DEC 1 2010

OKAY, IT'S BEEN A WHILE

Since we last talked, I am no longer working both a day and a night job, when I was 20 years old I could do that and I did, but not in my old age, all I did was work and sleep. It was beating me up, so after 5 weeks or so of doing both, I ended it.

I'm sticking with Costco at the moment, they pay slightly better and hey it's during the day when most humans work so there, plus at the moment I am getting right around 40 hours a week so hopefully I am making enough to make ends meet, but it's close, very close.

I have some stocks left that I can sell, that would get me through a couple more months, but after that we may have to start making some tough decisions, like selling off the 401K, most of you probably say to this "DON'T DO IT!!" but hey when it's that or lose your house, guess which one wins....

Yeah so there's a big penalty so what, again when it's that or be homeless .... well there you go.

On the job front, I have started to branch out possibilities in other cities, and when I have had phone interviews on that I get the whole "you realize this position is in (wherever) and we are not offering any relocation" - and then I say yes I know this and we move on, nothing has come from that as of yet, but if it does and I have to move then so be it, I'd probably keep the house here and try to commute, I'd have to get a good amount of money to make that happen.

I don't have too much else to say at this moment, except I feel like I'm losing touch with everything, like I'm done with this life and it's time to try something else - not that I mean I am going to kill myself - but I'd like to try another life now, this one sucks, I had to charge food this week, that's not good, but it is what it is so there.

I'm not a political man by any means, but the other night I believe comedian Lewis Black said it best "we had a bunch of idiots in office, and now we just voted in a bunch of new idiots, and now nothing is going to get done at all", sad but true. Go Economy Go!!!!

MP

Oct 26 2010

THE TALE OF TWO JOBS

Well folks just a quick update, at this point I am working 2 jobs, one is overnight cleaning airplanes and the new one is at the local Costco, currently working in the 'front end' area which means anything from assisting cashiers to grabbing carts from the parking lots.

The sad thing is, my first job out of college was at Toys R Us, some of the best friends of my life came from that job and I still stay in touch with a bunch of them, but I did pretty much the same things there, I have come full circle, the other day I was bringing carts in and almost started to cry, almost 20 years later I am back where I started.

I am not sure how long both jobs can last, there are some days where I will work over night, work most of the day and then go back to work the next night, so I am not sure when I will sleep, or how much sleep I will get, so there.

I am going to try and tough this out for a month, if I can't make it happen, then I'll get money by selling stuff that I own on Craigslist, we will start with the Wii, The Macbook, and go from there. I have a Roth IRA I guess I can cash out, but I am trying to wait until after the first of the year to take that hit, I know some of you might say don't do that, but when it's that or losing my house, well guess what will win out....

Well that's the update, just trying to work and make money at the moment...

elroy

THE PRE EMPLOYMENT DRUG SCREEN

or....ODE TO A PISS TEST!

OK BIG COMPANIES LISTEN UP, I CAN SAVE YOU MILLIONS!!

Within the past year, I have taken 4 pre employment drug screens, and if you haven't taken one of these lately or never, let me fill you in on the wonderful experience....

First of all, you head to some random office building on some random floor, and for the most part these offices are poorly noticeable and I can only wonder why that is, then the fun begins, when you walk in no one is at the window (if there is a window) and usually there are several people sitting around who look at you like you're from another planet, now seeing I have done this 4 times, I know you SIGN IN and then wait for your name to be called, it's fairly easy and pretty intuitive to figure this kind of thing out, yet 95 percent of people that walk in don't get it, and God forbid anyone sitting around help you out on this fact, it's like they want to laugh at you for the same thing they just went through, apparently it's an unwritten rule, so on my last trip to piss test control, there was a line just to get in the door, basically because I guy was standing at the sign in counter waiting for someone to acknowledge him .... too funny.

It took exactly one hour to sign in and have my named called, of course from here the woman has the lines down pat on what to say, empty the contents of your pockets into this lock box, lock the box, take the key, no you keep the key, take this cup and pee in it, do NOT flush the toilet if you flush the toilet we start over (like I can pee on command that quickly) - it's at this point I should note that someone came out from the back and started pounding a ton of water and staring out the window, I was thinking he might have had stage fright, but now I wonder if the village idiot flushed - you can't blame the guy it's embedded in our brains to flush, heck I almost did it too ... I did say almost ....

OK, so of course I was pounding water all morning so I had no issue filling the cup, to which the woman said I only had to go to the line and ended up dumping most of it out ... hey I was proud of that come on !!! I should have peed everywhere in that damn bathroom, ladies I have no clue how you do it, you have to get it all over your hands, really how do you hold that cup in the right place and aim??? hold that thought.

At this point you get to wash your hands, initial the vials that in fact you just peed in, and get out.

This is when I asked the woman "I bet at night you say these lines in your sleep" which to she replied "GOD YES" and that really broke the ice, she was a machine until then, at that point we started to BS for about 5 minutes until I finally said "well I better get going" - damn I might still be there talking to her if I didn't cut it off .... poor woman. I wonder if these folks even have medical backgrounds ...

So here is where my "idea" on saving companies millions comes into place.

Do you ever wonder how there is probably a couple of people where you work that you swear has to be either stoned while they work or a stoner when they are not, it's not hard to spot, hey Joe what did you do this weekend? "oh man I don't even remember, woo hoo!!!" yeah OK have another joint, but hey we had to take a pee test to work here, well it's pretty much a breeze to pass a piss test these days, just go to "potspace" .com - yes like myspace but for stoners, there are several articles out there on how to pass a piss test amongst other things, so basically that test is worthless.

So there are two types of folks out there, those who will beat the test and those of us who are nice and clean, SO WHY DO COMPANIES SPEND MILLIONS ON THESE TESTS? I mean think about it, these med tox type labs must charge at least $100-200 bucks a pop to initiate these tests, times all of the folks tested, this can add up, HERE"S WHAT COMPANIES SHOULD DO....

Instead of having a pre employment test, what you should do is just talk of a random test at work, and let's say you REALLY screw something up, you know miss a comma and cost your company a few hundred grand, or you take a company car for a swim, whatever it might be, HEY THEN you might be required to go get tested within 24 hours or you're fired, period, make them sign that release before they start ... you put the fear of GOD in them, and you save millions in pre employment crap that is ineffective in what you are trying to do anyway. Is the whole random testing or testing if we think you're stoned policy legal? You're damn right it is, think about a job you've had where you SWEAR some of your co workers are tweaking ... you only wish you could test them. My current job that involves going in to airplanes and cockpits and not driving vehicles into the sides of airplanes ... if they think you are stoned or drunk or whatever, they can call security over and you go right to the pisser .... and yes we have fired folks on the spot for coming to work wacked out, I haven't seen it but I wish I had .....

So there you go big companies, stop the madness, it costs all of us wasted time and money, I can never get that hour back and I can't charge you for it either.

