It’s likely there will be a roll out just to get the idea going. People will begin to see these companies gel several months after July.

The long-term plan requires the creation of four new properties. It’s exciting because this has the potential to really impact a community and a region. It creates community. It serves community. One of the entities gives a voice to some people who currently don’t have one. And one will create a much needed service.

It is a massive undertaking. But one that is very exciting. In essence, someone presented one of the greatest problems for me to solve. So out of that challenge came four solutions that fit together.

I look forward to the day when we’re ready to announce publically.

I am packing up my life. I have set the ship for a course. So I get ready to leave with plans in hand.

I think this venture may surprise some people.

I look forward to getting it open after I arrive in June. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and roll out not the least of which is just getting moved to South Carolina.

I’m looking forward to becoming a resident in one of the communities and to network both off and on the island.

It’s always nice if someone drops me an email to let me know that they used the poem. It’s great to know if something you created has an impact. I am honored that someone would want to read it.

These companies will now report to our new main company CTG Energy Services Inc. I am the CIO of that company and its subsidiaries.

We will be rebranding everything in the next few months and changing our web sites.

—————————————————-

I have reached a deal and signed an agreement to assume the new role of Director of Corporate Web Development for an energy conglomerate. This enclave of companies provides power generation equipment, renewable technologies, engineering services, employment resources for workers in the energy business, as well as leasing and financing capital for the power generation industry.

I will be responsible for the web development for worldwide holdings in Peru, Chile, Israel, Spain, Turkey, Australia, South Africa and the United States. My position reports directly to the CEO of the parent company.

Employees in software engineering, information technology and marketing will report to my position and I look forward to working with this team.

This is a company that is worth a tremendous amount both through its offerings, assets, employees and founders. Together we will make it worth even more. Over the next six months we will put web sites, strategic marketing and branding in place that both serve those valued customers and reflect the true worth of this company and team.

I am excited, energized and enthusiastic about our mission ahead. I am completely committed to promoting clean technologies for power generation. Our team is going to press the power button – get ready for the green light.

I will be relocating to one of the southern states in the U.S. effective immediately. I look forward to traveling to all our companies and meeting the stakeholders. And I look forward to not flying commercial.

When faced with difficult decision do you want to teach global business, study global business, control the media that report on it, or build it. I am choosing to build it.

I appreciate the recent offers and consideration. However, this is a strategic move that utilizes all of my backgrounds, interests, deep expertise and true potential to have a positive impact on this world.

~ Salut

Laura Kerbyson

Don’t expect a long post or update until my “U.S. Tour” is over. This week I’ll be in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and then I head to the southern states in the U.S. in the later part of the week. I know it sounds like I’m running for office but I’m not. I am expecting to make a brief announcement in the next couple of weeks.

My appologies to posters – when I logged in today it says, “You have 11, 157 comments waiting.” With the schedule I have, I wouldn’t count on me getting caught up on reading the comments.

~ Best to everyone as I’m hopping around the country.

Jack Welch was the head of GE. Bob Bedillion was the President of Polymerland. Bob reported to Jack. Irene Hudkins was the Marketing Manager (which would now be the VP of Marketing) Irene reported to Bob. I worked for Irene. A lot of what I know in business came from working with and studying these people. I have tremendous respect for this group. I sure didn’t learn what I’ve learned out of book.

Most exciting moment of working at GE – the press conference in New York City where we acquired Consource West and became the largest plastics recycling company in the U.S. I wrote portions of the president’s speech (for Bob) and formulated the communications strategy. He and Jack got up and delivered it flawlessly. At the end of the day, after the media reports we watched the stock go up. When I got back to the office, I published a spread in the corporate magazine on the whole deal. There is nothing more exciting than living the game and knowing what the word “player” really means. This was great stuff. This was working with the best. Before the press conference we were the third largest in recycled plastics. After the conference we were first and largest.

GE Plastics was sold offshore in 2007 for 11.6 billion dollars.

They liked me well enough that they hired my brother to be an international auditor for GE Plastics. But I started years before he did.

At Hard Rock – Hamish Dodds is the CEO of Hard Rock. Steven Goodwin was the CEO of Hard Rock Park. Jon Binkowski was the Chief Creative Officer. Steven Goodwin is who hired me.

