[info]golembop


From the Depths

I Blog--therefore I am


??
[info]golembop
I seem to be on my last legs -- starting to sell things I would like to keep.  If you are interested in having a Blu-Ray player or Microsoft Office 2007 and can come up with about $500 cash immediately, I want to talk with you.   Otherwise, I am out on the street in about a week.

Optimistically Pessimistic
[info]golembop
Okay, so I don't know when and where this next month's rent is coming from.  

For some reason, I think my changes of getting hired is improving.  

Not really based on fact, just have an idea it might happen.

 

Slowly I turn....
[info]golembop
After going to the resume workshop Tuesday afternoon, I think I see my problem.  Just too many bullets and my resumes are not exactly targeted to jobs I am applying for -- that's the reasons I see my resumes are headed for the garbage bin.

I helped someone figure out how to get her Elevate America voucher cashed in today...it is  not exactly the easiest thing to do, but I got her in and set up.  Smiles.
 

weekend
[info]golembop
As I finish up the personal responsibilities for the week, I m happy to see the weekend arrive.

As usual,, finances are not the greatest.  But one can only help things will start to go my way. 

For some reason, I seem to be attracting females to my profile on the free dating site plentyoffish.com.  WTF?

And I have a gettogether at a restaurant I have never been to tomorrow.  Smiles.  Looking forward to seeing some more people I have never met.  These have been so fun to me....

new direction?
[info]golembop
 It seems to me that my job search, based on my Thirty years of clerical experience, is going absolutely freakin' nowhere. 

Not that I am the most handsome person in the world or anything, I think one needs to be young and beautiful to get a secretarial job in this town. 

But I persevere.  Thinking I might apply for jobs just down the road in Mt. Vernon...

New friend
[info]golembop

Well,gang, I was pleasantly surprised today when I opened my mail and found a note from the free dating site I frequent.

Someone had actually written Me...wanting to talk.  No pressure to date or anything like that.  Just be friends.

She says write bad things about her -- not what I usually do, not my style.

June is her name -- she is a CNA in a elderly home in Port Angeles. She is moving to Gig Harbor in about a week and we've been talking on IM.

We'll see how things work out.


Blogs and stories and books, oh my
[info]golembop
I asked this question outloud one day while sitting in the Black Drop, but I didn't get an answer.

How come I can write short little coherent paragraphs in a Blog, but I cannot for the life of Me organize my thoughts enough to put a story or a book together.   I have a kinky little plot in my find that needs a little work (haven't figured out how to solve my little mystery yet).

I am not sure that a class would solve My problem.  But finances are their usual horrible.

Writing til I can't write no more
[info]golembop
This is the fourth entry on various blogs I have today -- for some strange reason, I can write very short paragraphs about my life, but I can't get back to writing my book.

Go figure (it's a Wisconsin thing, hard to explain, but it means I can't explain it, but try to come up with an explanation.).

My editor on a weekly paper had a problem with that comment when I quoted someone saying that.  He wanted everyone to speak with precise English.  Smirks -- its never going to happen.

There's a new publication in town that I promised the editor I would put something on paper for him.  Hasnt happened.  Not likely to at the moment., either.

I have met some new folks in the last week.  Happy to have them welcome me into their life. 

In other news, the job front still sucks.   Perhaps I need to get someone to look at my resume to see if anyone is still interested in hiring an old fogey to be their secretary.  Especially a male old fogey.

Feeling better about myself
[info]golembop
Things finally fell into place.   It's not perfect -- perfect would be working, but whatcha gonna do.

My rent is paid and the cable is taken care of for now.

Time to get out of the house for a bit.

outside
[info]golembop

Looks like the Drop is refurbishing their dining room this week. (WRONG -- I found out that an apartment upstairs from the Drop had a water leak, so they are drying the dining room out...) So most of us are banished to the outside. Not that there is anything wrong with that -- the bank across the street says it is 67 degrees at the time I am writing this post.  I am in the shade, so my chances of getting broiled are somewhat minimal.

And the ladies are not horrible to look at either.  Guys, too, but you figured that too.

My personal life is not bad -- even though I had to take money from the retirement fund to not get kicked, I think I will be okay this week.

Hoping that the job sit will improve...


Dont ya just hate bureaucracy?
[info]golembop
You send a document to one of your former employers, expecting them to send it to its final stop in a timely manner.

Well, it didn't.  And I am officially worried about finances.  Rent, cell phone, the usual things going unpaid by the second. 

Hard to look for work if you can't talk to prospective employers.

And I hate sleeping out on the street.  Not that I have ever done that and it is not an experience I want to have either.  Okay?

Point of no return
[info]golembop
As i laid in bed this morning, I thought, did I make a mistake of moving up here to Bellingham? 

I didn't exactly research the job market up here before coming, thinking having family up here was more important than finding a job immediately.  I checked to see if there were temp agencies here, I think, but both have rejected me outright for any jobs.   They tend to look for industrial positions here more than clerical jobs.  I think they should try to find positions anywhere because hey, that could earn them more money as I do run across other job seekers and they ask what is your experience with temp agencies. And all I can say is they've done nothing except take my paperwork and do absolutely nothing for me in terms of finding me a job.

