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- monospaced30
blog
Two years ago today was my last day of work at PwC, where after 16 years I was a victim of mass layoffs. 6 months later, my wife was also let go (fuck you, Trump), leaving us without health insurance or a sense of stability. By late 2025, PwC had completely dissolved the remaining US Creative team.
I was luck enough to land a contract position at Edward Jones six months out, and for the last 18 months I held that position, built a team from the ground up and set some pretty high standards. I became quite attached to the team and the designers I had hired and trained.
Unfortunately, the nature of a contract role is that there are no benefits, and this one was also a significant pay cut from PwC. Don't ask how much health premiums are for a family of four in New York unless you want to punch a wall. Needless to say, I never stopped applying for jobs, randomly clicking through some corporate Workday site for the thousandth time, sending my shitty resume out into the ether, not expecting a response.
Well shit. I start a new job on Wednesday. Full salary and benefits. I'm back baby!
- Nice! Congrats! You just described my near exact situation (and I'm still looking)...
You guys hiring? (lol)PonyBoy - Congrats. Clientsside or agency?Longcopylover
- That's great news!canoe
- https://i.imgur.com/…utopian
- woot wootpango
- Excellent news. Good work.Morning_star
- good stuff. I too worked in corporate before doing my own stuff. But my own stuff has gone pretty slow recently. Trying to get more happening. It's tough!sab
- Congrats, fellow Triton!Krassy
- Congrats!BonSeff
- In house for life :) remote with some occassional manhattan days I supposemonospaced
- It was hard breaking the news to my team and discuss for and plan for 2 weeks how on earth they’ll actually fill in for me. They do need designers though.monospaced
- sucks they didnt see your value to convert you from contract. But good on you to keep your eye out.BonSeff
- Nice mono! fuck yeah.bezoar
- Yeah it sucks. I talked to the ECD about it a couple of times and they honestly wanted to. But it just isn’t that simple.monospaced
- Congrats!!!instrmntl
- Nice work, you made it happen!!spot13
- Congratulations! You must feel like a zillion, right now!Squiddy
- Yes! Congrats mono, you deserve it, good luck in the new adventure ;)OBBTKN
- Excellent news. Congrats!mort_
- Thanks all! I start tomorrow. Eek!monospaced
- so incredibly happy for you Mono!!!!!!exador1
- good luck manrenderedred
- Great news - It's terrific to hear a positive employment story these days. Best of luck!stoplying
- Hell yes mono, happy for ya.garbage
- Yeeah man!! Great stuff mono. That's a tough time you've been through so glad you found something.Ianbolton
- Graf would be so proud of you too haha ;-)Ianbolton
- Well allllllright!!!falcadia
- Nice! Congrats! You just described my near exact situation (and I'm still looking)...
- exador14
blog
Mono's post definitely made me think about the past few years...
I was laid off about 2 years ago now... but luckily for me, i was given almost a full year of 'working notice' etc...
within a few months I was fortunate enough to get picked up by a close friend who'd taken a dev-leadership position at the big hydro utility here... he gave me a call and said he was looking for a UI/UX guy to report directly to him... i jumped at the opportunity :)
because, here's where we are folks lol...
I'm in my mid 50s now (like a lot of you fuckers lol)
I'm comfortable with most of my big rock star designer moments being somewhat in the past at this point...
I did work for Obama, Oprah, Google, had my stuff appear before a madonna concert lol...
but now? at this point?
stability is my jam.
this current gig? I'm loving it.
it's not even close to being the most creative stuff I've ever done lol...
but it's stable.. it's reliable... the pay is great, and it keeps me active...I'm working on an app for designers in my spare time to keep my hand in the game (more on that later) and stay as sharp as possible... but as far as full time work? stability is fucking awesome...
it's a blood bath out there...
shit... before this fell in my lap, i was getting pretty freaked out...so...
here's to stability in this time of craziness...
- Hang in there and thanks for sharing! Here’s to stability!monospaced
- HAL9001-1
My 9 Albums
absolutly impossible to pick only 9 albums for me, so i'll be that guy who can't follow rules and post more than one selection, sorry
- if i had to pick one band that made me it would totally be the Smashing Pumpkins, no question.HAL9001
- The first five here are indisputable.CyBrainX
- At first, I didn't realize you made 5.These are all great. I'll be seeing Animal Collective on Thursday in Brooklyn.CyBrainX
- cheaterPonyBoy
- +100 for The Thermals!fooler
- HAL9001: My900Albumsfuturefood
- not for favourites, it's 9 that made YouGardener
- Gabriel8
Show some recent work
makeIcon 3.0 out now.