Family ties to energy – My maiden name is Fleming. It was still Laura Fleming when I worked at GE. Family history – the Fleming family founded Fairmont, WV.  Aretas Brooks Fleming was co-founder of Consolidated Coal. Consolidated Coal is now Consol Energy. It was originally founded by Watson and Fleming. Today, Consol Energy generates 2/3’s of the nation’s power supply but the roots came from Fairmont, WV. I could make you a list of relatives who have worked for Consol on the mining side and have spent their entire lives in the coal industry. I know quite a bit about the coal industry from them. My grandfather spent his entire life in the industry.

My father was an electrical engineer for aluminum corporations – Alcan, Kaiser (then it became Ravenswood Aluminum, Pechiney, Century, etc.). He went to Fairmont State and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from WVU (main campus). He was the best math teacher I ever had.

The unwritten education that doesn’t appear on the resume is that I have spent my life around people who work for aluminum, coal, energy, plastics and chemical companies. I understand these industries, engineering, manufacturing, plants and their concerns. They are part of the reason that the lights come on when you flip that switch and that there are aluHminum aircraft in the skies. People have walked before me with great legacies and their stories have always driven me to achieve more. I’d like to be the first woman with a legacy of her own.

How did I get into computer science? I inherited my father’s IQ. Certain things come easier to me. And you have to remember that when I started in media we had to enter the codes to set the type on those mainframes (like Shift+Delta+14p+16L etc.) Believe it or not, we used to put out newspapers made from mainframes – not pc’s. There weren’t pc’s when I started. I’ve been working with code since 1986 because of the early computer systems. Code is code in my boat. We switch languages and specs all the time.

I was previously an investor in a international company that is involved in wind turbine and components for the electrical grid. I am no longer an investor in that venture. I was also previously invested in AT&T and Intel.

Ties to the media and how I got into that industry – uncle by marriage worked a very long time at Long Island Newsday. He introduced me to Stan Asimov and the crew at Newsday. When I had to choose a college I considered Columbia University in New York. I have been to New York City on many trips – business and education. I always learned a lot by sitting as guest on Newday’s copy desk during my summer trips. I was sorry to hear to Ed Lowe has passed. My best to you guys.

I will leave this up at least for a short time, while the checks are being conducted.

Under relatives, they list my mother as someone who is not my mother. Her name is completely different than what is listed. They list my ex-husband’s first ex-wife as my sister. She is not. Some sites show me as related to his third ex-wife, which I am not. And I’ve never even had a single conversation with the third ex-wife.

I’m actually not interested in working for someone who would care who my relatives are. But if it’s a requirement for a current search, please ask me and I will provide you with the correct names. I realize that some companies dealing with government agencies are required to do additional searches.

I did interview for a position last year where I was asked about a relative in an interview and I thought it reflected poorly on the employer. I expected to be hired for my skills and experience not for who I am related to.

My credit is locked and cannot be viewed or obtained without my unlocking it. We can obtain a credit report for you but you’ll need to contact me first to unlock it. I actually don’t have any problem with people knowing what my score is – 810. I am a very low risk.  I am a very disciplined individual and that carries over into my financial management and the way I look for the age I am. These things aren’t accidents. They are because I make the right choices.

My credit report does not show two of my previous homes because they were not bank financed and if the money isn’t borrowed from a bank then it’s not reported. Both properties were paid in full, it was paid on time, there is nothing owed and both of those properties have been sold. Both properties were solely in my name.

There are of course real estate records and deeds (that were filed at the courthouse) but those kinds of documents aren’t listed in a credit report. Credit reports only reflect borrowed money. I also have tax returns which would reflect those items.

In short, what I’m saying is that if you really need to know something then ask and I will provide you with documentation. But if what you are relying on is from the Internet, you have a very incomplete and inaccurate report.

I’m putting this up because there are multiple places running background checks on me simultaneously. I don’t want people making assumptions. I’d rather you have the correct and complete information if it’s necessary to do business.

If I don’t get back to you immediately in email it’s because of the schedule.

I taught hand coding for years. That’s why I know the code forwards and backwards. When you teach it for years, you are repeating yourself over and over and over again. I also use Illustrator and Photoshop extensively because I also taught those for years.

