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!!