Job fair

I attended a job fair this morning. It was run by monster.com, they call it the "Keep America Working" fair.

It followed the same format as a monster job fair I attended earlier this year. This time my registration had been recorded, so I simply walked up, said my name, received a packet, and walked in. The number of hiring companies was about the same as the earlier fair -- about twenty. The companies covered a wide spectrum of the field: Sleepy's Mattresses, Manpower, Lumber Liquidators, and even some technical recruiters. Of the four technology companies registered, two were present, and I talked with them quickly. After that, I was free to leave.

The job-huntung crowd seemed to be mostly professionals, in a variety of ages. The match between the company selection and the candidate selection seemed poor. That may be due to monster.com's targeting of e-mails and marketing (on both candidates and companies) or it might be due to the local economy.

On the way home, I visited the Ukazoo bookstore. It's larger than I expected, with a pretty good selection of books in the science fiction category. (Several books by Glen Cook and a bunch by Sheri S. Tepper but nothing that I had to have.)

I also visited the local Apple store, primarily to see if it was still there.My one Apple Macbook is running without problems and serves me well. I can defer other Apple purchases.

I will give more thought to Windows development this afternoon. I would like to try Windows 7 (I have the release candidate DVD) but the one computer that can run it is the Dell Dimension 4600 -- which needs a power switch. ...I priced a new Dell PC for running Windows 7, and the desktop (sans monitor) cost just over $500. I will check the TigerDirect.com web site later today.