NEWS FOR CAREER

Lockout has Fitzhugh content with career switch

NEW YORK — Some people called Keith Fitzhugh crazy. Others praised him for his admirable decision.

Turning down the Jets for trains? Yep, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

"I'm so happy," the free-agent defensive back recently told The Associated Press from his home in Atlanta. "It turned out just right for me."

It sure did, especially with NFL players locked out and in a bitter labor dispute with the owners. He has a secure job and a steady income, things he might not have if he had put his football dreams ahead of taking care of his parents.

Fitzhugh gained national attention last December when he declined an offer to join the New York Jets to remain a conductor with Norfolk Southern Railroad and stay on track financially. His parents needed him, he said, and he couldn't let them down. The decision landed the 24-year-old former Mississippi State star a guest spot on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and national television interviews with ABC and CNN, among several others.

"It was really a blessing because when I played football and was giving it my all, I never got the opportunity to do the things I got to do when I was just trying to do the right thing," he said. "Never. Not one time. Going out to L.A., going on Jay Leno and going on all these major networks, I feel like I was the hottest non-football-playing football player in the world."

And, he was. Not that he couldn't play, though. Fitzhugh simply chose not to.

"I really didn't think it was going to be that big a deal, to be honest," he said. "It kind of blew me away."

Fitzhugh ponders what would have happened if he had left the job with Norfolk Southern, and knows his decision appears awfully smart now.

"I have a lot of buddies out there and they're ready to go back out and play," he said. "In a way, I could be like, 'Ha!' and be laughing at them, but these are my buddies and what if the shoes were on the other foot? What if I had went and the Jets signed me? I would've been sitting around and wouldn't have known what was going on."

Not only that, but get this: Some of his friends in the NFL have even asked him during the lockout if he might be able to get them jobs.

"They're like, 'Hey, Keith, if this doesn't work out for me ...' and I just tell them, 'Just go ahead and apply, just like I did,'" he said. "No big-name guys, but guys who are straddling that line like I was. When they hear about what I do, it's kind of exciting to them, too, because you turn into a kid all over again. You're riding a train that has 4,000 or 5,000 horsepower and you really can get into the thrill of it. It's a fun job, man."

But, he acknowledges, so is football. That's what made his choice so difficult.

Jets coach Rex Ryan wanted Fitzhugh to help with New York's banged-up secondary, likely on the practice squad, after safety Jim Leonhard broke a leg and backup James Ihedigbo sprained an ankle. The Jets also called defensive back Emanuel Cook with the idea that he and Fitzhugh, both of whom had spent time with the team in previous camps, could compete for a spot on the active roster.

Cook said yes, and joined the team. Fitzhugh declined, and was back on the railroad.

"It was really tough," Fitzhugh said. "I can tell you this, I really teared up and cried because I wanted to go and do it, but I thought, 'Keith, this might not be your best decision to go out there and leave this job you already have.'"

Fitzhugh spoke to Ryan a few weeks later and explained his decision, telling him he couldn't just leave the security of a full-time job, not when he needed to help take care of his mother, Meltonia, and his father, Keith Sr., who's disabled and can't work.

"He said, 'Hey kid, I'm proud of you,'" Fitzhugh recalled Ryan telling him. "He understood."

Not that it was easy watching the Jets advance to the AFC championship game as the 'what-ifs' crept in.

"I was sitting there just shaking my head," he said. "At the same time, I was thinking deep inside, 'You know what, Keith? You made the best decision for you and your family and who says you would've been there with them anyway?' That's what I had to keep telling myself, that there wasn't anything guaranteed."

Fitzhugh has been working at Norfolk Southern since last September and has become a full conductor, often working on the main line from Atlanta to Chattanooga and delivering freight — not passengers.

"A lot of people think you just give tickets out and collect them from people," he said. "It's not like that at all. I'm learning that 80 percent of everything we touch everyday, it comes off the railroad tracks because everything is shipped."

Fitzhugh always dreamed of two things as a kid: football and trains. And, he hasn't completely shut the door on the NFL. Fitzhugh said he has spoken to officials at Norfolk Southern, who have told him they could give him a leave of absence if a similar situation came up again.

