have been there all night if we let them, but we asked them if they could stop work at 11:30 PM and start where they left off the next day. The humming and whirring of fans and dehumidifiers had begun. On Tuesday, the Dry Force technicians returned and continued their hard work. There was one guy named 'Jesse' that was particularly nice. He explained everything that they were doing and why it had to be done. I was so glad they were there. It smelled damp, like a dank basement up north, especially in the garage. It was quite humid in the garage.

Garage Ceiling After the Drying Out

The Dry Force technicians really worked hard and gave it all they've got. In the evening, Steve, Stacy and I were watching TV in the bedroom when the whirring and rumbling of fans got louder. A dehumidifier that's almost as big as a washing machine was put in our downstairs living room. The Dry Force guys had been doing the math and figuring out the square footage of the area that has to be dried. Based on that, they set up another dehumidifier, that big sucker that was in our living room. Then came the plastic, lots and lot of plastic.  It kind-of reminded me of 'ET.' I've met customers at the grocery store, who can't stand the feel of plastic and this would have freaked them out. We had plastic sheets hanging in the doorways to the kitchen and the computer room as well as the window between the kitchen and downstairs living room. The Garage was a plastic wonderland with plastic draped over all of our stuff. There was even plastic over the garage fridge, which we had to move to the side every time we needed to get anything out of the fridge.

It's Plastic Land!

We had to keep the cats contained in the back bedroom, except for Sprinkles because she doesn't get along with the other cats. She stayed in Jeff's room. All week long, 24/7 was the constant whirring of the fans and dehumidifiers. It didn't bother me that much because I grew up in a house that didn't have central air-conditioning. We had 2 window units and fans set up all over the house to circulate the air, so I was used to the whirring fans all summer long. In fact, here, when the weather cools off and the air-conditioning doesn't run as much, it's almost a little too quiet. The only thing was, we couldn't hear the doorbell, we relied on the dog to let us know when we had visitors. She always heard the doorbell, even over the fans and dehumidifiers. Also, Dan would wait out on the porch on the bench when Dry Force was due to come out. Then he would tell us when Dry Force was here. They came out nearly every day. An insurance adjuster came out and took pictures, only to have his camera battery die when he came out to take pictures of the busted water heater in our back yard. A guy from Dry Force Restoration came out to do an estimate. That was the day I tried to contact someone from our insurance company to discuss restoration, only to have everyone in a meeting. They finally called back and left a message saying not to let Dry Force Restoration start any restoration work until they've approved the estimate. It's a good thing we still had drying going on.

 Great Big Dehumidifier that was downstairs

(They told me that they have an even bigger one.)

Fans and plastic tubing in downstairs bathroom

 Fans and Dehumidifiers that were used to dry our house out.

Another shot of our garage ceiling.

On Friday, a supervisor for Dry Force named 'Ben' came over and found another place that got wet. The inside of my brother's closet had taken on a little water. Upon taking a bunch of stuff out of his closet, we found 2 wet boxes. One had pictures from my grandmother and great-grandmother which my mother had placed in plastic. We found a cedar box with photos in it the box got a little damp, but mom had put a towel in the bottom of the box, so the photos did not get wet. The water only got about a foot inside the closet. The Dry Force guy took up the carpet pad and baseboards. Then he hooked up a dehumidifier right next to my brother's closet. He put the cedar box up in the closet so the heat would rise and dry the box in the closet. He found dampness that the other guys hadn't found. Dry Force is lucky to have him working for them. Today, another Dry Force technician came and collected the fans and dehumidifiers. When they were all turned off, the sudden silence was a shock. The song, 'Sounds of Silence' comes to mind, this was a silence that actually had a sound, or lack of one. We had become accustomed to the drone and whirring of the fans and dehumidifiers all week. It was especially noticeable when the huge dehumidifier was turned off. 

It was interesting, after it was all said and done and the driers and dehumidifiers were back at Dry Force's office, Steve and I watched a movie called 'Deep Blue Sea' and one the problems they had was water coming in, big time, only this was more like water on the scale of the Titanic. I thought man, they're going to have to call Dry Force and that it would take an awfully big dehumidifier to dry up that mess!  Our house is now dried out. We just have to wait for the insurance company to approve the restoration. That's going to be a whole new mess. Stay tuned.

