The Refined Man

During my time downtown, I noticed a shoe shine stand.  I have never had a shoe shine.  This is probably because I'm almost never in a suit and whenever I am, I'm not likely walking around airports or downtown areas.  I've been in a suit once in an airport and might have gotten one if there was a longer layover.

So this got me thinking about things that a refined man would do.  So far, all I have is:
1. Shoe Shine
2. Straight Razor Shave
3. Get a suit tailored to you (credit to my friend, who I'm nicknaming Politico here.)

If you've never had a straight razor shave, I would definitely recommend it as I recently had my first one.  It is scary that there's a blade right on your neck.  I was reminded of the beginning of Eastern Promises, which begins with a gruesome murder in a barbershop, but fortunately, it wasn't like that.  It's very relaxing and it's the closest shave I've ever had (that might be an easy task since I use an electric razor.)  Also, my wife really liked the scents of the aftershave and facial lotion.  So go get one or ladies, give it as a gift.  

With the suit thing, I imagine it would be like the scene in Ocean's 11 where Saul, the older guy who will act as Lyman Zerga, gets fitted for the suit and feels it (imported silk).  It'd be cool to have a suit that feels that way and there'd be that knowledge that it was made just for me.  Really, how many things in my life was just for me?  While I imagine myself getting fitted in the Bellagio or some upscale shop in London, the reality is that if I ever do get a custom suit, it'd probably have to be in Asia, where it's much cheaper.  I'd be OK with that.

Life update - Sickness, Job stuff, jury duty

It's been several days since I've posted, but I have a few excuses.

First, I've been sick the past few days so I've spent a fair amount of time in bed.

Second, I was in jury duty on Wednesday and in jury duty, you're not supposed to blog or tweet or anything like that.  You're not even supposed to have a cell phone but lots of people brought theirs anyway.  After jury duty on wednesday, I went straight to bed.

Third, I had a half day interview with a large medical device company in the area.  (Go ahead and guess which one, you're likely to be right.)  I basically begged the jury duty people to let me out for the morning.  So I guess if you're ever trying to get out of jury duty for a day, that's something you could try.

I've learned over the years that I'm not very good at predicting whether or not the interview went well.  This interview went OK I think, but it was almost all behavioral.  This is when they ask you garbage questions like "Tell me about a time when there was conflict at work...  Tell me about a time when you achieved a goal... blah blah blah."  In the book Sway, the authors go into this whole thing on why interviews don't work.  But I do think this would be a good opportunity for me, but we'll see what they think.  What sucked is that there were so many behavioral questions, it was difficult to not reuse the situations that I've already prepared for.  you know?

And then after the interview, I checked my messages and I got calls from two other companies.  I also got a call from another company wednesday and I'll have a phone interview next week.  So things are looking up I guess.

Fortunately for me, my jury duty obligation is over so I have all day to recover and get ready for tomorrow's Halloween party.  I'm a little disappointed though that I didn't get picked; it would have been an interesting experience.  OK.  More posts to come...

Song of the Day - Petula Clark

So today's song is "Downtown" by Petula Clark.  Nothing job related here, but yesterday, as you know, I went downtown for jury duty.  As an engineer, my jobs are always out in the suburbs somewhere where rent is cheaper and you don't actually need to rely on being near anything else. 

So this was my first time riding a metro bus in the twin cities, though I've been on the light rail before.  Fortunately, the stop is a short walk from my house and the ride didn't take all that long. 

But it was cool walking around the skyways and generally being around lots of people and being kind of anonymous.  In my former day to day life, you see the exact same people all the time every day.  But it would be interesting to work downtown and maybe occasionally, you bump into someone you know at the food court or something like that. 

And it was cool to meet my wife for lunch, which has happened maybe once or twice in the years that we've lived up here.  And we went to this cute sandwich and salad place. 

It would be nice to work downtown, but I realize the chances of that are very very small, but it's nice to dream.  That's one thing I didn't really think about when I made my career choice, the chances I'd be able to work in the city so for all you readers that are in college (none of you), this is one more thing to keep in mind.

Oh well, but as Petula Clark sings, "Things will be great when you're downtown."  Time to get ready for day 2 of jury duty.

Book Review - The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

As I said earlier, I finished my book today, which was The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. It's an entertaining read and I would recommend it to all of you. The writer does a good job of getting into the heads of book collectors and what drives them.  I guess I would describe it as a cross between The Orchid Thief, with the weird collecting, and American Gangster, with the chase for a criminal.  (I've only seen the movie for American Gangster.)  There's a book collector that loves to steal for the status of having and a book seller/collector who wants the satisfaction of catching the thief.  Anyway, I know nothing about the rare book world and I was fascinated.

Weird trivia I learned.  The author visits the book thief in prison and apparently at this prison in California, underwire bras aren't allowed.  Who knew?  And apparently, lots of the women that visit will be dressed kind of provocatively.  Wouldn't that be weird?  But I guess I've never been in that situation so I wouldn't know.

Jury Duty - Day 1

So I had jury duty today.  To sum up, I finished an entire book today, so that pretty much describes what happened.  But I kept notes on random thoughts during the day and I'll post them here.  I must care about writing if I'm willing to take notes on my thoughts.  That wouldn't have occurred to me before this blog.

