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It's Post #100, and it's a doozy. Clearly I've slacked off writing recently, but it's been about the craziest few weeks I've ever had.
First of all, I left my interview on Thursday, and headed to Austin. (The interview went about how I expected. I was not right for the job, I felt very uncomfortable the whole time, and I've yet to hear from them ... probably not going to get that one.) On our way down south, I got a phone call from my Austin contact who informed me that our tickets had been stolen. My big elaborate birthday gift had apparently been lifted by an internet hacker or a disgruntled roommate, and there wasn't anything we could really do about it. Man, I've really been on a roll lately.
While I had recently been told that I no longer had a job, we had some money put away in savings, so I decided to suck it up and go buy another set of tickets from scalpers. We ended up paying an extra $50 a piece, and missing the early part of Friday’s show. Damn you, Ticket Thief!! Damn you to Hell!!
ACL was fun, and we saw some great acts. Probably the top shows ended up being Phoenix, the B52s, !!!, Kings of Leon, The Knux, and Flogging Molly. Saturday, though, the rain really started to come down, and that's when we learned a little fun fact about Zilker Park in Austin. Apparently, the city recently needed to resod the entire park due to the wear and tear from numerous festivals. When they put down all that new grass, however, some good topsoil material was needed. Their solution - a mixture of soil, composted plant materials, untreated lake water, and ANIMAL WASTE. Well, when you add a ton of rain and the pressure of 200,000 feet onto freshly placed sod, all of that "stuff" bubbles to the top. Yep, that's right ... almost the entire park became a giant puddle of poo!
For some reason, I found that sight to be an apt metaphor for my recent endeavors.
After we got back, I finally got the full details of my layoff. My last day was to be the Oct. 15. Bear in mind I discovered this fact roughly 7 days before that, so it was just a smidge abrupt. During this unfortunate process, my boss had always indicated that the company understood that this was tough, and they would do what they could to make this easy so that I could find a new job. Well, I also found out that "making things easy" was to give me ONE EXTRA PAYCHECK.
My former employer, the one that always told everyone that it was "like a family" and "they were a different, caring company" apparently decided to treat me with all the caring and compassion of the Corleone family - and I was Fredo! Apparently, a couple of weeks extra pay is all I should need to find a job in the worst U.S. economy in decades. This also ignores the fact that the main reason I've been laid off is because NONE of my superiors actually did their jobs and marketed this area. Moreover, I actually received a negative performance review last year because I had the audacity to try to start marketing when no one else would. How DARE I try to do things outside of my job description!
To this day, no one from my former firm has called or written to say they were sorry to let me go, or that it was a shame, or that they were glad to have me there for 4 years, or to really even wish me good luck. Not the owner who liked to act like it was all a happy family. Certainly not the duplicitous, racist boss who loved to tell people how we were such a "Christian organization" while dropping the N-word left and right in front of employees. Somewhat surprisingly, I haven't even heard from any of my former coworkers back in Louisiana with whom I had a good relationship. Part of me wonders if they were even told how quickly all this was going down. It really was so bad, Mrs. The Jim wondered if I had actually been fired instead of laid off.
I called my boss whenever I found out about the miniscule package, and he was shocked that I was shocked! My fearless leader seemed quite sure that he had clearly explained all of these details. The fact that I was so clueless about everything didn't seem to sway his position that he had been sufficiently clear. Oh, well ... guess I was too stupid to get it.
This turn of events freaked me out! My former boss had all but assured me that I was guaranteed a job with the firm across the hall. After this, though I had the realization that I couldn't trust anything this guy said. What if this new job was a bunch of crap as well? The potential employer had been out of town for the first part of the week, so I still hadn't been able to set up an interview.
I was scrambling! I contacted everyone I had ever known about potential job openings. I applied for anything I could find (which wasn't much). I started looking at random things, like a posting for a call center operator. That's right, I was ready to start answering customer service calls for the Toll Road Authority. I had no idea what I was going to do.
And then the next day ... I had an interview that lasted roughly 15 minutes. The new employer wanted to give me $5,000 more a year, an opportunity to work on some huge projects, and a chance to do structural design on bridges, which I've been trying to do for years. In fact, he wants to eventually evolve into doing structural building design, and have me be his lead guy in that. That's a type of design I've been trying to do since college.