I think the only page that even has a template is the old “Portfolio” page. That’s because I needed to get a list of links up quickly. That one is not my design. That’s a Wordpress. It’s on my list to replace when I get time. That and the “Student Work” page is a template for the same reason. Time.

It can also be accessed from the main page at http://laurakerbyson.com.

Among the free features of the gallery, users can send eCards, sign the guestbook and leave messages, rate the artwork, share the prints via social media, and make and email favorite lists to friends.

The store gives laurakerbyson.com an ecommerce component to showcase through the web site. This kind of store can be setup for other vendors. The store is fully functional. The initial gallery contains limited samples of previous work. Additional work may be added in the future. All prints are imaged onto metallic film containing real silver and most orders ship within 36 hours.

All major credit and debit cards are accepted through the store in a secured server environment.

Please feel free to browse and enjoy.

I think because I’m a woman people look at my resume and they say, “Oh she’s design she’s not a programmer.” As a matter of fact, I know they do because someone said it to me today and it’s been said on other occasions and it’s starting to be really offensive because it’s a stereotype and label and it’s not correct and it’s not what the resume or the experience says. It’s part of the reason why I included a programming example in the magazine.

I would have thought that people would have understood that being the head of computer science means programming as well as design. Computer science means computer science. That definition isn’t any different because I’m a woman. I do list the languages on the resume but people aren’t reading the language list. I do have high level language experience in addition to scripting and web markup. I actually have experience programming holographic and stereoscopic applications and I don’t list that at all because I’m not looking to do additional work in that or the security areas. Just because I’m good at something doesn’t mean that I want to do it.

I taught software engineering courses as well as design. Just because the word “design” is on a course, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t programming. What my graduate students did was programming. Web development means hard core programming not just design. I have done this for years for my clients and myself. I did a boatload of coding when I worked at Hard Rock. When I was hired for that position, I was running an ecommerce site that I programmed (cart included).

And there’s backend code to every site I create. Believe me, I code. And there are htaccess scripts that you never see. They aren’t meant to be seen. They are meant to function.

And yes, I modify a lot of other people’s software as well. I can sort through someone else’s logic as well as my own. I’m in the business of understanding how people and other programmers think. I’ve had to weed through some serious slop in my day. But seriously, it’s an inefficient (and expensive) use of resources to recreate the wheel. Often, programmers are mechanics where we put things together that were manufactured from a variety of sources. I’ve been in this business a long time. I know when to invest and when to modify.

I have simplified the gallery and the portfolio is not comprehensive by any means. In the past, when I showed more work on the site, people got lost in it. This is the less is more philosophy.

And yes, I’m keenly aware that some of my former students were offered $25,000 more than me right fresh out of school because they were men. When you are the professor, you track what the graduates make and who gets offers. You are much more likely to be hired in computer science if you are a man. And it has nothing to do with ability or experience. It has to do with perception. I could have a female with a straight A’s and she still wouldn’t get the offers the male students receive. They had zero experience and they were still offered more money. We live in a very sexist country.

Don’t bother to tell me I’m wrong. This comes from years of personal experience and tracking data.

Society is more likely to accept a woman in marketing than they are in computer science. If I give marketing advice, I only have to say it once. If I give computer science advice, many times I have to say two and three times before people will listen.

I don’t like to brag. But maybe it’s a good idea if people realize that I don’t come from the average family and I don’t have an average IQ and I’m not really sorry about any of it. My father was an electrical engineer. My stepfather has a doctorate. My brother has a doctorate in accounting. My mother was an accountant. I was married to a medical doctor.

I come from a highly intelligent group of people. I grew up in a gifted program and went to grad school on a full scholarship that was performance based. Does this make the picture clearer? Or does it sound like I’m trying to gloat, which I’m not.

And don’t think that the group above gave me any special assistance. My parent’s paid for one year of college each. I earned my way through the rest. I earned my entire graduate tuition. I never collected a dime of alimony from my ex-husband. The entire time we were married we lived in my house – a house I owned before we were married. And that is called character and working for everything that’s on (and off) your resume.

I certainly don’t think I’m above anything because I spent the bulk of my years of being a professor teaching students without money from all levels in an underprivileged environment.

It’s expensive to make yourself a client but sometimes it is necessary. What I did was to first analyze the data, then use the same content but repackage, reposition the site, update the design,  improve the tablet display, add some new features, and delete some of the old. Here’s the dramatic difference in numbers looking at a month’s snapshot. The new strategy is proving very effective.

