Human Rights?

So I was looking at the latest batch of links from Code Project, and I came across an article stating that artificial intelligence will become a human right. The article itself states that the UN declared in 2016 that the internet is a human right. Wait what? So now I'm thinking I have no idea what a human right is, because that makes no sense to me at all. At some point I'm going to have to follow up on this. But not right now.

MacDill Job Fair

I went to the job fair at MacDill Air Force Base on Thursday, January 24th, 2019. I didn't take any resumes, much to the amusement of some of the representatives. I figured most of the jobs would be local, but there would probably be at least one or two companies that would have nationwide jobs.

The one that was the most promising, and was a surprise to me, was Chase. I spent a lot of time talking to the FBI, and I probably shouldn't have. I did learn that the current waiver for Special Agents basically just subtracts military service from your age, so the FBI counts me as being 26. So if I change my mind, I don't have to rush to apply. But postings are done by needs of the government, which means I could end up anywhere. No gusta. I checked their website for non-agent jobs--nothing in Houston, or even in Texas.

I figured GDIT would have jobs in Houston connected with NASA, but the reps had no idea. They wanted to put me at Fort Bragg. FayetteNam? No thanks. I checked their website. Three jobs, and two of them were social worker jobs. Go figure.

Frank Sotomayor from New Horizons Computer Learning Centers gave me some good advice: if I'm having trouble getting an IT job, take my master's degree off my resume. He said that's an automatic six-figure salary, and some companies don't want to pay. I'm overqualified. I translate that to don't apply to jobs that don't ask Masters required or preferred unless I really really want that job, and then take off the Masters.

Erica Woods from Apex Systems was also helpful. She said I needed to work on my elevator speech. She also suggested that I connect with the local PMI chapter in Houston and announce that I'm looking for a job. That makes me wonder if there's something similar in Houston for ACM, since I've been a member forever. (A quick Google search didn't turn up much)

I also talked with the ClearedJobs.net. That's worth looking into. We did a search and that's where the NASA jobs are. But maybe some other companies too.

What do I want to study

So...I've been around the primrose path a couple of times on this one. And of course, it's closely related to the question, what do I want to do with the rest of my life. And if I go back for a doctorate, then study will end up being a significant part of the rest of my life. For this reason I have hesitated about going back to school at all. But I think it could be worth it. I was inspired by the life of Pauli Murray. She was a black lawyer and was very active in the struggle for both civil and women's rights. But in the the 1970s, when she was in her sixties, she enrolled in seminary and became an ordained minister in the Episcopal church. She attended General Theological Seminary in 1973, and graduated with a Masters in Divinity in 1976. She was ordained in 1977 and died in 1985. So three years of study in her sixties for an eight year career in the clergy. Now of course, she didn't know she was going to die at age 74, but she knew the greater part of her life was behind her, and she made the decision anyway.

Well, I guess I should start at the very beginning. After completing my Masters in Computer Science, I started a Masters in Divinity, feeling that I should devote more of the talents that God had given me to his service. I started in 2010, and stopped in 2014. I restarted in 2018, but pursuing a degree in Biblical Interpretation, which is significantly shorter.

But for a long time I also thought about a Masters in Public Administration. I never had much of an interest in business, and I figured I would continue in public service, so a Masters in Public Administration would help me more.

The choices after Army retirement for work always looked like this:
1. Church/Christian ministry
2. Education
3. Civil Service

At some point I started looking at online doctorates. And instead of a MPA, I was looking at a DPA. Because I wasn't so crazy about the idea of going to school full time after retiring for 3-5 years, especially seeing that I could potentially have three daughters and a wife in school at the same time. Online DPA programs were almost non-existent, but I found lots of Doctor of Educational Leadership courses online that looked promising. And they had some overlap with the DPA programs, particularly in fundraising, which I know little about. But that program would lock me into University and Community College Administration/Leadership, and I wasn't sure I wanted that.

I've also always wanted to be a counselor. I figured I would be a church counselor, but I was never sure of how that worked. Did you need credentials? It didn't seem like it, but if credentials existed, then I wanted to have them. Talking with Letty and Rita last year brought all that into focus. I had also looked at some of the programs at Lubbock Christian University, but I didn't understand it all, and since by that time I was already enrolled in their theology program, I didn't look that hard.

So there are programs out there. Masters and Doctoral programs in Counseling. Masters and Doctoral programs in psychology, though the Masters psychology programs don't really qualify you to do anything. Also Masters and Doctoral programs in Social Work.

