I am normally used to reading about the fabulous new updates on Google’s Blog and how they added this or made better that for searching. But lately I am so fed up with Google making my search life miserable. Actually, sad, hurt and frustrated. I mean its one thing to deal with my 6 year old twins saying no to everything (6.5 to be precise, lest they spot mommy saying this on the big WWW) but now even Google? What’s up? I am in no mood to be sorry or accept any Google apologies. It’s been my favorite engine of choice by choice (not default!)

I am talking about those annoying messages that pop up when you use too many asterisks in a Boolean string, develop a complex string with inurl: and more often than not when X-Raying Google for LinkedIn Profiles or any site using the site: command. You then have to prove to Google that you are indeed a part of the Homo sapiens species and decipher a CAPTCHA.   To quote one of my current most favorite writers in the search world, Glen Cathey, this has something to do with the issue of Google thinking everyone has suddenly become a malicious bot sending automated queries to their servers.
 
The nerve!! I mean don’t sit in the dark. The whole search community is up in arms over this. Folks who are the foremost authority on all things search and Boolean are talking, from Glen Cathey on Boolean Black Belt to technical wonder whiz Irina Shamaeva’s Technorati post, the blogosphere is abuzz.

Maybe all the attention is getting a bit too much for Google to handle – I think I’ll dash off a personal letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt on some non technical good ole fashioned rolled up parchment scroll so it will stand out in all the bits and bytes of code.
 
“Dear Google, I was a “Resident Alien” before I became a US Citizen but I assure you I am 100% HUMAN. No green blood, electronic nerves, mechanical motor hearts nor intent to harm. You are a premier search engine & a smart one too! What’s with the captchas? We ask for Search Engine Freedom!!!! Please release us from this bondage. You must find a way out.”

To prevent this issue you have to
(1)regularly clear your cookies (how painful is that, I’d rather loose my memory first!),
(2) switch browsers
(3) try Bing or Yahoo!
(4) or interestingly enough I just stumbled across this
(5) I am sure we will find other work arounds

This is putting a real crimp in my search style and it’s been going for a while now. Do me a favor – voice your opinions please!

I am sure we have all heard variations of this story, legend, chain emails -  call it what you like. The author is unknown and Snopes makes several references to this story from its association with Royals to our fair neighbor Canada. It is a great tale of heart warming anticipation where you hold on to your fork because pie/dessert is coming next and therefore the best is yet to come.

Nice story and all and some may wipe a tear but what the heck does this have to do with you and me, all the unemployed people who have been despairing over the past months and the entire staffing/recruiting/HR bandwagon that has been hurtling downhill all year? You see, I’m the eternal optimist when it comes to new ways of doing things – Web 2.0, automation, spider technology,  semantic, Boolean, 3G, 4G, Artificial Intelligence  – better, smarter, faster, interactive, more intuitive, streamlined, and the fact that mankind is always improving on things.

Don’t get me wrong, there are days/times when I am down. But in spite of the fact that Nearly 16M People Can’t Find Jobs Amid Claims Recession Is Over  or the fact that U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years I have eternal hope.

I and all my tribe are cheering for a quick end to the bad times. OK so shoot me,<gobble, gobble> but if we all don’t think that the only way out of this is up, we’re all toast, man. It is just a question of time.  Because in the midst of the doom & gloom all we need is more good news like Bay Area Tech Company Needs to Hire 200 Recruiters & Sourcers, One Year Contract .

A past Executive Admin once said to me, “The Universe, my dear, has a way of balancing it all out” as I pulled my hair out on a frightfully annoying, ongoing, “client kept changing the specs” search.  A lot of truth in that as I eventually found out.  So let’s celebrate Thanksgiving (I sure hope the more fortunate, still employed among us will invite at least one unemployed family to share the meal) and be “THANKFUL” for what has been and for what we have enjoyed (granted it’s been a while when the unemployment paycheck has been coming for months). 

The next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you ever so gently, that the best is yet to come. Count your blessings and here’s to better times for all.  

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

Ever wonder why archaeologists (Definition: The systematic study of past human life and culture by the recovery and examination of remaining material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery) and paleontologists (Definition – The study of the forms of life existing in prehistoric or geologic times, as represented by the fossils of plants, animals, and other organisms) keep digging in the dirt, studying all the fragments they find?

Because surprises never cease, because there’s always more to be found and the puzzle is never done. Simply put, many fragments make a whole picture. We want to know our past, so we can understand our present and build for our future generations.
As an online sourcer I have this innate curiosity to see what else is out there when I am on a search. Oh wait, here’s one more place to look, one more hyperlink to click on, just in case I can pick up a new clue.  It’s pretty exhausting and tedious when you try to be meticulous and detailed, (talk about stiff necks, aching backs & cramped fingers because I don’t like to stop in the middle of the digging) but it’s priceless when you collect all the pieces and can present that final picture to your client – in house or external.

Did you know the internet is like an iceberg? 

(more…)