Drip Drip Drop Little April Shower from 'Bambi': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXzb08oTGdc

Snap Crackle Pop Part 2

It's been a week since my cataclysmic tumble down the stairs that broke the 5th Metacarpal bone in my right foot. Putting weight on the foot is forbidden, so I have to walk around on crutches, which means my arms have to lift my body weight with every step I take, no twirling, dancing around or rollerblading. Now many people, including my own kids, have walked with crutches and know what I'm talking about. It's not fun. Rolling around the house on a computer chair is kind-of fun, but lifting my whole body weight with my arms is not. My arms and shoulders are still sore, although not as much, but still, I have a very long way to go before building upper body strength that can lift my body weight on crutches for any distance. I get dizzy on the crutches, especially first thing in the morning and at these times, it's difficult to completely lift my right foot off of the ground.The simplest things have become much more complicated from putting laundry away to getting things ready for breakfast.

Reusable bags like you use for groceries come in real handy in carting stuff on crutches, you just have to remember not to load the bags up too heavily because that's more weight you're lifting in addition to your body weight on the crutches. Also, I have a drafting table along with a tall chair to make it possible to work at the table. This chair comes in real handy when working in the kitchen, because it's a tall chair. I can work at the counters. I can pull myself along the counters from the sink, to the stove, to the coffeemaker, to the fridge. The only problem is that we have ceramic tile floors and the wheels get caught in the grout lines and my feet don't reach the floor. I try to push it using the crutches kind of like oars, but I can't get up enough momentum. I just have to push off hard enough to overcome the grout lines and try not to run into the counters.

What also comes in handy when you're on crutches, is one of those metal water bottles with a screw-on cap, especially if the screw-on cap has a clip attached to it. I put a lanyard on the clip and can cart the water bottle while on crutches. I can fill it at the refrigerator while on the rolling chair. Also wearing clothes with pockets in them comes in handy, you can haul small stuff in your pockets, as long as it's not an ice cube, while traversing the floor on crutches.

Also, I have a small computer chair on wheels that I can use for sorting laundry or trips down the hallway. My brother, who lives with us, is a tremendous help in getting stuff, hauling stuff like bags of laundry if needed. I highly recommend using a shoulder bag as a purse and putting it over your head and one shoulder. With just putting it over the shoulder, it can get dropped easily and bending over to pick something up is an even bigger pain in the neck.

Also, I am still looking for a full-time job and should I get lucky enough to get called in for an interview, I'd have to have one of my kids drive me to the interview place and I can just imagine the impression I would make on a prospective employer, hobbling in on crutches wearing this big walking boot that is building up a healthy collection of cat hair. I guess it'd be okay if he or she liked cats.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a fracture of the 5th Metatarsal on my right foot. It is the last bone, leading to the pinkie toe. This type of fracture can occur due to a violent twist to the foot, which is what happened to me. It could be one of three different fractures, a Jones fracture, an avulsion fracture or a mid-shaft fracture. I looked all of this up on the internet. I have no earthly idea what kind it is but really hope in my deepest of hopes that it is not a Jones fracture. Jones fractures don't heal well due to low blood supply to the area of the break.

My daughter had once warned me not to look up medical conditions on the internet because it would show the worst of what could happen. She was right. I looked up "5th metatarsal fracture" on Google and came up with all kinds of scary stuff, including a number of colorful, graphic photos of what the surgery would look like should that be required. Seriously, they showed insides and everything and were totally and completely gross. In addition, there were forums that included post after post of people with 5th metatarsal fractures that weren't healing. Several of them had been on casts and crutches for weeks or even months and there was no sign of healing. That is a little scary because most of these people were younger than I am. In addition, I have Type 2 diabetes and diabetics take longer to heal, especially in the foot. I am, to be honest, a little bit antsy about the whole thing but remembering Stacy's warning about the internet.

Also, I read on the internet that this is a common sports injury. Beckham of soccer fame apparently once broke his 5th metatarsal. Also, it is a common break for ballet dancers. It can either be an acute break, or a result of stress. Stress breaks occur over time when the bone is repeatedly stressed over and over again from an offending activity. Mine is an acute break, it happened all at once, because I wanted to go downstairs. This one website said that breaking of the 5th Metatarsal is a painful injury, which I thought was odd, because ever since I got this boot (sometimes called a "Moon Boot"), I've had almost no pain.

