Thursday Apr 22nd

A Beautiful Day!

It's going to be a gorgeous day here today, a great day for an OUTDOOR baseball game, which is where I will be! An old friend of mine invited me to the game today, so this will be short as it is a nooner!

Well I sold ALL my stock in the company I once worked for, I am not really sure how much I have actually "made" on this stock, but when you do an employee stock purchase type thing they just take money out of your check and every quarter (I think) they buy stock for you at a discount. I've got a feeling I'll know how much I made when I do my taxes next year.

Sadly all of that money will go to paying off credit cards, which I suppose is a good thing, it's amazing how one amasses credit card debt. Lord knows how or from where.....well at least I know where it has come in the last year and that's LIVING. Sadly my furnace and AC needed to be replaced last summer, and this spring I HAD to replace some windows that were literally broken and drafty so combined that was about 11 grand, and well we put most of that on a credit card at a ridiculous APR.

I know what you are saying, "hey man there are all those federal low interest home improvement loans out there" - YEAH RIGHT!! They are, if you A. Get on it fast enough to get any of the available funds. B. Qualify for those said funds. C. If your improvements actually qualify .... I'm sure there is a "D" but you get the picture. Anyway ye old Elroy did not qualify, guess why? I didn't make enough money DUH!!!! Apparently I can't count unemployment as a source of income HA! too funny, but hey I tried. My roommate apparently doesn't count either because he pays me cash and I have no record of payments ..... way to go government. BUT I DIGRESS! I am in too good a mood to let this bother me today, I'm going to see outdoor baseball, and I had a great interview this week.

Oh I think I have the motorcycle sold too ... my Mom would be happy to hear that, if she knew I actually HAD a motorcycle.

The lumbering sports car is next.

Have a swell day everyone!

TUE APRIL 20th

THE DAY AFTER

Greetings everyone! Yesterday was the big interview and it went very well, of course, I think it went very well! Has anyone had an interview that they think did not go very well?? You always think it goes well yet when they don't call you start to wonder... My interview was with 3 different people individually (thank God not all at once), one was the HR person, the second would be who I report to and the third was a VP that I would be working with. I answered all the questions fairly well and I think at least with the VP and the Manager I established a connection in one way or another. The VP was an old home theater guy I found out so we started talking about that and got totally off the subject but hey that's a good thing right? Either way, I walked out feeling pretty good about things.

Several folks have asked me if I asked them how many people are in the running, and frankly I never felt comfortable asking that question, not sure why, I should ask my HR folks if they feel that question is appropriate. In my own investigating I am going to say that they probably have 3, maybe 4 candidates tops, I deduced that by who signed in yesterday (you have to sign in at this company), and with who I was supposed to meet with and since we had to reschedule 4 times there was talk about rearranging other meetings and what not, also I heard the VP tell the HR person "who's next" or "what's next" after me so maybe they had someone else coming in, even though I saw no one else waiting around.

SO EVERYONE CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR ME!!!!

So today I think I will reward myself with a little something, after I apply for some more jobs I noticed on line last night and this morning, as long as I spend an hour or two a day looking at things I feel I have done my duty, plus it's a great day here today and I have not taken advantage of that.

It's been over a year now since I had a real job but frankly last summer I didn't really do a lot of hard job searching, there wasn't much going on in the job front then anyway, it certainly seems there is more happening now which is good. But anyway I am getting to the point where I need to make something happen, I may even quit the part time job to really focus on finding a new job (if the part time job wasn't so 'all over the place' it might be different but the scheduling is so crazy and there is no rhyme or reason to when I might work which makes it's hard to ever make plans). OK that was a long parenthesis.

Have a great day everyone and hang in there!

Thursday April 15th

THE BIG DAY

No, not taxes my friends, interview day!! Although if you still haven't paid your taxes you better do it fast.

So bad news, ok it's not bad news just news, the interview has been postponed until Monday, which is cool I get it things happen and it's still going to happen. This will give me a couple more days to take some notes and investigate the company more thoroughly.

So much for barely sleeping last night going over a scenario of questions they would ask and how I would answer them, don't be too vanilla but don't come on too strong, read the interviewer, do they want a yes man, do they want a visionary, how to play it....yes I thought of these things last night, but not for too long.

Someone just told me they felt I was the most loyal and devoted person they knew, that when I put my mind to something I am 'all in' and I think she is right, sometimes that mentality can get you in trouble and sometimes it pays off, the whole 'pick your battles' philosophy. I've never been one to be too vanilla though.

So I have some time off today that I thought I'd be busy, checked the sites and applied for some position as a project manager (there's a LOT of those positions out there) and we should talk about the latest buzz words like "change management" - to me this is a fancy way of saying cleaning house and letting people go in a nice way...if there is such a thing. Nevertheless it's a buzz word along with Viral Marketing and Social Media and Change (thanks Obama), so if you haven't heard these words yet get on it!

How bad can jellybeans really be for you? Discuss......

OK folks time to throw on the old Twins game and polish the motorcycle (no that's not code, it's a real bike) I'm looking to sell it and my sports car that hasn't moved in 3 years ..... wait until I tell my roommate I need a hand with moving that pig.

