Where art thou?

For my Readers,

My apologies, This month and next are and will be extremely busy times. Due to my lay off and eventual realization that Arizona job market does not exist any longer. We're moving to Massachusetts where I was born and raise. So with this I'm sure you can understand things are hectic.

I promise I will have lots to blog about when I return...



PS Diana got a smoking hot haircut !

Enjoy the weekend:
Joey

If Your Gonna Be Unprofessional, At Least Do It Right!

     I normally don't do venting on my blog unless something really yanks my chain. Especially when it come back to haunt me. However in this case I figure I can rant in a way that the party remains unnamed.

     3 months ago I applied for a job at A social service agency in New England. This agency I've had known for a while through various people and were voted one of the top in the state to work for. So I applied through their website. It was "cold" application meaning just like handing your application to a manager at McDonald's maybe they'll look at it and maybe they won't. Maybe they'll have a position open for you maybe they won't .These cold applications are my least favorites. As a Job Coach for two years I know there is perhaps a 30% chance they'll call you back unless you really have a stellar resume that fits their needs.
     Boy, was I excited when within two days they contacted me to set up an interview. We exchange a few email and seemed like they had two positions open, Either one I'm well qualified for.  I was gonna be in town for the week so it worked out perfect. Having their own agency sign language interpreter! BONUS! So we set up for Tuesday morning. A week before the scheduled date the HR rep who I'll name Becky e-mails me to say, "our interpreter would not be available so I will contact our community interpreters and try to schedule again. I informed her I was available any time that week. She said she would let me know that night. A day goes by and no response. So Thursday comes and I email her asking her to forgo the interpreters and try just meeting one on one since I'm proficient in lipreading. No response.
     A week passes. I email her again to tell her I was still interested and that perhaps we could do a phone interview. No response.

Today! I received an email from Becky 2 whole months later..  I'm sorry for the delay our needs had changed at the time we were emailing and we currently have nothing available.

I kind of wished they had not responded. That they did not want me at all, I would not be sitting here typing this, instead spending my time doing something meaningful such as finishing my taxes.

If this "Becky" should read this, please use it as a learning tool!

Now, Readers. how would you handle a situation like this.
A) let it be,
B) contact the supervisor and log a complaint
C) write back and thank her for responding however withdraw your application.

Enjoy,

Joey

DEAF GAMERS WANTED:

 So after many Google searches. I've only come across  deafgamers.com. this is a cool little site which sadly seems to only focus on the the subject of captioning and subtitling in games. A novel approach. How about expanding as a place for gamers to hook up and join clans and such?

I beginning to become addict to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Especially the multiplayer part. I was a huge fan of Doom and Quake online multiplayers first person shooters in the past so naturally I assimilated.  Now I'm looking for Deaf and Hearing people to join me on Playstation 3.. If your rockin it! bring your "A" Game, watch out for the headshot though!


Get your Portable ID!

Music in the heart of the matter.

This is a response to Drew who posted a video on his site "In My Lingo:" that I wanted to share with you all.



Let me first begin by defining Music n. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony,and color.

While the definition itself is vague according to www.dictionary.com, I want to take into point the final two descriptions. "harmony and color" Music can be found many more forms then just sound. 

In my opinion if a Deaf person enjoys music he will pursue to listen to it, Turning up the volume, putting their leg or other body party closer to the speaker (this changes the acoustic sound into physical sound). some deaf people perceive music through the visual sound. When I saw your video *WHICH I LOVE!!! Thanks for sharing!!* I did not have my hearing-aids in. I simply watched the beautiful playing of the violin and I could feel the music within. My best friend Shannon, who is profoundly Deaf, is a bassist in a heavy metal band. Much like our antagonist violinist he faced early struggles and setbacks having to prove himself to his band mates.

I want to show you another video. i play this video often to myself for relaxation. Try "listening" to it with the sound off (if you do normally use the sound)



Now ask yourself what did you feel, could you sense the music was in flow with her movements?

Enjoy,

Joey

Trench Warfare

I have to say that lately I've been seeing a disturbing trend effecting our Deaf community. It's probably not all that new however it's taken on a new life due to the popularity of Vlogs. I'm gonna express what I feel is just my opinion as I refuse to take sides on because I feel it's a cultural equivalent of Deaf on Deaf violence.

With the onset of HR 3101 bill being pushed to pass, the formation of Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) and the National Association for the Deaf's (NAD) strive to reach new and youthful audiences. it has created a type of warfare much like gangs. Everyone wants a piece of the streets.Everyone wants to be the next leader in a movement they compare the the Gallaudet University "Deaf President Now" movement.

Enough already people! We have a chance in front of us to catch up where we're 10 years behind! How many people still have TTY/TTD ? I'm guessing maybe 5 of my readers still actively use it (according to Deafread I get about 100+ per post). How many of you surf Youtube? I bet nearly ALL OF YOU used it from one point or another. Thankfully Google is working on technology to eventually caption all Youtube videos. Now that's a national recognized brand. Your local news station has 100's of video's posted on-line at any given moment. With all certainty not one of them is captioned!

Why am I ranting? Well a certain Vlogger DeafASLVlogs whom's page I frequent just egged herself. Literally to make a point towards NAD including the words "I am a person with a disability"  She made some good points and even had me thinking, This was until Jeff Rosen from SNAP!VRS who serves as general council and is deeply regarded in the Deaf community got into a bit of a flaming war on her website over he comments towards NAD.

Stop the train! let me off!
Here we are, two important people who are making an impact in our community wasting their time fighting over the words of NAD which yes clearly could have chosen better lingo to use. Meanwhile we're struggling to get Republicans in favor of HR 3101. We all need to make a concious effort to put down our cultural guns and get this bill passed. If we don't we're gonna continue to be set back 10 years.

Taxi!

Joey

Its friday!

Whooo! It's Friday!  

Gonna celebrate the lovely Francesca's birthday tonight at Kabuki. A guy's gotta get his iron, vitamins and mercury in the form of sushi. Maybe even a Sake Bomber or two.
for the weekend, I thought I'd share with you guys an awesome video a friend had posted on Facebook for the the movie "See What I'm Saying" written and directed by Hilari Scarl. The video is written for the film by the rock band Powder..
    




Enjoy!

Joey

Looking back and forward

Note: I apologize for falling behind, been such a busy month and I love hearing my readers say "get to it" :)

     I've been thinking lately, maybe even dreaming about our pending move to Massachusetts. I've been fortunate to have lived there most of my life. Why did I move, it's simple. I believe everyone should live their lives outside of what their accustomed to at times. If I never lived in Rochester, NY I would never have known that there are places that consider 3 feet of snow on the ground to be "a light dusting". If I never lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa I would never had known whats its like to run naked through a corn field (AND I STILL DON'T) but I do know what it's like to have fresh harvest food and meat coming basically from your backyard. Arizona, my present home. has giving me two things I will cherish, A network of friends who for the most part are not flakes and do care about each other. And an focus on a career that I want to pursue. Before AZ I would say "I'll take what ever job comes my way". While I'm currently unemployed and still would follow this I'm aware that I need to get myself back into college. I ain't the young punk I was back then and now fully ready to try college again. Here's some photographic proof.

                    Circa 1997                     

Credit M. Bonaventura

Circa 2007

Circa 1997

Credit M. Bonaventura

Circa 2008

Circa 1982 (est*)

 

Circa 2009

 

As you can see, I have grown up and I have an inherient desire to support my wonderful lady and beautiful child. 

Enjoy,

Joey