I noticed that a few people were wearing a suit and tie to jury duty.  Why?  I guess I've never really felt comfortable in a suit, so it's definitely not a goto outfit for me, but wouldn't everyone want to dress casually here?  I mean, maybe you wear a suit if you think there's a good chance that you'll be let out early and then you'll be able to go straight to work.  But really, what percentage of people are going back to work when they already told their boss they had jury duty.  One of the suit wearers was fairly young, so I imagine that it's like his first year in law school and he's hoping to impress one of the attorneys he meets and then score a nice summer internship.

A number of people brought laptops.  I kind of see jury duty like being on a plane when you're going somewhere for work.  You can do work on the plane, but really, how many chances do you get to just sit back and read a book and not think about work, you know?  I used to have a laptop for work, but I definitely wouldn't have brought it to jury duty.  They even provide a few computers for us to use to check e-mail and stuff, though we're warned not to go to inappropriate websites.  If someone actually did, would someone actually have said something.  I'm thinking that I wouldn't say anything and just ignore it.

We had to watch a video on the jury process.  One of the things it talked about was that they might ask personal questions and then it cuts to a lawyer asking a juror with lots of other jurors and lawyers in the room if they've ever been the victim of a crime.  And I just thought that it would be awesome if someone answers, "Yes, I was raped by my priest when I was young."  That would be way more interesting than my answer, which would be, "I was the victim of a hit and run, but really, no damage was done to the car."

Other thoughts...  We were specifically told to not have alcohol during lunch.  I wonder if this was a problem before they started telling people not to do this....  There was a guy who brought Harry Potter 6 and 7.  He must be a way faster reader than me if he thought he'd need both of those books....  Who are these people that don't bring books and just kind of stare ahead?  It just seemed kind of creepy.

Information Interviews

So I was all optimistic on Friday since I had an interview.  I would later learn that the company isn't hiring right now, but he wanted to meet me and keep me in mind for the future since they might be hiring in 3-6 months. 

I actually think I impressed the guy, but I never really know with these things.  As for the company, it was small and most people were older than me, and I guess I'm not super impressed with their growth prospects.  But it was an interview, and you get a little better each time, right?

On Thursday, I also had an "information interview" with another company.  This company was interesting in that I had turned down a job offer from them a few years back (and accepted an offer from my last company).  So I was asked why I'm interested in working there now when I wasn't then.  Very good question.  I don't know if I like my answer so I don't really have any advice for this situation, but think about this question beforehand.

Conventions

So my team recently had a game and afterward we were hanging out with the other team and one of them just got back from Vegas.  He had attended this convention for convenience stores, so it's like all the booths were for things that get sold in convenience stores.  So there are representatives from soda and candy, but also booths for beer, cigarrettes, and porno mags.  That just sounds like a weird surreal thing to go to.

Compare this with the convention that I went to last week, which is the Medical Design and Manufacturing conference (MDM).  So like there was booth just on syringes and one on metal cases that form the outer shell for a pacemaker.  Really boring stuff. 

And really I didn't really do a good job of networking there, but I did get the directory for all of the people that showed up.  So I'll be going through each company there and seeing if any are hiring.  This is a big conference and so far, I've only made it through the A's.  For all you job seekers out there, I would suggest that you do something like this, since you'll go through all of the postings on Monster, craigslist, etc. pretty quickly.

Reading Update

A short discussion on books I've recently finished and books I will be reading.  And yes, those links go to Amazon and if you buy something, I'll get a little kickback (yay for me).  

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
I'm a sucker for all of the Malcolm Gladwell books and I've read many of his online articles as well.  I feel like this book is definitely from his mold of why people do certain things.  And there's a good story about how a guy on France's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire didn't know that the moon orbited the earth and when he asked for the audience's help, more than half of the audience picked the sun and you can hear them laughing in the background. 

I've been listening to the book during all of my long drives to random recruiters' offices and it's a pretty easy listen.  Definitely good commuter book for Gladwell fans.

Dynamite Salary Negotiations, Know What You're Worth and Get It!
This book is like 10 years old, so I would definitely recommend against buying it, but it's a pretty fast read and I think lots of people out there could use a little more salary knowledge.  There are some good tips like the one on adding up all your compensation that I talked about earlier and some good things on what can happen when salary's brought up during an interview.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession
I have jury duty next week and this will be the first book that I'll be reading.  I read a review for this online and thought it sounded good.  It sounds like The Orchid Thief to me, which I also enjoyed.  And I read a lot and love books, but not too much to steal.  I get all of my books from the library and really it's been years since I've purchased a book.

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
I loved the first Freakonomics book.  I think that if I wasn't an engineer, I'd like to be a Freakonomist.  Is that even a job?  But I like all the crazy connections made in the last book and I occasionally read their blog.  So I'm pretty optimistic that I'll like this book too.  If I get picked for jury duty, I'm guessing that I'll be finished with this book by the end.

Miscellaneous Stuff

I don't know if anyone else is interested in my google analytics updates, but I'm fascinated.  I just got hits from someone in Dallas and Chicago.  And the person from Chicago actually spent 6 minutes on the site.  Weird.

I have a job interview today.  This time it's a real one; I'm not meeting a recruiter.  As soon as I stop coming up with things to blog about, I'm going to study up on the company and the stuff they make and reread some salary negotiation stuff.  I guess I must be optimistic if I think I'm going to haggle over money today.

Tomorrow, 10/24, is the international day of climate action.  I guess I don't really have any plans to do anything for it, but here's a link to the site.

