ChiBurbs

So my employer cut me to part time at the beginning of June, and on my way to an interview for a new job on June 21, my car blew up. Seriously, the engine block blew a hole in itself.

As it's cheaper to buy another car than to fix it ($3,500-$4,500 was the estimate for a used engine), I'm looking for a new car. And I'm also needing help to raise the money for it after last year's medical bills.

I've found that the $5, $10 and $20 assistance people have slipped me in person have begun to add up.  So if you could help with even a little bit, it would keep me from being homeless and or in creditor's court.

Here's the Go Fund Me link.

www.gofundme.com/get-jim-a-wor…

Thank you for any generosity you can give.

While searching tumblr for pen and ink art (my books on it are in storage), I couldn't find a blog dedicated to black and white ink drawings.

So of course, I created one and included some artists I admire and like: penandinkinbandw.tumblr.com/

Now I need to keep adding to it. So I need more artists to fill it regularly. Can you suggest some artists for it, either from here or from the big world and total history of inked art?

There's one simple rule: it must be excellent work -- not good or acceptable but great and exceptional. It can be simple but must still be incredible.

The art I've included so far should give you an idea of what I like.

Thanks!

I seem to have picked up a few followers from my writings about the new logo unveiling and lack of desired features on DA.

Would people like to see more writing from me and on what subjects -- on journalism, on non-fiction writing, or more non-fiction writing?

Also, feel free to follow me at www.facebook.com/ReporterJamesD.WolfJr and on Twitter at @jamesdwolfjr

And you have two more chances to hear me on air at WVLP 98.3 FM or www.wvlp.org. on Wednesday, Dec. 10, we're having our goodbye show from 10 p.m. CST to midnight (Chicago time, folks) and our last holiday show/last show Dec. 17 at the same time -- songs like "Three Little Dwarves (Hardrock, Coco and Joe) and Tom Waits's "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" and Waits and Peter Murphy (of Bauhaus) with "Xmas Sucks."

(Granted, there are also the repeat shows on the following Sundays from 10 p.m. - midnight).

More on the show at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Eclectic-Blender/161637979688?ref=bookmarks

Sorry we're ending the show, but all three of the hosts are weary.

As a reporter for 27 years, I've seen too many consultants who get overpaid to tell people/government officials how smart/insightful/cutting edge they are in following the consultants' expertise. I saw it again last night at a municipal meeting, where the consultant was chirpily telling the City Council and people assembled how unique their participation was. He worked to find anything that was different, then used it to explain why they'll succeed at what they paid him to do. It felt like being at a camp where everyone gets an award because "they're all winners."

It was that kind of award-camp mentality that some of us responded to when I worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (tm) during college. We underlings decided that instead of having an Employee of the Month, we'd have Geek of the Week for the biggest screw ups. I think it helped the morale of those who didn't make it. We laughed a lot.

However, most consultants are ultimately useless (engineering consultants deal in numbers and problem solving and usually provide concrete facts). I worked for one newspaper editor who predicted that a marketing group specializing in promoting tourism would ultimately tell the governmental body that hired the firm to put direction signs on the highway to announce special sites, and he was right. The marketing group did do little more than that, and that was the only concrete suggestion. The rest was jargon and buzzwords in meaningless combinations that sounded deep.

Most people who participate in such retreats, seminars or workshops and drink the Kool-Aid(tm) eventually recover. But then, they tend not to go through isolated 12-hour sessions in seedy locales, such as the DA staff did in the abandoned warehouse. When you're paying a lot of money for something, such as a luxury vehicle, you inherently want to justify it, leading to a pre-disposition for Stockholm syndrome.

In my late 30s, I taught grade school for a bit and went to a seminar. Given my reporter's cynicism, I was unimpressed with the presenter's sales job, as was my former second grade teacher, who turned to me as we were leaving and said, "If I knew this fad was coming back, I wouldn't have thrown out all my old materials on it last month." She'd been around the block enough to see the cycles keep repeating.

One of my favorite stories on corporate retreats came from the b3ta.com website.

The story's writer stated that before the retreat began, they were supposed to jot down what they expected to get out of it. He wrote something along the lines of "hearing the latest buzzwords and feel-good affirmations that are meaningless in the long run and a waste of an afternoon that could be spent accomplishing something." The consultant read all the predictions out loud at the end while she was asking everyone if their expectations were met. She joked that she hoped she hadn't met his. He told her she far exceeded them and asked how could get into her line of work as it seemed rather easy (I'll post the link if I find it again).


And one last thought about retreats for those who'd rather press forward:

In the "Our Story" advertisement for the new changes, the staff touts part of the process as being in an abandoned warehouse in LA for 12 hours.

Does anyone else think that 12 hours in an abandoned warehouse is LA likely leads to Stockholm syndrome?

"Why yes, Moving Brands is the best in the world at what they do. They're our friends. We should do as they say."