Berks United Bounces Back with a Win Against Wick

From BerksUnited.com

Saturday, September 20, 2008. Leola PA: After a poor start to the Fall 08 season and loss to Germania, Berks United bounced back on Saturday with a decisive win against Wick Futball. Berks took control of the game from the first kickoff. They broke the ice by scoring inside of 10 minutes from the start, then scored 3 more quick goals. After the first half the score was 5-0. In the second half the pace slowed and Berks was caught off guard and allowed Wick to put 2 in the net. Berks managed to score only one goal in the second half, but still had a comfortable 4 goal lead at the final whistle.

Next week Berks will play there rivals Manheim Township at home. Kickoff is at 4:00

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Does your online presence help your career?

Many of us have heard stories about someone that lost their job, didn't get a job or even didn't get their teaching certificate because of something that was posted online. Whether you use MySpace, Facebook, a blog or you just have a website about yourself. It's a big joke to Google yourself. It may sound arrogant or self fulfilling, but you might want to check it out.

Careerbuilder.com recently posted and article on their sight One-in-Five Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder.com Survey Finds. Surprised? Don't be! It is becoming more and more prevalent that employers will check out potential candidates online. It's happened to me too. Before I decided to go out on my own I was running my business on the side as a part-time consulting gig. I had an interview with another company and in the middle of the interview the interviewer asked me, out of the blue, "So, what's Blackbird e-Solutions?" I was prepared for something like this to happen because I track and control what is online about me.

According to CareerBuilder.com 34% of the hiring managers they surveyed said that they found content online that caused them to dismiss the candidate. Here's how it breaks down:

• 41% - candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs


• 40% - candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information


• 29% - candidate had poor communication skills


• 28% - candidate bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee


• 27% - candidate lied about qualifications


• 22% - candidate used discriminatory remarks related to race, gender, religion, etc.


• 22% - candidate's screen name was unprofessional


• 21% - candidate was linked to criminal behavior


• 19% - candidate shared confidential information from previous employers

But there is still hope. 24% said that they found something that helped them make their decision and they chose the candidate:

• 48% - candidate's background supported their qualifications for the job


• 43% - candidate had great communication skills


• 40% - candidate was a good fit for the company’s culture


• 36% - candidate's site conveyed a professional image


• 31% - candidate had great references posted about them by others


• 30% - candidate showed a wide range of interests


• 29% - candidate received awards and accolades


• 24% - candidate's profile was creative

Careerbuilder.com also gives some tips for how to keep your presence professional and clean:

1) Clean up digital dirt. Make sure to remove pictures, content and links that can send the wrong message to a potential employer before you start your job search.

2) Update your profile regularly. Make sure to include specific accomplishments, inside and outside of work.

3) Monitor comments. Since you can't control what other people say on your site, you may want to use the "block comments" feature.

4) Join groups selectively. While joining a group with a fun or silly name may seem harmless, "Party Monsters R Us" may not give the best impression to a hiring manager. Also be selective about who you accept as "friends."

5) Go private. Consider setting your profile to "private," so only designated friends can view it.

So, the lesson is go out and have fun with social networking, but make sure you monitor what is actually out there. You never know who is looking...

Life is strange...

You know sometimes life is weird. You're planning, moving forward, accomplishing what you want and things are going well. But, still sometimes something creeps up on you and throws things out of whack. Something someone says, a memory or something you see. It doesn't make any sense, but still you have to stop and think...

The Week in Soccer

Opening week of.. for well... all the leagues I play in, it was a week of mixed results. The coed team which continues to be a struggle finding and keeping good players. (Another went down to injury.) Well we lost. I don't remember what the score was though. Thursday turned out to be much better. The b division team, the Blue Team played probably the best game we've ever played and won big 8-4. Then FC Blackbird had a great debut showing by winning more than 10 goals to 4.

Saturday turned out to be the worst of all with Berks United. We won the league the last two years and and this weekend we lost to the worse team in the league. Plus, to ad insult to injury we lost one of our best players to another team because of guy on our team, who by the way has chased others away before. Then that guy quit too. So, I thought problem solved, but it was already too late. Oh, why is there always politics?...

Humans vs. Ants

Humans have to be God's biggest disappointment. Really, we have to be. I want you to think about something for a minute. Think about an ant. A teeny-tiny little black ant. This little creature, barely bigger than the width of our hair, has the ability to follow a trail, to roam around and look for food, carry stuff, to dig long, complicated tunnels, and work together to create entire underground civilizations. If you step next to it, it realizes it's in danger, and it runs for cover, it can do this. Now granted, they're not splitting the atom, but think about this. That tiny little ant... with a tiny little head... and a microscopic brain, no more than just a few brain cells connected together, and it can do all that. That's pretty damn impressive. I mean, look at us, our brains are a billion times that size, and what do we spend all day doing? Following sidewalks, looking for food, carrying stuff... A lot of people chalk it up to instinct. They say, "yeah, but ants aren't really thinking, they're just following instinct." Well, that's true, but all that instinct is kept somewhere. It's not just floating around in the air. So if an ant can do all that with just a few brain cells connected together, we should be able to, at the very least, levitate or something.

Really tired of "SEO Pros" from India friending me on Facebook!!

So, as many of you know I'm on Facebook. I use it for personal and professional reasons. So, I keep getting friend requests from people who work for some company in India. I'm not going to dignify them by giving their name or a link either, because that would just help them. They know who they are! But, anyway... What they do is friend you and if you accept they start chatting with you and throw a bunch of web addresses at you and then start asking for outsourced SEO projects. It's really agressive and quite frankly annoying! And by the way.. the site is crap. The English on the site is very poor.
I made the mistake, twice now, of accepting the friend request. Dumb I know. The second time was a bit better. The person on the other end could kind understand what I was saying.. I think. The first one's English was so bad he didn't know that I was taking the piss out of him... or US English "making fun of him" ;) ...
So, seriously. If you are a self proclaimed "SEO Pro" from India.. don't waste your time trying to friend me. Got it???

Smoking Ban in PA to Start Thursday, September 11, 2008

Finally Pennsylvania has come out of the cloud and bans smoking in public places.

I used to think that a smoking ban wasn't right. Why should the government be allowed to mandate someones personal choice. A lot of places have been going smoke free on their own will, and I have really seen how great it is to be able to go out and not come home smelling like an ashtray. If my clothes and hair smell that bad, do you really think that it's not getting in my lungs too? The fact is when people smoke in public places bars, restaurants, clubs offices, etc... They are making a choice for me. Second hand smoke can hurt you too, and to not admit that is a show of ignorance. Hey, if you want to smoke that's your choice, but don't hurt me because of your habit.

It has taken PA far too long to pass this bill. Many countries around the world have passed laws to ban smoking long before us: Italy, Germany, France Here's a list of smoking bans around the world. I mean if all these countries can do it, we certainly can too.

Thank goodness we are finally there.. hopefully there are not too many caveats that will weaken the law.

For more info check out the PA Dept. of Health site about the law: Clean Indoor Air ACT

Bill and Jerry... Chewy Computers