OK kids, stay clean, have a good night! :0)

HOW CLEAN IS YOUR AIRPLANE?

October 4 2010

And now for something completely different.

Ever wonder how clean is the airplane that you are traveling on is? Well, let me tell you what one company does every night to clean their planes.

At Sun Country Airlines, every evening of the week a group of cleaners that ranges from 10-20 people clean, vacuum, disinfect and deodorize every airplane they own. From the front to the back, they clean the following;

Cockpits

Bathrooms

Galleys

Overhead Bins

Seats

Seat Pockets

Floors

They change out the blankets, clean the gum off the floors, change the head rest cloths and pillow blankets, every night.

And every night one or two planes get something called an "extensive" which is just what it sounds like, they break out the heavy duty carpet steamers, or steam cleaners and they get down and dirty. Maybe you are asking yourself why they take such pride in what they do? Well first of all they are actual employees of Sun Country, a lot of these other airlines contract cleaning out, does that make a difference? Well it's pride if you ask me, some of these folks have been through a lot with the airline being in bankruptcy and as of this posting I think they are finally in the clear, everyone I have met at Sun Country has been friendly and courteous.

I think if people knew what they did every night to every plane you would should feel way more comfortable about how clean the plane you're flying in is. They should really advertise this, except I don't think they really do a lot of advertising.

So hats off to Sun Country! By the way you might be asking yourself how I know all of this? Well I know all of this because I clean planes at Sun Country :0)

THE RECESSION IS OVER???? WHO ARE WE KIDDING!!

SEPTEMBER 28TH 2010

Well I've been doing this blog for 6 months now, or at least close enough to 6 months so happy anniversary to me.

Let's review what I have done in 6 months .....

Job Interviews - 5

Jobs - 2 (see Car Salesman Entry)

Currently - working part time with no benefits for $10 an hour overnights, barely making my mortgage, car payment and insurance, selling stuff to help pay for the aforementioned, does anyone need a Wii? Why I didn't land those other jobs? Well I wish I knew, just got the whole, we are moving forward with other candidates with more experience, and that could be entirely true, it's still a buyers market out there, if I have 6 years of experience in something there is probably 3 guys with 10-15 years experience in that same area.

Still looking for that next career move, still hitting the job sites, the social networking avenue and all that good stuff.

So now that we got all that stuff out of the way, let's talk about the recession.

According to National Bureau of Economic Research or Idiots for short, the recession is over and it's been over for about a year, I am not sure what they are smoking but OK let's run with this.

Their factors are GDP, UNEMPLOYMENT and personal income figures and probably the fact that the government hasn't had to bail a company or a whole industry out for a few months now. And they are correct, unemployment has lowered in the last few months albeit at a snails pace, and we are talking tenths of a percent, and GDP has gone up, again slightly. Domestic output is up, rail and trucking is up, and it's all good.

Now let's get into the nuts and bolts here, yes many factors are up, but big companies are just doing more with less workers and bleeding their people for all of they are worth, how many of us know someone who is actually happy with what they are doing? I know of one, maybe two tops out of the hundreds of people I know. Companies have stopped paying bonuses and giving raises and if you don't like it you can leave because they have a hundred people lined up to do your job. Sure some companies are hiring, but they are hiring on a "temp to hire" basis or "part time" even if you work 40 hours that's how they get away without paying you benefits, trust me it's out there.

At one of my job interviews, the HR rep told me they had over a 100 applications for this position, I was honored just to get an interview. That's 100 people either not happy with what they are doing now or unemployed .... so there.

I read in the local paper this weekend that all of these companies are hoarding their cash, Best Buy my lovely past employer apparently has 845 million bucks in the bank, yet they've laid off thousands of people in the past few years, I am not sure what they plan on doing with that money, I can probably find out :0)

An interesting excerpt from Sunday's Star Tribune "Holding on to their money" article ....

• Minnesota's Roughly 100 significant public companies are sitting on $139 Billion in cash.....that's enough to pay more than 772,000 Minnesotans $60,000 a year for 3 years.

Currently the unemployment rate in MN is 7% according to Bureau of Labor, and that equates to about 370,000 people unemployed, makes the above number look even more interesting doesn't it?

PS - the new employment numbers come out tomorrow, so we shall see if the stock market reacts favorable or negatively to those numbers, and if the idiots still think the recession is over.

On the housing front, foreclosures are ugly, homelessness and child homelessness in MN is alarming, folks who have jobs but can't afford their mortgages as at an alarming rate.

The new census data that came out today*

• Of households that earn 75,000 a year or less, 48% of them are what are considered "cost burdened" meaning they can't really afford their house, and paying more than 30% of their wage monthly to live where they are (mortgage, insurance, utilities, rent, etc).

*America Community Service Data

Wow, almost HALF of Minnesotans, yikes! And I'd kill to make 75K right now ... no don't send me hit man contracts ... that's was a figure of speech.

Last quarter there were 6,300 foreclosures in Minnesota, according the Sheriff's offices, that's one quarter and that's just in Minnesota.

Should we even go into education? I think "Waiting for Superman" is taking care of that for me thank you.

I know someone who is a teacher, a single mother, getting barely any child support, who just had to quit her job because she didn't even make enough money to pay for day care, wow, maybe I'm glad I don't have kids.

I hate to post the doom and gloom here, but when I hear idiots who obviously have jobs on TV saying the recession is over, I'd like to personally invite them into my life for a week or two.

OK, enough venting for one day, but can you really say the recession is over, or depression if you ask me.

Recession over? HARDLY.

Perception Vs Reality - or how my old job seems to be affecting my search for a new job....

WED SEPT 15TH 2010

Well folks, here it is, I've been wracking my brain on whether to "go there" with this next blog, but since my supposed past has now apparently affected my opportunity at future employment, let's go there.

It has been a whopping year and a half now since I have worked at the world's largest consumer electronics retailer (you know who you are), and as most of you know who have read this blog, I've had some hardships in trying to land that next career role, I've had a few interviews but nothing has landed yet, it's a buyers market out there right now and one of the roles I interviewed for received over a 100 resumes for that position, yep it's ugly out there.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to land a position that was well within my skill set, and had a couple of other folks even forward me the job opportunity, it was a contracting role and that's fine with me, it would get me back in the game, I had high hopes.

I found out that I was not granted consideration for the role due to an apparent "perception" that someone at this company has about me and my performance at my previous role at my former company. Now the person that voiced this perception is no one I even know, and granted it's a small world and some people will travel from company to company and at this point I am sure that I know or know of people at many of the big companies around town, but to have someone actually bring this up who again doesn't even know me, doesn't know what I have been through, and obviously believes something he heard from someone else (hey maybe he doesn't even have the right person!) .... well let's just say it's been deflating.

