Greetings from Massachusetts,
Furniture Store Update: This past weekend I got the chance to visit yet another furniture store. This time it was Rotman's in Worcester (FYI, "Worcester" is pronounced like "Wuhster"). Rotman's is a cavernous furniture store spread out among several connected factory buildings. You literally walk all over the place in the different furniture sections. Anyway, I was there because the furniture store happens to have a cafe where there is live music on Saturday nights. I saw the Boogaloo Swamis, a local Zydeco band.
Pronunciation Guide: There's a town in Massachusetts named "Peabody", except that "Peabody" is pronounced "Peab'dy". If someone offers you a "frappe" in Massachusetts, you get a milkshake. If someone offers you a "milkshake" in Rhode Island, you'll get a drink made out of milk and syrup-- no ice cream. A milkshake with ice cream in Rhode Island is called a "cabinet". A submarine-style sandwich is called a "grinder" in Rhode Island. Also in Rhode Island, a water fountain is called a "bubbler", except that it's pronounced "bubblah". In Massachusetts, a "rotary" is a traffic feature where intersecting roads meet in a circle. You merge into the circle, traveling counter-clockwise. When you reach the road you want to exit at, you exit the circle. "Rotaries" are called "traffic circles" in New York. If you want to see a traffic circle close to Buffalo, you can find one in Johnson City, near the Oakdale Mall.
Strange Things Seen at the Company Store: Spaghetti-strap, cropped tank top with Sun logo. 1) No employee would wear this item. Sun is a lot of fun, but it's no Baywatch. Not even Baywatch Nights. I suppose that maybe someone might have a teenaged daughter at home, but... 2) You'd never buy this for your teenaged daughter, and... 3) Your teenaged daughter would never wear this company logo tank top anyway. There are three piles of these tank tops, in three different colors, at the store. Perhaps if worn with a blazer, a crop tank top could be considered "business casual"?
In the October 22, 2000 BostonWorks section, an article about college job fairs. "Companies will do just about anything to get students to their tables... One recruiter was inexplicably wearing a fake lobster on his head." Was this guy at UB's Technical Job Fair? The article goes on about how students are ignoring salaries and benefits in favor of finding jobs that make them feel good about themselves and work.
Also, in the same section, an article about Akibia spending $50,000 to recruit at the Head of the Charles regatta. They've got a tent at the boat race, a plane to fly overhead with a banner, and a giveaway of free pint glasses (with company logo) in bars. Their advertising campaign message: "Great Perks, No Jerks."
Movie of the day: "Leprechaun in the Hood" (2000) Warwick Davis, Ice-T. Evil leprechaun chases rappers who stole a magic flute. (R) (91m.)
NOVEMBER 10, 2000 IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT RESUMES FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS WITH THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES. GO TO THE CAREER PLANNING "ONLINE CAREER OFFICE" WEB SITE TO APPLY:
Job seekers, if you are seeking a high-tech job in the Buffalo area, research potential employers:
Once again, some of the more notable and/or amusing advertisements from the past two weeks' Boston Sunday Globe's "Boston Works" section.
Lucent Technologies (www.lucent.com/hireme/) is on Page 3. They were having an open house. Many companies in this area have open house job fairs. I heard a radio ad where you can meet some New England Patriots player at an upcoming open house. Speaking about football, the Bills play the Patriots this week. I saw the game this past Sunday-- Flutie was looking pretty good. People in this area love Doug Flutie. They love him better here than they do in Buffalo. The next time I'm in Buffalo, I'm going to snag some boxes of stale Flutie Flakes. They might be a hot commodity here. Anyway, that's enough about Lucent.
Akamai also had an open house. They claim, "at Akamai, we're launching the Internet of the future by making Web congestion a thing of the past." Isn't it more likely that web browsers choke while trying to download an Akamai banner ad? They also say, "Professionally speaking, we're one cool place to work. Think fast-breaking challenges... high-intensity teamwork... and an environment that encourages innovative initiative." I note that they are also looking to hire "copywriters".
Lionbridge's ad says, "We're building bridges to the Internet. Our employees are building careers to the future."
"Configure this. This is the Internet. It's the Wild Wild West and we're arming the federal marshals to restore law and order." Gold Wire Technology (www.goldwiretech.com). This is that company that is raffling off a Porsche Boxster to a new hire.
ATG had an open house held at the Watch City Brewing Company in Waltham. (www.atg.com/greatjobs/). They have Java Development positions. If you contact them, ask them about "the cozy workspaces, regular socials, free soda, and other cool perks that make working at ATG, well, fun!".
"Celox Networks is a dynamic organization that offers competitive compensation, stock options and extraordinary employee benefits.. and FREE FOOD and BEVERAGES!" (www.celoxnetworks.com).
Would you like a $50,000 sign-on bonus? Centillium Communications (www.centillium.com) claims to offer this bonus for "exceptional engineers". I have no idea what they would offer an unexceptional engineer.
Rational Software (www.rational.com/careers/) is looking for Java and C++ programmers, among others. They, too, had an open house.
Raqia Networks (www.raqia.com) needs people with "C++ String Matching Expertise" and Linux Device Driver Engineers. They offer "sign-on bonus, 100% paid company health plans, stock options, and FREE FOOD and BEVERAGES." They also offer a Dell PC or Apple Power Mac G4 Cube with 19" monitor for employees. I wouldn't mind having one of those G4 Cubes, if it came with a flat-panel monitor. I saw one at CompUSA-- it looks really cool.
E-dialog has an ad which resembles an screenshot of an email program, "From: Frank N. Stein, To: All Trick-or-Treaters, Date: Today, Subject: Goolish [sic] Job Opportunities." And then there's a picture of Frankenstein's monster with the caption, "Frankly, you can do better with E-Dialog!" I note that they are looking to hire a Director of Marketing.
If you have any questions about academics, job hunting, or the Boston area, please email me at (bfan2 "at symbol" yahoo "dot symbol" com) and I'll try to answer them.
Until next time,
Ben
P.S. My Slashdot Karma is now up to 13. It went up a point with a comment posted about UB's policy of requiring students to have their own computers.