For tough fractures that won't heal, there is a device called a "Bone Simulator" which sounds like something from 'The Jetsons.' I don't even know how it works. I wish it were like in 'Harry Potter' where they could wave a wand and do a bone knitting spell, or like on Star Trek, when you stick your foot in a device with little blinking lights on it and you're repaired, just like that, no crutches, no 'Moon Boots,' no casts, you're good as new. Unfortunately, much to the chagrin of any of us who have had to deal with one fracture or another, our technology hasn't reached that point in medical advancement as of yet. Even if it did, it would probably be outrageously expensive. So we heal the old-fashioned way, with crutches and 'Moon Boots' and pray and hope our bodies heal those bones as quickly as possible.

Tomorrow, I go to see the orthopedist and pray and hope he sees some sign of healing in my broken 5th Metatarsal. I'm going to just keep on praying, that's the best healing there is.

Snap Crackle Pop

First of all, this isn't about cereal. It's about a bone, a broken bone. Friday, I was going downstairs. Tippi, one of my cats had just gotten into some catnip (not on the steps) and was rolling around on one of the steps in pure bliss. As I was descending the stairs, I looked down at her and stepped to avoid her. I thought there was a step right below my foot. There wasn't. My foot slipped down to the next available step, turned suddenly sideways and I took a big tumble down about four steps and rolled onto the floor. It shook me up. I was mad at myself for being so clumsy. As I was falling down, I did hear something pop, but since my joints make little pops often, I thought it was just that, a joint sound. It hurt. You kind of expect to hurt a bit after a fall like that, so I didn't think anything of it. I even went upstairs and told my daughter what happened.

This was on a Friday. Why, oh why do these things always happen on a weekend!? I figured that I sprained my foot, so I kept it elevated and put ice on it. My husband and daughter went out and got me an Ace bandage and I wrapped my foot in it. I couldn't be on my feet on the weekend, so I called in to Kroger to tell them I couldn't be in. I felt bad because they are always busy on the weekend. Friday night, it really hurt, even when I held it still. Saturday, the pain was a little better and I could even put a little weight on my foot. Since it wasn't that painful, I figured that it had to be some sort of sprain.

By Sunday, a very colorful bruise started to blossom on top of my foot around the first toes. It was really quite a work of art, in various shades of a purplish blue. I was able to walk on it a little, and help with the barbecue that we had. I was even able to change out my hummingbird feeders. I had them inside while fixing the nectar. I was waiting for the nectar to cool off and was outside ready to toast a marshmallow on the grill when a  little female hummingbird flew right up to me, hovered and started chattering at me, as if to say, "Where's my food?" So I went inside and got the feeders ready. I was able to hang them up  with little pain to my foot and figured it was getting better.

The bruise was looking nastier and color was spreading to my toes. Jeff said, "You're going to the doctor tomorrow!" I didn't want to go to the ER because it is so expensive. Monday, Stacy filled in for me at the Heard museum.  After Jeff got home from work, he drove me to the doctor's. The doctor took one look at it and said that it looks broken. I was in complete denial. I said that it didn't hurt that bad. He sent me over for an x-ray. He looked at the film while I waited in the exam room and I heard him out in the hallway say, "...she broke it good!" Of course I hoped he was talking about someone else, but knew he wasn't. Then he walked into the room I was in and said, "You broke it good!"  I was crestfallen. I had never broken a bone before in my life. He showed me the film and right on a bone in my foot, I saw the fracture. There was no doubt about it, it was slanted and it was a definite break. The doctor said that I was tough.

He consulted with an orthopedic doctor from next door and he said that so far, no surgery was needed. I was grateful, I hate going under anesthesia. I had been using one crutch that was meant for a little kid (Jeff and Stacy had used them when they were little), the other crutch was broken, so I just used the one. The doctor loaned me a pair of adult-sized crutches, which took a lot of stress off of my foot.

Then Jeff took me to a nearby medical supply place on University Ave. to get me a "Short Walking Boot." Of course this place wasn't on our insurance. There was a place on the other side of town that was, but it was possible that the boot would be much more expensive and we would end up paying as much if not more even with insurance. After Jeff and I consulted with Steve on the phone, we decided to just go ahead and buy it there. Jeff was real sweet and paid for half of it. It's like fitting shoes, you have to try them on to see what a good fit is and a really nice lady there helped me out. Then I had to learn to walk with the boot on crutches. This is no easy task.

