Diane Blackman's Home Pages
- About Me and My Job
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- The Basics
I am hardworking, a team member, flexible, dedicated and think out of
the box.
My professional background is in technical writing, real property law, law
enforcement and environmental education. My resume goes over that information in more detail.
I am an excellent attorney. I think clearly and logically.
I'm creative in my problem solving approach. I am very good at simplifing
complex information. You can see some of this by looking at my usenet postings on legal
issues. I have
to explain, though, that as much as I love the study of and exploration of
the law I have no desire for a typical lawyer job. I do not
enjoy negotiations or court appearances. I love turning
over every stone, I avoid hyperbolye.
- Personal Interests
My personal interests include creating graphics to sell on products
through an on-line store, web site development, usenet participation,
law and social issues, companion animals (pets, especially dogs), and
natural science education. I have included them in my resume because they are highly marketable skills.
They demonstrate my ability to use a variety of computer programs, to
adjust to new programs quickly, and to tackle very technical material.
They also clarify my teaching abilities and my natural inclination to make
technical information understandable. My writing style is flexible and
differs depending upon the goal. Exploring my Dog-Play web site demonstrates just a
small portion of my writing styles.
- Why I'm Looking
It's hard to define what I'm looking for. Its easier to explain why I'm
looking and go from there. I have a suitable job. It is just not
the perfect job, nor even as good as it was several years ago. Three
years ago I loved my job so much I was having a hard time imagining that I
would ever retire from it. My immediate superior used to be a man who was
enthusiastic about his work, who shared his successes and his failures
freely and who regulary expounded on his philosophies. He was bright,
committed with an ego that could handle a direct challenge. My new
immediate superior is intelligent, competent with a preference for
compartmentalizing. I have little idea of her feelings or philosophies,
or even current projects.
The needs of my employer have shifted from research and writing to one
involving more direct conflict. I'm more often talking with the unhappy
adjoining land owner, trespasser, co-easement holder. I don't like the
posturing, nor standard negotiating games. Our work environment has also
become more bureaucratic and routine. Creative problem solving is not
supported or encouraged although it seems to be appreciated when I do it
regardless of the lack of support. Dissent, even polite and
thoughtful dissent, is strongly discouraged even though willingness to
dissent is necessary to test assumptions and create sound solutions.
I'm not happy with the work environment that includes announcing that I
will be moving to a new work space without discussion, or the imposition
of new rules without knowing that the need for the rules was under
discussion. I'm an intelligent and thoughtful person. I can accept rules
even if I disagree with them. Before a rule is created that affects me I
prefer to have the opportunity to know that a situation is under
discussion so that I can offer contributions to the solutions. Am I being
too open? Oh well. There would be no point in switching jobs only to
find I'm in an even more incompatible work environment. I can take
orders, but I am not a drone.
- What Do I Want?
What do I want to do? When I started thinking about a new job I realized
that I have lots of skills and would enjoy lots of things I have never
even heard of. I decided that defining what I wanted by profession was
unwise because it would ignore too many wonderful potential jobs. I
decided I would lose nothing by making my information available and
letting people find me while I was out looking. Because I am looking for
an environment that encourages creative thinking I felt that explaining me
and my skills, rather than the box I want to put them in, was the more
effective approach.
I like solving problems, learning new things, and teaching. I like
finding creative solutions to problems. I like thinking and analyzing. I
have a strong technical orientation. I am not the best people person. I
tend to be direct. I am an excellent explainer and translator (of another
person's ideas) so I'm a pretty decent mediator.
What would I do if I didn't have to work for a living? I'd play with my
dogs, train them for dog sports, help people train their dogs, teach them
to play with their dogs, expand my web site on dogs adding nifty
animations and stuff, create a new web site on natural science education,
put in a vegetable garden and tend it carefully. I'd like to, if I wasn't
working, find time for some pro bono legal work. In any case I would find
a way to contribute to human society. If I suddenly had money to throw
around I'd like to support community gardens and free or low cost dog
training programs and spay/nueter clinics. I'm not great with people who
are needy but unable to help themselves. I really like working with
people who are needy and eager and able to make use of all tools offered
to change their situation.
Contact Diane Blackman
Dog-Play
Web Site
This is a good site to learn about dogs. Mostly its about fun things
to do with dogs, and the many ways we can expand sharing our lives with
our dogs. I know many people who are good dog trainers, but can't deal
with people. I'm best dealing with people in writing. When I write I
have time to reflect and choose my words carefully. Explore my site and
you will see. It's been a fun and interesting experience developing the
site, and very educational.
Diane's Usenet Postings
If you aren't familiar with usenet it has an informal style. One person
will post a problem or a comment, then other people will respond to it.
Think of it thius way: A person posts on the bulletin board
of the laundry room "My neighbor cut my trees" Another person walks in,
sees the card, and puts up their own card "That was nasty. Have you
talked with them about it? Did you know there are possible triple
damages?" And another person will then post
their response, etc.
- Diane's Legal
Postings
on Usenet
You can get some idea of my ability to explain technical information by
looking at how I explain legal issues on usenet.
- Diane's Dog Postings on
Usenet
Oh, please. You don't want to go there. No, really. I couldn't and
wouldn't put up as a web page more than a small fraction of what I have
posted on usenet in the various dogs groups. My Dog-Play web site reflects most of my
writing style and issues of concern I have written about in the dogs
groups. If you do an archive search of my postings through Dejanews or Reference.com you will see that much of
what I write is repetitive because the same issues come up regularly. For
the most frequent ones I have prewritten scripts.
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Disclaimer
Note: The opinions and descriptions expressed above are mine and
are not necessarily endorsed by any other organization.
Copyright © 1998, Diane Blackman
Contact Diane Blackman at: blackman@sonic.net