Chit chat Spatterat (Admin Social- help me w/ my BL w/d's)

Figured we needed another thread.....
So, now what do we do?

Still no luck on the job front. For clarity, I still go to the same office, same desk, but have been relieved of duties and am searching for another job inside the company (at another location if necessary, but preferably here). Work has once again firewalled BL (good week for it to go offline ). But when it comes back I can't be on like I was - this is good, in that my hours on BL from work are a large reason I finally got the boot. Ftr, I can't access gmail either from here. So my time for BL is limited to when I'm home (20 min every other day or so) or when I can steal some time on my iPhone (minimally effective, rarely opportune). Point being, my stepping out of admin also aligns with me changing my decisions on where and how to spend my time.

I've been hammering the recruiters and online services (monster, careerbuilder, ladders, etc), but getting nothing from recruiters and mostly spam shit from the online services.

I've applied for 2 jobs internally, and each has other applicants so I may end up with nothing still. The problem is that I'm sorta over qualified for both. Each offers me some quality of life improvements I desperately need, and each has it's drawback which I can live with. Mostly, I just need work so I don't feel like everyday at the desk is a waste....like I have no reason for being here and don't belong. I'm just very grateful they didn't throw me out of the company and management from all corners is trying to help me find something. I'm very, very lucky in this regard.

I'm also actively seeking out counseling for the first time in my life. I've never been one that can admit weakness, much less ask for help, but this whole episode has crushed me so much I recognize I need help if I'm going to make a go of it. I want to hit the ground running in whatever the next job is, and I can work on that while I'm working on finding that next job.




Or have I gone too deep with my time on the couch, when we wanted some la-la chatter? For that, I give you ....dun-dun-DUN...Women's World Cup Soccer. Been watching that shit and man is it good! I have always been a big soccer fan, playing from ages 9-32. I've always watched and supported soccer from all nations, in all categories. I'm enjoying the US run right now, but was wanting to see if non-US media felt the Brazil quarterfinal was such a slanted match (the red card, PK rekick, offsides on Brazil's second goal....yada yada yada). There was a lot of outcry that we overcame 12 players (counting the ref), but that's all I have access to reading...I wish I could find out what others thought - especially Brazilian media.

And yes, I'm tickled that Abby W is kicking ass for them now. She went to my University, and we're fiercely proud of our alumni, especially on an international stage.





Or was this a question of what do the admin do besides wait for the server to come back online? I can throw a buncha shit out there, but need to get back to the job thingy for awhile.

Or was this a question of what do the admin do besides wait for the server to come back online? I can throw a buncha shit out there, but need to get back to the job thingy for awhile.

Liar...he's still here.


Things on deck if the admin want to consider, or start acting on:

Obviously, any of you can hit up the vBulletin site and read some of what the functions are, and how to use them, as we move to v4.x of the software. I'll be honest, I haven't read into it much, but the knobs may change a bit, and there may be new doo-hickeys to figure out if we want them on, and what they will do.

Alternatively, I had an idea for a tactical team to help our site strategy. I figured it ought be sr. staff to join this team, and this down week is an ideal time to put the effort in it needs. Main points to explore and evaluate would be (man, I like lists today):

• Competition - what other sites out there are doing what we do, and what do they do better (or worse)? Off the top of my head I thought of the following:
  
  • Blacklight
    
  • pillreports.com
    
  • Erowid
    
  • Shroomery
    
  • Opiophyle
    
  • Drugs-co.uk
    
  • Drugs-Forum <-- Special note, as they supplied nearly as many responses as we did for the Meph study done in the UK
    
  • DrugsandBooze
    
  • Drugs.com (Pharmacy site)
    
  • streetdrugs.com
    
  • alt.drugs
    
  • dancesafe
    
  • ravesafe
    
  • additionrecoveryguide.com
    
  • **Any pot related sites, or other single-drug focused sites)
  
  
  The goal being to identify what their mission or purpose is, what their demographics are (if it can be determined), web size-presence-recognition, real world size-presence-recognition, where does BL overlap with them? Compliment them? Conflict with them? Do we wish to partner with any of these sites, or dominate the content such that they become footnotes on the web?
  
  
• Social Presence - we've talked about evaluating how we can maximize our visibility by using social media like Twitter (currently only used for emergency updates like our server upgrade, or special promotions like MAPS events), Facebook (we know a few exist under BL name, but none are 'official'...do we take one over, or launch our own...and how do we utilize it?), and now you could put google+ in the same boat with FB, then there are other means such as email lists and what we might want to offer from that.
  
  
• Real World Presence - this comes back to our planned representation at EGA and MAPS@25, and the failed attempt at making an HR tent at a major event in California not so long ago. What other opportunities exist that we should consider? And what is our plan for those? Anyone can scout the landscape for these things....then we can evaluate 'should we' and 'how'.
  

Ok, now back to job search. For real.

TLB wrote:
I'm also actively seeking out counseling for the first time in my life. I've never been one that can admit weakness, much less ask for help, but this whole episode has crushed me so much I recognize I need help if I'm going to make a go of it. I want to hit the ground running in whatever the next job is, and I can work on that while I'm working on finding that next job.

I didn't want to draw attention to this particular bit of your post but I have to say Reed, I think it's excellent that you're getting some counselling! There really is no harm to be done by seeking professional help. I wish you all the best with the counselling and I sincerely hope that you reap a lot of benefit from it. If you ever want to vent about anything please feel free to PM me or email me. That offer stands permanently btw

Best of luck with the job hunting as well mate, you WILL come across something soon <3

Ecstasy Discussion has made some attempts to bring BL into the real world by creating a harm reduction pamphlet and a BL business card. . There are some insanely artistically talented people who could design some sort of post card/business card for the site. Maybe we could roll out some sort of site wide compeition to create a business card or post card size flyer that can be handed out at events (raves, festivals...etc etc). We could have something official created that receives the stamp of approval from Reed and SG. It will help to get our name out there and I'm sure there would be plenty of people who would pass these out for us.

Personal note:

Reed, I don't at all envy the position you are in right now but I know that you are going to come out of this shining. Sometimes the anticipation and frustration is enough to feel like it's going to shatter your entire self, so that is where I am glad to hear that you are getting some professional help (I'm still too stubborn and determined to talk to someone about my own bs, so you get some major fucking props from me for reaching out). No day is wasted when you are putting in the effort and it sounds like you are exerting a lot of effort. Don't think of each day you're at your desk as wasted, you are just steps closer to getting yourself on steadier ground, even if it doesn't feel like it.

I know it probably doesn't mean much as these are just words on an internet page but you're certainly in my thoughts and I'm pulling for better days for you. Things will turn around and you will get back on your feet.