“So, Karel, the meme thing was kinda cute, but how are you feeling? What’s going on?”

The cold is on its last legs… or flagella, or whatever. I still get coughing fits, including a long string of them Wednesday afternoon and evening that cost me quality time with my children. Did I mention that a week and a half has passed since I last visited with them? Yeah.

I did some of what I used to call “side work” yesterday evening, and for the most part I think it went well. My desire to own a Mac goes down every time I have to fight Apple’s absurd notions of what one should and shouldn’t do with one’s own systems and data, though. Anyway, that money added to my “unenjoyment” for the week will cover my rent and utilities quite nicely, thank you.

So far during this two and a half months of job searching I’ve only scored the one interview, and as I suspected I didn’t get the job. Also, two days ago I took a call about a possible job position that I am absolutely perfect for… but for one minor (to me) quibble: I can’t drive and don’t own a car. Yesterday, my “alarm clock” call consisted of confirmation that there’s no way I could get the job. Waking up to that put me into one hell of a funk for the rest of the day; only stubborn pride and professionalism got me through the hours I spent “working” in the evening.

Did I mention that I would’ve been perfect for that job? Groupwise support, eDirectory/LDAP, mixed environment, I could go on and on. Damn. To three I bring the count of “gotchas” I’ve run into with each and every job opening I’ve tried for. They always require either a driver, a mid-to-high-level programmer, or a database guru. I’m none of those things, and I wouldn’t dare trying to fake ’em.

So, all in all, I’m… hanging in there, albeit barely sometimes. This is why I’m not in a sales position nor am I a published writer, folks: I don’t handle perpetual rejection well. Even so, I’m not even being actively rejected so much as ignored, for the most part. Quick, name two things that will quickly drag down a sensitive, attention-seeking guy like myself!

I spend the first part of every weekday doing the job hunt (and stop when I’ve exhausted the possibilities presented by the resources at my disposal), but with the rest of my time I rarely do anything of note. I have all of this “free time” and yet my long-delayed pet projects and hobbies are sorely neglected. I did get the kids’ anime-viewing multimedia PC working again, but that’s the bulk of what I’ve accomplished in the past month. Sad, huh?

That said, there are bright spots and things to be grateful for. The kids are generally happy and healthy. My relationships are in as good of shape as I could ever hope for under the circumstances. (I’m the weak link in all cases right now; while I have an excuse, I don’t want to rely on excuses, you know?) I still have a roof over my head, at least as long as the money holds out. I’d say “I have my health” if this stupid cold would just go away for good.

And I’m still able to dredge up a respectable semblance of cheer and energy when a job prospect actually generates some kind of two-way communication. My future depends on my ability to do so. “Fake it ’til you make it,” indeed.

Because Lil’ did it, and because I haven’t posted in a while, and because… well, meh. Here you go. Enjoy and stuff.

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Space Mariner Your Superpower is Technology Your Weakness is Cowboys Your Weapon is Your Anti-matter Ring Your Mode of Transportation is Convertible

Wait, what? I wear a ring of anti-matter? Dude, I could lose a finger that way!

First the good news: I interviewed for a job yesterday!

Mind you, I’m not counting on getting the job, mainly because the company is looking for an extra skillset that wasn’t mentioned in the job posting. They seem like nice folks, though, and I certainly wouldn’t mind taking a stab at doing the gig. The money wouldn’t be nearly as much as I was bringing in before, but I could make do. Ah well.

Now for the bad news: I seem to have come down with a cold!

I felt a bit achey and worn out yesterday afternoon and evening, and in fact went to bed a bit earlier than usual. I woke up during the night feeling altogether too much like I was going to be “physically ill,” if you know what I mean. (Luckily I managed to defeat that impulse. Whew.) Now I’m sitting here with a runny nose, fever, swollen glands and a scratchy throat, periodically sneezing.

Oh, joy.

I still have to head out of the house at some point, if only to deposit my “benefits” check and hit the store for cold meds and foodstuffs. While everyone else is enjoying their holiday weekend (with the exception of Mari, who’s working all weekend), I’ll be hunkered down and miserable.