Needless to say, I took the job.
Now, this new employer isn't a giant firm. It's a little disorganized at times, and they certainly don’t have the structure and resources of a mega-firm. What this place does, however, is get work, and lots of it. Not only that, the owner brings in the kind of work I want to do. Maybe this is short-term, maybe it isn’t – but it’s definitely a much better opportunity for Professional The Jim.
Maybe things are turning around.
Until next time,
The Jim
Burned company shirts.
Why are my lungs burning so?
Deadly, toxic fumes!Tomorrow I have an interview that, unless I'm mistaken, will accomplish nothing. I don't really know what this job is (yes, it's THAT disorganized), but I think it's something for which I'm poorly qualified.
After that, though, I continue south to the State Capital for the Austin City Limits Festival. Mrs. The Jim will join me Friday afternoon, as she has some classwork to handle Friday morning. Anyway, I haven't been in a couple of years, and I always enjoy it immensely.
Until next time,
The Jim
So, I've got a little update on the job search front. My boss came in today from the home office in Louisiana, and decided to announce that, sure enough, they're closing the office here in Dallas. They've decided they don't have the resources to market in a second location, ignoring the fact that they were supposed to be finding jobs for us for 1.5 years, and didn't bother to do so. And let's not forget last year when I tried to do some marketing on my own, given that no one else would do it. That's when I got my hand slapped for doing something outside my job description.
In retrospect, they may not have had the greatest business plan in the world.
Fortunately, I've been told that the engineering firm next door - a firm with whom we've been working off and on - will gladly hire me on immediately. I haven't had that meeting yet (I anticipate it'll happen the beginning of next week), but I wouldn't be surprised at all if I actually end up making more than I do now, as well as receive whatever severance package my current firm is putting together.
All in all, things could be a whole lot worse. I'm still not sure this new firm is where I want to be working long-term, but I'm not in a position to be picky right now. Plus, it's possible that this new employer could really work out to my advantage.
All that being said, that still doesn't mean I don't have a little bitterness and anger for being transferred and immediately abandoned over here in Dallas. So, in that vein ...
THIS is my grill ...
THESE are my company's logo shirts ...
THIS is my lighter fluid ...
(You probably know where we're going with this.)
Let's see what happens when you light this candle:
By the way, these shirts ERUPTED into flames. They were clearly not flame retardant. I think if I had ever worn these things next to an open flame, I would have lit up like Johnny Blaze.
Until next time,
The Jim
I just thought I'd give everyone a little update on things.
Item #1 (Will Work for ... Well, Lots & Lots of Money, Actually!): First of all, I had my meeting/interview on Thursday, and I managed not to look too foolish. This wasn't a real interview, as this company doesn't have a job available right now. Rather, this was an attempt by me to network through the alma mater's alumni base to see if these guys knew of anyone who would hire me.
So far, nothing ... but these guys did seem pretty genuine in their desire to help look around and pass along my résumé to folks of importance. They also indicated that their company is about to get a lot of highway work, and may, in fact, need to bring in another engineer to handle the workload. If that's the case, I may already have a leg up.
On Saturday, I received an e-mail from another possible contact. I had talked to my last employer back in the Bayou State, and he told me that he had sold his company to a firm that has a Dallas office. E-mails and résumés were transferred around, and the manager of the Dallas branch said he would call me this week after he returns from a business trip.
I also just got off the phone with someone at HR from a third company. As I'm driving out of town towards Austin for the ACL Festival next week, I'll have to stop in at their office for an interview. I still don't know what the job would be or with whom I'm meeting, but I guess it's a good sign in any case.
Item #2 (Poor Performance): After I posted my last column, I made the realization that it's not easy to write something slightly coherent and somewhat entertaining when you haven't done so for a while. That was POOP! Even I didn't want to read it, and I usually think quite highly of myself. I can only imagine how dull and uninteresting that was for the average consumer.
As pointless as most of my ramblings are, I had gotten into a regular flow and schedule. Hell, it took me forever to write this crap, and there's NOTHING in here but my Job Search Diary. It's funny how lazy and worthless I can become when given the opportunity.