164% increase in visits

140% increase in unique visitors

424% increase in page views

97% increase in pages per visit

296% increase in average time spent on the site.

Average time spent on the site per visit – 7 minutes and eleven seconds. (The average user on a company’s web site spends 5.23 minutes. http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2011/7/2/google-analytics-report-shows-people-are-spending-less-time.html)

A decrease in bounce rate by 54%

This number is a staggering change – percent increase for the site 3652% – yes, that’s three thousand six hundred and fifty two percent increase since 30 days ago. There are people looking the site trying to copy it. It won’t work the strategy is far more than just looks.

I have complete faith in my ability to be an analyst and retool a property for maximum performance. I’ve done this with a number of properties in the past. First you make it tight, and then you continue to make it tighter. There are still features coming in down the road.

Just a little proof my methods work…

Say it with me now, “Show me the money!

Look at the numbers again. Imagine if those were your numbers. You want number like that? Now say it a little louder… Better yet, call me.

Photography http://laurakerbyson.com/hocking_hills2/index.html

Web Development http://laurakerbyson.com/web_work/album/index.html

Sketchbook http://laurakerbyson.com/Sketchbook/album/

I’ve been testing the new work on a Nook Color Tablet. It has a gig of Ram, runs flash, checks email, web, plays music as well as magazines and newspapers all on a 7 inch screen. I have to say that I’m impressed with it. I really appreciate hardware and this is a nice, fast design and it fits in my purse. I much prefer this to a smartphone or iPad.

If you haven’t played with one of these, you should. The tablet is different specs than the Nook color and Nook. This is pretty sleek. I like it.

So as I’m making my work more tablet compatible, this is the testing platform of choice for me.

Apple products just don’t have enough hardware for my liking. I’ve had eight gigs of ram in my Sony laptop for two years now. The highest a Mac laptop goes up to is four. I frequently max out all eight gigs and wish I had 12 in laptop. I can’t imagine running off four gigs. I could it, but I would waste a lot of time waiting on the machine. I am dual platform and have taught on multiple operating systems. But when it comes down to what I spend my money on, it’s something with style that has the maximum hardware and the most reliability.

What I wish Sony would develop is a laptop with the textured patterns and pretty cases but with all the hardware you can throw in it. All of their “pretty” stuff is pretty gutless on the hardware side. I think it’s kind of sexist and I wish they would realize that there are women like me that want a pretty computer but with the power I need to get the job done. It’s like saying women don’t really use high powered computing devices and women don’t really need processing power. Oh, yes we do…When I bought my last Sony laptop I had to settle for a silver case but it has the maximum hardware specs. I want style and I want performance. So Sony if you read this, go back to the drawing board. I would be happy to spec it for you. And please quit patting women on the head. This really gets old.

There is a brain in my head and it works just fine.

http://laurakerbyson.com/AnimationGallery/album/

This one runs much smoother and more efficient. Animation Gallery on the home page is now link to this page.

There’s also new features for being able to share the videos on social networks and to link to each video. Viewers can also rate the videos if they choose.

I’m also planning to put an online store and ecommerce suite back on the site. I had one many years ago. Not necessarily to sell my prints but people want to see the online store if they are looking at my web development work. So I can tell you that one is in the planning to build the showcase up a bit. I’m still testing features.

And as some of you know, I’ve been upgrading some of the photo galleries to HTML 5.0 to be more tablet compatible. I’m making more of an investment into Java, Javascript and PHP.

Thanks for everyone patience as I make changes. You may need to refresh your browser. Eventually, I’ll get an auto updating script written so that it’s automated, but now I’m relying on users to close their browsers at the end of the day.

I’ll be revising other pages in the near future with an assortment of technologies.

The second way is really not that much more memory intensive because it all originates from one instance of the asset. The three separate pictures planes should also be derived from the same asset.

Pass it on.

http://www.laurakerbyson.com/My_Philosophy.pdf
http://laurakerbyson.com/corporate_identity.pdf

I had been a professor for so many years that I hadn’t had a chance to add new portfolio pieces that reflect my skills and abilities. Basically, I knew far more than what I was showing in the portfolio because I was paid to teach.

