Sarah and I are off to the federal offices to sit in chairs and wait for a coon's age to get some of that government moolah. I don't know that it'll happen. Hopefully we'll get MedicAid for Sarah and the baby.
I'm listening to the FANTASTIC new Switchfoot album "Nothing is sound." Our pastor let me borrow it. It's awesome! Better than the last, which is saying something.
Oh! What I originally was going to write about. I was checking the Social Security record of popular names, and checked my birth year of 1980. The #5 boy name was James, and the #5 girl name was Sarah. Now Sar was born in 79, but still... pretty cool. Check it out to see where you fit.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Disappointed.
Hey all.
So today didn't go quite like I wanted it to. I called the dude with the landscaping business to make sure we were still on for today, and he said that if I wanted to, I could go work with him on a jobsite after our meeting.
The meeting went ok. No health insurance. Lower pay rate with bonuses as incentive. Performance reviews every 2 months. After 6 months to a year take over a crew, which as I figured out by the end of the day, means I'd be driving a bobcat while other people lift things. The possibility of sales was there. If I sold jobs, I'd get kickbacks, but I'd have to do the sales calls on my free time.
It was promising enough to go work with him for the day, so I went. It was insane. We drove 3,000 feet up the mountain closest to Pikes Peak to the house that we were working on. It was just the two of us, and we were tearing down a deck. The deck had five platforms. Three were about 6 feet off the ground, and 2 were about 25 feet off the ground. Overlooking a 25+ degree slope which ended in a cliff. If you looked up, the remaining 1,000 ft. or so to the top of our mountain, you could see houses still farther up. Colorado Springs looked tiny from where we were. The Garden of the Gods park was about an inch in diameter wide from my perspective. One of the really neat things was that the deer are tame there. At one point, I turned around, and a ten point buck was standing 5 feet away from me!!! I asked the owner if they ate out of their hands, and he said "Just about. We can stand by them and drop the food on the ground and they'll eat it." Incredible. I've never been that close to male deer and have them be so comfortable. The road up the mountain was private, and guarded by a gate house, so I couldn't just take Sarah up there. The work was grueling, and the snow didn't make for good footing at all, but I did ok. I didn't know exactly what we'd be doing, so I didn't bring a lunch, but the guy I was working for gave me a sandwich because he'd brought two. It wasn't all that bad until I had to go up on the upper deck (ha ha) and remove the guardrail. That is intimidating. I have never had real issues about heights. But I did today. I pushed through, and finished the job, but man... the whole time I was like, "I cannot fall. Sarah and the baby need me, and I don't want to fall, and this is the stupidest thing I've ever done, and I still have over half of the work to do..." and then one of the rails I was unscrewing would be too loose and fall, and I would watch it, and freak out a little inside and keep going. It was nerve-wracking. Needless to say, when I got home, I took a shower, talked it over with Sarah, and decided to not take advantage of this opportunity. If I'm going to jump into something I know nothing about, I need it to have health insurance and a stable pay rate. And I don't know about the physical toll that a job like that would take... it just seems too much.
I asked a bunch of questions to get a feel for what the job would be like on a "regular" basis, and despite the answers I was given, they didn't seem to frame the job in any better way than I was envisioning it. It was just not panning out.
So there you go. I'm bushed. Sarah and I are going to go and get things with Medicaid set up tomorrow hopefully. We need the help with the baby. Even if it doesn't cover me. At least I won't be hanging over cliffs dismantling the one thing that keeps me from falling.
Peace
So today didn't go quite like I wanted it to. I called the dude with the landscaping business to make sure we were still on for today, and he said that if I wanted to, I could go work with him on a jobsite after our meeting.
The meeting went ok. No health insurance. Lower pay rate with bonuses as incentive. Performance reviews every 2 months. After 6 months to a year take over a crew, which as I figured out by the end of the day, means I'd be driving a bobcat while other people lift things. The possibility of sales was there. If I sold jobs, I'd get kickbacks, but I'd have to do the sales calls on my free time.