Moving again is probably not the best move for me. Besides, I seem to have found a few friends up here and the coffeeshop I frequent knows Me by name -- nowhere else, I tell you does that happen.

Trek: the Abrams experience
[info]golembop
I was willing to forgive a lot of the things the Lost team (J. J. Abrams et al) were going to do to the new Star Trek movie.

They had to bring Leonard Nimoy in to push a few plot points forward and for the purists out there, probably ruined the movie.  We got some really good things in this movie -- limited predictability.  No red shirts got killed in the making of the movie, although most of the residents of the planet Vulcan bought it.

Loved how this was generally true to Star Trek.  Loved how the new portrayals interacted -- especially the twists (how Uhura and Spock are lovers in the new group).  

Hated the dueling Spocks.  Glad to see Chekhov and Sulu take a bigger role in the plot.  Hated how Leonard Nimoy Spock needed to mention things the new crew did in the future to push along the plot. Loved Nero as a villain.  Loved Captain Pike as a catalyst for Kirk's enrollment in Starfleet.  Loved Spock as programmer for the Kobayashi Maru scenario, which Kirk cheated on even in this origin movie.

I hope they don't put in any more members of the original television cast.  Let this group stand on their own.

Give this version three out of five stars.
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improving emotions
[info]golembop
The pessimism displayed here in this space is going away for a while.  I got called yesterday for an interview.  It was my first such interview in four months, giving me hope that I am employable again,

The other problem, a financial one, is still out there, but I can delay it for a while.  Also headed for general assistance tomorrow morning...until I have those words in my head (Ya know, You're Hired).

Interview this morning was pretty good, some things that I thought I could have done better...answered the behavorial questions well enough, but didn't think I asked enough questions when asked to...Showed I did know quite a bit about the practice, which is always good, as well as local practices in general.  

(FYI:  My recent background is a medical one, 10 years with the University of Washington and Emory University cardiology division/departments... email me if you know of any local (Bellingham, WA) jobs in that field -- am quite aware of jobs posted on CareerBuilder and with the local hospital/Peace Health. 

A copy of my resume can be yours for the asking by clicking this link:  bruce.wagner@gmail.com.  Especially if you know a perfect job for Me.

Okay, so what am I doing wrong?
[info]golembop
I spend the better part of a morning, tailoring my resume to exactly what Sterling has on their job description.

Email this morning:  I don't qualify even though I have more than 30 years of clerical experience, including the three months with the department in question.

WTFFFF!

Late breaking frustration
[info]golembop


Suffering again -- looks like I have to wait until the end of June to get back to Sterling.  I received an email from them this morning, saying there will be 4 to 6 weeks of training before we can officially backfill.  And that training won't start until the end of June!

Arrgh!  Guess if I want to start earning money, i have to do it myself.


Monday morning job hunting blues
[info]golembop
It's been more than a month since I left Sterling...well, not really left, it was the end of the assignment in which I ended it on a good note.  They are notoriously slow about getting back to me about training and stuff.

Thinking I need to change my methods on looking for work already and it has been only a month.

Found some temporary money I can borrow against, so I don't have to lower myself and go on General Assistance again.  If nothing happens in a week or two, I might just have to do that though.

It scares me that my background has  not even resulted in even a phone interview --  more than 10 years in the medical field and 30 years as a secretary?  WTF?

A thought:  perhaps I need to post on Craigslist, be a bit more proactive.  

I know this sounds so random, but it's just the way I am feeling. 
Tags:

Temporarily, worries over
[info]golembop
The current job situation still not resolved at the moment.  I heard from the Recruiters at Sterling two days ago -- they were being slow as they normally are.  I reportedly will hear from them within the next two weeks.  Two weeks -- some people have to eat and pay rent, geez.

Happily, I went back to my old standby for money -- my retirement account.   There is money to get on for a couple of months if I wish.

Thinking that I may want to retire, but do I want to live on just $800 a month?  And do I qualify at 55 for it?

Hmmm.....i need to get into see a doctor, among other things, so I may have to consider it sooner rather than later,
Tags:

im back
[info]golembop
My god, it's been a while since I posted here.   Sorry.

I have moved to Bellingham, WA and now have found a new addiction -- The Black Drop downtown, which has the most wonderful coffee and stuff I know of.

(well, bet you could have figured that out as I joined their LJ community)

I promise to post more here.   I have a couple of ideas as to how I might make money, other than getting a job at a local insurance company.   Grins.
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Gada be?
[info]golembop
Okay, one of the cooler things I've ever seen on the web is this new RSS web aggregator called http://gada.be. Chris Pirillo (of Lockergnome fame and fellow Seattlite) helped develop it and it works like a champ.

In other news, I will have a new look in a week or so -- some new trifocals are coming my way. I need trifocals because I do a lot of staring at computer screens and don't want two pairs of glasses to slow down things.

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