I think the two pieces above are reflective of my design skills and creativity. I am very up to date on what I know how to do with design, a graphics tablet and the Adobe software. I’m just in the process of making some new pieces that reflect my knowledge and abilities.

I really enjoy drawing with Illustrator and these pieces gave me some fun opportunities. I wanted to make some new pieces that show my ability to design and create for a wide range of styles and positions.

In the corporate identity piece, I wanted to design an ad that would make people stop and start to study it to pick up on the messages in the art. I’m happy with the way the piece turned out.

I also had a chance to go back and add some more of the fine details (like the styled border in the bottom box) to the main site at http://laurakerbyson.com.

Omar the Orchid

The script is coming along surprising well. Act I (25% of the script) is completely written with all the songs. I think the script is more creative than the characters themselves.

Dan the Daffodil http://laurakerbyson.com/Dan_Daffodil.html

How serious am I about this project. In a word – very. I am in the process of writing a full length feature script for this project. It is coming out very funny and I think it has great potential with these characters. I am also writing the words to the songs to be in the movie. They go hand-in-hand with the characters. This project combines my art, animation, story telling and song writing. I would be interested in working with other musicians to compose the music. While I think I have the talent to create the characters, write the script and the words to the songs, I think the music could be better served by additional heads in the project. Ultimately I hope that we’ll have heads in the project from every area.

Sometimes I take a potential project like Maude and Claude and put it on the back burner for a while. Maude and Claude have potential but the full inspiration to do it justice isn’t the right timing at this moment. I think this is the right time for Omar. I know something is right when the pieces start falling into place quickly. If I’m going to do a full project I have to love the idea – and I love this one.

The personal backstory is that I took screenwriting in graduate school over 15 years ago and wrote the full script for a feature film. My professor booted me out of the intro class and much to my dismay into the advanced class. He was really ticked that I didn’t do anything with the finished screenplay other than put it in a drawer.

But the issue for me was that I didn’t love the screenplay. Now 15 years later having worked with animation and acquired many other skills, it’s a lot easier to conceive the whole project because I have worked with all the various areas. I now have characters that feel like my children. If you don’t love a character like it’s your own child then it probably needs more work. I have always intended to go back and make a new screenplay. I think this is the project to do it. This is the place to unleash some of that creative freedom that every artist loves.

Be sure to check out the premise for the script and the stories at http://laurakerbyson.com/Omar_Story_Premise.html. There are a number of other characters that have been conceived in order to do this project but these the ones I’m willing to display right now.

It’s my intention once the script is done is to look for players to develop it into a full-length feature film. One person cannot animate an entire film by themselves. You could but you’re really not doing it justice unless you have a complete team.

Will the Weed

I got a new sketching device for my computer so I had to test it out by making a new character – Omar the Blue Orchid. He tells bad gardening jokes. Check out the link below for the fun stuff.

http://laurakerbyson.com/about/?page_id=720

He’s got a buddy in the works – Polly Poppy.

Omar was pretty popular the first night on the web. He might have to get his own web page.

This page is for displaying work made by my students. I have taught in higher education for many years, and as you’ll see in the links to the right, I’ve had some very talented students who amaze me.

This page is for universities who need to see my student’s work in a portfolio form or for companies who want to see how I can manage teams.

Work on these pages is from Graphics, Accessibility in Interactive Technologies, Advanced Graphics, 3D Animation & Graphics, Flash, Flash Games, Web Page Design, Into to Animation, Drawing, Animation for Advertising, Interface Design, and Game Design. Work ranges from freshman to graduate students but predominately the projects I am showing were made in the first two years of a degree.

I have also taught Holographic Applications, Computer Networks, CS and Security Capstones, and Programming. But there are not portfolio pieces from these courses represented.
I hope you enjoy the work.

I also have an updated DVD of my work.

~ Laura Kerbyson

The board did not ask for my resignation and the CEO did ask me to reconsider. But I felt, and I still feel that, ethically it was the right thing to do. Healthcare ethics are, and should be the most stringent of all ethical practices and that includes marketing.

I know that my resume is being looked at by people who are not in healthcare and may not understand why I reached that decision and it looks like I left after I received a promotion. My leaving has nothing to do with the promotion. It’s not something that should be held against me in any way. It’s just the opposite. It goes to my integrity.

