A Job Saved

I know Mondays are usually reserved for Tracy Farr's nonsense, but I couldn't resist putting this one up early. Enjoy.....

Links fixed

In last week's Stinky Creek Newsletter, none of the links worked because of the downturn in our economy. We instituted a new process for linking which had a few bugs. But NOW, hopefully, all those bugs are fixed. Here's the story that started it all:

Economic stimulus package saves job at Daily Spittoon

For awhile it looked like The Daily Spittoon was going to take a hit from the downturn in the economy, but not anymore.

The recent multi-billion dollar stimulus package has made it possible for Joel Ramón, the Spittoon's Link Manager for 20 years, to keep his job instead of being laid off.

"This is a happy day for me," Ramón said. "I just knew I was going to be the next victim of this economy, but I guess I got lucky."

Ramón came to the Spittoon in 1989, at a time when "links" on web pages were painted by hand. Each link was painted in three different colors and had to work independently of all the other links.

"It was a very technical process," Ramón said. "There had to be a color for a link that hadn't been opened, an underlying color that showed up when a user's cursor hovered above it, then the third color to show that the link had been opened. And this all had to be done by hand -- with oil-based paint and brush. It was a demanding job, but very satisfying."

Things changed for Ramón when the economy took a turn for the worse. Costs had to be cut, and it made more sense to paint links with a computer application than by hand.

"It seemed like overnight I was out of a job," Ramón said. "One day I was happily painting links, and the next thing I know some college kid with a degree is doing it all on computer -- without even getting paint on his fingers. I guess I could have learned how to do it digitally, but I refused. Painting links is an art form in and of itself. You can do it on computer, but it's just not the same."

Luckily for Joel Ramón, the stimulus package came just in time to save his job.

"I am now the Spittoon's District Paint Application Manager," Ramón said. "I make sure the walls are painted, the trim is decorative, and keep tabs on any touchups that need to be made. Not only that, but twice a year I get to pick a wall and paint a mural on it.

"When one door closes, another door opens," Ramón added. "I'm now having the best time of my life."

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The Daily Spittoon - – Sometimes progress sucks.