Monster Dot Com

by | Dec 29, 2006 | 2006 Off Season | 0 comments

Back as 2002 began I was working for Motorola. It was an awesome place to work. We were building semiconductors for Apple Computer and creating the circuits that would power the next generation of cell phones. We were a rogue bunch of engineers who were defining the information technology space for the next 3 to 5 years. The Winter Olympics were coming to Salt Lake City Utah just a few short months after the September 11 tragedy and the Arizona Diamondbacks crowning as world champions. My friend Jeff Isaacson and I had tickets to the Olympics to attend about a dozen events. I could hardly wait to see what the Olympic experience was like. Of course I was dressed in the warmest Diamondbacks apparel that I owned as we made our trek to the frozen tundra of Utah. While watching the women’s halfpipe snowboarding event I received a phone call from Trina. She said that she thought I had just been laid off from my job as a large amount of money was just deposited into our checking account. The amount did sound like a severance package so she was probably right. Given that I was now unemployed I asked if it would be ok if I stayed a little longer at the Olympic games. She agreed so I had a few extra days to play in Utah.


After the half pipe event, Jeff and I went to Park City to see the sights and do some Olympic pin trading. We were half frozen and definitely looking for a hot chocolate vendor. As we wandered the streets we were approached by some big furry dude dressed in a mascot costume. He asked if we wanted some free hot chocolate. If so, all we had to do was to sign up for something called Monster dot com and get a free cup of warmth. I gladly made that trade signing up and pointing Monster to an online version of my resume. I didn’t think much more about this episode until I got home from the Olympics. Soon I began getting a few phone calls from perspective employers interviewing me for jobs. This was kind of cool. One of these calls happened to be from Wells Fargo who brought me in for an interview and soon offered me a job. I accepted and now work in the technology department of the bank. Whenever I tell this story people seem amazed. I guess it doesn’t usually happen that way. In fact I am told that rarely does anyone get hired from Monster. Usually it is just a way to begin networking to find other positions or people to help in a job search. Today I was reminded of my Monster dot com experience when I went to the Diamondbacks web site and noticed that the team had partnered with Monster looking for people. Well I could think of nothing better than being paid to follow baseball and be employed by a Major League franchise so I had to click on the link. Currently the Diamondbacks are looking for people who could attend all of the home games and assist them in reporting the outcome. This is in conjunction with Major League Baseball and their Gameday telecasts. They are looking for reporters to write up a summation of each game and they are also looking for technicians who can run the pitch f/x system showing each ball and strike. This seems like a no-brainer to me. I am already at the game, I am already keeping score and I am already writing about the games for this blog as well as my web site. My only question on the application was whether Monster would send me a cup of hot chocolate. It was kind of cold in my house this morning.

Jeff Summers

Just a digital guy in an analog world pondering the metaphysics of baseball and whether the knuckleball defies Newton's first law of motion.

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Jeff Summers

Jeff Summers

Baseball Epistemologist

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