Tomorrow, we'll be going to the North Star Roller Girls.  If you haven't been to a roller derby before, I would encourage you to check it out.  It can be silly at times, but it's pretty fun.  Readers that know me, let me know if you want to go with us.

Song of the Day - Soup Dragons

Today's song is "I'm Free" by the Soup Dragons, which I just learned is a cover from a Rolling Stones song.  Who knew?  Does everyone remember this song?

"I'm free... to do what I want.... any old time..."
"I say love me... hold me.. cause I'm free."

Here's the video as a refresher.  But the video is really stupid and obviously very low budget.



I remember long ago, probably in 1990 when the song came out, it was the last day of school and a friend of mine and I thought this was the perfect song to describe the feeling.

But I guess the freedom's been good for me these past few weeks.  I haven't taken any time off like this since I started working.  Even when I switched jobs, I left on Friday and showed up at the new company on Monday.  I think I'm supposed to learn something about myself during this time, but I don't really know if I have, but I at least feel good that I'm not totally mopey, like the guy in 500 Days of Summer who was in bed for days after quitting his job. 

Incidentally, I feel like the Soup Dragons other hit "Divine Thing" would be a really good song for Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Crazy Lady Interview

A change of pace, I'll talk about the crazy lady who I recently met.

First off, the office building they're in is super nice.  There's a fountain and the grounds are well kept.  And there were stone floors and kind of this rotunda area.  It was more like a nice hotel then a regular office building.  It's certainly not like any place I've ever worked.

If we recall, crazy lady told me that I should stop sending resumes.  She told me this several times during the interview.  I of course lied and said I would.  So instead of sending out resumes on my own, if I see a job or company I'm interested, I'm supposed to go to her and say that I'm interested.  Then, with her decades of experience and hundreds of contacts, she can find the hiring manager and then my resume will go right to the top of the heap.  Wow. 

She also bashed the other local recruiting/placement companies.  "They only care about fees."  While I've spoken to at least 3 other companies, I decided to lie and say that I had only spoken with one.  She was really mean about it.  "They'll send your resume all over town without you knowing about it."  Of course, I'm kind of thinking, "Don't I want that?"

But going there was good for the ego boost.  She said I was really qualified for a lot of positions and she bashed my former company a little bit, which of course feels kind of good too.  And she did mention some intriguing opportunities, but of course didn't tell me the company names. 

More Google Analytics

I'm happy to say that Google Analytics is reporting the first visitors that don't know me at all.  We have one visitor from Orlando and we have one that came all the way from Alytus, Lithuania.  Wow.  I can't even imagine what they could have been looking for.  Both spent less than a minute on the site so they probably didn't find it.  But the posts that now have hits are the posts on british food and the post on the boxer as the song of the day.

I'm looking up stuff on Alytus now.  It's not that big of a city, only 68k, but during WW2, they housed a POW camp and nearby, there was a concentration camp.

That info was a bit of a downer. 

The Neon Sign to Own

I'm not sure how we got this subject, but last night, I asked my friends if they could own any company's neon type sign, what would it be?

For me, there's a strong nostalgia factor with Denny's, so that might be my first pick.









But my wife had a good idea with Krispy Kreme.  It would be fun to play with the Hot sign.














But another friend had a good idea with Sushi Tango, though that would be kind of freaky. 




















Anyway, I thought it was an interesting conversation.

Song of the Day - Beatles

So my wife suggested today's song of the day: "With a Little Help from My Friends"

I responded, "What song is that?"

"You know.  Have a little help... from my friends..." 

"Oh.  The Wonder Years song."

So no, I'm not really a big Beatles fan.  But I do think this is a good positive song for me.  I actually have a lunch interview on Friday with one of my salesman friend's contacts.  But really all of my friends have been supportive.  Right after I lost my job, I was staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night thinking that I might be a total pariah (that's not a word I use every day) and I really thought about just isolating myself, but I didn't and everyone's been cool.  I'm going to stop here before I go picking something like "Thank you for being a friend" as my next song of the day.

Bonus Song - Fred Schneider

So at the unemployed guy's house, we'll be having a halloween party so I'm compiling some music.  I just learned that Fred Schneider, lead singer of the B-52's has a solo song called "Monster".  Here's the main lyric, which is said many times:

"There's a monster in my pants and it does a naughty dance."

If you'll be at the party, be sure to listen closely for this song. 

The video is also very interesting. 

Cooking - Turkey and Wheat Bread

I did a lot of cooking yesterday.  I got turkey going in the slow cooker and then at noon, I started some maple wheat bread in the bread machine.  So really for the rest of the day, the whole house smelled like turkey and bread.  Not a bad smell. 

And then, we made mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce when my wife got home and it was a nice thanksgiving spread. 

My friend ERIDC was asking if getting a bread machine was a good value.  Well, I just bought $10 worth of flour and yeast and the yeast will make at least 16 loaves, so it's probably a good value.  And then you have the whole thing of no preservatives and all that junk.  And it sure beats the work of actually making bread.  It'd be nice though if our bread machine made bread that was closer to standard size bread instead of this weird more cubic chape.

Meeting with Crazy Lady

To prepare for the interview, crazy lady sent me an application to fill out.  One of the questions on the form asks what companies you have sent resumes to in the past 6 months.  I'm glad that I had a really long list of companies on there.  I wonder if she'll really want to work with me after seeing that list. 

But the form asks for 4 references.  I only gave 3.  Four just seems excessive.  I hope they don't even bother contacting anyone.

