Almost forgot to mention, during my self-imposed exile from writing, I wasn’t just sitting around enjoying the holidays. I have now officially completed two of the four Microsoft Office certifications I’m attempting, courtesy of the state of Michigan’s “No Worker Left Behind” program. I am now known as a “Microsoft Certified Application Specialist”, certified in both MS Word and MS Excel 2007. PowerPoint is next up, which I began studying for just yesterday. I suspect this one will be much easier and faster than Excel, which was a monster. Also continuing work toward A+ and Network+ certifications. Whether any of this will help my unemployment situation is up for debate. Are certifications minus real-world experience really worth anything in today’s hyper-competitive job market? I say it’s doubtful. But what do you think? Leave me a comment! At any rate, it’s something I’ve wanted to accomplish for quite awhile so I am getting a sense of satisfaction from having achieved these certifications. And the oh-so-pretty certificates from Microsoft – signed by none other than Bill Gates, himself – look so nice on my office wall.