"I'm still young and I keep my body in shape," he said. "I don't know if the opportunity will ever come with this lockout, but I can't say yay or nay. You never know who might call me and give me an opportunity."

In the meantime, he'll just keep working on the railroad — and doing what he always believed was the right thing.

"A lot of people might say, 'Oh, he's had his 15 minutes of fame and he's a one-hit wonder,'" Fitzhugh said. "Yeah, cool, but that's not a slap in the face to me. It was a blessing and happened to fall this way, the right way."

IPL Comeback, A Chance For Ganguly To End His Career On A High

Just when the Indian Premier League was starting to leave people cold, the breaking news of Sourav Ganguly’s inclusion in the Pune Warriors squad came by. If you believe that this is comeback of his is surprising, perhaps every comeback was. If I’m right, this is his fourth comeback (1996 – in ODIs after being dropped in 1992, 2005 – in tests after being cold-shouldered by Greg Chappel and Kiran More, 2006 – Test and ODI after people were almost despondent about his place in Team India for the World Cup 2007 and 2011 – inclusion in the Pune Warriors squad after the snub ). If the numbers are any indicators, it speaks volumes of the doyen’s ‘will’ rather his ‘never-give-up’ attitude that has allowed him to prevail in the game. Every cull saw him comeback stronger both mentally and technically, if not physically.(Disclaimer: I may not have admired him like his fans did, for I’m not one of them, but I’m putting forward my views as a neutral.)

'Making a comeback': If you believe that this is comeback

 of Ganguly is an eyebrow-raiser, perhaps every comeback was!

It indeed took many by surprise when no hands went up for Sourav Ganguly (along with Chris Gayle and Brian Lara) in the auction that took place this January (8-9). There were several reasons peddled out, none of which were fitting. The only reason I could see is the ‘politics banner’ that tend to follow Ganguly everywhere he goes. This did leave his rooters fervent and aggrieved. Many even went to the extent of endorsing the motto, “No Dada, No IPL”. The first few games at the Eden Gardens witnessed empty stands. However, as the emotions subsided and a consistent performance came along, the Kolkata Knight Riders earned themselves an unassailable fan base.

It is highly puerile to say Sharukh Khan’s treatment was marked by concealed contempt. It was pretty clear that he was desperate to give his side a new outfit and his prophecy did work. The mid-tournament analyses show that the Kolkata Knight Riders are the second beat team just behind the Mumbai Indians (not to forget the fact that the Mumbai Indians have almost retained the same squad and the bonding is evident.)

On the other hand, Pune performance has elucidated why ‘being a stronger team on paper, doesn’t always help you on the field’. While their team looks in par with that of the Mumbai Indians, the former find themselves at the wrong end of the points table as the former continue to retain its pole position.

A good IPL performance before calling it a day would be something he will want to add to his, what is otherwise, an extraordinary CV.

In all fairness, Yuvraj has done a pretty decent job both as a batsman and as a captain. The team is often mired in; rather suffer from a ‘problem of plenty’. There have been too many contesting for the same spot in the side, especially for the top three positions, leaving the players in the middle-order bat at a position lower than where they actually should. They have lacked a person who could manage the armory efficiently. If Ganguly can bring into the side what they have found wanting: ‘the ability to manage the available resources’, the side will look complete.

For Ganguly, this is a finishing process rather than an opportunity refute criticisms. Both his test and one-day careers faced an abrupt end. While his fans and cronies have started to celebrate the announcement with a lot of exuberance, Ganguly will seek IPL as a means to end his career on a high. A good IPL performance before calling it a day would be something he will want to add to his, what is otherwise, an extraordinary CV

Katy Perry on Her Religious Childhood, Her Career, and Her Marriage to Russell Brand

Click to enlarge. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

“My career is like an artichoke,” Katy Perry tells Vanity Faircontributing editor Lisa Robinson. “People might think that the leaves are tasty and buttered up and delicious, and they don’t even know that there’s something magical hidden at the base of it. There’s a whole other side [of me] that people didn’t know existed.”