Now I decided to go back through my notes at my previous employer, hmm let's see, my performance EVERY YEAR was at an "above expectations" level, and I also have a list of 100 people (yes that's not a typo) 100 people who have told me and will attest to the fact that I was a complete partner when working with them, not to mention I have had several folks come forward and offer letters of recommendation or post something on Linked IN (which frankly I don't think does anything but hey that's a whole different blog). Now I am not one to toot my own horn, which even makes the above 'perception' even more puzzling.

So if my issues were not performance related which I doubt they were, maybe to someone it was personal...

I think my success at my former employer possibly ticked some people off, I can't help that in the time I worked there the Home Theater department kept the lights on for the company, and the project I was the PM on was the company focus and I got a lot of the resources.
It was a real thrill to be working on something that made a real difference for the stores, giving them the environment they needed to be successful, and of course that afforded me some praise and accolades.

Sure I was talking to VP's, SVP's and the like on a weekly basis, but I never used that clout to my advantage, but my "perception" is that it made some people spiteful and jealous which is too bad, but would also explain some things.

Every project I ever worked on was by the book, in my 5+ years as a project/program manager, our process and how we got things done changed constantly, besides the green belt project (and then black belt project) that defined my role, I dealt with constant new merchandising initiatives, a new "pipeline" procedure (that even the champions of this procedure were not sure how it was supposed to work) and a giant work stoppage of implementation of all in store projects while folks figured out what was happening and why, while all the time we had merchants screaming at us to put in projects or they would lose funding, it became a "who barks the loudest gets their project done" environment. Sadly the management team had their own agendas so they did not do much to support, I can't really blame them they were miserable too (2 of the 3 senior managers in the department I was in have moved on, including over half of the team itself).
Sadly the only loser in this game was the stores and ultimately the customer, the retail stores have no faith in corporate and can't you blame them, I didn't.

So there you go, I went there, it is what it is, I did my tour of duty and now I am trying to move on with my life, it's sad that someone apparently still has a problem with MY life.

MY LIFE AS A CAR SALESMAN ....

TUESDAY SEPT 7TH 2010

Well we gave it a shot ....

For the last 3 weeks plus, I gave the world of car sales a shot, let me tell you everything you have heard about the business is in fact true. Sadly the job itself was fine, folks would come in and ask questions, and I would answer them, we would go for test drives and people would ask you the usual "do you have this in red?" or "do you have one with leather" and stuff like that, and then people would get something called sticker shock and freak out. What I can take away from this experience is 3 things ....

1. People are idiots - so a guy walks in and looks at a brand new Tahoe, this is a 40k plus vehicle, he wants to put no money down and wants to know what his monthly payments would be, well most of us can do the math, it's gonna be around 700 a month even if his credit is good which affects his interest rate, he just about has a heart attack, he was thinking it would be more like 400 a month, well that won't get him a new Tahoe ... I tried to put him in something more in his range which was more like 28k - but nothing tickled his fancy, frankly I think he was depressed after not being able to afford the new Tahoe, and so was I for wasting about 2 hours working with him for nothing.

Maybe this is where I stop to say I worked at a "one price" store, meaning no haggling or negotiations, what you see on the sticker is what your price is .... I can't believe how many people after I told them that would still ask me what the best price was or could I go lower .... this goes back to point number 1 above. We were also not on commission, so it didn't matter what I sold you I'd make the same money, but I still had to sell SOMETHING to make money, and I didn't sell a thing (OK I sold one car to a friend but that doesn't count).

I could tell you about 100 more stories but I won't, they are funny and yet depressing at the same time, let's just sum it up by saying most people WANT to own a new car, and WANT to buy a new car but frankly most people can't afford it and most leave depressed and tell me a line like "I have to go talk to my wife" or "I have to go to work but Ill be back after" so they leave and they don't come back, it is what it is.

2. Sleazy old school car salesman still exist - now don't get me wrong most of these morons are gone but there are some dinosaurs left and they basically survive by their client lists, we have one guy that probably makes 120k a year and he is our best and sleaziest salesman, but he has been doing this for 24 years and he has a customer database a mile long, and since I started with no database, I had to rely on "fresh ups" meaning new people to the lot for a sale. Even if a customer was there 4 years ago and bought a car from someone else, I would have to split that sale with that person, that's a bunch of crap, they didn't even remember the salespersons name. In the time that I was on the lot, I saw guys run past other guys to talk to customers, even running up to their car to open the door for them, madness! Where I worked they had WAY too many salespeople, there were always about 6 of us standing around playing pocket pool, and that's another reason why I left, I stood outside one day for 12 hours and talked to one person, this store has no foot traffic, and there it is, not to mention most of the old geezers there were down right rude, seriously it was everything you hear of and more ...

3. I forgot what 3 was, but I think you all get the idea.

So I am no longer a car salesman.

So what's next you may ask yourself? Well tonight I start a new gig, I am working overnights cleaning airplanes for a wonderful little airline called Sun Country based locally. Now I could write a whole other chapter in this blog on the story of this airline, their owner is in jail for a ponzi scheme, they are in bankruptcy, but they are the little engine that could, the folks that work there took huge pay cuts to stick around, and they are finally out of the deep end and everyone I have met at this company are some darn positive and happy it's unbelievable. They really like where they are and what they are doing, well I've drank the Kool Aid so sign me up! DId I mention that after 90 days I can fly anywhere they fly for nothing???

I start tonight, yes overnight, which is cool with me because I can still get things done in the day time if needed like projects or a job interview (yes I am still looking for something in my expertise), and so there you go.

I think we will cut it here for today, the blog is back and I hope you enjoy it!!!

MONDAY AUG 16TH

EPISODE 25 - A NEW HOPE

Well folks here we go. Last week I was pretty quiet because I was training for a new job. Now I am sure you are all going to yell HURRAY!! And yes I am excited, but it's a definite career change but I am going to give it a shot.

I am going to sell cars.

Now I am trying to go where several men have gone before, selling cars or as Jeremy Piven said in a recent movie "I move metal". Some have succeeded and some have failed, oddly enough most folks I have mentioned this to seem to think that I can do well at this "yeah man I can see you selling cars", well come on in and you can see it first hand.

You can make a fair amount of money, and you can make crap, it's up to you. The car dealership where I am working is a "one price" store, meaning there is no negotiation or haggling, which is a good thing, first I don't have to sell you something that makes me more money, so we are here to find you what's right for you, which is good. Secondly we are not paid on commission, which sucks for me but good for you, we get paid on cars sold, you sell cars you make money, you don't, you're out.

So we are going to give it a whirl, I am on a 90 day probationary period and I have a minimum amount of cars I will be required to sell to keep my job, according to management, the required amount can be achieved by any clown with half a clue, ahh great setting myself up for being worse than a no talent ass clown. OK I feel more confident than that but I just wanted to say ass clown in my blog.

So folks there you have it - is it what I want to be doing, no it's not, but hey I know a few people that don't like what they are doing but do it anyway, and hey this could be fun and the best thing I have ever done, the economy seems to be turning around and people usually buy new cars when they can and we are selling a lot of cars!