This is a letter of recommendation from my last employer (West Virginia University at Parkersburg) and summaries of my performance evaluations. I have other letters of recommendation but I think in all cases those letters were submitted.

Letter of Recommendation and Performance Summaries

If you need the letters of recommendations, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.

Jon came into the office and said, “Well, we’re re-theming the ride because I just signed The Eagles.” There was mutiny on the bounty with the artists because Midnight Rider was finished and artistically it was one of the best attractions in the theme park. Right then I learned that it’s important for creative teams not to get married to their original work.

So he tells us he’s signed “Life in the Fast Lane” as the music. And it became my job to take the song and drop it into video taken from the coaster test ride to see how this was going to work.

I went back to Jon and showed him the video and said, “Look this isn’t going to work. The song doesn’t match the timing of the coaster. The coaster wasn’t built for the song.”

Jon disappears for about an hour.

He comes back and says, “The Eagles are going into the studio to remix the song for us to match the coaster.”

And it’s a good reminder of how to get out of the box when it comes to creative problem solving. Instead of my trying tricks to get the music to fade in or fade out or begin at certain points, I went about it all wrong. Jon taught me to think bigger and look outside for a solution.

If the coaster was already built, the solution was to change the music. We needed to change our problem solving approach. And so The Eagles re-recorded “Life in the Fast Lane.”

It was a great lesson.

According to the Wikipedia, “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, Old Style) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor,architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of “unquenchable curiosity” and “feverishly inventive imagination”.^”

I can relate to the diversity of his interests and what fueled them.

It’s little comfort when I think I just lost the “initial name” again. The initials being those in my degrees. It’s only schools that seem to care about the initials. The key to understanding this picture ultimately lies in Da Vinci.

This has happened to me all my life. I have an M.S. and not an M.F.A. All of my graphic design and fine art experience was acquired through work experience because when I got my graduate degree those software tools didn’t really even exist yet. In my undergrad as a magazine major I took design related courses like magazine production, graphics,  layout and & design (which was computerized), photography (Vis Com), picture editing (Vis Com), I had CA 117 and 118 (Intro to Fine Arts), two dance courses – Modern and Jazz (I did have to obtain permission from the school because I wasn’t a dance major). I did take writing for Film & Television in grad school (but that course was through Telecommunications).

One of the reasons I liked the Magazine major as an undergrad was because it was design oriented and you could choose one or two specializations (they are like minors) and you did get a lot of freedom to choose courses from other schools. I could see where the magazine major would be useful in creating marketing collateral and editorial. I could not see where a magazine major would get you a job without a business specialization because all magazines are businesses. All media outlets are businesses. My goal wasn’t just to be a writer.

All an iPad is – is a magazine. And let’s face it, typography is the same whether it’s in print or on TV – the font itself doesn’t change. My specializations were in business and psychology and I took my electives in comparative arts and dance just for fun.

This happens all the time to me with business schools. They’ll want to talk to me about teaching because I am good with marketing. And then they realize that I have an M.S. and not an M.B.A. I didn’t take an M.B.A option because I already had those courses as an undergrad. I couldn’t see the point of paying for them again.

And an art school wants the M.F.A. And if I had gotten the M.F.A., I wouldn’t have the marketing experience in my portfolio because they look for the M.S. or M.B.A. if they are looking for a graduate degree. And much of my graphic design work is in marketing collateral.

I hate to say it but I wouldn’t have either my business experience or my art experience if I had chosen the M.B.A. vs. an M.F.A. originally.

It’s a game you can’t win. I honestly at times don’t know why colleges just don’t delete the M.S. and M.A. because it puts people in the middle if they want to teach at some point. And you would think that they would want the people with the great experience to teach. And I don’t want to go back to teaching at open enrollment schools that don’t care about the initials – all they want is a graduate degree and possibly just a warm body and no tenure (security).  And yet when it came to things like the theme park – what matters most to creative businesses is the quality of your work and that’s pretty much how you’re judged. If you worked hard to get the skills and your portfolio shows it – that’s all that matters.