I'll be meeting with her today, so this should be fun.

Song of the Day - Simon and Garfunkel

Today's song is The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel. 

I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was "Lie la Lie... Boom..."  But this is an applicable song here:
"Asking workman's wages, I come looking for a job, but I get no offers." 

The part afterward about taking comfort from whores, not so applicable. 

According to wikipedia, Paul Simon really just didn't have any words for the chorus.  I just thought that was interesting.

Job Search tips

Right now, I'm reading Dynamite Salary Negotiations and there's an interesting tidbit I thought I'd share with everyone.  They suggested that when you put down your last salary, you add in all the extra "compensation" for your insurance and your 401k match and all that other junk into your salary.  Some people might interpret this as lying, but I've seen several applications where they ask you your last level of compensation, so I feel like this would be totally truthful.  But I do believe now that if asked in an interview, you should be free to say, "At my last position, my compensation was..."

I guess another tidbit I was talking about with someone recently was on the subject of recommendations.  When I quit my first job, I went out to lunch with several coworkers and we all agreed to be each other's recommendations when it came to it.  I actually did end up having to talk to my friend's prospective employer and it was actually kind of scary for that moment, but I'm happy to say that he got the job.  And all five of us from that lunch are no longer with that company, which I'm happy about too.

But a while back, I asked a former supervisor for recommendation letter and he said yes and then didn't do it.  I guess I realize that people are busy and maybe I didn't leave on perfect terms, but I feel like he shouldn't have agreed to do it, you know?  But I've never actually had to be a reference or write a recommendation letter for anyone since that one time, but I hope that I will always be able to take the couple hours or so to do that for someone.  The friend I was discussing this with said, "It's a sad state of humanity when you can't take the time for this."

British Food

Some friends of mine had a Beatles Rock Band party over the weekend and there was a British theme going.  Another friend brought trifle, which always makes me think of the Friends episode where Joey says, "Jam.  Good.  Meat.  Good."




















The good line is about 7 minutes in.  Probably on the top list of Friends quotable lines.  What else would be up there?  "She's your lobster."  "That's how they do pants..."  "In prison"

For this party, I decided that we should make a Parkin, which is a ginger oat type dessert traditionally served on Guy Fawkes Day, which isn't too far away.  I think the only reason any American would know about Guy Fawkes is V for Vendetta.  I guess it didn't go over super great, but we all learned something about British cuisine and it was kind of interesting to make it.  It used special Scottish oatmeal and something called golden syrup.  The recipe also asked for Treacle, which I couldn't find, so I used the recipes substitute of molasses.  So I would recommend this for any british themed parties, especially if you prefer desserts that aren't super sweet.

Fun with Google Adsense and Analytics

I checked adsense over the weekend and it said that I had only earned like 1 cent, but now, it's again saying that I've earned $25.  I'm going to post a picture here just so that I have it on record. 

On google analytics, I learned that there have only been 3 computer servers that have hosted visitors to this blog.  One is my cable modem.  Two is my wife's company.  Surprisingly, the third is from mckinsey.  If you recall, I blogged a while back about applying at their company.  My guess is that they have some automatic program that trolls for online mentions of their company.  This is because the mckinsey visitor spent 0 seconds on the site. 

Anyway, I find this kind of interesting.  I assume that if I keep posting, the blog will come up on someone's search and then I'll get random hits from random places in the world.  At least I hope so.

New Recruiter

Surprise, surprise.  One of the jobs I applied to yesterday from craigslist turns out to be a recruiter.  But this one's a little different, in my wife's words, "a nut case".

She asked, "Have you sent your resume all over town yet?  I hope not."  I of course tell her that I have.  She even brought up a specific company and I had applied to a job there a few days ago.  She continued and warned me about identity theft through resumes.  Never mind that her own posting on craigslist was completely anonymous, in her words, "scrubbed".  I pointed this out to her, and she said that when I come in and see the awards and speak to her, I'll know that she's for real.

So I'll be meeting with her next week.  It's good to have an excuse to get out of the house.  I've pretty much had an excuse to get out of the house almost every day since being unemployed, so that's good.

But anyway, to all you job searchers, I would suggest that if a recruiters asks you not to send out resumes, that they may not be good for you.  I personally feel like being dependent on a recruiter may not be the best idea. 

Director of R&D

Yesterday, I also applied to my highest position yet, Director of R&D, which I found on craigslist.  What's kind of funny is that the e-mail address is really anonymous, like most ads on craigslist, but after I sent my resume, I got an out of office reply and the reply to e-mail actually reveals the name of the company.  I actually think I'd be qualified to be an engineer there, though their website's career section doesn't have anything for me.  This company is actually publicly traded and the stock is down like 25x from the peak. 

I like the fantasy of this job listing though.  You know, like I could e-mail my old boss and say, "I'm glad I'm not there any more because now I'm Director of R&D."  This is generally my feeling on lottery tickets, which I'll buy when the powerball is over 100 million.  I feel like I'm buying that moment when I imagine what it'd be like to win.

Still haven't met the goal yet of applying for a c-level position, but I'll keep looking.

Life update

Did another 1.8 miles yesterday during Kill Bill vol. 2.  That brings me up to 8.9 miles so far. 

Two loads of laundry this week brings the tally to 3.

I'm up to $25 in adsense money.  I have no idea how that happened, but thanks, readers.  Soneone in new york recently lost their unemployment because they reported adsense money as income.  I've learned my lesson from that and will claim adsense money as a residual, which I feel is income, but apparently, it's different.