Oh well.

How fed up am I with the entire job-hunting process? Very. I’m tired of spending hours a day poring over job postings, preparing cover letters, emailing said letters and resumes, sending follow-up emails, making phone calls, and generally getting jack squat in the way of responses. (So far: Two phone interviews, and those were in the first two weeks.)

Then there’s Monster Dot Com. Oh, yes, what a fine resource that’s turned out to be. Granted, I like the “one-click-apply” feature, but it’s done me very little good so far. What’s worse, apparently certain parties think that trolling Monster for email addresses is a grand idea, as I’ve received two unsolicited and highly annoying missives on account of being listed there. Just because I’m in a foul and snarky mood, I’m going to eviscerate today’s message in full public view.
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Today wasn’t really a busy or complex day. I got up early, after another in a week-long string of lousy nights’ sleep, and trundled off to my local branch of Oregon’s Employment Department. You see, I was selected for some kind of “career orientation” based on some funky mathematics they do to determine one’s likelihood of becoming employed before one’s 26 weeks of benefits run out.

If only that was my biggest financial worry, eh? But they don’t need to know how bad I have it, do they?

The gist of the orientation is that they wanted to provide a group of us with information and motivation. That’s fine, they’re doing their jobs, and in fact I did come out of the experience with a couple of useful website addresses. Neato. One guy, however, and there’s one in every group… he first had to complain about the fact that he was present in the first place. “How do they determine this score? What can I do to lower it?” (My thought: Well, getting a job would be a good start.) He then went on about how he was newly out of work after holding a job for nine years (my voiced response: You too, eh?), and that he’d just spent $500 on a resumé, and…

Wait, what? Five hundred dollars? Wow. So, that brings me to the first “don’t” for today:

Don’t… assume that dropping half a grand for a resumé is going to guarantee you employment.

After fleeing the E.D. offices, I decided to scavenge for foodstuffs, as I’d left the house long before my normal breakfast time. I had a hankerin’ for a Chipotle burrito, but they weren’t open yet. So, I wandered a bit, and ended up at the mall. (Nevermind what I did there. It’s not important, not yet anyway.) While there, my phone rang.

To the best of my knowledge, it was someone offering me a contract job in the Portland Metro area. I can’t be certain of this, however, as the person on the other end refused to do two important things: Speak clear and unaccented English, and speak at reasonable volume. I made out “contract” and “Portland Oregon” but damned little else, and that’s after several attempts to get the woman to repeat herself clearly. So, it’s time for another “don’t”:

Don’t… outsource your job recruitment calls to an outfit based in a country for which English is not the native tongue.

Arriving home as the weather became just a bit too warm to be strolling around in long sleeves, I ate and eventually dozed. A little while ago, after battling with ATI’s stupid multimedia software (“I don’t want the timeshifting ‘feature.’ What do you mean, I can’t turn it off? To hell with this!”), I decided to check what the weather forecasts looked like online. I saw a forecast high of 78 degrees, which is all very nice except that the current temperature read 81 degrees. You can probably guess where this is going:

Don’t… neglect to update the posted information when the facts outrun the projected numbers.

Mind you, maybe I’m the only one who finds stuff like this annoying. Then again, maybe not. At the very least, I was able to derive some amusement, and that’s what matters. Right?

I watched a talented cook do it, so tonight I figured I could do it too.

That certainly reads like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? And yet, somehow I managed to produce a decent meal for myself. I made a couple cups’ worth of rice in the spiffy rice cooker we picked up a few weeks ago, and I heated up some meatballs (previously frozen, to be sure… my talents only go so far, after all) in BBQ sauce on the stove. Not only did I do these two things, but I did them correctly, and the results were edible rather tasty.

Sure, it’s not normally something to write home an entry about, but you must keep in mind that I’m not normally found doing food-preparation activity of any kind other than punching buttons on the microwave.

By the way: Two cups of rice, uncooked, makes a whole steaming lot (pun very much intended) of cooked rice…