Perry, who tells Robinson that she wants her ashes shot out over the Santa Barbara coast in a firework, reveals that one side of her she has definitively left behind is her born-again upbringing. “I didn’t have a childhood,” she says, adding that her mother never read her any books except the Bible, and that she wasn’t allowed to say “deviled eggs” or “Dirt Devil.” Perry wasn’t even allowed to listen to secular music and relied on friends to sneak her CDs. “Growing up, seeing Planned Parenthood, it was considered like the abortion clinic,” she tells Robinson. “I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there…. I didn’t know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs. I didn’t have insurance, so I went there and I learned about birth control.”

“I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up,” Perry says of her evangelical-minister parents. “Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don’t try to change them anymore, and I don’t think they try to change me. We agree to disagree. They’re excited about [my success]. They’re happy that things are going well for their three children and that they’re not on drugs. Or in prison.” Perry’s mother confirms that she is proud of her daughter’s success, telling Robinson, “The Lord told us when I was pregnant with her that she would do this.”

“I come from a very non-accepting family, but I’m very accepting,” Perry says of her religious beliefs as an adult. “Russell is into Hinduism, and I’m not [really] involved in it. He meditates in the morning and the evening; I’m starting to do it more because it really centers me. [But] I just let him be him, and he lets me be me.” Perry says she didn’t stick with the mold growing up. “I have always been the kid who’s asked ‘Why?’ In my faith, you’re just supposed to have faith. But I was always like…why?” she says. “At this point, I’m just kind of a drifter. I’m open to possibility…. My sponge is so big and wide and I’m soaking everything up and my mind has been radically expanded. Just being around different cultures and people and their opinions and perspectives. Just looking into the sky.”

Of her marriage to Russell Brand, Perry says that there is “never a dull moment” and that Brand has “never lied to me once. I trust him; there’s just a level of trust that we’ve built up.” When asked about the infamous photo Brand tweeted of her without makeup in the middle of the night, Perry laughs it off. “We were just messing around,” she says, “I didn’t really care. I mean, when I go to rehearsals I look like that. I’m every woman. It takes a village to make me who I am…. You don’t have to wake up looking like, you know, Gisele.”

“The press is just not your friend when it comes to a marriage,” Perry explains of her need for privacy in her relationship with Brand. “That’s why we didn’t sell the pictures of our wedding, and we got offered millions of dollars for them, millions.” Why not take the money and give it to charity? Robinson asks. “Well, I can always do that later for something else; maybe if I have a child,” Perry says. “But I’ve seen too much of it with other people—it’s the wrong kind of attention. It detracts from the reason why you exist. We wanted that moment to ourselves.”

After ultimately showing a clip of her wedding video at the Grammys, Perry tells Robinson she did it “because I felt the moment was right and not forced. Russell and I had time to savor our moment privately first and then share it with people when we were ready, and not for a paycheck. I loved the idea, because I thought it was beautiful and artistically accompanied the song I wrote for him. Plus, it was Valentine’s eve!”

Perry talks to Robinson about the controversy surrounding her early hit “I Kissed a Girl,” saying she thinks the song worked because “finally someone was singing about something that existed. But it really was [meant to be] fun; there was no agenda.” Perry admits she didn’t discuss it honestly at first because a couple of “sleazy” male journalists made her uncomfortable. “So I said no, I hadn’t experienced it, even though I had, because I didn’t like where the guys were taking the interviews.”

Perry is adamant that, regardless of what else is going on in her life, her music should be her main draw to her fans: “I don’t care what people say about my relationship; I don’t care what they say about my boobs. People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I’m getting incredible feedback from my music.” But despite her immense fame, Perry never forgets what it took to get to where she is. “I don’t take anything for granted,” she says. “There are 500 other girls right behind me. And I know that, because I was one of them. I remember what it’s like to be someone who’s always trying to get there—sending out tons of e-mails … trying to connect with some person who could connect me with some other person. And I wouldn’t be working at this pace now if I didn’t truly know that fame is fleeting.”