I've actually applied for 16 jobs in the past two days and randomly sent out my resume to 5 other companies without having any job to apply for.

I got my first rejection letter this morning, from a company called exosite.  By snooping around contacts on linkedin, I found the company.  I'm probably not qualified for any of their stuff, but I figured that their website was so ambiguous as to what they actually do, that I didn't think it'd hurt to send a resume to their info e-mail address.  And it didn't hurt.

Song of the Day - Soft Cell

Today's song is Tainted Love.  I'm not sure if this song perfectly applies to my jobless situation.  But yesterday, my wife asked me if I would go back to my old job if they wanted me back, and I'm not really sure.  My response was "I don't think so.  They're tainted.  I'm tainted."  So that's where the tainted thing comes in.

Also, you don't really this song on the radio that often, and it seems like a treat when they play the whole thing where it segues into Where Did Our Love Go?  Whenever I hear it stop right after the tainted love part, I'm like, "The song's not over."  Maybe that part is today's applicable song.  It wasn't that long ago that I got a nice raise and more responsibility at work and then everything changed.

Song of the Day - Boyz II Men

End of the Road just came up on my mp3s and I thought it was a great fit for my breakup/job loss song list.  I realize that I'm not really picking any current songs, which is kind of sad I guess.

"It's unnatural.  You belong to me."

I always wanted to be in Boyz II Men.  They look so cool in their colorful matching outfits in the Motownphilly video.  Unfortunately, I'm not black and I don't really sing very well or dance very well and I didn't grow up in Philadelphia. 

I'm still hung up on my old job I guess.  I go through all these job postings and none of them sound as good as my last job. 

Running and kill bill again

I actually did 2 miles today because the bride was still fighting O-Ren when the normal 1.8 miles was up.  But I finished the movie so next time, I'll continue with volume 2. 

I always wanted to be a crazy 88 for halloween because it'd be an incredibly easy costume.  black suit, thin tie, kato mask.  But it really wouldn't make sense unless you're with a larger group of guys dressed the same and with a few girls dressed as the bride, O-Ren, and Gogo.

I still like the idea of some sort of fantasy thing where you have a sword and you cut off someone's head.  Maybe it'd be more doable if it was like an executioner thing at the Renaissance festival.  You pay $5 and swing an axe. 

Songs of the day - Blondie and Jazzie Redd

Just heard Blondie's Heart of Glass and thought it would be applicable here:
"It seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind..."
Sigh...  I had imagined that I would be at my last company for a long time.

And I also just heard Jazzie Redd's I am a Dope Fiend.  This has to be one of the unheralded stupid rap songs of the early 90s.  In the song, the rapper's friend is addicted to crack.  Some sample lyrics:
"Heroin comes from China so I guess it knows karate."
"That Slim Fast is kickin' yo' ass."
Here's a link to video, which is amazingly stupid.  And the rapper's wearing overalls and those multicolored shirts.  Wow, that song was from 92.  I'm old.

Running and more Kill Bill

I did another 1.8 miles today to bring my tally up to 5.1 miles.  I'm probably going to turn out healthier after all this.  I also realized that since there's no soda around the house, unlike work, I'll probably be drinking less soda, so maybe I can take a small amount solace in that.

Kill Bill is still good.  I made it through the story of O-Ren and the bride getting her Hattari Hanzo sword.  My friends and I once discussed an idea for having a fantasy movie camp, like fantasy baseball camp or something like that.  Kill Bill would definitely be on a short list of movies to reenact. 

There's a scene where Hanzo throws a baseball at the bride and then she cuts the ball in half with a sword.  Wouldn't it be fun to go to a batting cage with a Hanzo sword and swing away until you cut a ball in half?  And then it'd be fun to do the scene where O-Ren cuts off Boss Tanaka's head, setting off a fountain of blood.

Songs of the day

Today's songs are on the depressing side again, but that's what comes up on random on my mp3s.

Blame it on Rain by Milli Vanilli
I'm sure I'll continually post songs about breakup because it definitely feels like this.  ("I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.")  On the subject of this song, I still have an original cassette for their first album.  After the lip synching thing came out, they offered a refund if you wanted to return it.  At the time, I thought, "Why?  I still like the music."  So I still have it to this day.

Wave of Mutilation by the Pixies
I actually have no idea what this song is about, but I first heard it in the movie "Pump Up the Volume" with Christian Slater and it was kind of his low point when it's played in the scene.  But I just like the line, "You'll think I'm dead, but I sail away on a wave of mutilation."  A number of friends live in another city and the last time we were all together was two years ago for a wedding.  After the reception, there was a big Rock Band party.  And we of course went through a ton of songs, but for some reason, the only one I really remember is singing this one. 

A funny interview exchange

So I had a phone interview yesterday.  Here's a funny part that I'll paraphrase to remove all the identifying parts.

Interviewer: So why are you no longer with your last company?
Me: They weren't happy with how my project was going.
Interviewer: So did a lot of people lose their jobs?
Me: No, just me.

That probably doesn't sound very good, does it?

When I met with the recruiter people they all just assumed everything was the economy.

Recruiter: The economy must still be hitting everyone hard if you lost your job.
Me: Yeah, it's still bad out there.

With them, I was able to sidestep my embarrassing situation.

Mckinsey Consultant

So today I applied for a consultant job at Mckinsey.  For those that don't know, Mckinsey is like a big respected management consulting company.  And it's like a training ground for future CEOs. 