After I got home, I made Jeff a grocery list and he went an got groceries. With a broken foot in a big boot, you can't drive and walk around a grocery store. Jeff adjusted the crutches for me and I was trying to walk with them. That night, I "googled" how to walk with crutches and found out that I was doing it all wrong. The padded things at the top of them aren't supposed to touch the inside of your armpits. You have to lift with your arms. Lifting my entire body weight, plus a walking boot, is no easy task. My arms are not used to this. After about a day of this, my arms were sore to the point it was painful to walk with the crutches. I am supposed to use the crutches and only touch the toe of my broken foot to the ground, but I can't do that all the time. It hurts my arms too much. I have to build up muscle in my arms and that will take some time. The lady that helped me with the boot said I have to walk with it by gently rolling back to front and that's a lot easier with the crutches than totally lifting the foot off of the ground. I'm trying to walk with my foot off the ground as much as possible, but my arms can only take so much. I haven't even attempted steps yet. The kids don't want me to do that.

So, here I am, 48 hours later, off of my feet, thinking of all of the stuff that needs to be done. I am frustrated and angry at myself for being clumsy. My family tells me that it was just an accident. My family is taking excellent care of me, getting me stuff so I don't have to get on my feet. My arms are still throbbing from having to lift my entire body to get from point A to point B. It apparently takes from 4 to 6 weeks to heal. I am a diabetic and diabetics heal more slowly, especially in the feet. All I can do is pray for quick healing and take care of this thing so it doesn't take any longer than necessary to heal. Never take your feet for granted and always be careful going downstairs, especially when there's a cat who's high on catnip rolling around on one of the steps.

 On another note, I need to ask the kids to change out the hummingbird feeders for me. I don't want to disappoint our little hummingbird.

Myths

There are all kinds of myths in existence. There's a whole television series about whether or not these myths are really true. A lot of them are totally untrue. These guys go to a lot of trouble to disprove some of these myths, some started by movies and silly rumors. There are a lot of untrue myths that have given bats a bad reputation. They will not get tangled in your hair, they are not flying rodents, they are not evil creatures of the night, and the main percentage of them are not vampires. Bats are beneficial creatures that seriously control insect populations making food for us more affordable. Some bats pollinate plants that make a lot of products available to us, such as coffee, chocolate, agave (for Tequilas) and bananas. Rain forests rely on bats to replant them. Many people are afraid of bats because of their appearance and because they fly around at night. They don't realize that flying foxes can look like puppies and come out during the day. Bats are highly intelligent, some say they are as intelligent as dolphins. Yet some people insist on hanging onto old myths that are just plain lies.

This morning, in The Dallas Morning News, I read about another myth, which is causing all kinds of problems. It involves people in their 50's trying to find a job. Many potential employers seem to think that people in their 50's or older are undesirable to hire. It is thought that people in their 50's and beyond are ready to go out to pasture and cannot deal with the current technological challenges that today's work place requires. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just this morning, my husband, who is in his 50's, was fixing the fans on my son's computer. He built that computer from scratch. He knows his way around computers and computer software better than people young enough to be his kids.

 People in their 50's have watched computers develop through the years, from giant monoliths that filled an entire room and only had about 3k memory to today's smart phones loaded with apps that do just about anything except fix the dinner. In twenty years when today's babies are adults, they will see today's state of the art electronics in older movies and laugh. It's a matter of keeping up with current technology, which is continuously changing. Everybody needs to keep up with technology, no matter how old or how young they may be.

Basically, what I'm saying is for those in the power to hire, is to have an open mind and not to rely on unrealistic myths. Give someone in their 50's a chance, they have life experience, many have raised children and have had responsibilities way beyond meeting a deadline. They are special people and deserve consideration. Don't let a myth stand in the way of hiring someone outstanding, very special and unique.

A New Beginning

I am embarking  on a new beginning. I have begun to search for a full-time job as a graphic artist. I worked full-time as a graphic artist a few years ago. My husband had a good position as a Senior Copywriter at JCPenney catalog and I was a layout artist in JCPenney's retail area, both of us worked at the home office in Plano. We realized that my job was pretty much paying for daycare for our two kids. We decided that it would be better for me to stay home with the kids and take on free-lance work.

Stacy was a toddler and Jeff was in elementary school. It was great, especially on cold, rainy mornings, we didn't have to haul the kids to the daycare center at 6:30 in the morning. Also, we were finding out that Jeffrey had learning disabilities and later discovered that Stacy had learning disabilities as well. With me being home, I could go to meetings during the day, called ARD meetings, to discuss their modifications with the teachers and counselors. This was not something I could do while working a full-time job.