“If the core, the honesty, my story, isn’t working, then all those bells and whistles aren’t going to work, either,” Perry says of staying focused on her music. “Sometimes I can be distracted by the glamour and the fabulousness. But my husband always reminds me to keep the core intact…. I just think I have to appreciate every day, every opportunity, work hard, and continue to evolve as an artist. I already know my future evolution, where I’m going to go. I mean, I’m touring in fucking Indonesia, for crying out loud.”

The June issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands in New York and L.A. on Thursday, May 5 and nationally and on the iPad on Tuesday, May 10.

Time to choose your career

Go for it

Gone are the days when engineers, doctors, lawyers and CAs were the only respectable options. There is a whole gamut of occupations you can choose from now, depending on your interests and aptitude. Here are some alternative career options you can look into.

Public Relations

Maintaining relations anywhere and generating positive publicity for a client, be it a company or an individual, is the primary responsibility of a PR officer. A good command over the language is a must. Though no formal education is required, a broad knowledge of many things, including advertising, is of immense help here.

Event Management

Corporate events and conferences, trade shows and exhibitions, product launches, grand openings, festivals, parties, weddings, fashion shows or beauty contests, a never ending list of events you can find yourself organising should you choose to be an events manager. This is a good choice for those who like organising things, with a flair for being creative and innovative. A high school certificate is the basic requirement, but there are many diploma and post graduate courses being offered in this field.

Radio Jockey

If you love talking, and people also love talking and listening to you, then you have found your calling. Add to that an interest and knowledge of different types of music, and you have the makings of a good radio jockey.

RJs are those who anchor music programmes on radio, entrusted with entertaining listeners by playing music or conveying messages in a captivating way.

Apart from a good voice and fluency in the language, an RJ should be friendly, dynamic, witty and have a sound presence of mind with a good sense of humour. Though no formal education is required, there are short courses available which can aid you in improving your skills. These days, many FM stations have started taking on interns also.

Graphic Designing

Graphic designing is the art of creating visual solutions to communication needs of any organisation, in print or electronic form. The scope of a graphic designer is far from narrow.

From designing the layout of magazines and newspapers, promotional displays, marketing brochures, logos to developing material for web pages and interactive media, all come under the umbrella of graphic designing.

Creativity, good communication and problem solving skills are required, as are an interest in computer graphics and design software. It's a creative career that finally rewards you for all those doodles you'd made during classes!

Hotel Management

A career in hotel management is not just a career, but a lifestyle in itself.

With the hotel industry growing, there is a wide scope with opportunities in sales and marketing, front office management, housekeeping, club management, travel and tourism and a lot more. A number of courses and post graduate degrees are available, both in India and abroad.

Foreign language interpreters and translators

With globalisation, the world is becoming smaller, and the need to communicate between different countries and cultures is increasing. If you have a flair for languages, then this might be your calling. In addition to learning the language well, one needs to have an academic degree in foreign languages.

You could make a career in tourism, entertainment, public relations and mass communication, international organisations, embassies, diplomatic service, publishing houses and BPO's.

So, find the best fit for your personality.

Game design class animates students in Riverside

By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise

From the time Charles Andersen first started teaching basic computer programming at King High School when it opened 12 years ago, he focused on game design to keep students interested.

Now the school is changing the name of the class to game design 1, and Andersen said he believes it's the only class of its kind in the Riverside Unified School District.

Such classes, and even majors in designing video games, have been offered for years on college campuses, but they aren't common for high schools.

Centennial High School in Corona is planning an introduction to video game programming class to start in August, said educational services director Kelly Bruce. Nearby, Santiago High teaches a computer game design class, said Nancy Pavelsky, executive director of career technical education for the Riverside County office of education. She said she thinks more schools have them as well.

Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise

Basic programming class students, from left, Gregory Hutchins, 15, Richard Becker, 18, Kalyce Rogers, 14, and Issac Rabadi, 15, talk about writing code for computer games during computer science teacher Charles Andersen's basic programming class at King High School in Riverside.

"I think it's a great thing," Pavelsky said. "It has a lot of applications."

The county hasn't offered game design in its career technical education classes, she said. But she said some other counties have had them for years.