As an engineer, I of course know that without an MBA or something like that, getting a job at Mckinsey  would be near impossible.  But probably like most engineers (or probably anyone with a job), I wonder if I could do that forever.  I figure that I might as well send my resume off to all of these consulting and banking companies too even though it's probably a huge waste of time.  It might be good to imagine myself in as many types of positions as possible, and being a jet-setting consultant isn't such a terrible fantasy.  I'm guessing though that it's not really all that glamorous.

Job Update

Networking might be paying off.

My sales guy friend recommended someone for me to send my resume too and I heard back late on Friday, so that's encouraging.

Also, Friday's interview is leading to a phone interview today.  Still not excited about it, but at minimum, this'll be good practice for me.

And I had another inconsequential interview with a different agency this morning.  Very boring stuff.  Why did I even need to be there in person?  She didn't understand any of the technical stuff I was talking about.  Also, she was definitely talking more about contract work than direct hire stuff.  I really hope that I'm not a contractor.  I feel like that would be a step down for me since I don't envision myself making that much more money as a contractor.

And there's currently a pending issue with my unemployment so no money there yet.  :(

A night out with old coworkers

On saturday, we met up with some old coworkers, who I'll refer to as Still Employed with my Old Company (SEWMOC) and Will Quit Soon (WQS).  I didn't actually learn of WQS's feelings until saturday, though I would have originally predicted 2 years more tops.  In general, I learned about what's gone on there the past week and how things are changing.  It seems that people are scared for their jobs now, but I personally feel like no one else there will lose their job like I did.  I hope so at least. 


We were at one of Uptown's many Thai restaurants.  I don't know about you, but I like the Thai style of eating with a spoon and fork.  It just so much more convenient when rice is involved, you know?

Surprisingly, SEWMOC and WQS paid for me and my wife.  My old coworker insisted on paying for my lunch on Friday, so that's been kind of weird.

We next went to a bar in Uptown.  This place has quickly become one of my favorite places in the twin cities.  I won't name it mainly because one of the cool things about it is that it's not crowded, though I'd feel bad if it went out of business.  Hanging out there was cool and we were there so long we decided to see the midnight show at the Uptown theater, which is always a good time.  My wife and I once saw the movie Clue and there were so many groups dressed up.

The midnight show was Shaun of the Dead.  SEWMOC and WQS hadn't seen it before.  SEWMOC really liked it, but WQS had trouble staying awake.  And we had even stopped at Zeno for coffee before going to the Uptown.  I had no trouble staying up.  If you haven't seen it, go see it.  Also, Bill Hader was on the Sports Guy podcast, the BS report, recently and nominated it for best comedy of the 2000s.  So that's a pretty good comedy endorsement.  I would also recommend Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's show Spaced and their other movie Hot Fuzz.  

You're going to like the way you look

We bought a new suit for me on Saturday from the Men's Wearhouse.

I really have no eye for any fashion type stuff, but the sales guy and my wife were gushing over the possible combinations with my suit.

They had a buy one suit, get a second for $100 thing going, but decided not to do it.  Even if the suit is only 100, you have to pay for the alterations and then get all sorts of extra crap that matches.

My wife is very happy that my new suit isn't navy blue, which she says always clashes with her black dresses when we go out.  I also learned that you should never wear a black suit to an interview because it'll look too formal.

Let's hope I have a chance to use the new suit soon.

Recap - boring tallies

I finally did my first load of laundry so I can tally the first one. 

And I finally cooked the beef and broccoli on Sunday night.  It was kind of a boring recipe.  We were saying afterward that it should red pepper flakes or something for extra kick.

No working out over the weekend.  And I don't think I'll get to it today either.  Kill Bill vol. 1 will have to wait.

On the food front, I'll be making a pork with fig sauce dish this week.  We have a lot of leftover figs from the overnight oatmeal so I can use some of those here.  This is kind of a fancy recipe from Giada, that girl on the food network and I have to buy port for the sauce.

I'm also buying some stuff for some grilled sandwiches.  I'll put the george foreman to good use.

Unemployed Paranoia

Not sure if other unemployed people go through this, but I kind of have a heightened sense of cautiousness.

I've been flossing all the time now, many times twice a day.  Kind of paranoid about not having dental insurance.  And also, I guess I just feel like I have time for it during the day.

I'm finding myself going the speed limit much more often now.  A ticket wouldn't be any fun.

Full Day Recap

Last time I checked in, I had lots to do. 

Lunch with former coworker.  We were at the Modern Cafe in NE Minneapolis.  For you foodie readers, it's pretty good.  I had a very interesting and good mac and cheese.  They also only do imported sodas, save for Diet Coke.  I got the Jarritos Mandarin. 

But it was good to catch up and he has a few contacts that might be useful for getting my foot in the door.  He also offered to be a reference and to inflate his title as needed for me.  Unfortunately, we didn't really work together on any projects so a rec would be him parroting what I say on my resume.

Then I had what I'm calling an inconsequential interview with a recruiter.  I really hope I don't have to be a contractor with his company.  It just doesn't feel right, though I'm sure that I'll be willing to ignore that in a few months when I run out of savings.  Surprisingly, he told me that some of the employees there love being contractors.  I don't know why though.

And while I did buy the ingredients for Beef and Broccoli yesterday, I didn't cook it.  We instead went to a friend's house to watch the Twins game.  Maybe they'll win when they're back here.