And so there we are, NOW what can those of you local and reading this can do for me is BUY A CAR FROM ME!! At least if you are looking for a new or pre owned vehicle (we don't say used) - well give me a call, I am working at a Chevy dealer but we have everything from Toyota, Nissan, and all the GM lines, and this store lives for trucks! The number one Chevy dealer in MN, so we got gobs of stuff. So if you're looking or know someone who is or whatever, just give me a shout you know where to find me.

So where does this leave the blog? I am still going to keep the blog going, probably putting weekly entries in here, or maybe excerpts if I have a really funny story about working at the dealership, so keep your eyes open for new blogs!!!

PEACE AND WISH ME LUCK!!

THUR AUG 5th

A quick update

Nothing is new, no news is bad news.

I've got a headache, going to a movie to see if that helps, a funny movie.

I may have a job offer in Phoenix, which is no where near where I live now, a lot of things to ponder ... do I move, do I get someone to live here? Is my girlfriend OK with it? Do I pack the Jeep and go? Do I pack a trailer too ... do I work out some plane tickets in the job offer???

Lots on my mind? I welcome you to share opinions ...

WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT"S BEEN!!

I THINK THE GRATEFUL DEAD SAID IT BEST ....

Man it's been an odd week, good and bad, happy and sad what a week ...

I know I am trying to keep this blog as business only and not to add emotion into it but it's going to happen like my last blog so if I really worried some of you trust me, I am not going to kill myself - I CAN"T AFFORD DEATH!! HA! No but really, I've talked myself off the ledge it's all good.

OK let's start with business this week, sadly I heard from the place I had the 2 interviews at and I thought I was as good as in (when the last question from the man is "do you want this job" and I say yes ... well you get the picture I thought my search was over) unfortunately they are moving on with another candidate so now of course I keep replaying the interviews over and over in my head, could I have worded that response better or worse etc ... also I did not follow up with emails and maybe I should have now reading what I have, I sent 2 thank you cards and maybe those should be formal, from what I read on line and the job sites I guess I should, but you live and learn and with every interview I am hopefully getting more polished.

I am not sure if this was professional or not, but since I was told I was not getting the job I frankly told the HR rep about the whole "do you want this job" line and how I construed it ... and maybe next time he can word that question slightly different ... was that professional? you can discuss but come on the guy asked me that! Not only that but we had cereal together in the interview ... have you ever eaten cereal in an interview? I haven't, how much for flippin comfortable can you get with someone! Screw em now I pissed off.....

So lessons learned this week are that, if they say something dumb like that clarify if he's actually offering you a job, and follow up with letter and email.

This week I realized that I have some good friends, and a good support group, I went to visit my old college town and swing by the campus that I have not seen in 15 years at least ... it was nostalgic and good memories came flooding back, enough where I called a couple of old friends and we reminisced, and I had lunch with a good friend of mine, a TRUE FRIEND, one that doesn't judge, one that doesn't care if your employed or not, and we just shared thoughts and ideas, that was nice. I think consequently I have been very productive this week, sending out resumes, doing some serious networking, helping another friend launch a great product, and so forth so here's to old times!!

Finally and on a sad note, a lovely woman I have known for years but have not talked to in years lost her battle with cancer, back in the day we had some great times! Everyone I knew at the time loved her, a nice Irish lass that was smart as a whip, a great smile (and nice legs to match!) she had a great aura about her, I think she was battling with cancer for several years, so for possibly about a 1/3 of her life if not more, her suffering has ended.

When I think about things like this, the fact that I am not working right now really becomes academic, almost on a back burner, so I'm not working so what! I am healthy, I have good friends, I am not dealing with things like this, yes it can get a lot worse, so I really can't complain ... and I am no where near the ledge today.

Below is an Irish prayer for the dead, peace be with you Sinead!

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there... I do not sleep. I am the thousand winds that blow... I am the diamond glints on snow... I am the sunlight on ripened grain... I am the gentle autumn rain. When you waken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush Of gentle birds in circling flight... I am the soft star that shines at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry— I am not there... I did not die...

TUESDAY JULY 27 2010

I really shouldn't post a new blog after I have had a couple of beers but oh well ....

I know people hate it when I write things like I am sick of life and I want to just be done with it, but I'm sorry that's how I feel. Hey I had a good run, it's not that big of a deal is it? DONT WORRY I am not going to kill myself, I can't, I'm not that stupid. But if I died, I guess it wouldn't be that big of a deal to me.

NOW BEFORE ALL OF YOU HAVE A HEART ATTACK .....

I wrote this paragraph about an hour ago, and stared at it until now. I thought about removing it because I am sure I am going to get a bunch of people reaching out to me and freaking out and so on ... but that's what I feel like at times, and I am sure I am not the only one. So there you go.

Frustration turns into anger, I am STILL WAITING to hear back on 2 positions, I am sorry I know I have friends that work in HR but some of these people have no idea the lives they affect. I am not talking about applying for a job online and not hearing back, I am talking about going in and interviewing for a position and even having second interviews and now waiting 2 weeks or more for a response. It doesn't take THAT MUCH to email me an update, or call me to tell me I'm no longer a candidate or tell me that there has not been a decision yet, I mean come on!

I am also wondering if social networking and LINKED IN are real legitimate places to get a job, NOTHING has come of me working those networking sites, don't get me wrong I get calls now and then, but it seems folks are more probing about the companies I used to work at and their policies and procedures versus actually offering me a position, but that's another topic for another day. CASE IN POINT - I got a call from Verizon (yes I am naming names) interested in me running a store for them, all they asked me about was my time at Apple, how I sold the Iphone, how the procedure went, and so on ..... I didn't really think something was up until the second 1/2 hour phone interview and all they were asking about was Apple this and that ..... I finally got a little short, I mean I could actually hear the woman typing every word I said and 3 MINUTES after we ended the call I got an email saying thanks but no thanks ... 3 MINUTES!! I will never have a cell phone with or work for Verizon, unless some company I work for pays for it I guess .... and then I will still be reluctant.

So what's left if networking doesn't work .... friends? Ha, the last thing they want to hear is how miserable you are, frankly they are too. I don't know ONE PERSON who right now is happy with their job, not one. OK maybe one but she just started it, I'll give her a few months. I have several friends that work at a company and they had an opening and I couldn't even get a interview from that, and I was very qualified for this position, and nothing. Once again frustration turns to anger.

So I lay awake at night thinking about all this crap, and let's throw in a little "what could have I done differently" in my old position to keep it, kiss more ass? Who knows, probably nothing it is what it is.

Maybe now that first paragraph at least has a little more context, I'm that miserable, I hate my life, for the first time in my life I have no idea what my next move is, I'm sick of this, I barely have enough money to keep my house, at some point drastic measures will need to be taken.

OK off to bed, at least sleeping is still free.

