New Job

So I had my first day at the new job yesterday. It's a strange feeling to be the newbie at work. The whole not knowing exactly how it all fits together and works, where I am to go, or not go. I don't know the dynamic, and it's a little frustrating to not be in the flow of the new job site and knowing and doing what you are to do day to day. My experience is that it takes a couple of weeks to get into it, and know what you need to know.

On the other end of the spectrum is the leaving a work place... the idea that you went to a place several times a week and spent a lot of hours there, and now, after however long, you stop doing this. You stop seeing a lot of the people that you interacted with day after day for a couple of years or how ever long. For me that's not the biggest deal, as the two most recent jobs that I have had are the part time, temp jobs that have always been a stop gap, keeping the rent paid until I can get set up with a full time gig..

I am keeping one of the part time jobs, if I can work it around the new full time gig, and the other.... it looks as if I have one more shift, but after a week from today (21st of March) I will be done there. I don't feel any sort of sadness at leaving that job, as things have changed and a lot of my co-workers are working on getting out themselves.

More to come..


On the Road... as I mentioned last time South by Southwest is on and if I were able to spend a year on the road, that would be one of the places that I would be checking out.

Annnnnnnndddddd.... I took the job offer

Yes I have been quite here lately, mostly it's been the waiting game that I mentioned previously.... and that game has paid off, in that I have just been offered and accepted a job. I will refrain from going into details, just in case... but I am happy to have full time employment in front of me. It's a first step, a dependable paycheck, working closer to home.... where I won't have to drive to work.. in fact it's better if I don't drive, save the wear and tear on the car and not paying all that money for gas. I do intend to keep one of my part time jobs if they have hours for me for a while, but the mall security job is going to have to end. I can't say that I am all that sorry to see it go, only I am going to miss some of the people that I have worked with there.

On the road, last time we left off heading for Vegas, and west, but I just found out that South by Southwest ( http://sxsw.com/) is March 7 - 16 2008, and being close enough I think I would swing back around and check that out. In hindsight it might have been better to circle Austin and see the places around Texas and the southwest before hitting Austin for SXSW. On the other hand it might have been a good idea to see Austin free from the SXSW madness... and then returned.

So what would I be checking out at SXSW?
Let's see...
Films.... (http://2008.sxsw.com/film/screenings/date/2008-03-07.html is where you can find the list) I don't know what I would be checking out, honestly I have looked over the list of films on line, and nothing really calls out to me, and I being in Austin for SXSW I would be there for the music. Speaking of which... first off let me point you towards the artist list.. http://2008.sxsw.com/music/showcases/alpha/0.html ... all of the artists with a cassette icon denotes that there is an mp3 from that act you can download. So far I have discovered
Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden (http://www.myspace.com/katetuckermusic) who's song Faster than Cars Drive is an amazing folk pop tune.
Also there is
Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 ( http://www.myspace.com/mrlewisthefuneral5) who play in that whole dark Swing jazz thing...
...but this isn't my music blog.. that's at mog.com/iren
So yeah, SXSW.. it's an event that I would love to check out..


So more to come... I'm a little scattered at the moment, with the job news..

I'm still here, still waiting

Yes it's a new month and I didn't have all the much to say or report during February... even though I had a job interview and a second interview, I just didn't want to say all that much about those interviews. I have a whole set of excuses for the lack of posts, but really I just didn't make all that much time.

I am now entering my 7th month with out a full time job. I have been working, with my two part time gigs keeping me afloat so far.. but the purse strings are drawing closed on those jobs as their hour budgets shrink, and their more senior employees come back from vacations and being sick. I am not complaining here, just noting that it feels like it's going to all start to slow down soon. I have been taking what ever hours I get offered for the most part, and this has lead to 12 and 16 hour days right next to 4 hour days. It's not all that stable. I understand why companies follow these models, however I also understand that if you are not keeping your employes income to roughly the same level you have, they don't have money to spend on your products and the products of other businesses in your community... which means that the people at the other places are seeing their hours cut as their income is cut and they don't have money to spend at your place.... all of which suggests that in a economy like the one we have at the moment that the focus should be on investing in workers and making sure that they have enough money to keep out of debt and at the same time keep money flowing in the economy.... and let me be clear I am not talking about mandating this, I am talking about boards of directors sticking with this idea because it's solid business..... but yeah, I have been with out regular full time employment with a living wage for going on 7 months... and I am still trucking along.....

