I've been juggling a few things and had a few deals pending that I was waiting to see the outcome before I posted anything here. Now I have a few answers.
I'm still waiting for my dream job. If anyone knows of a county, state or village public service (police, fire, EMS, sheriff, etc. who is hiring a dispatcher, please let me know. I'm pretty sure that's my next big direction.
In the meantime, I have continued searching for something to get the family through. I landed a part-time temporary job helping to set up the new Peebles store in Bowling Green. It's just for 10 days, from April 20 to 30, but during that time, I hope to be able to convince the manager to keep me as a part-time employee once the store opens. I'm pretty sure I can do that since she was considering me for the assistant manager position...but THAT is a completely different story that I'm not going to post here.
Additionally, I have begun volunteering as...well, I'm not sure exactly what yet.
I have met a couple of times with a guy who owns an internet/video/print publishing company in the area, who is looking to expand a portion of his business. When I walked in for the first meeting, the first thing he said to me was "we're not hiring right now, but your resume, cover letter and skill sets, and knowledge of the town and the people intrigued me."
My first thought was "if you aren't hiring, why are you wasting my time?"
But in talking to him, I am coming to see the vision of what he is trying to do, how I fit into that, and how I can earn a living from doing that. Since I thought at the time that I was about a day away from landing a full-time job, I volunteered to work for free to prove myself and show him what I could do, and we could discuss payment later.
I did some brainstorming on how we could make his idea work and who we could tap to make that happen. Things began to take firmer hold during our meeting yesterday.
Things still progress, and I won't be paid for anything there for at least another month, maybe two or three...but this project is in very early stages, and until he gives me the green light to proceed, I won't really be doing anything that will let me earn my keep, and that's fine. I would rather make sure the business plan is in place, along with the map that will guide the process forward.
This morning, I also made an amazing discovery. Without discussing numbers, I realized that between Jenn being laid off for part of last year, and having Kaleb and taking off a month and a half, she made about as much last year as I am expecting to make this year. And now that she is back to work and full-time and she has started earning her bonuses again (YEAH!!!!!!), she will make about as much as I did last year.
The point is, we are no better or worse off than we were last year. We are in about the same boat. I am looking forward to the time when we both have full-time jobs for an entire year. We haven't had that yet, and we don't know what our potential is in that direction. When we DO both manage to keep a job for an entire year, THEN we will really be on our way. I'm really excited about that prospect.
For now, I'm still exploring my options, applying for some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff, and I have a couple of other projects in the fire that I'm waiting to see how they turn out before I announce anything.
I think it was the theme song for the Mary Tyler Moore Show that said, "We're gonna' make it after all."
Friday, April 3, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sometimes the Powers of Good converge
Have you ever gotten the feeling that life is shitting on you?
It's a vulgar way to ask it, but sometimes, it feels that bad. And unless you are perfect, I know that your answer is yes. We have all felt it.
In the past two years, Jenn and I have struggled through a lot of stuff, including Jenn being laid off twice and me getting laid off once. There has been a lot of other stuff that I'm not going to put into print here, but let's just say that we have struggled. And recently, it has seemed to pile up and happen all at once.
But since I have gotten laid off, there have been a lot of good things happening. I touched on some of it in my first entry.
Before I got laid off, Jenn and I agreed to use our very sizeable tax return to catch up on some bills and pay off a couple of credit cards. We also agreed to get rid of most of our credit cards and start paying down as much debt as possible. We also agreed to attend something through Jenn's church called Financial Peace University. Mind you, all of that was agreed to BEFORE the layoff.
Because of the layoff, we were able to pay off our smallest credit card bill and catch up where we had fallen behind since Kaleb's birth. We are holding back the rest to get through the layoff as best we can.
But we went one step further, on the faith of the financial program we started March 15. We invested $1,000 in an emergency fund. All the while, I'm thinking "BUT WE'RE IN AN EMERGENCY!!!!!!!" The other half of me is thinking "So what. Maybe if we skimp enough in other areas, and cut out as much as we possibly can, maybe we can make it through this emergency without cutting into that emergency fund. Then we'll be that much better off."
Call me crazy, but I think we can do it. I HOPE we can do it!!!!!! I'm afraid of the Financial Peace University because it is going to make us look at what we've done and change our behavior. It already has. But we have committed to it.
Then tonight, we watched a movie called Fireproof, about a couple who salvages their marriage from the grips of divorce. I won't say we were to the point that they were, but with the financial stress we have been under due to Kaleb's birth and bout with RSV, and with some stupid debts we owe, it hasn't been a lot of fun.
Sometimes a movie hits WAY too close to home, though. The movie The Break-Up might as well have been about me and my ex-wife. Fireproof might as well have been about me and Jenn.