I'm listening to New Rules by Bill Maher, which is kind of a lame book with him saying, "NEW RULE" and then a short rant on stupid people or something that sucks; this is repeated over and over.  A good light read I guess.

This morning, we'll be having overnight oatmeal, which is a recipe from Good Eats' Alton Brown.  Basically, you put steel cut oats in a slow cooker with some dried fruit and let it go overnight.  We've made it a few times before and I would recommend it to all of you as a good hearty breakfast. 

You know, this post was very boring.  Sorry about that.

Henry Poole is Here

I might as well chronicle movies watched during this time.  Last night, we watched Henry Poole is Here, which stars Luke Wilson and the setup is a water stain on the stucco on his house looks like Jesus.  He, of course, doesn't believe, but "miracles" start to happen. 

I'll go with 2 stars for my rating out of 4.  The first part of the movie is good.  And then, it degenerates into sappy made for tv.  They could have done so much more with the concept.  As an atheist, I just didn't buy into any of it, but that might just be it.  One of the characters in the film equates being an atheist with being really mean. 

So, I think believers will enjoy the movie more than non-believers.

A full day today

I'm having lunch today with an old coworker, from two jobs ago.  He's also unemployed at the moment.  I haven't seen him in over a year so it'll be good to commiserate over our situations. 

And then I'm meeting a headhunter this afternoon.  The headhunter asked me for references and I'm really torn over what to do.  I don't think I'm on the best terms with my former manager, but that would be a good reference to have.  I'll really be torn when a real employer asks for references.  In general, I don't think anything will really come from my headhunter meetings, but I think it'll serve as good practice for me as I get back into the habit of job searching.  When I was job searching in school, I must have gone to at least 15 on site interviews.  I would often be traveling for these interviews and I liken the experience to being a stand up comedian.  I have a few bits that I tell over and over and I say thank you and then I move on. 

I have errands to run around here too.  I have to go to the store and the library and my wife asked me to mow the lawn so I've decided that will take the place of any other workout I might have done.  And then I'll be cooking dinner.  I decided on a beef with broccoli stir fry type thing, and the recipe looked fairly easy.  We'll add that to the dinner tally in advance. 

Also, I decided to sell out and add google ads to the blog.  If you care about my plight, why don't you click on one of those every day.  I had to say that I won't be clicking on any myself.

Today's workout

Today's workout was a little different today.  I have a book related to my winter team sport and there was a whole chapter on optimal workouts.  Fortunately, we have a yoga ball already which is called out in a lot of the exercises.  It also asks for a bosu, which is like a half yoga ball; maybe we'll get one some time.  Followed that up with 30 minutes on the treadmill.  This time no interruptions so I did 1.8 miles today, which brings the full tally to 3.3.

I brought our portable dvd player down there and was able to watch the beginning of Kill Bill vol. 1.  I made it all the way through the bride escaping from her room and Buck and was last seen trying to wiggle her big toe.  As I watched, I was wondering if Budd ever did it with Vernita or O-ren since Bill had both Elle and the bride.

O Captain my Captain

I just looked this up and the actual poem this line is from is by Walt Whitman. I've never really been a poetry person, save for song lyrics. But of course, this line reminds me of the movie Dead Poets Society and everyone stands on their desks saying that.

I kinda feel like if I had asked my coworkers to do that as I was leaving, I think they would have. I'm genuinely touched at how most everyone at work is really shocked that I would no longer be there and how they don't agree with the decision. One former coworker told me a story about how he saw another coworker in my office and then asked what he was doing there. He had a question for me and just instinctively went to my office.

I guess it feels good to know that my work was appreciated. I have this complete fantasy scenario from the Jetsons because it's like every other episode, George Jetson gets a "You're fired!" from Spacely only to be promoted to Vice-President Jetson at the end of the episode. I realize that will never happen, but I guess I had thought my work was valued more highly there. Enough on that. I should get back to finding another place where I'll be valued.

More Songs

I'm listening to Beck's Loser right now. Another good (though completely gibberish) unemployment anthem. Yesterday, I heard "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades" And I was in the car at the time and it was really sunny and that had me feeling optimistic for a little bit. They actually used this song once in a trivia thing that I go to and I am such a music geek that I knew that the answer was Timbuk 3. Is that sad? I bet I'd fit right into the High Fidelity world.

I realized at the moment that a good song for me was Vacation by the Go-Go's. It does feel like a vacation right now just because it was a nice day yesterday and I was generally feeling good e-mailing people that I hadn't talked to in a while. I'm not sure how long the vacation feeling will last though.

Networking

I spent most of this morning sending e-mails for networking purposes. This is the first job search where networking seems to be an integral part. One of my old coworkers got his job through his father's connections and he asked me how I got my job. My response: "Monster. Some of us don't need ties."

Really, this is the first time I've actually known people professionally. However, I'm very efficient at sending lots of resumes to lots of jobs that I'm not qualified for. I'm occasionally surprised that I get responses. For example, I got an offer to work for a patent law firm. I don't even know how I pulled that off. I can't imagine looking for a job 15-20 years ago where you had to actually mail resumes. I feel like I'd have been more choosy about where to send resumes because I actually had to spend money on postage and envelopes.

One of my fun goals for this time period is to apply for a CTO or some other C-level type job. I have absolutely no delusions that I would even get an interview for such a job, but I figure that when I was getting out of school I applied for lots of jobs that said 5+ years experience and still scored some interviews.

