For This Survey I'll Call Myself "Electrical Engineer" Instead of "Sales"

I don't know my IQ. I assume I was tested/estimated in junior high or high school, but no one ever told me what it was. I actually sat down to take an on-line IQ test once, but it crashed about 30 minutes into it, and I was so frustrated I didn't start it over (maybe that was part of the test)?

So I don't know if I am Mensa material or not, but here is a chart of IQs by occupation. Sales is lower than "Electrical Engineer", and since I have an undergrad in the latter, I think I'll call myself an EE for the sake of this survey.

(H/T: Master of None)

Why United 1K is a Dubious "Honor"

After scattering my miles around several airlines last year, this year I concentrated my international travel on United got the coveted "1K" status. So I will get early boarding, first dibs on upgrading, and so on.

The thing is, to get this "honor" I had to spend a lot of time on airplanes. And to reap the rewards I have to spend more time on airplanes. And quite frankly, spending time on airplanes is getting old.

But here's the problem: there is little chance of me finding a job that doesn't require travel. My resume has 20 years of high-tech marketing/business development/sales. The tech industry is international, so any job I take in one of these areas will require some sort of domestic or international travel. And it's just going to get worse as time goes on as both production and customers move offshore. The only tech jobs that are going to be left in the U.S. are going to be something to do with accounting, sales, strategy, design, IP, or management. At at my company all of these functions travel to one degree or another (accountants have to audit our overseas holdings and IP people have to travel for depos, trials and negotiations).

So my only option is to retool to a different industry - something that is nearly impossible without starting completely over - or being unemployed. So I think I'll be seeing plenty more travel in my future.

"Green Fatigue" Setting In

Over the past couple of years every damn company on the planet has advertised itself as "green". This includes giant oil companies (especially BP), power companies that burn coal, and every consumer electronics company in world (they forget to tell consumers that manufacturing semiconductors and flat panels requires everything in the periodic table from arsenic to xenon).

I've been rolling my eyes at all of this. But if Samsung can make a chardonnay-sipping tree hugger feel good about plugging in his 50" wide-screen TV to the coal-fired power grid, I'm okay with that (that's what marketing is all about).

But everyone outside the Sierra Club is starting to see through the smoke and mirrors:

“Energy Pulse 2007,” a study released in October by The Shelton Group, Knoxville, Tenn., reveals a significant, measurable downturn in purchase intent for a range of green home products, as well as rising skepticism about advertisers’ use of terms like “green,” “sustainable,” “earth,” and “eco-friendly.”

Like everything else in the consumer area, the corporations bludgeoned the term, making it as meaningless as "new and improved".

Okay, I'm Back

Due to the overwhelming outcry of my fan base (all one of you), I'm back in blogging action.