OK that's it for now, probably won't add anything tomorrow as Friday's are usually light in the world of employment, plus it's supposed to be nice so maybe I'll go golfing (as cheaply as possible of course) there are great courses just an hour or so outside the metro area that are really cheap to play, like 24 bucks with cart, that's half off what it is in the metro....

Talk soon!!

Monday April 12th

And so it begins.....

That means a few things today, first and most importantly the Twins start a new season at the new ball park, Target field, and all I can say is so far so good.

Secondly today is Monday, usually what that means is accessing the Unemployment site for the week to collect my unemployment, this usually hits my checking account automatically in about 3 days, which is nice.

Thirdly we scour the job boards and web sites to see what new positions have been posted, today was somewhat light so I worked on my blind approach of just surfing some of the major companies around town I would like to work for, nothing much there either, but I have done my due diligence for the day and we will look at other social networking sites and stuff like that.

It's a pretty nice day so maybe that's all I need to do today :0) I do have that interview later this week so we should start thinking of that, tomorrow I need to go get a hair cut, and go check out one of their stores to get a feel for what I am getting into, also I will take a sharp look at their job description. It's a big interview, 3 hours with 4 people!! better get those buzz words down!!

See you later!! Hang in there!

One more thing, there is a job fair tomorrow at the U of M, I guess I will go if I figure out a place to park and all....it's at the U though so maybe it's for fresh college grads so I am not sure I will go but who knows...

Friday Apr 9th

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's a beautiful day here in middle America. The sun is shining the birds are singing the pollen is kicking my allergies all over the place, but today we will try to work on the positives.

Friday's are probably the lightest day when it comes to job postings and much of anything going on, so it will be a light day. This weekend I will most likely get the motorcycle out of the old garage and I hope it starts up, probably take it for a spin around the block then take some pictures to sell it. Besides needing the money I really don't drive it all too often so I feel bad it sits in my garage, it's better it goes to someone who will use it.

Other than that I will probably do some yard work and watch a little bit of the Masters, plus I work the part time job on Sunday.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

I do in fact have a part time job right now, I work about 18-20 hours a week, so some of you have commented maybe I should call this blog "underemployed in the USA" and maybe I should change it...nah! You get the idea, when you go from almost making 100K a year to about 13K a year, we can keep the title. The part time job probably keeps me out of real trouble like hitting the bars and the putting greens all day long, and it keeps some sort of a routine to my week, so there you have it, but it's is by no means a career path.

So once again happy Friday to all, not a lot happening here so it's a week to reflect, I DO have an interview next week (ye ha!) so we will continue to discuss that next week.

Everyone have a good weekend!!

Thur April 8th

Well let’s see what shall we do today! Today I have tried to apply for a job with the Federal Government, OH MY! I can’t tell you how tough this has been so far, besides having to fill out many forms, a 1128, 1129 and a pretty large questionnaire and give them all my personal information and approve them to do a back ground check, I’m surprised they have not asked for a blood sample....or maybe that’s next!!

After about an hour of getting through all the steps I have applied for one position, yeah! Don’t tell me I have to do all of this again to apply for another position .... oh brother ... yep, you do .... maybe tomorrow.

If you don’t know this by now, applying for jobs is in fact a full time job, each employer wants your resume in their format, and depending on what company you are looking at they will want you to set up a user name and password and by the time you do all of this it’s been an hour already. I’ve applied for a position at 10pm and before I am done it’s 1am and frankly by then I’ve forgotten what I first applied for!

Sacrifices this week.

This week I had to say goodbye to my hockey season tickets, one way or another for the last several years I have had season tickets, it sucks but hey I can’t justify throwing 4 grand on a credit card. Let’s hope by this fall I am making some good dough and I can still buy some games.

This weekend I am going to pull the motorcycle out of the garage and sell it on craigslist, of course I have to call the man who sold it to me and give him first rite of refusal, anyone out there looking for a bike???

Well I’m off to the part time job, see you tomorrow! Hang in there everyone!

Me

Monday April 5th

Hello folks! Here's what the usual Monday reads like. I hit the web sites and see what has sprung loose over the weekend, and then I log into the unemployment website and request payment.

There was a time I was too proud to even do this, I felt like I was in a good place and didn't need this money, not realizing that I pay into it and my former employer pays into it too, so now I don't feel so guilty :0)

I am happy to say that I know have health insurance, yeah!!! My lovely county has assistance and since I have had no health insurance in the past year and pretty much no job I qualify!! Hey at least now I am covered if I get in a accident or something.....I do fell better about this. NOW OFF TO GO GET SOME ALLERGY MEDICINE!!!

PS _ If you are out there in the same boat, I advise you to check with your state or county - you know if you can't wait for the Obama thing to kick in. My coverage is very inexpensive, 15 dollar co-pays, 5 dollar prescriptions...that works for me! I didn't even know this care existed until my roommate told me about it, thanks neat o roomie.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME! Next topic, selling more worldly possessions!!!