It lets you organize your macOS folders by giving each one a custom icon made from any picture — or just a color — in a few clicks.
- cool!PonyBoy
- +1utopian
- For QBN'rs user code FRIENDGIFTGabriel
- Cool, Any plans to develop this for Windows?CyBrainX
- Niceset
- @CyBrainX → I could try ;)Gabriel
- @cybrain https://github.com/p…set
- Apple could not verify “makeIcon” is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.colab
- Sorry. That's the warning it gives me with "move to trash" as the only option. I tried right click+open.colab
- It's not signed because I'm not paying the apple developer.Gabriel
- 1. Open makeIcon. When the warning appears, click Done (not "Move to Trash").
2. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll to the bottom. Next to "mGabriel - akeIcon" was blocked to protect your Mac, click Open Anyway.
4. Open makeIcon again, click Open Anyway and enter your password.Gabriel
- futurefood2
- Star Trek:TNG - The Inner Light. nice surprize cuz I didn't know he was in it just knew him from Office SpaceSquiddy
- oh no milton!trooperbill
- Not Milton, but one of the Bobs.
Top right is Man From Earth, great filmfuturefood - Stephen Root was Milty and he's alive and well.CyBrainX
- still gettin' paidAQUTE
- :(
https://www.amazon.c…PonyBoy
- Continuity4
- +1 for Floodlandfooler
- Are you a fan of KMFDM?palimpsest
- Might be!Continuity
- Ohhh, KMFDM, love those guys, haven't listened to them in years!!elahon
- I love you, but we have absolutely no shared commonality in music, brother
hahaNairn - Kill Mother Fuckin Depeche Mode?stoplying
- I LOVE that Front 242 album. Most people gravitate to Front by Front because it has Headhunter.CyBrainX
- @CyBrainX: yup, exactly. This one is fucking chef's kiss.Continuity
- @Nairn, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you even more. I love green bell pepper, mushrooms, and black olives on my pizza.Continuity
- Hey now, hey now now!canoe
- Awesome.. if i had to guess it would've been shibuya-kei lol. KMFDM MONEY is a great. Even got the glittered tshirtSquiddy
- lol @ Squiddy ... you're not too far off, though. For the last couple of years I've been all about all-woman J-metal/J-rock bands, like BAND-MAID.Continuity
- elahon5
- That's a great set. That Jimmy Cliff album is gold.Morning_star
- Caution!!! can't understand!BabySnakes
- I second that - Jimmy Cliff!canoe
- yesss finally, RIBBEDfuturefood
- +1 to jimmy cliff, Fugazi and psalm 69cannonball1978
- Good taste!falcadia
- Longcopylover4
- That was trickier than i thought...Longcopylover
- That Trainspotting got a lot of rotation over here... never bought the second album thoughcanoe
- I've been thinking that Trainspotting would have it hit my nine. So to speak.
It's fundamental.Nairn - La Haine tho.. literally referenced that soundtrack yesterday in a insta postautoflavour
- hammerhart!neverscared
- Yeah, the different Trainspotting tracks were perfect for so many occasions: Breakups, Parties, Skating...Longcopylover
- Squiddy21
- Curb Crawlingutopian
- +++renderedred
- beautifulBabySnakes
- this is what we needautoflavour
- palimpsest5
- +1 Faith in Strangers - surprised to see that on our list, Pal! xNairn
- Also, Nosaj Thing. I didn't realise you leant that way!Nairn
- Andy Stott!CyBrainX
- Violence!!!!palimpsest
- Soda Stereo, my mancanoe
- Ianbolton3
My 9 Films
I'm doing a horror october thing with a missus. Does anyone fancy doing a 9 horror film list?
- with 'a' missus. Fuck. I meant the. I'm fucked if she sees thisIanbolton
- Hey Missus of Ianbolton, don't worry, he only has us.Longcopylover
- FLOL, you're in shit now, boyo!Nairn
- First horror movie: The security camera footage of Ian explaining who 'a missus' is to THE missus!Akagiyama
- haha, this horror movie i'm in is brutal.Ianbolton
- I liked backrooms and obsession.monospaced
- renderedred4
- in november the film will be posted for free on the guardian website.renderedred
- Akagiyama0
- hahaha, great list. What about 12 years a slave?Ianbolton
- + Irreversible, Memento, Se7enNairn
- shit man, irreversible is fucked up. Also, ThreadsIanbolton
- + the original Ring. By fuck.Continuity
- I got completely wasted at a friend's house a few years back and ended up 'watching' Requiem for a Dream like 4 times back to back. Still can't recall it... .Nairn
- I don't think RFAD belongs here because it's a *tough* movie to watch but because it hasn't aged well, I saw it a month ago. It did it it's thing in its era.palimpsest
- I did Requiem for a Dream then Bjork’s Dancer in the Dark on a Sunday come down. Fuck me, I was crying my little eyes. Like everything was awful forever nowIanbolton
- Hahahaha, brilliant.