What it comes down to, is that these two products - a class and a movie - have changed us for the better. Sometimes good things are poured on you just as much as life can seem to shit on you. The question is, are you paying attention when the good things happen?
My eyes are open and I am paying attention. But I'm not waiting for good things to happen to me. I am going to MAKE good things happen.
For more information on both of these potentially life-saving programs, visit http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/ and http://www.daveramsey.com/
In other news, my second interview went well. I either totally screwed myself over with one answer or completely won them over because of my honest over that one answer.
I also have an interview scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. So we'll see what happens!
It's a vulgar way to ask it, but sometimes, it feels that bad. And unless you are perfect, I know that your answer is yes. We have all felt it.
In the past two years, Jenn and I have struggled through a lot of stuff, including Jenn being laid off twice and me getting laid off once. There has been a lot of other stuff that I'm not going to put into print here, but let's just say that we have struggled. And recently, it has seemed to pile up and happen all at once.
But since I have gotten laid off, there have been a lot of good things happening. I touched on some of it in my first entry.
Before I got laid off, Jenn and I agreed to use our very sizeable tax return to catch up on some bills and pay off a couple of credit cards. We also agreed to get rid of most of our credit cards and start paying down as much debt as possible. We also agreed to attend something through Jenn's church called Financial Peace University. Mind you, all of that was agreed to BEFORE the layoff.
Because of the layoff, we were able to pay off our smallest credit card bill and catch up where we had fallen behind since Kaleb's birth. We are holding back the rest to get through the layoff as best we can.
But we went one step further, on the faith of the financial program we started March 15. We invested $1,000 in an emergency fund. All the while, I'm thinking "BUT WE'RE IN AN EMERGENCY!!!!!!!" The other half of me is thinking "So what. Maybe if we skimp enough in other areas, and cut out as much as we possibly can, maybe we can make it through this emergency without cutting into that emergency fund. Then we'll be that much better off."
Call me crazy, but I think we can do it. I HOPE we can do it!!!!!! I'm afraid of the Financial Peace University because it is going to make us look at what we've done and change our behavior. It already has. But we have committed to it.
Then tonight, we watched a movie called Fireproof, about a couple who salvages their marriage from the grips of divorce. I won't say we were to the point that they were, but with the financial stress we have been under due to Kaleb's birth and bout with RSV, and with some stupid debts we owe, it hasn't been a lot of fun.
Sometimes a movie hits WAY too close to home, though. The movie The Break-Up might as well have been about me and my ex-wife. Fireproof might as well have been about me and Jenn.
What it comes down to, is that these two products - a class and a movie - have changed us for the better. Sometimes good things are poured on you just as much as life can seem to shit on you. The question is, are you paying attention when the good things happen?
My eyes are open and I am paying attention. But I'm not waiting for good things to happen to me. I am going to MAKE good things happen.
For more information on both of these potentially life-saving programs, visit http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/ and http://www.daveramsey.com/
In other news, my second interview went well. I either totally screwed myself over with one answer or completely won them over because of my honest over that one answer.
I also have an interview scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. So we'll see what happens!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Possibly the shortest-lived blog ever
I have been kicking around the idea of this blog pretty much since I got laid off. I have thought about what it would look like, what the topic would be, and how I would censor myself in case potential employers found it.
Most of all, I spent a lot of time thinking about if I really wanted to say what was on my mind, since my emotions have been everywhere during the past month.
Actually, today IS one month. I was laid off one month ago today. I'm going to drink a beer tonight to celebrate.
But I will be celebrating more than unemployment. Hopefully it will be a celebration of short-term unemployment.
On Monday, I attended what I call a "cattle call" in Bowling Green. This particular cattle call was for a store called Peebles that is opening up just down the road from my house on April 30. Everyone walked in, filled out an application and interviewed on the spot.
The woman who interviewed me just called me and wants a second interview on Friday. So I will be there!
Jenn isn't excited about retail, but anything ... even a fast food job or cleaning the drunk tanks at the jail ... is better than what I have now!
So keep your fingers crossed for me!
Most of all, I spent a lot of time thinking about if I really wanted to say what was on my mind, since my emotions have been everywhere during the past month.
Actually, today IS one month. I was laid off one month ago today. I'm going to drink a beer tonight to celebrate.
But I will be celebrating more than unemployment. Hopefully it will be a celebration of short-term unemployment.
On Monday, I attended what I call a "cattle call" in Bowling Green. This particular cattle call was for a store called Peebles that is opening up just down the road from my house on April 30. Everyone walked in, filled out an application and interviewed on the spot.
The woman who interviewed me just called me and wants a second interview on Friday. So I will be there!
Jenn isn't excited about retail, but anything ... even a fast food job or cleaning the drunk tanks at the jail ... is better than what I have now!
So keep your fingers crossed for me!
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