MON JULY 19TH 2010

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE .....

Greetings everyone, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Last week was a pretty crazy week for me on the world of unemployment front.

First of all I had another job interview, so that was good! Of course I thought the interview went well, it was with 4 people at 1/2 hour each (yikes!) but I am OK with that versus having all 4 at once. The first person was the HR manager, he gave me a tour of the facilities, which I thought was funny, and here are the meeting rooms, and here are the bathrooms and each floor has a fridge .... wow thanks man. I guess I was wondering why he would start the interview that way, I wanted to really tell him 'why don't we do this after I actually get the job', but I didn't and I just went along with it. The more this week has past I am thinking I could have been slightly more prepared for this meeting, I had some other things happen (which we will discuss) on Monday and maybe I should have rescheduled but we got it figured out.

This is concerning the unemployment thing, if you recall I have not been receiving unemployment due to miscommunication and part time job issues, well I got my hearing on Monday and for the most part everything is resolved. It just so happens this hearing was scheduled 45 minutes before my job interview, so it was a little hectic on Monday, I was also supposed to fill something out for the interview that was in the email that I didn't notice so I had to scribble that out in about 10 minutes ...

So here are the current stats ....

Phone Interviews - 6

Job Interviews - 4

2nd Interviews - 1

Waiting to hear back - 2 positions.

There is another reason I didn't take the last interview as seriously as I should is possibly could have and that's because I honestly thought I would hear from the place I had the 2nd interview at by now offering me a job! That interview went so well with the guy asking me at the end if I wanted the position! I guess I considered that some sort of job offer but nothing has happened. Not hearing from them either way has been a little disappointing, I wasn't even going to go interview at this other company because I thought this was a done deal, I guess you really can never assume.

So I guess I shouldn't be too down on things, last week was a good week all things considered....but frankly I am just sick of this, I'm tired of just going through life which is what I feel like I am doing right now, I'm tired of weeding through job sites, company web sites and all that other crap, but that's what I have to do.

July 13th 2010

Staying Positive???

Well folks I have had a couple more interviews at places, I love when people ask you how did the interview go, because frankly I think they all go well but apparently maybe they don't or I am just blind because if they went that well I guess I would have a job by now!! But I think most of them do go well, I try to make a good connection with who I am interviewing with and make a case for why I would be a good fit for the position, that's pretty much all you can do in a half hour right?

So this last interview was pretty funny, they started with a tour of the corporate offices, from the bathrooms to the break rooms, I wanted to say something like why are you showing me this but I kept quiet, a friend told me some places do that to entice you, I figured the dude was killing time "and here is some more cool stuff you'll never get to use because we are not hiring you ....." or something like that, oh well we shall see. I interviewed with 4 people at a 1/2 hour each (GOOD LORD!) at least the questions were different, the one woman asked me if I could start next week .... that's a good sign right??

So that's what's new in interview land.

On the unemployment thing ... the "APPEAL" was on the phone yesterday, the guy was very 'by the book' - please state your name, blah blah, case number blah blah .... seriously it took him longer to walk through all the questions and such then the actual case. I think he finally gets what is going on and I think this should be resolved, all though he could not apparently tell me his decision right over the phone ..... the guy had a voice like Greg Kinnear, it was kind of throwing me off, I was thinking of all of his movies .... not sure why Sabrina came into my head, that's probably his WORST movie :0)

So let's all wish that the unemployment thing gets resolved so I can get some cash! And that one of these lovely companies that I have interviewed in the past couple of weeks offers me a job!! YES GOD PLEASE!!!! I'm ready to go back to work ..... now tell me how many vacation days do I get a year???? :0)

Still need to change my oil .....

TUE JULY 6TH

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

Well I hope everyone had a fun weekend, my weekend was very low key, did some yard work, did some biking, did some grilling and spent the 4th at a friend's cabin, good relaxing times.

Last week I had a 2nd interview at a company, I met with 2 people for about an hour and a half, I thought the interview went very well, of course, I think all of my interviews go very well so I am probably not a good gauge on myself (ha!). I also had a phone interview on the same day as well which also went well, I am hoping to hear back on both of these this week, I get that it's the 4th and people probably take time off so if I don't hear much in the next couple of days I get it.

I am really REALLY hoping this job is going to pan out, I am tired of looking and looking and filling out applications and taking phone interviews and reformatting my resume into a hundred different layouts on a hundred different websites, I have tried not to settle but at this point I may have no choice, I'm just looking for something full time with benefits, I am ready to actually get back and work somewhere. It's been over a year this is the longest I have ever gone without work in my adult life, and I appreciate everyone has their own suggestions on what to do, frankly I am also tired of watching the worlds worst movies in the afternoon!!

OK so that's enough for today, if you are out there and looking, keep positive, that's all you can do!

And I still need to get my oil changed.....

MONDAY JUNE 29

HAPPY MONDAY

OK, it's actually Sunday but there you go.

The last entry was probably the most honest, miserable and controversial entry I have had, several of you reached out with well wishes and what can they do to help, and I really appreciate that.

Let's start this entry on a good note, I have a SECOND INTERVIEW this week!! This is the first second interview that I have gotten so YEAH!! I'll be spending the rest of the week prepping for that interview so this may be the last entry until after the interview.

IN OTHER NEWS...

This weekend I ripped up by deck, it didn't take too long about 4 hours, thanks for CB my buddy who apparently had more passion to do this than I did, but it needed it. The wood was pretty rotten to the point of a lot of it just came right out and luckily underneath the deck was not much, no bees, no nest of possums or woodchucks .... it was OK. So now do I replace the deck or put in a paver patio ... discuss.

Oh yeah, I promised to concentrate this blog on the job search ... sorry for the deviation. So besides the second interview I have also been talking to another company who would like to discuss a position in let's say retail sales, salary plus commission which equates to about 20 bucks an hour - OK it's no law firm gig, but it's full time with benefits, 401K and profit sharing and hey that works, just an opportunity to work my way up, yeah I can do that. We have had 2 phone conversations, and I had to fill out a resume (even though I have one) on line that almost took an hour and I have a THIRD phone interview this week (crap when was it again?) so that's another thing happening.

OK so now the bad or depressing ....

As I may or may not have mentioned, I am not collecting unemployment right now, not one cent even though I am entitled, I have an appeal in that will be discussed on July 12th, wow that's like 2 more weeks before it's even looked at and who know after that how long I get my money (if I get it) which I should according to their information. Since my benefits were based on my full time job and should NOT be affected by my part time job, so there.

Well so goes it - my so called life, at this point in time I am basically just living, not doing too much just hanging out, that's all I can afford (all though I bought some new softball pants on ebay today for 11 bucks, if you saw my leg you would say it's well worth it, or I have to stop sliding...). Friends ask me out for beers or whatever and I have to say no, just can't have senseless spending right now, I have a few hundred bucks to my name and a mortgage is coming up and my birthday ..... oh joy.

remind me I have to change my oil ... thanks!