I worked part-time at stores such as MJDesigns, Michael's and Hobby Lobby to help with expenses. I could work nights and weekends when my husband was home and be home during the day for the kids. It was nice, I liked doing this. It came in handy to be home when we got ready to move to McKinney because I needed the time for packing boxes and helping the family fix up the house in Arlington.

After we moved to McKinney, I worked at the Hobby Lobby in Allen for a while. Then an opportunity came up to volunteer at the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary. It was because of a question about a Black Swallowtail caterpillar that I e-mailed their curator about. She asked if we wanted to volunteer there. My daughter, Stacy, had very much wanted to volunteer at a place like this. We volunteered for a year or two, feeding the animals in the live room (turtles, snakes, skinks, etc.). Then the Heard got in an exhibit of mammals that were put in cages they had outside that previously held raptor birds. I had gotten a job with the Heard Museum as a teaching assistant for their pre-school class as well as helping with summer camp classes and some home-school science classes for kids aged 8-10. I was also working at the front desk in the gift shop from time to time. The kids and I ended-up with jobs to feed and care for the animals in the outdoor exhibit.

A few years later, I got a part-time job at a local Kroger store to help with expenses. I liked it there, the people I worked with were really nice and I got a 10% discount on Kroger brand items. I still work there.

JCPenney was going through serious changes and after 23 years, on 11/11/11, they ended my husband's position as Senior Copy Chief. After about three months of hard work, looking for a job and applying for jobs, Steve found a good job. It doesn't pay as much as the job at JCPenney but the people there are very nice and he really likes it.

We knew that I would have to find a full-time job. Then our daughter got her Associate's at Collin College and got accepted at UNT in Denton. It's too expensive to live in the dorms, so she needed a car to commute to Denton from McKinney and back. So we got her a car. With the car payments and insurance, we need something more than my two part-time jobs. So, I am beginning to look for a full-time job. This is my new beginning.

Graphic arts is what I know how to do, I am a good illustrator and designer. This is the type of job I am seeking. I was trained in Adobe Photoshop and Quark Express on a Mac at JCPenney. We have had Adobe Photoshop Elements and have used it frequently in re-touching photos.  In order to update my skills, we got Adobe CS5 which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign and through an account on Lynda.com, I have been learning this plus Microsoft Excel and Word.

There are a few challenges in this current job search. First of all, potential employers might prefer someone my kids' age, however I don't think of myself as old. Others however might want to know what kind of spear worked best for catching a Woolly Mammoth or if my graphic arts experience included drawing petroglyphs on cave walls. Honestly, I don't feel old and many people tell me that I do not look my age. Further more, there are more baby boomers and they are going to figure into a large part of an advertiser's target market and who better to work this angle than a baby boomer,

There is also a demand for people to know how to build and change web pages. I've done some HTML. I built several websites in the late 90's using a template provided by Netscape, which no longer exists. There are templates and programs these days that are so much easier and efficient than those old programs. There is something known as Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, which I've heard is like HTML on steroids. Through Lynda.com, I've learned a little about them, that one feeds off another, that feeds off another and so forth and that they take considerable programming skills. I have heard that most companies have templates and programs for building or adjusting web pages so the pages don't have to be done using pure code. The thing is, I am more than willing to learn how to manipulate a web page using current technology. I want to learn this. I want to be up to date. It is necessary in today's constantly changing computer technology.

There is another challenge, which involves the gap in my career as a graphic artist. There have been a few years since I've worked as a graphic artist. Graphic arts does not involve feeding mongooses, gray fox, raccoon or deer, there's not a lot of demand for that, but it requires taking responsibility and being dependable. The animals need to be fed, whether it's Christmas or any other holiday. If there is an ice storm it's freezing cold outside and everybody stays home from work, we still have to feed the animals. They're like people, they need to eat and have water every single day. Their health and well being needs to be checked. Each animal has different dietary requirements that have to be met with every meal we prepare for them. The inventory of food for them has to be gone over to make sure there will be enough of the food they require every day. I can handle responsibility and am reliable.

I have also continued doing my artwork through the years, which involves drawing pet portraits, doing scratch boards, painting with oils and acrylics, painting T-shirts as well as various craft projects. I was involved with the Art Club of McKinney for a while and won several ribbons for my work in a few of their yearly art shows. I have also done cartoons for a dog breeder's monthly newsletter and caricatures of people at a JCPenney United Way fund raiser. I have also done cards, such as retirement cards with caricatures of the people on the card.