It was promising enough to go work with him for the day, so I went. It was insane. We drove 3,000 feet up the mountain closest to Pikes Peak to the house that we were working on. It was just the two of us, and we were tearing down a deck. The deck had five platforms. Three were about 6 feet off the ground, and 2 were about 25 feet off the ground. Overlooking a 25+ degree slope which ended in a cliff. If you looked up, the remaining 1,000 ft. or so to the top of our mountain, you could see houses still farther up. Colorado Springs looked tiny from where we were. The Garden of the Gods park was about an inch in diameter wide from my perspective. One of the really neat things was that the deer are tame there. At one point, I turned around, and a ten point buck was standing 5 feet away from me!!! I asked the owner if they ate out of their hands, and he said "Just about. We can stand by them and drop the food on the ground and they'll eat it." Incredible. I've never been that close to male deer and have them be so comfortable. The road up the mountain was private, and guarded by a gate house, so I couldn't just take Sarah up there. The work was grueling, and the snow didn't make for good footing at all, but I did ok. I didn't know exactly what we'd be doing, so I didn't bring a lunch, but the guy I was working for gave me a sandwich because he'd brought two. It wasn't all that bad until I had to go up on the upper deck (ha ha) and remove the guardrail. That is intimidating. I have never had real issues about heights. But I did today. I pushed through, and finished the job, but man... the whole time I was like, "I cannot fall. Sarah and the baby need me, and I don't want to fall, and this is the stupidest thing I've ever done, and I still have over half of the work to do..." and then one of the rails I was unscrewing would be too loose and fall, and I would watch it, and freak out a little inside and keep going. It was nerve-wracking. Needless to say, when I got home, I took a shower, talked it over with Sarah, and decided to not take advantage of this opportunity. If I'm going to jump into something I know nothing about, I need it to have health insurance and a stable pay rate. And I don't know about the physical toll that a job like that would take... it just seems too much.
I asked a bunch of questions to get a feel for what the job would be like on a "regular" basis, and despite the answers I was given, they didn't seem to frame the job in any better way than I was envisioning it. It was just not panning out.
So there you go. I'm bushed. Sarah and I are going to go and get things with Medicaid set up tomorrow hopefully. We need the help with the baby. Even if it doesn't cover me. At least I won't be hanging over cliffs dismantling the one thing that keeps me from falling.
Peace
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
Vomiting, rants and a possible job!!!!
Yesterday was awful. I knew it was coming when I put my last post up. And Man... was I ever right. Lots of throwing up, lots of discomfort, but it's over now. It was really hard to stay in bed yesterday, but I had to if I wanted to get better. So i read half of Frank Peretti's new book "Monster." It's been 6 years since his last, which is quite a break in the author world, but this book is really good. A far step from "The Prince" and "The once and future king" and the other books I've been reading lately, but alot of fun.
Well, anyway. Today was back to the application grindstone. I am SOOOOO tired of filling out applications. I don't mind interviewing at all, and I don't mind sending my resume to people, but there is so little personal information to the work application. It takes all the humanity, all the intangibles, all the personality out of the person. I look like an idiot on paper. Really. And I'm the king of "puffery." When you tear me down to my work DNA, I'm an experienced worker, with management and graphic design experience. That's it. How do you list that you've acheived above and beyond what's asked of you at every job? How do you communicate what it means to be asked to do a certain account at a south side newspaper? (right, Jim?) How do you explain what it means to be a Coffee Master for Starbucks, and to have the highest sales in every store you've worked in? It's bull. It doesn't fit into the "Skills" bracket, and it certainly isn't in "Objective." I am intangible person, with tons of skills that don't fit in boxes. My knowledge and instict never fit their title of "Learns quickly" and my reparte with people I've never met, that can lead to incredible closeness in a very short amount of time, never fits the "People skills." It sounds like you can herd them into stalls.
Anyway... today, after a morning of applications and resumes sent, I made a call to a local construction contractor. His daughter is a girl that attends our church, her name is Alicia, but I have nicknamed her "Hickory Duff" as she resembles the famous Duff sisters Hillary and Haley. On Sunday, Hickory came up to me and said that her dad was looking for help. He met Sarah and I at the Christmas pageant, and really "liked" me. So she gave me his number, and said to give him a call. He was really happy to hear from me, and said that Alicia had mentioned I'd be calling. We set up an appointment on Monday morning at Starbucks of all places, to discuss bringing me on board. I don't have any construction or landscaping experience, but he was cool with that. He said that he's looking for a fellow christian that would be able to learn the business and take over the management of his landscaping work. It would take about a year of training with him before he'd hand over the crew to me. Sounds pretty cool! Not at all what I've been up to the past few years, but it's honest work, and it utilizes a lot of the skills I've been building up. It's not a small business, but not a giant corporation either. I'll find out more on Monday, and keep you apprised, but it sounds like this could be a good thing! And management in construction can be quite lucrative. We'll see.
Anyway. I gotta go. Later!