Anyway, I hope that I can get back into a regular rhythm of posting, so I can reattain my previous level of moderate semi-competency.
Item #3 (Better Really, Really Late Than Never): As everyone may recall, I held an incredibly sad contest to drum up readership. Even though subscribers grew by a mind-blowing 0.0%, I still promised to create individualized artwork for all current subscribers. Well, everyone will be happy to know that I've finally started working on them a mere 2+ months after the fact.
Yes, I'm sketching out comics panels and cutting out construction paper. It's a weird little crafting workshop over here.
Well, that's about it. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress on the job search, and I'll also finally get around to discussing some more wacky adventures (including mind-altering photographic evidence.)
Until next time,
The Jim
When the Cowboys lose,
Brian always says, "You're fault!"
What did I do wrong?The Metroplex continues to struggle through the week after my favorite Jedi played like dog poop Saturday night.
Of course, it could be worse. At least the team's owner wasn't caught picking his nose on national TV.
Oops ... never mind.
Until next time,
The Jim
Over a month ago, I decided to rent a couple of movies. Bear in mind we have an enormous backlog of unwatched DVDs, as well as a ton of stuff on the DVR; however, I just felt like picking up something new.
Film #1 - Green Lantern: First Flight For those of you above the age of 5, you may not know that DC Comics has recently started making straight-to-DVD animated films. I guess since Super Friends is no longer out there, they want to make sure their primary characters and stories get out to a new market so that their blockbuster Warner Brothers movies continue to do well.
Some, such as New Frontier, have been pretty solid. This, however ...
I love me some Green Lantern. He's probably only second to Flash in my personal pantheon of superheroes. I like the idea of the interstellar police force with crazy aliens all with the same superhero name and kick-ass ring.
Mrs. The Jim knows I'm a fan, and as this was an origin story of a hero unknown to the general masses, it was a chance for her to better understand the character.
Except it was AWFUL!! Green Lantern: First Flight was boring, poorly written, and voice acting that sounded like a bad drama club read-through. She stopped watching after Minute #1, and I still wonder why I struggled through the rest of it.
It's not worth it to recap the character, story, plot, any of it ... just avoid this dreck at all costs.
Film #2 - Hot Fuzz Fortunately for our sanity, I picked up two (2) films, and left Hot Fuzz for last. For those of you that don't recall, Hot Fuzz was made by Simon Pegg and his group after the success with Shaun of the Dead. (This is not to be confused with Super Fuzz, which is a brilliant piece of cinema in its own right.) In this one, Pegg plays the best cop in all of London, Nicholas Angel. He's so good, in fact, that he's drastically affecting crime statistics and, in the process, making all of the other cops and districts look bad by comparison.
The solution, of course: send the Super Cop out to the country, where there's nothing of interest.
Inspector Angel discovers the new town is boring & his coworkers are inept. Strangely, though, there seems to be an ongoing series of suspicious deaths. As our intrepid hero investigates, he's not sure if he's going crazy due to the boredom, or uncovering some sort of crazy plot. All the while, he has to deal with a moronic partner who is obsessed with every cop flick ever made. Part of the movie actually revolves around the two of them watching Point Break and Bad Boys II. That's right ... you actually sit and watch people watching a movie.
The film eventually devolves into an insanely violent and funny shoot-out between the cops and the friendliest murder cult you've ever seen. It really gets good, as I just couldn't stop laughing for about the last 20 minutes.
For me, the reason Hot Fuzz (and, for that matter, Shaun of the Dead) is so good is because these guys treat their comedy seriously. Every shoot out with a florist or smackdown with a zombie is treated completely straight. They don't tell jokes or make snide satire about these genres. Rather, they just do funny things, and assume the audience is smart enough to understand that it's funny. It's really brilliant work.
Until next time,
The Jim
At an interview
Don't wear just a thong, unless
You're in superb shape!I have my first interview tomorrow. I'm hoping this process isn't too drawn out, and I can find something worthwhile. Of course, I'm sure I'll have plenty of wacky tales afterwards that I'll be sure to share.
I'm trying a rare double today, as I'll also be putting up an actual column soon.
Until next time,
The Jim