At the present, I work two part-time jobs. One is with the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary and the other is with the Kroger store on the weekends. Both have physical demands, at the Heard, I must haul a wagon of food up and down the hill and bring the food into the cages of the animals in all sorts of weather, from 102 degrees to 23 degrees, rain or shine. At Kroger, I am a courtesy clerk which involves standing all day, walking around the store and getting shopping carts off of the parking lots, rain or shine, in all kinds of weather. I can handle that better than some people who are half my age.

I am more than ready to embark on a new career as a Graphic Artist. I am willing to work very hard, learn and grasp any skills an employer wishes me to learn and do whatever it takes to do a wonderful job.

Princess

Just before we were to move from our old house to the new one in Gahanna, a beautiful long-haired white cat with a black spot on her back showed up in our yard. She started showing up every day. She didn't have a face that looked puffy like a Persian, she had a beautiful, sculptured face like that of a Turkish Angora. She was a dainty little lady, but she looked pregnant. We were just about to move and couldn't take in another cat at that time, especially a pregnant one. My mom found an office acquaintance who lived on an acreage who offered to take in Princess. Mom took Princess to her and not long after that, the lady told mom that Princess had kittens. I think she had three kittens and one of them looked just like her. The lady would occasionally give mom pictures of Princess and her kittens and she looked happy out there in the woods with her kittens.

Some time after we had moved to Gahanna and gotten settled in, my mom asked this lady about Princess. The lady told her she no longer had Princess, but I don't know why. This lady did keep the kittens. Mom found out that Princess was at the animal shelter and she went there straightaway to rescue her. When she got there, Princess was in the 'Biting Room.' She had apparently bitten someone. Princess was a sweet cat, she never once tried to bite any of us, she never hissed at us and never scratched us. She was always a lovely little lady, so this was a total mystery to us. I think somebody else had attempted to adopt her and it didn't work out so they returned her and I think maybe they were mean to her. That was upsetting, she was such a sweet cat. When mom got her, Princess was also missing a tooth. If my mom hadn't have come and gotten her, Princess would have been put to sleep.  My mom brought Princess home. We took her to the vet and got her checked out, that's when we found out that Princess was missing a tooth. We got her spayed, we didn't need  to deal with kittens or a cat in heat.

Then came the process of introducing her to the other two cats. Actually, from what I remember, it went fairly smoothly. Because she was a female, I guess the male cats didn't feel that threatened. Princess quickly became one of the family and she took a real liking to my mom. She was a sweet cat and never tried to bite anyone, not even the other cats. The only thing with her was her massive long hair. It got matted easily and often. We had to brush her frequently and she hated being brushed with a passion. She would fight it by squirming and then she would get lots of gas and I would have to stop brushing her. If she saw me with the brush, she would run and hide. I would try to reward her with treats after brushing her to try to make it a better experience, but it didn't work, she hated to be brushed. I tried to be really gentle and would have to cut the mats out. I did everything I could not to pull her hair.

Princess loved to watch birds. She was fascinated by them. She would watch them from a window or from the patio door for hours. She had probably caught them when she was on her own. She would love to play and pretend she was stalking a bird. She also loved feathers. If you waved a string around, she would go after it. She was quite playful. She still remembered her kittens. One day, the TV was on and a show with a litter of kittens was on. She heard the mewing on the TV and immediately looked behind the TV for her kittens. I felt bad that she missed her kittens and I could not bring them to her. She was a good mother.

We had Princess for only  2 or 3 years. One day, three days before Christmas, we found her dead in the basement. We had no idea she had been sick. She had been healthy, eating normally and looking just fine. We had gone out for breakfast that morning, then went shopping after that. We bought a Christmas ornament that with a battery in it, chirped like a bird (you could turn it on and off so it wouldn't drive you crazy). Princess loved birds and I remember that I couldn't wait to show it to her when we got home. We couldn't find her until I found her in the basement. It was completely heartbreaking.

We had a necropsy done on her (for humans, it's called an autopsy, for animals, it's called a necropsy). She had died of a disease called Hemolytic anemia. One of her kittens died of the same disease. It is the breakdown of red blood cells. Animals sometimes don't show that they're sick until it's near the end. It's how they survive in the wild without looking vulnerable. She was a very special, beautiful cat and we will always remember her.