I just spent like 3+ hours away from here doing nothing but reading. I guess I should get back to the grind.

Upgrade your life

So I was waiting for my car tune up, which was supposed to be an hour but took close to two. I would've had to use a pto hour or two for this if I had been employed, but instead I just read through all of upgrade your life. First off, might be worth a read, but definitely not worth the $30 cover price. Like 99% of the books I read, I got it from the library.

There 116 "life hacks" covered in the book that are supposed to save and all that. The book is such a fast read because some of the life hacks are stupid, are for Macs, or just don't apply to me. In the end, I have 8 hacks dog eared and I'll try them out later.

As I read a lot, I might as well post thoughts on books. So I guess there'll be more of these in the future. Hopefully, I'll like the books more.

About last night...

Since I live up in MN, I guess I ought to mention how amazing last night's twins game was. Not being from here, I'm not so big on (continually) getting tickets for the final game in the metrodome. I was there a few weeks ago and that was good enough for me.

I didn't watch the whole thing because I was with my team practicing, but save for a few innings, I saw the entire thing and especially the 12th. I've had to replace one of my team members this past season. His replacement is a friend of mine, who's a salesman for stuff that's related to my work (or, I guess, what used to be my work.) I told him of my current predicament and he had all sorts of info for me. To make a completely dated reference, I learned that he has a fairly big rolodex, but I guess one has to if you're in sales.

So he's going to give me some names and all that stuff so I'm feeling optimistic at the moment. After practice, we had a beer and I suggested that the two of us form a small consulting company. This is easy for me to suggest as I have zero income, but he's apparently thought about it before, but said no.

What else to post...

I get to go out of the house today for a tuneup for my car. I had made the appointment a week ago and actually didn't remember the time because I had put it down in my work outlook calendar and not my google calendar. Fortunately, they called with a reminder.

While I wait for my car, I can start the book Upgrade your Life by Gina Trapani. Supposedly, it'll make me more efficient at work and home. I guess I'll test the work part later, but I'll let you (whoever you are) know if it's worth a read.

In other news, the ham and bean soup turned out very good. The recipe calls for a ham steak and a ham hock, which I followed. Of course, ham hocks come in packs of 4, so I have 3 leftover ham hocks. I feel like the soup is worth making in the future and I kind of feel like I'd just throw in all 4 ham hocks and leave out the steak.

Time for me to get something done.

That was fast, part 2

So I was working out and then was interrupted twice. First by my brother, who offered some additional unemployment advice. Second by the other place where I sent my resume this morning. Of course, it was another recruiting agency and the job I applied for has been filled, but still, it's something.

Another friend tallied miles run as she trained for a marathon. I guess I'll do the same even though I have no athletic aspirations. So today I went 1.5 miles. I might've done more, but there were interruptions. What's nice about working out on a treadmill by myself is that I can do the cosby show scene where Cliff is on a treadmill. I'd link to a youtube, but I couldn't find one.

While I eat a poorly made general tso's chicken microwave meal, I'm filling out the online unemployment application. It's fairly easy.

Unemployment Songs

I happen to like a lot of music so I thought I'd make a list of songs that kind of sum up how I'm feeling.

Don't Shed a Tear - Paul Carrack: An underrated song by the former squeeze singer. I heard it earlier this morning and I guess I need to reinforce the message that "the sun will rise without you"

Allentown - Billy Joel: an easy, I guess, uninspired pick, but a classic

Song for the Dumped - Ben Folds Five: I just like the song and basically feel like I was dumped.

This was kind of a depressing post for me. Maybe some day, I'll pick Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life".

And really, I doubt anyone (besides people really close to me) would really care to read any of this. I read a quote from charles barkley that said that people who follow someone's twitter is a loser. I miss charles barkley quotes. I used to live in one of the cities where he played and reading the sports page was always fun back then.

That was fast

I just got a response to one of the two resumes I sent out. Geez. I have a feeling that I'm not truly qualified for the job and the job's posted by a recruiting place so I'm wondering more if it's like a get my resume in their network sort of deal. But this is encouraging.

In other news, my friend, who I'll refer to as "Early Retirement in DC" (ERIDC) suggests tallying something on here. So I'll go with her suggestions of laundry and cooking. So far, we have one dish cooked, a ham and bean soup that I just put in the slow cooker. We have zero loads of laundry as laundry was done this weekend.

My next task is to look into unemployment type benefits. Another friend was recently laid off. Hopefully, he'll have some tips for me.

first post

So I'm unemployed and have learned that writing about it is supposed to be therapeutic. We'll see I guess. I can't imagine this blog gaining any popularity, but whatever. I doubt I'll make this very personal. I guess it'd be weird if some prospective employer found this blog and considered me too whiny for their position, so we'll keep things simple for now.

I live in minnesota, specifically the twin cities (minneapolis/st paul). On a side note, I once met someone who thought the capital of wisconsin was cheyenne. I used to be an engineer at one of the many medical device companies here.

I used to write in college and looking back, am surprised at what college literary magazines are willing to publish (namely things by me). Supposedly, according to malcolm gladwell's outliers, it takes 10000 hours to master a craft. I would be surprised if I've even spent 500 hours of my life writing, so maybe some day I might be a good writer. And then I'll get book deals and movie deals like Diablo Cody or that Julie/Julia girl or the waiter rant guy.

I've already sent my resume to two jobs. I guess I should get back to that.