Speaking of which, On the Road. Last time I was talking about Austin, TX.... a sort of promised land (I know a guy that goes on and on about how amazingly beautiful the women there are), and I keep reading that it's one of those places that is several square miles surrounded by reality. At this point I think it's time to wander on to a place that I do want to check out at least once in my life... Las Vegas. I want to drive the strip, check out the sights. eat some food and stay away from the tables. I had my first experience with a casino this past fall, and honestly I don't dig them....but I have the urge to see the place at least once...

more soon.

Separated By Motorways

Back to the blog.... I am taking it easy today, still recovering from a headcold/ sinus thing.... but I can still type.

The Job Search... well the good news is that I have a second interview for a job where I thought that I had blown the first interview. It would be a good job for me, in that it plays on all my strengths and it's located downtown. Sure like any other job there are things that aren't great, but over all I am excited about the prospect of having made it to the next step in the process. I haven't been looking for other postings all the much as of late, it's been a case of there haven't been all that many that I grabbed my attention. Of course there are plenty out there that I have applied for and not gotten a response on.



Back on the road, last time I was talking about wanting to see Houston Texas, and as the snows up north here start to melt I would thinking about heading west and to the north.... checking out some places in texas for sure, with Austin first on my list. There is plenty of stuff in Austin that I would love to check out.... I almost don't know where to start.. well with the music might be the best place. It's the wrong time of year for some of the bigger events I would like to see, South by Southwest and the Austin City Limits Music Festival would both be worth checking out. And then there is the Alamo Drafthouse (http://www.drafthouse.com/) which seems like something that every good sized college town needs. I think that I could spend a couple of days in Austin and still not see everything that I wanted to.

On the Road Again

My last post was about the job search.... right now I am still waiting on hearing back about some of the applications I have submitted, and getting ready for a Interview that I have this week...... more on that later....

but back on the road.. Houston.. It's a Texas city that I would like to see. The Johnson Space Center is there, and of course it's been the home of one of my favorite bands... or at least a band that I loved when I was an emotional mess of a young man.... King's X. It's a city with a cityscape skyline that I have wanted to see, and that I just want to check out..... Oh and they have a light rail that I want to ride... If I haven't mentioned I am a bit fan of mass transit, and any city that has a halfway ok system.... I would like to check it out. Other cities that I have to ride the mass transit include Portland, LA, Las Vegas and New York City.. so there it is.. Houston...

From there I think it's the time to wander through Texas, heading west, reading Larry McMurtry novels, listening to Buddy Holly and seeing the landscape.

Forget the Summertime Blues

I don't know who out there is reading this, please leave me some comments if you are... but I am still here, and I am enduring one of the worst parts of any job hunt... the waiting. I have lost track of the number of jobs I have applied for in the last couple of months, but I can tell you how many I have gotten past the application stage with... zero... now I am not taking it personal, I know that in these times the applicants for positions outweigh the number of jobs, and I might not be the biggest Nancy Plosi fan (there is something about politicals people that rub me the wrong way) but she is right abut one things, we need Jobs, Jobs, jobs. Not just for me and my family, but all of my friends who are looking for work.... and let talk a little about working and the myths about work. First of all most people are more than willing to work... and by work I mean do the job, it's those who want more, who are greedy and can't just show up and do the job that make it awful for the rest of us... This is something that I have known for years, ever since I read Job Jumper by Thee Whiskey Rebel (which you can get at http://www.steelcagerecords.com/catalog/scb001.html). Not only did I know about it from reading this history of a working man, but I have seen it. Even the most enlightened workplaces seem to suffer from to many people who can't just do their jobs with out causinjg drama... so the waiting.. what can you do? really? right now I have some hours here and some hours there at my very part time jobs, but nothing solid, and that's why the waiting is so hard...

On the road is off the road for the moment, I need to have some time plan on where I would be headed next.... or simply recover from the Mardi Gras adventure. Right about now I think I would be looking to see gulf coast wandering towards Houston. Going to the beach and seeing the coast...

The Specter of A Monday

Here it is sunday night... and it's the eve of a monday. I have the day off, I worked a couple of hours today, and I have some hours this week. I wish that it was as easy as having that stable 40 hours each week... the thing about a Monday is that it's the start of a new week, the start of new job searching week. I don't know what this week will hold. I have to look and see. My basic plan is to at least get that pre-employment screening done for working at the U of M Medical Center. The strange thing is that I have submitted several applications at several places, many of which I know that I am never going to hear back about, and many of which I have to think that it would be nice to have those jobs, and I would give them my all.... but if I can't get all emotionally involved with them, because so many of them are going to break my heart.

On the road... I would still be in New Orleans for the big party...