Another useless thread...

[Killjoy]

Well look at the bright side. You have a job. Right?

Last year at this time, we were all looking at getting laid off in the end of June '08.
The company changed their minds last minute (litterally, as I had already worked my last official day of work).
A bunch of us were camping and boating when we got the word that they needed our little factory to save the day.

Fast forward to this morning. Our CEO is supposed to give an announcement on Dec 4th as to the state of the company. There was an e-mail in everyone's mail with a note from him about the economy and the state of our finances. He is saying that he hopes we can weather the storm as we have already done a lot of trimming, and we have billions of cash in reserve so we don't need to take out any loans that are tough to get anyway.
I'm guessing that's the pre-cursor to him telling us that we won't be needed anymore (again).

I could be wrong.
But I could be right. There are other underlying things going on that I won't get into here (too long). I'll let you know closer to New Years if I am right or wrong.

[brian.austin]

I'm rather lucky in my current position because, as much as it irritates me, I pretty much run everything technical here. I can step in and do sales or marketing as needed, too.

I've been job hunting but am slowing it down somewhat. Companies are slowing down their hiring and the market is getting saturated with experienced IT folks. But it's also a risk thing: move to a new employer and risk that company failing in the next year or stick with something that will be able to stick it out unless all heck breaks loose.

As much as I don't like a lot of my job, I really shouldn't be complaining. It could be much, much worse.

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by Killjoy

Well look at the bright side. You have a job. Right?

Last year at this time, we were all looking at getting laid off in the end of June '08.
The company changed their minds last minute (litterally, as I had already worked my last official day of work).
A bunch of us were camping and boating when we got the word that they needed our little factory to save the day.

Fast forward to this morning. Our CEO is supposed to give an announcement on Dec 4th as to the state of the company. There was an e-mail in everyone's mail with a note from him about the economy and the state of our finances. He is saying that he hopes we can weather the storm as we have already done a lot of trimming, and we have billions of cash in reserve so we don't need to take out any loans that are tough to get anyway.
I'm guessing that's the pre-cursor to him telling us that we won't be needed anymore (again).

I could be wrong.
But I could be right. There are other underlying things going on that I won't get into here (too long). I'll let you know closer to New Years if I am right or wrong.

Oh no doubt. If this is the worst thing that happens to me, ill still be 1 lucky guy. Just kind of a "bummer" thing.

[Austen]

*cough* Proxy Servers

[verdesardog]

I've been "laid off" for over two months now. Oh well, next year I'll be eligible for social security.

My homeland security:

081117_2854 .jpg

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by verdesardog

My homeland security:

Not a bad gun but I wasn't a real fan when the Army switched over. The 1911 had a lot of things wrong with it (capacity being one of them) but for pure stopping power, the .45 is pretty hard to beat. If they'd switch over to hollowpoints instead of ball ammo, they'd get more effect as well.

I'd rather have a doublestack .45, like the Para, for an all around defense gun. My 9mm carry gun is loaded with +P+ LE rounds to make up for the smaller bullets. Kinetic energy is roughly equivalent to a standard .45 load. It's lighter, though.

[Killjoy]

One of our fellow posters in this thread had a grip from China for his 20D.
He had issues with it. It would take one photo, and then die. He had to remove the grip and reinstall it in the camera to take another shot.
He couldn't get it to work. He asked if I was able to tinker around with that kind of technical stuff.
He said if I wanted it, I could have it. It's been collecting dust in his closet for over a year.
"Sure, send it on over"

Today a package arrived. I tinkered around with it for about a half an hour.

I'm happy to say I have a free grip for my camera.

The bad part? It won't fit in my bag anymore.

Guess what's on the top of MY Christmas wish list.

[RamjetVette]

And I get my closet cleaned out and you owe me a lunch!

[Killjoy]

A hot dog and a soda at Costco is only $1.62 tax included.
It cost you more than that to ship the silly thing to me.

Just kidding.

[Austen]

In Australia, to certify for maintenance or repair of aircraft you need a licence issued by the government.

It's the same in the U.S.A, up your way it's called an A & P Licence.

With that background ............Here's a shameless Cut 'n Paste of a post I made in a thread in a forum down here .....

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:
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You may remember Timothy Leslie McCormack, the Qantas "engineer" who faked his licence.........

A FORMER Qantas engineer responsible for safety checks on 747s has admitted faking credentials in order to advance his career. Timothy Leslie McCormack, 26, pleaded guilty in the District Court to 42 charges relating to carrying out maintenance work on Qantas planes without a licence, forging a Civil Aviation Safety Authority licence and falsifying exam results to "dishonestly obtain a gain".

It is understood many of the 747-400s he worked on regularly flew on long-haul routes to Europe and the United States.

McCormack, who earlier denied the charges, was due to face trial yesterday before he changed his plea.

Australian Federal Police originally accused him of 111 offences, including carrying out nearly 2000 maintenance jobs on 88 aircraft between September 2006 and July 2007.

McCormack yesterday pleaded guilty to just 30 charges out of a reduced total of 44 counts of carrying out maintenance work on Qantas aircraft without a licence.

He also tearfully admitted to five counts of falsifying his CASA exam results and five counts of knowingly using the sham results to "dishonestly induce Qantas to accept (they were) genuine and by that acceptance to dishonestly obtain a gain."

Well......

Timothy was back in court this week for sentencing, and as you do, you try to convince the judge that you are contrite, that you have learnt your lesson and maybe even produce a reference (or four) saying what a good bloke you are .........


Fake Qantas engineer offers false references to judge
A MAN who admitted faking qualifications to land a job doing safety checks on Qantas jets also faked the character references supplied to the sentencing judge.

Timothy Leslie McCormack, 27, pleaded guilty in September to 42 charges in the New South Wales District Court, including forging a maintenance engineer's licence.

In court today, it was revealed that four character references McCormack had tendered ahead of his sentencing hearing were fakes.

Among the false letters of support was one from a fictional Senior Sergeant Woodward, who was said to also be president of the Hornsby Junior Australian Rules Football Club.


"There is no Football Club by that name," prosecutor Paul McGuire said.

Judge Mark Marien was told that the other three references, purportedly from a school counsellor and members of the community, were also created by McCormack.

Judge Marien said it was "so obvious" that they were typed and formatted the same way and signed by the same hand.

"What has occurred in these sentencing procedures is in my experience, an extraordinary event," he said.


Not all Qantas engineers are THAT dumb !!!

Austen.