Jim
P.S. It's just nice to have some good news for a change.
Well, anyway. Today was back to the application grindstone. I am SOOOOO tired of filling out applications. I don't mind interviewing at all, and I don't mind sending my resume to people, but there is so little personal information to the work application. It takes all the humanity, all the intangibles, all the personality out of the person. I look like an idiot on paper. Really. And I'm the king of "puffery." When you tear me down to my work DNA, I'm an experienced worker, with management and graphic design experience. That's it. How do you list that you've acheived above and beyond what's asked of you at every job? How do you communicate what it means to be asked to do a certain account at a south side newspaper? (right, Jim?) How do you explain what it means to be a Coffee Master for Starbucks, and to have the highest sales in every store you've worked in? It's bull. It doesn't fit into the "Skills" bracket, and it certainly isn't in "Objective." I am intangible person, with tons of skills that don't fit in boxes. My knowledge and instict never fit their title of "Learns quickly" and my reparte with people I've never met, that can lead to incredible closeness in a very short amount of time, never fits the "People skills." It sounds like you can herd them into stalls.
Anyway... today, after a morning of applications and resumes sent, I made a call to a local construction contractor. His daughter is a girl that attends our church, her name is Alicia, but I have nicknamed her "Hickory Duff" as she resembles the famous Duff sisters Hillary and Haley. On Sunday, Hickory came up to me and said that her dad was looking for help. He met Sarah and I at the Christmas pageant, and really "liked" me. So she gave me his number, and said to give him a call. He was really happy to hear from me, and said that Alicia had mentioned I'd be calling. We set up an appointment on Monday morning at Starbucks of all places, to discuss bringing me on board. I don't have any construction or landscaping experience, but he was cool with that. He said that he's looking for a fellow christian that would be able to learn the business and take over the management of his landscaping work. It would take about a year of training with him before he'd hand over the crew to me. Sounds pretty cool! Not at all what I've been up to the past few years, but it's honest work, and it utilizes a lot of the skills I've been building up. It's not a small business, but not a giant corporation either. I'll find out more on Monday, and keep you apprised, but it sounds like this could be a good thing! And management in construction can be quite lucrative. We'll see.
Anyway. I gotta go. Later!
Jim
P.S. It's just nice to have some good news for a change.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Sick and happy
Hey there.
WE FELT KIAH KICK TONIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME!
(Sarah says that she's felt it a few times now, but didn't know what it was.)
In other news, I have the stomach flu that Sarah had last week. It just started, so I'm in for a night of digestive pyrotechnics as I call it.
No news on a job yet. I've got a ton of resumes and portfolios and applications out there.
Even applied for unemployment for the first time.
It's been a month, I tell ya...
Peace
WE FELT KIAH KICK TONIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME!
(Sarah says that she's felt it a few times now, but didn't know what it was.)
In other news, I have the stomach flu that Sarah had last week. It just started, so I'm in for a night of digestive pyrotechnics as I call it.
No news on a job yet. I've got a ton of resumes and portfolios and applications out there.
Even applied for unemployment for the first time.
It's been a month, I tell ya...
Peace
Monday, January 23, 2006
Music...
Sarah bumped into this revealing quiz about music. Fun stuff. It was a copy and paste deal off of myspace.
Here's my results. It's fun to try it out yourself. I LOVE the shuffle thing. Starting on They Might Be Giants, and ending on Miles Davis. It's totally a day in the life of Jim.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Jim's Collection!
How many songs: 7,068
[Sort by song title]
First song: "A better future" - David Bowie
Last song: "Zoo pie" - Guided by Voices
[Sort by time]
Shortest Song: "Shut up" - Five Iron Frenzy (4s)
Longest Song: "The Edgar Allan Poe audio collection" - Basil Rathbone & Vincent Price (5h31m)
[Sort by album]
First Album: "2" - Black Heart Procession
Last Album: "Youthquake" - Dead or Alive
[Top 5 Most Played Songs...no cheating]
1. "Lost in the supermarket" - The Clash
2. "Magazine" - Pedro the Lion
3. "Sleeping in" - The Postal Service
4. "The fleecing" - Pedro the Lion
5. "God of wonders" - Mac Powell & Caedmon's Call
[First 5 songs that come up on Shuffle]
1. "She's actual size" - They Might Be Giants
2. "White moon" - The White Stripes
3. "Lodging" - Spy Glass Blue
4. "Downtown train" - Tom Waits
5. "Spanish key" - Miles Davis
[Search Collection for the word __________]
1. "Sex"--How many songs come up: 20
2. "Death"--How many songs come up: 22
3. "Love"--How many songs come up: 265
4. "You" how many songs come up: 723
Here's my results. It's fun to try it out yourself. I LOVE the shuffle thing. Starting on They Might Be Giants, and ending on Miles Davis. It's totally a day in the life of Jim.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Jim's Collection!