WED JUNE 22ND

IF YOU THINK THINGS CAN'T GET ANY WORSE .....

Well they probably can. I was really debating whether to write in the blog today because it has not been the best of days, and frankly this is starting to get really depressing, and writing about it doesn't help, but here goes.

Well to catch you up, as most of you know I quit the part time job to pursue a full time job with benefits, and yes I had an interview last week (I have not heard anything but they did say it would be this week). But what that did was raise a flag to the unemployment folks who have had my case "under review" now for the past few weeks, meaning no unemployment money and I am not working so no money is currently coming in.

And it gets better, they are actually now saying I was OVERPAID, you have got to be kidding! So now they say I owe them money, that's pretty funny. The sad thing is that I think that this will get cleared up, but it won't get cleared up for about 3-4 weeks (I submitted my appeal today) . So there you have it, funny. I tried to call someone to see if we can get this cleared up sooner, um yeah no dice.

We'll keep the bad news to just that, there has been more but frankly it doesn't have relevance to finding a job which is what this blog is all about, so I will try to keep it focused as such.

In other news ....

This weekend I was in Nashville helping a friend with his booth at the NAMM show, that's a musicians merchandise show, it was really fun and I am happy for my friend, who's starting to see one of his products come to fruition. Nashville is a fun town, lots of love music and friendly people, the first night a complete stranger gave me a ride to a rib joint which was great .... not sure I'd even hop in a car with a stranger here where I live, yeah maybe I would. I didn't make any money but he paid or everything (ok I paid for beers at one joint, but I felt bad for him to pay for EVERYTHING!) and I did some good networking, and it made me think about some money making ideas...

I think we will stop it here, I am truly depressed and sick of my life right now, I'm really tired of having to watch my pennies and worry about money, it's not like I don't want to work, I'm just looking for something full time and with benefits, I didn't think that would be so hard to find, man was I wrong. I'm going to have to start selling stuff, I figure I'll be flat broke in 4 months, then I guess I cash out the 401k which won't be that much after the penalties, and after that I guess I'll sell my house, outside I have probably a year tops. Now maybe you can see why I didn't want to write this, I think I am getting more depressed reading this.....

Statistics - As of right now I figure I have applied for 80-100 jobs, I would guess about 20 of those were legitimate roles in my wheelhouse, the others a slight stretch, with those 100 jobs I have had 3 interviews......

I guess I better get back to looking at the job sites ...

WED JUNE 16TH 2010

Interview Day!

That's right kids, today I had an interview, and I think it went well, but I think they all go well so I am not sure how much merit I would put into that, but I do think it went well.

Met with the HR rep and the Director of the department, who seems like a genuinely nice guy, we actually have similar paths with our background and where we are at now. He was in a real small agency for several years, we have the same thoughts on things so it's all good. So I should hear something next week according to HR, so we shall see and remain positive!!

The HR rep asked a kind of funny question, she asked me what's it like out there? Really? I wanted to ask her if she has been living under a rock, but I talked about things getting better at least from job openings, it does seem like things are a little better than last summer/fall, but I wouldn't exactly call it a robust market, as most of you know, ok it really sucks :0)

So I am still hitting the job sites and applying for other things that I see that are in my area of expertise, and again wasting hours typing in user names and passwords and references and work experience even though it's on my resume but everyone wants it in there own way and now I found one today that would accept my browser, which is MAC .... WHAT THE??!!!

For obvious reasons I am really hoping this job comes through, because frankly it's getting pretty grim, I am currently not collecting any unemployment so I have no money coming in, apparently when you 'quit' a job, even if it's part time, your situation goes into a review state, so at this point I am in real dire straits.

Thank God I sold the motorcycle, I am pretty much living on that right now which is probably sad, so I am keeping any sort of non critical spending in check at the moment, it's ugly. I need to find something soon, anything, I am going to have to settle sadly ....

This weekend I am heading to Nashville, NO it's not a vacation, I am going to help a friend work in his booth at the NAMM show, which is awesome! Hopefully I get to hob nob with some musicians, we can certainly do some networking here as well, so hopefully this should be fun.

So back next week, I will report after the trade show!!

MP

JUNE 8th 2010

AS THE STOMACH CHURNS.......

Or, as mine was earlier, growls. No I am not to the point of starving myself (luckily) - hey that would be a good attention getter, I am going to starve myself until I get a job..HAA! For most of you who know me even if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't last half a day!! Actually I am hungry as I write this .... OK I'm back.

I had to fast because today I went to the doctor for the old annual exam, and they take blood to check a few things like cholesterol and the like ... and you need to fast for 12 hours so I had not eaten since last night. Luckily today is Taco Tuesday!!! ARRIBA!!

OK on to more pressing news, it's been a interesting week, as I am no longer working the part time gig I have been on a little BLITZKRIEG with applying for jobs, I have applied for so many jobs in the past few days my arms and wrists and fingers hurt from typing.

All the different job sites want your resume in this form or that form, you have to create user names and passwords, you have to re-enter information about 7 times, your past employment, your education, holy crap man it's been 13 years since I got my degree!! Frankly the college isn't even there anymore ... funny. List 3 references, I really should let those folks know they might get calls.

Sorry, back to the physical, I know I am jumping all over today, so the doctor asked me how I was and would you believe in about 5 minutes we were on to my unemployment and how it's causing me depression, well duh! I mean yeah I am depressed of course I am I have no job, no career, I am not sure what my next move is in life, he asked if I was drinking more (haa!) sadly no I am not, seeing I can't afford to 'carouse' like I used to, maybe I am depressed because I CANT afford to drink more! haa ... sad but maybe true....anyway....

Well he didn't prescribe me anything which is where I thought we were going with that and that's probably just fine with me, that's all I need to do is to get hooked on happy pills. Frankly I am depressed, come on who isn't, I don't know ONE PERSON happy with their life right now, I don't know one person who isn't worried about their job ... OK maybe my buddy who is the funeral director, I mean death is a constant. Anyway I think handling the depression is how one builds character and man I got a garage full of character right now.

Did I mention I sold the motorcycle? that's my fun money for the summer, when that runs dry I'll turn back into a hermit, speaking of the motorcycle the guy who sold it to me for a heck of a price is turning 40 this weekend (you know who you are!) and I will be visiting him for this momentous occasion - I was supposed to be his best man at his wedding, and I got stopped by customs at the airport (the wedding was in the Czeka Republica) - when people say if you could do something differently in life what would it be, that would be the one thing, who knew if you have 3 months left on a passport it's utterly worthless ....what's the point of expiration dates? OK that's a whole other story .....

SHOUT OUTS

So I'd like to thank the 15 or so of you who are actually "followers" of this blog, that's about 14 more than I thought I would get - and the rest of you who have come up to me and said "hey man I read your blog that's good stuff" - to all of you a big THANK YOU! Whether you wish to remain anonymous or not, it's cool that people are reading.