The San Bernardino County superintendent of schools' regional occupational programs offer courses in computer game designing in Barstow and Bear Valley unified school districts, spokesman Dan Evans said.

At King, not much more than the name is changing for game design 1 and 2 classes, Assistant Principal Tamara Kerr said.

GAMES RE-CREATED

In basic programming, students create their own versions of classic video games using Microsoft's Visual Studio. They will write about four pages of computer code for each game, their own versions of Pac-Man and Space Invaders, Andersen said.

In what he called "old-style" computer classes, students were assigned to create programs that are more text-based. The gaming assignments push students to develop higher-end programming skills such as object-oriented programming and arrays of objects. Some objects in the arrays are supposed to turn invisible to players in Space Invaders once a player shoots them.

"They don't look at it so much as a chore," Andersen said. "They say, 'Hey. I want to get this game moving.' "

Students were engaged, writing code and seeing how their games work.

Eleventh-grader Tim Bankes created Pac-Man icons, starting with basic shapes

"You draw a circle and cut out the mouth and then customize what you want," he explained. To show the Pac-Man eating bread crumbs, Bankes said he had four icons, with the mouth open, closed and in between. He programmed the icon to change through all four as it moves.

Original graphics were assigned for each game along with different movements of the Pac-Man, Ghosts, aliens and ships. Students came up with different colors and styles of icons.

Instead of different-colored space aliens for his Shooter game, ninth-grader Stanley Yang created big red tomatoes that fall from a blue sky with puffy white clouds. If the player doesn't shoot them in time, they turn to ketchup as they splat in a green field.

Yang said he hadn't played the original games but had seen them.

Ninth-grader Gregory Hutchins was working on his Pac-Man game and helping a classmate with the familiar game he had played often.

"My dad has one of the originals," Hutchins said. "I brought him home a copy of mine. It's pretty close to the original, but he has to adjust from using the joystick to using the keys.

The soon-to-be-renamed class is the first in King's career pathway for computer programming, leading up to Advanced Placement computer science, for which students can earn college credit. It's also part of the school's effort to encourage students to study more science, technology, engineering and math, Kerr said.

"One of the parts of that is developing the critical thinking skills of our students to get them college and career ready," Kerr said. It captures some students' interest because it doesn't feel like traditional school, she said.

"They can put so much creativity into this," Kerr said. "It's not just rote memorization. They're utilizing skills and utilizing creativity."

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What’s your education query?

I’m Shridhar, a second PU science student (PCMB), studying in St Joseph’s PUC, Bangalore. I just want to know about the job placement for aeronautical and aerospace engineering courses. If I do aeronautical engineering, in what field will I have to work and in the same way, if I do aerospace engineering, in what field will I have to work? What is the scope for these two engineering streams in India? If I get graduated with any of these above degrees, can I pursue my colourful career? Apart from these above courses, which is the best stream or course in engineering and what is the scope for those courses? I hear people telling, that ‘Mechanical’, ‘Electronics’, ‘Information science’, and ‘Telecommunication’ Engineering are the best streams of engineering..!!! What will be my salary or pay if I get graduated with aeronautical engineering or aerospace engineering degree? Please answer my above queries clearly and as soon as possible....!!!

Dear Shridhar, 
Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering behind the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is broken into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. The former deals with craft that stay within Earth’s atmosphere and the latter deals with craft that operate outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Hence completing a B Tech in Aerospace Engineering gives you an option to work in government or private organisations which design and construct aircraft (as an aeronautical engineer) or take up aerospace engineer, research scientist/ development scientist positions in ISRO, Department of Aerospace Engineering–IIT Bombay and similar national-level government organisations. The India Air Force also recruits BE, BTech, MSc & MCA candidates as aeronautical engineers (electronics & mechanical). Just graduating does not make a colourful career. It’s all about how you go about during your graduation like–doing research, writing papers, attending conferences and making presentations, interacting with scientists will make your career colourful! In the process of searching a good career, you will hear people quoting HOT courses. It’s not which is the best course, it’s what you can be BEST in. Hence make sure you are not carried away by what anyone and everyone says.

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