How many songs: 7,068
[Sort by song title]
First song: "A better future" - David Bowie
Last song: "Zoo pie" - Guided by Voices
[Sort by time]
Shortest Song: "Shut up" - Five Iron Frenzy (4s)
Longest Song: "The Edgar Allan Poe audio collection" - Basil Rathbone & Vincent Price (5h31m)
[Sort by album]
First Album: "2" - Black Heart Procession
Last Album: "Youthquake" - Dead or Alive
[Top 5 Most Played Songs...no cheating]
1. "Lost in the supermarket" - The Clash
2. "Magazine" - Pedro the Lion
3. "Sleeping in" - The Postal Service
4. "The fleecing" - Pedro the Lion
5. "God of wonders" - Mac Powell & Caedmon's Call
[First 5 songs that come up on Shuffle]
1. "She's actual size" - They Might Be Giants
2. "White moon" - The White Stripes
3. "Lodging" - Spy Glass Blue
4. "Downtown train" - Tom Waits
5. "Spanish key" - Miles Davis
[Search Collection for the word __________]
1. "Sex"--How many songs come up: 20
2. "Death"--How many songs come up: 22
3. "Love"--How many songs come up: 265
4. "You" how many songs come up: 723
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Military
I was over at our friends' house tonight, and he works for the army. He mentioned that there are really good paying civilian jobs at the local army base, Fort Carson. We checked out some jobs together during half-time, and they pay approximately twice what I was making at Starbucks. I will be going to apply in person tomorrow, and see what happens, but if this were to work out, it would be GREAT job security and GREAT money! This might be the answer to our prayers!
Please be praying for a graphics job or something I do well to open up.
Peace!
Please be praying for a graphics job or something I do well to open up.
Peace!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Job searching...
Well, no jobs yet. Navigators let me know that they already filled the position, and while Cook has freelance available, nothing's come yet.
I've applied at a trillion different places that have promise, and signed up at a government run job finding website. Hopefully those will pay off. I just keep praying that the dream job will fall in our laps. I keep moving, can't get discouraged... This is so weird.
In other news, I've had time to rework the boys' blogs... if you want to, check them out. They're really trying to get their creative writing started. Sarah and I have started cowriting for a debate blog called Thrill Shots. It's hosted by my best friend Ryan, and has some fun and intense debates between some fun and intense people. Check it out on my sidebar.
I've applied at a trillion different places that have promise, and signed up at a government run job finding website. Hopefully those will pay off. I just keep praying that the dream job will fall in our laps. I keep moving, can't get discouraged... This is so weird.
In other news, I've had time to rework the boys' blogs... if you want to, check them out. They're really trying to get their creative writing started. Sarah and I have started cowriting for a debate blog called Thrill Shots. It's hosted by my best friend Ryan, and has some fun and intense debates between some fun and intense people. Check it out on my sidebar.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Birthday!
Today is my mom's birthday. She's 39.
Just kidding. It's the big 50, and we're really excited!
So Mom... Happy Birthday from everybody here on the blog!
:)
Just kidding. It's the big 50, and we're really excited!
So Mom... Happy Birthday from everybody here on the blog!
:)
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The Postal Service
While one of my favorite bands is named "The Postal Service," I could not be more annoyed with the actual postal service here in Colorado Springs. We have had sooooo many problems with our mail taking FOREVER to get here, and FOREVER to get anywhere else, if you want to send us anything, do yourself a favor and send it UPS or FedEx. It's just stupid. We sent a bill payment out on the 6th, and the company still hasn't received it. And Sarah's grandma sent us fudge and cookies for Christmas... we got them last week. She sent the package a few weeks before Christmas. It's absurd.
Alright... enough ranting.
Sarah slept better last night. She's still asleep, and I hope that rest is what's gonna kick this flu. We're both a bit nervous about it's effect on the baby. (You know, I NEVER know whice to use. "Effect" or "Affect"... I think that if it's an action, it's with an e. If it's a past tense thing that's happened, it's an a. In which case, I've just done it wrong.) But we know that no matter what, God is in control, and knows what's going on.