A couple of times the idea of pursuing a law degree has crossed my mind. The idea of being a prosecutor has always appealed to me. At one time I'd also thought about law enforcement, but now I'm too old, so that's one way I could still be involved in the process. But I also see that as an entryway into politics, but it seems like it may be too late for that. I have to remind myself though, that when it comes to serving the people and the community, it is not too late for that, and I don't need a degree to do it.

University of Houston has a MSW/JD program that got my attention. My ardor for the program cooled when I realized that after doing all that study, it would be difficult to really do anything with both degrees. I would want to pursue licensure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), but that would mean neglecting the law. But to me it makes sense that someone with a law degree would be using that degree first and foremost. I would probably want to work as a prosecutor for Harris County. But I don't see how I could do that and work on a LCSW at the same time.

Finally, if I just wanted a doctorate, the path of least resistance would seem to be Computer Science, since I already have a masters. The thing is, I haven't had much interest there. At least in the things that I studied for my masters. I wouldn't want to work on a doctoral thesis unless it was something that I was really interested in, and I can't see anything in security, or programming, or algorithms being that interesting to me. Big Data is the rage now, but that's not a dissertation topic I would pursue either. Artificial Intelligence is interesting, but I don't know if I would want to pursue a doctorate. Now Human Computer Interface, that sounds interesting. And even better, Brain Computer Interface. I don't have any knowledge there either, but I could see myself taking the time to get the background.

Largest employers in Houston and Tampa

So I'm thinking hard about where I should be looking for work. My basic list looks something like this:

• NASA
• University of Houston (Main, Downtown & Sugarland)
• City of Houston
• Harris County
• Hewlett Packard
• Veterans Administration
• Internal Revenue Service
• Houston Community College
• Lone Star College
• Rice University

But then I thought about who are the biggest employers in Houston. And because the Internet is so nifty, I found a list on a website called Here Is Houston. Here's their top ten:

1. Memorial Hermann Health System
2. The University of Texas MD Anderson
3. United Airlines
4. The Methodist Hospital System
5. Exxon Mobil Corporation
6. UTMB Health
7. Kroger Company
8. Shell Oil Company
9. National Oilwell Varco
10. Schlumberger Limited

Kroger surprised me.

Wikipedia also lists "Companies with a large presence in Houston:"

Although Exxon Mobil has its corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas, most of its employees are in Houston. Hewlett-Packard maintains a large presence in Harris County. The corporate offices of Imperial Sugar and Minute Maid, a regional headquarters for Unocal 76, and an office of Schlumberger, are based in nearby Sugar Land, Texas. CB&I and US Oncology are based in The Woodlands.

So since I was looking at that, I was curious about who the largest employers in Tampa are. I found it at Sun Coast Employers:

1. School District of Hillsborough County
2. HCA
3. Publix Supermarkets
4. Pinellas County School District
5. MacDill Airforce Base

So I work at an employer in the top five.

The patriarchy

Patriarchy is a concept that I am having problems with, but I'm not only having problems expressing the problems, I have a problem conceptualizing the patriarchy in the first place. I haven't wanted to record my thoughts because I didn't want them to be misconstrued before they were fully formed, but I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid that possibility, because I'm never going to get this if it's just in my head.

I googled it yesterday and came across some web pages with lots of discussion. One of them was this one, from Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog. Lots of discussion here, some of which was helpful, but I think it was helpful in eliminating some things from consideration. The main gist of the arguments was that the patriarchy was a theory, and that people were either trying to find evidences that lend credence to the theory, or trying to disprove the theory.

But the inequity clearly exists. Maybe that's the problem. I have no problem with someone saying that they want to rid the world of the inequity between men and women.  But when they say they want to rid the world of the Patriarchy, that just feels like something different. Maybe it has to do with the way I see words, maybe I can't help seeing it literally.

But no, it's larger than that. Because the Patriarchy is more than just inequity. And it really seems like the Patriarchy is basically everything that's wrong with the world. And that just seems like a never ending battle. Like the Patriarchy is too big. Because in my mind, the inequities between men and women is something we can eradicate, but the Patriarchy to me seems undefeatable.

I'm jumping to a different thought because I was just looking at another part of the blog that talks about essentialism. So men and women are different, full stop. The problem comes in when people think, because women and men are different that certain inequities must exist. But then, because women and men are different, what does equality mean?