Again, I thank the folks that are all close to me, pulling for me, thinking of me, praying for me, I appreciate it, I do, there is about 56 people I owe calls to, I should get on that, I just realized I've been wanting to call an old colleague of mine for 6 MONTHS! Man where does the time go...I'm going to call you I promise!!

Thanks to the county I live in who actually gives shleps like me some health care in my time of need so I don't have to pay an arm and a leg to go see the doctor and get some prescriptions filled .... I am going to the eye doctor tomorrow, I have not gone in 5 plus years! I know health care is a really touchy subject right now, and there's a lot of folks out there who abuse the system, but I don't think a check up once a year is asking for much.

Ok time to make some phone calls, go Twins, go Blackhawks, go Celtics! :0)

OH CRAP I ALMOST FORGOT!! We have an upcoming interview, it's in a couple of weeks, it was an odd phone screening, they said they would email me the information, but I haven't seen an email yet so I am not sure what to report on ..... more next time!!

Keep it real.

JUNE 2 2010

HAPPY JUNE EVERYONE!

Hopefully everyone had a good Memorial Day Weekend, I did what I usually do which is go to the Indy 500. We had 7 guys go this year in 2 campers so it's was fun and inexpensive! If you want to take a trip on the cheap, get 7 guys to split everything, I am guessing the whole trip cost me less than 300 bucks with ticket, food and booze! If you've never been there, you should go it's like the super bowl of racing and it's pretty cool to see cars going by you at 220 miles per hour!

It was a much needed trip as it got me to stop thinking about getting a job and what am I doing with my life and all that jazz, I feel more relaxed today - yesterday I had the sweats from alcohol withdrawal I think ...

So now that I don't have a job I can concentrate on getting a new one, which is what we are doing, I applied for about 5 jobs yesterday and a couple more today and will keep pounding the job sites and company web sites that I am interested in. I am also still thinking about going back to school - let's see what that gets us.

I guess I just need to stay positive and try to keep on it - hopefully something will pop.

Funny thing - I keep dreaming about the old job, I know that sounds funny but maybe not, last night I dreamt I was back in there picking some stuff up that I had forgotten, seemed odd, I also gave someone the business, a woman that I had reported too, a woman that was supposed to have my back but allowed others to tell her things about me that just were not true, I feel sorry for her, she was a bad manager and she had her own agenda, I doubt she is sitting at home wondering about me, so I shouldn't be giving it a second thought ...... but I am.

More later this week!!

MAY 21ST 2010

HAPPY FRIDAY TO ALL !!!

Well it's been a whirlwind week so let's get right into it .....

THE GOOD.....

This week was the end of my part time job I have had for the last 8 months, so now the blog really is "unemployed" in the USA and not "under" employed. I went out with a whisper much like I went in, no handshake, no begging by management to stay, nothing, just punched out and hugged one friend and left....I know you are all thinking "what you quit?" - well we can refer back to my post a few weeks back logging the reasons, now I can concentrate FULLY on getting that next career move, and so we go!!

REFINANCE - it looks like I am going to get my mortgage refinanced, for less money a month, almost 2 percentage points less and 2 years less to pay on the mortgage, so that helps! Luckily the credit process is them looking at my W2 form last year's taxes (nice!) and I've never missed a payment and my credit score is in the 700's which I guess is good, so yeah for me!

THE BAD.....

The company that I had an interview with finally called.....

Folks the interview process these days can sure by a long drawn out suck fest, I had an hour interview over the phone with these folks at the end of March, in the middle of April I had a 2 1/2 hour interview with 3 people (which I thought went very well) and finally this past Monday they called me to say they were moving forward with another candidate. Now on one had I guess I am happy that they did finally call me even if it was 4 or 5 weeks after the interview, but on other hand, how mucked up are they to take that long?? Not sure, and now it doesn't really matter, it's their loss.

THE UGLY.....

Just when you think things can't get any worse, guess what, they probably can. The last thing that needed to happen to me was to rear end someone and have to shell out $800 bucks for damage to their bumper and a rental car while they got the car fixed, alas that's what happened to me last week, that's right after I quit the part time gig ...nice. As fate would have it last week I cashed out all my stock in that big old company I used to work for, so at least I had the cash. But it's pretty untimely, stupid rain makes people slam on their brakes....at least the woman I hit was pretty cool about it and I think this should be it. Some of you might ask why I didn't put in an insurance claim, according to several people I talked to including lawyers and insurance folks, it was probably better for me to just cash it out and be done with it, this way 4 years from now when she can't move her neck they can't go after me for millions ... or something like that, either way it's all done, hopefully.

I could go into more, about how I lie awake every night and wonder what the hell I could have done differently in my life, how did I get here, and all that crap, but I don't want to bring the whole world down with my depressing thoughts, but they are there ..... trust me.

That's all for now, next week we talk INDY 500!!!

Sir El of Roy

THURSDAY MAY 13th

Hi Folks - yep, still no word on the interview. I guess it's time to forget about it, it's almost been a month now and no call no email no letter, and as most of my friends have been saying...HOW RUDE!!!!

Would I even want to work for this company that seems so ass backwards they can't even drop someone an email, or a letter or a phone call to say thanks but no thanks...I'm starting to doubt it, I mean come one I interviewed with 3 people there for 2 hours!! This was after the phone interview that almost lasted an hour....but lets be honest yes I'd still go to work there.

If things couldn't get any worse in my life they have, I rear ended someone last week, so now I am waiting to hear what the recourse on that is, at least they seemed nice and I don't expect them to act too crazy or sue me, but I'm still thinking about it.

I found myself last night thinking about the old gig, that I haven't done in over a year, wondering what I could have done differently, was it my fault, I mean I did a lot of great work for that company, I know you're supposed to tell your self it's not personal, they did not fire you, the position was eliminated, blah blah, but let's be honest, if I was that irreplaceable I would still be there. In all honesty all I ever did there was what I was told to do, I tried to do what was best for the company, oh well I need to forget about it.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE

I am going to a friend's cabin this weekend, so that should be fun, I am going to drink beer and pass out and not think about life for a while.

ON A SERIOUS NOTE

I realize there are a million things going on in the world right now, but Nashville can use your thoughts and prayers, the whole town is under water, thousands have been flooded out of their h0mes, the Grand Ole Opry is ruined, and from a musicians standpoint that's like finding out there is no Santa Claus. Several one of a kind and rare instruments are ruined, which is sad. Just keep them in mind, it's their Katrina and with all the other issues happening, they are getting no press....

STILL NEED TO SELL THE BIKE .....

STILL NEED TO GET THE CAR RUNNING ......

Peace!

May 11th

A crappy day in paradise.

Hello folks I will keep today's blog short, but I thank all of you who have been reading and responding and keep telling me to keep my chin up.