No news about the jobs this morning. I'm sending my resume to that Wide Open West job I mentioned earlier.
Peace.
Alright... enough ranting.
Sarah slept better last night. She's still asleep, and I hope that rest is what's gonna kick this flu. We're both a bit nervous about it's effect on the baby. (You know, I NEVER know whice to use. "Effect" or "Affect"... I think that if it's an action, it's with an e. If it's a past tense thing that's happened, it's an a. In which case, I've just done it wrong.) But we know that no matter what, God is in control, and knows what's going on.
No news about the jobs this morning. I'm sending my resume to that Wide Open West job I mentioned earlier.
Peace.
Monday, January 16, 2006
RSS feed
Hey folks... I forgot to mention this when I made the change, but I'll tell you now. My blog has an RSS feed. For those of you who don't know what that is, you can either find out now, or skip this message.
Real Simple Syndication, allows you to see a website in a truncated, text view, with the most recent stories (news sites or blogs) at the top of the page. If you like what you see, you can click on "read more" to read the entire article. Basically, it gives you a quick way to see what's new, or worth reading on the site of your choice.
For those of you using a pc, or a non-safari browser on the mac, you'll have to use whatever feed you have set up, or find one...
For those of you using Safari, simply go to my regular blog, click on the blue "RSS" up in your browser navigation bar, and the page will swivel to reveal the RSS feed.
Thanks, and enjoy.
Jim
Real Simple Syndication, allows you to see a website in a truncated, text view, with the most recent stories (news sites or blogs) at the top of the page. If you like what you see, you can click on "read more" to read the entire article. Basically, it gives you a quick way to see what's new, or worth reading on the site of your choice.
For those of you using a pc, or a non-safari browser on the mac, you'll have to use whatever feed you have set up, or find one...
For those of you using Safari, simply go to my regular blog, click on the blue "RSS" up in your browser navigation bar, and the page will swivel to reveal the RSS feed.
Thanks, and enjoy.
Jim
My wife is sick
Late last night, Sarah started showing signs of the flu (Digestive pyrotechniques, as they're known in the business...) and has been sick in bed today. We'd appreciate your prayers as she and the baby fight this off.
There wasn't much I could do today in the line of finding work, with the holiday shutting down some of the prospects I have. I did however, get a promising lead in the graphic design area. A couple from our church both work at Cook Communications, a publishing house here in town, and their business does almost exclusively freelance work. They are actively pursuing getting some business sent my way, and while this doesn't answer the full-time, insurance-wielding job we need, this'll be a way to get money in the bank. (Someone else's of course.) And that will do for now. Exciting to say the least.
Later on, I got a call from an ex-coworker over at the Bucks to say that she has an opening at her other job. It would be sales for the Chicago based cable company Wide Open West. I am considering it. Maybe as a night job to fill in hours.
Anywayz... thats it for now.
Peace.
There wasn't much I could do today in the line of finding work, with the holiday shutting down some of the prospects I have. I did however, get a promising lead in the graphic design area. A couple from our church both work at Cook Communications, a publishing house here in town, and their business does almost exclusively freelance work. They are actively pursuing getting some business sent my way, and while this doesn't answer the full-time, insurance-wielding job we need, this'll be a way to get money in the bank. (Someone else's of course.) And that will do for now. Exciting to say the least.
Later on, I got a call from an ex-coworker over at the Bucks to say that she has an opening at her other job. It would be sales for the Chicago based cable company Wide Open West. I am considering it. Maybe as a night job to fill in hours.
Anywayz... thats it for now.
Peace.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Country
Real life conversation from 10 minutes ago.
Me: "Hey honey... you seem kind of in a funk... is it ok that I put a country singer on? (Allison Kraus)"
Sarah: "Well, I don't really consider her a country singer."
(pause)
Me: "Because you like her?"
Sarah: "Yes."
Me: "Honey... 'country' isn't an insult. It's a genre."
Me Continued: "You can't just be like 'Is that a country singer?' 'No. She's really good!'"
Sarah: "Why not?"
Me: "I love you."
Me: "Hey honey... you seem kind of in a funk... is it ok that I put a country singer on? (Allison Kraus)"
Sarah: "Well, I don't really consider her a country singer."
(pause)
Me: "Because you like her?"
Sarah: "Yes."
Me: "Honey... 'country' isn't an insult. It's a genre."
Me Continued: "You can't just be like 'Is that a country singer?' 'No. She's really good!'"
Sarah: "Why not?"
Me: "I love you."
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