Europe Travelblog  -

+ 4 - 3 | § ¶Republicans for Kerry

A lot of Republicans are supporting Kerry in this year's election because Bush does not support true conservative ideals. 

Scott McConnell of The American Conservative says that "George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism."  Doug Bandow, a former Reagan advisor, says "A Reaganite argues that Bush is a dangerous, profligate, moralizing radical -- and that his reelection would be catastrophic both for the right and for America."  Lee Iacocca is "attracted to Kerry's economic plan, including his job creation proposals. He also said the presumptive Democratic nominee both understands change and will 'level' with the American people about how to adapt to that change."

It's time for a change to Kerry, the candidate for the right and the left.

+ 3 - 4 | § ¶A life on hold

Since I was laid off on October 1, my life has been pretty interesting.  I can only say that I'm blessed to have some money in the bank and a wife with a good job, both of which have let me enjoy my unemployment.

In my 24 days of unemployment, I've been to Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Chicago on weekend trips to see various family.  I've gone to six Cardinals playoff games (and I'm going to the World Series games on Tuesday and Thursday this week).  And for the past week, I've been volunteering for the Kerry/Edwards campaign to try to bring an upset to Missouri with a Kerry victory.

Right now, the job market for experienced Java developers in St. Louis is really good, and I was fortunate to be able to pick between four job offers within two weeks of losing my job.  So, I'll start November 3rd on my new job, rested from a break, having caught up with family across the nation, and (I hope) proud of the World Champion Cardinals and the President-Elect, John Kerry.

+ 1 - 6 | § ¶Job Search Success

The job market for Java developers in St. Louis is really hot right now, and I was a beneficiary. 

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I got laid off as the result of an acquisition by a larger company.  Fortunately, there are a lot of companies in St. Louis looking for experienced Java developers.  I had four job offers the second week of my search!  It was a huge improvement over the last time I was looking for a job in Fall 2001.  Back then, right after 9/11 and in the midst of a recession, no one was hiring.  It took about two and a half months to have as many interviews as I had this time in two weeks. 

Anyway, I will start working November 3 (so I can volunteer for the Kerry campaign) at OCI, a local consulting company that is known for the Java News Briefs.  I'm really looking to a new challenge as I re-enter the consulting world, although with much less travel this time.

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+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Match Your Candidate

Having trouble deciding how vote in this presidential election? AOL has a site that might help you out. President Match asks a series of questions about the issues with answers from strongly oppose to strongly agree. Then, one indicates how much each category matters. In the end, it produces a percentage match for Kerry and Bush.

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+ 0 - 7 | § ¶Experienced Java Developer looking for Employment

I am looking for a position as a Senior Java Developer or a Java Team Leader, preferably in the St. Louis, Missouri area.  My previous employer was acquired by Logility on Friday, October 1. The first action by the new bosses was to terminate five of the experienced Java developers on my team because they did not want to continue our project.

If you are looking for an experienced, professional Java developer or team leader, please view my resume in your preferred format:
Adobe PDF
Microsoft Word
HTML
OpenOffice
Text

Thank you for your consideration.

Scott Delap of ClientJava is one of the other developers who was let go, and you can view his resume on his blog, ClientJava.com.

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Java & XML

Java & XML,  2nd Edition by Brett McLaughlin