Yeah, not a good idea, lol.Nairn - This could be 20 movies or more if I had room lolAkagiyama
- a_aachen5
- <3 La haine... as actual as ever.Longcopylover
- Victoria is a great callGardener
- yes that one really blew me away.a_aachen
- jagara3
The Useful Thread
Thought slappy's Turbotest site belongs here :)
(peripheral test, keybords, mice etc.)
https://turbotest.io/
- kingsteven2
- Oh damn I love this one. I haven't seen too many of these with Captain Beefheart, Can or Stereolab. I don't know Paperclip People but the rest are ace.CyBrainX
- hah, surprisingly easy to put together all in constant rotation for nearly 30 years :) hardest was deciding between safe as milk and clear spotkingsteven
- Homogenic was the last great (even, good) Bjork album. Christ, I miss early Bjork.Nairn
- I love the album about mushrooms with the bass clarinet octet.CyBrainX
- For me, if you're going to listen to Capt. Beefheart, go full crazy with Trout Mask Replica.CyBrainX
- Yeah, homogenic is perfection, turns me in to an emotional mess. she leant a bit too hard in to concept albums after - you may enjoy this concept though @Nairnkingsteven
- https://www.youtube.…
playlist of all 20 Mark Bell produced tracks after homogenic.kingsteven - @CyBrain, dipped my toe and ended up deep in Zoot Horn Rollo skronk analysis while cross referencing 3 biographies, but these are the two I play in company lolkingsteven
- +1 Stereolab
+1 Canoey_oey - Dots and Loops stays in rotation over here. Great workin and driving music.shellie
- Don't pass up the chance to see Stereolab live if you can. I saw them about a year ago and was blown away.CyBrainX
- yeah incredible, when dots and loops came out they were already one of my favorite bands alongside mouse on mars and tortoise. so an album featuring all 3 thatkingsteven
- lives up to the expectations of what that could be, my lord. - then arguably just continued to get better but dots and loops always the one i reach for.kingsteven
- @Nairn I was with her until Médulla.jagara
- neverscared7
- lolGardener
- Police Academy 1-4 are awesome._me_
- lol very thin blue linepango
- Mmmm Callahanprophetone
- Might I suggest Night Patrol? It stars the girl from the Exorcist, Pat Morita and the Unknown Comic. (This is not a bit)garbage
- The Blue Oysterfooler
- At some point there's a cock-fighting scene, and it's two naked dudes fighting with their dicks in an alley. Revel at the cover art:garbage
- https://i.haasie.com…garbage
- I used to host shitty movie parties, and two movies made people tap out: "Night Patrol" and "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom".garbage
- Night Patrol lol I have that on VHS... ‘ got an infection on my thumb. My doctor told me to keep it warm.’ Lolprophetone
- Christopher Nolan wishes he could put a scene together better than this https://youtu.be/4gE…prophetone
- ‘Cream’a washroom...’ lolprophetone
- Blue Oyster LOL!canoe
- @prophy Same, I got mine at a junk store strickly for the "more consistently amusing than 'Police Academy'" tagline.garbage
- For the unitiated, Pat Morita is officially credited as "Rape Victim", and his lines are dubbed over by a woman. Movie makes Porky's look like Citizen Kane.garbage
- PonyBoy3
blog
All this time I thought a traditional chicago style hotdog had ketchup on it... nope.
- Those sport peppers are the shitmonospaced
- love 'em!PonyBoy
- No ketchup!utopian
- Gardener7
- This had to be a challenge for you.utopian
- it was but the remit is 'Sounds That Made Me', so it's not just 9 of my favourite albumsGardener
- GBV! GBV!fooler
- I was late to the GBV party so this was the first one I heard, it blew me away when I saw them live - I got Robert to sign a poster of this sleeve art tooGardener
- I had GBV sign a record and Robert's pen exploded - so the record is mostly gold blob with a barely legible "SORRY ABOUT ALL THE GOLD" also in gold.kingsteven
- piccy?Gardener
- i believe an ex housemate has it. will try and recover - i am a tree 7"kingsteven
- god yesGardener