And to be honest, I’ve never really considered getting the doctorate when I see that the salaries for teaching positions and Director of Marketing are higher at community colleges than four-year schools. I’ve been tracking this as I go. Surprising isn’t it? Four-year schools pretty much want me to get a doctorate and take a pay cut. From a numbers prospective it doesn’t make sense to take on debt if you can’t earn it back. And I’m not so sure I could earn a doctorate back. In a lot of marketing jobs you won’t even be considered if you have the master’s. They see it as over qualified. A doctorate might sink me for sure.

When I interviewed to be the Senior Marketing Manager at Pfizer last year, they were perfectly willing to take the M.S. and the business specialization in lieu of the M.B.A. And they were most interested in the experience not the degree. Pfizer was not the right place for me because they had just been fined 2.3 billion dollars for illegal marketing. And yes, that information is already very public. That’s the largest fine ever for illegal marketing. It’s just not in me to get comfortable with that.  People who really know me know that I value the work over the paycheck but it has to be legal. At the same time, I don’t want to go backwards in salary but, I was never targeting the huge paycheck. At the end of the day, I want to sleep at night for what I do. Supposedly, the last of the fines were issued a five days ago http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjlG5c621BC8Ulcp6pgaXn_fJTiw?docId=CNG.e1771690f71c3d2c94aa0c8833fbddc0.211.

For those people who thought the $2.3 billion was the end of it – not exactly. I suspect the new $14.3 million fine will also not be the last one they see. I suspect it’s going to take a while to clean up the problem. For those who don’t understand, the Feds can and should fine a pharmaceutical company for misrepresenting what a drug can do. As a marketing professional you rely on what the doctors and scientists tell you a drug can do. There has to be a relationship of trust because the public trusts what I’m putting in the advertising. It’s marketing’s job to sell the drug, but what you put out has to be true; if not people suffer or die from the consequences. I have a conscience and I’m not willing to risk it on a company that I think has a “culture” problem. There isn’t enough money in the world to entice me into that kind of culture.

In all, it makes for a lot more complicated picture than people realize.

But I am keenly aware that my choices have cost me. I was a candidate in 2010 to teach at Stanford before the job market got really tight. I knew that after I received the official letter, all it was going to take to beat me was either a Pulitzer prize or a doctorate. And if I had to beat a Pulitzer, it would take a doctorate to do it.  Although I have a tremendous amount of writing awards, I have never competed for a Pulitzer. And I was right. I believe it was the prize that beat me and not the degree. I don’t think they have a doctorate.

Traditionally in this kind of predicament, private schools would have been happy to have you teach with a master’s. But in this economy, private schools are not hiring. They are hemorrhaging students.

And my skillset that I have now is what it takes to compete on the Internet. Traffic is at an all-time high. But if I wanted this site to generate revenue I would have to move to an advertising model and take on a sales person, another developer and I would have to refocus the blog into distinct genre categories. The traffic isn’t as high as it could possibly be because directories don’t have a category for the content of this blog. It’s about a lot of things. It’s about more than one area. It would have to be split into separate blogs. And I don’t intend to do those items because then that would involve seeking seed money and someone else owning a piece of it. And that’s another book of problems right there. So that’s why it hasn’t happened. I think I would start a new company before I would ever do it to this one. Here’s an update. In a week’s time, it’s gone from 1100 sites linking in to 1700 sites linking in.

All the years that I have spent studying code and graphics do show in the work. I did spend a lot of years working in computer science and I did take telecommunications courses in grad school. And let’s face most of today’s marketing collateral is digital.

So why explain it? So people can understand the factors in the picture. So they can understand my prospective. So maybe I can I change some behavior and get people to look beyond the initials. So people can see that my choices did yield me a career with some really rich experience, but not necessarily with the degree that schools want me to have. And in the case of some businesses, don’t dock me for having a graduate degree.

I need an exception to the rule.

What was used for the whole site and the work you see is is Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, Flash, Dreamweaver, After Effects, various small video editors and codecs, ActionScript, XML, JQuery, CSS, XHML, HTML 5.0 on some pages, JavaScript, PHP/MySQL, Wordpress, there may still be a Java app hanging around too, Unreal Developers Kit for some of the cover of the book and the building, Some of the work was made with 3Ds Max (I used to teach it but it is my least favorite). plug-ins too numerous to mention. a boat load of hand coding, a digital camera, a graphics tablet, graphite pencils and paper. Page layout items were done with InDesign and Quark.

Those are pretty much my tools for this site.