As it was a rainy day I decided to go hit a movie and take my mind off things for a while. I went and saw Iron Man 2, pretty good flick, if you go see it, stick around until after the credits.

The question on everyone's mind is have I heard from my potential new employer, the answer is no. Wow, I am starting to wonder about that, how can you have a meeting with 3 people lasting 2 hours and you don't get a call, email or even a letter of thanks but no thanks, that's not cool. Well I have started to look into other avenues.

That's about it for today, I am sorry it's so short but there isn't much to add today, and hey the weather sticks, but I did do some house cleaning so I have that going for me. Still need to sell the motorcycle, and then the car, and then do some more house work, get to the basement, fix the deck, yep I get plenty to do! :0)

TTFD

FRIDAY MAY 7TH

Back by POPULAR DEMAND!!

Hello folks, sorry it's been a week, this was kind of an odd week for working the part time gig and running around doing errands and other stuff, this was also the first week of softball and that felt great! It's good to get out and toss the old ball around.

First - to answer the question on everyone's mind, no I have not heard from the folks I had my job interview with, good or bad, oh boy I love waiting. I did in fact give them a call and leave a message to ask what was up, I asked a lot of folks if it's appropriate to call or not to call, some of you said absolutely and some said no, but I gave it an ample amount of time and checked in...so there.

The thing that sucks about waiting is that the rest of your life is currently on hold, I can't make any travel plans, or anything else some what permanent. I am still applying for other positions, which is what I should be doing, but if it's NO just let me know that.

Also, I am going to retire from the part time gig, I know some of you are probably saying "Geez man are you mad??? after all you have been talking about???" - I can explain.

Retail is not an easy play, that's for sure, you know you are going to work weekends, and there is no rhyme or reason to your schedule, I have not had a weekend off since New Years, when the rest of your family and friends have weekends off and you miss events and what not, that starts to get to you. I can't even go have a fun weekend with my lady, or the guys, it's draining. Also where I work is very political, frankly too political for me, which is sad, it shouldn't be but it is, basically I have no where to go there because my 'numbers' aren't good, you see they want you to sell all these attachments and add ons, I get that, this is how they make money, but if you don't sell it you're frowned upon, so there, retail should be about what's right for the customer. Finally as some of you know, finding a job is a full time job, I have to start giving this my full attention, plus I have some work to do on my house, at some point I am going to sell it, and my car, and my motorcycle ..... frankly if I sell my car and bike, I'd make as much on that as a whole summer working the part time retail gig (funny huh?) so there you have it.

I can always find something else part time too, something a little more set schedule wise.

So now we are all up to date, now it's time for

RANDOM THOUGHTS IN MY MIND!!

Everyone buy their "I survived the 2:45pm market crash" T shirt? what's up with that??

Iron Man 2 - I feel I've seen the movie already with all the trailers, so I probably don't need to see it now.

Where I live, we don't get ANY oil from the gulf of mexico, so why is gas up to 3 bucks a gallon?

Greece, why does what's happening in Greece affect my stocks??? I don't really need a answer to that......

SATURDAY MAY 1

Well folks happy Saturday!!

I realized it's been a couple of days since I have posted something and you are all probably on the edge of your seat wondering what's going on ..... well NOTHING is going on!! Nothing at all. It's been a whole week now of not hearing a thing on the job interview, someone told me that yes I should call them, I am really not comfortable with that but maybe I will, I mean just check in right? Let's see what everyone thinks of that one .... discuss.

I just worked my part time for the last 4 days straight (doesn't feel like part time work). I'm a little wiped out. I went to see funny man and late night host Craig Ferguson last night and laughed my arse off! We all need a good laugh now and then. It's been a week of frustration, anticipation, and more frustration. The part time job is probably the most frustrating job I have ever had, but I am trying to be open and maybe it's me, I mean I am going from making 90 grand a year to about 13 grand a year .... I could go mow lawns and make the same money and probably be less stressed, oh well we'll see.....

PAY IT FORWARD - told a co worker about MN CARE, hopefully he can get it, he just broke his hand and he has no health insurance, did anyone else see that in LA they are holding free clinics in the LA Coliseum for a whole week?? And people think we don't need a better health care system in the US ... ok I'm off the soapbox.

OK it's time for a new segment in my BLOG called..

RANDOM THOUGHTS IN MY MELON .... enjoy!

MACGRUBER...are you kidding me? They made a movie out of this ..... good LORD!!! I'll be seeing it.

KICK - ASS ..... go see it, it's name is quite dead on, it rocked.

Vampire Weekend .... not very vampiry are they???

I just wanna be in a beach somewhere doing nothing....suggestions?

Softball season starts next week THANK GOD!!!!

Betty White is going to be on SNL....that should be funny.

Well that's enough for today, I will probably check back in on Monday and let everyone know if I ended up calling my potential new employer.

"Super Star with Cheese"

The Waiting Game

I think the Barenaked Ladies said it best ... "It's been one week...."

So here we are, it's been one week since I had the interview, the thank you cards went out, and now we play the waiting game, and in case you don't know me, I HATE WAITING.

I have talked to a couple friends about this, they say a week is nothing, and I should not worry that I have not heard anything yet, the HR rep did say it would be this week when I heard something so I am not freaking out quite yet, but your life is basically on standby until you hear something. You don't want to plan a trip or make commitments to do something if in fact you are working (or not working) and maybe you won't get the time off now, you get the picture, it's a whole new set of worries, but again you're in a holding pattern until you hear something ... SUCKS!

I have to admit the emotions run hot and cold right now, on everything, I'm really sick of the part time job, not that I don't like the actual job itself but there's a lot of BS and I am wondering if it's worth it. Quitting that would let me focus entirely on a new gig and fixing up my house, this year I want to get the deck redone, maybe try a window on my own, new flooring in the kitchen, and maybe even re-stucco the outside. Of course these projects cost money ... anyone need a kidney? :0)

Funny .... I'm listening to Twisted Sister. We'll leave it at that .......

I'd really love to start a punk band, you know play old covers like Sex Pistols, Runaways, Ramones, the classics! Anyone in?????

OK it's Trivia time since I am thinking about it! Twisted Sister actually had a cameo in a very popular comedy, can you name it? Bonus points if you remember the name of the song, I am thinking one person in the whole world besides me knows this....Bidwell are you listening????

OK two people, Chad might know this too....

All right, back to being serious, the motorcycle is almost sold, that will tie me over financially for another month, hey do you think I'm too old to ask my parents for money? Yeah that's a funny one. I seem to be pretty scatterbrained today, maybe a little time in the yard will clear that up.

I prayed last night, I haven't prayed since I was a kid. I have no business asking the big guy for help, I've been the worst catholic out there, well maybe not as bad as some of those priests, the almighty has bigger fish to fry then hearing my prayers, but if I get this job, I'm gonna start going to church again, yes you heard it here first!!

Have a swell day everyone, keep the faith.