Happy Birthday To Me!

Today, a totally self-serving post (as if the others aren't also). Today is my 38th birthday. I suppose this would be the time some would be reflective of their lives and whatnot, but I'm not normally an introspective kind of guy. I just haven't given it a lot of thought; what with the holidays approaching, the job hunt etc... maybe later today I'll do a bit of soul-searching or whatever and post about it. I had planned to go for a bike ride (one mile for each year), but Beth's working and Jack's not in pre-k right now so, perhaps I'll push that back to the weekend. Stay tuned. (the one or two of you that have been reading this, anyway)


For now, off to the store for Christmas cookie ingredients and some last-minute gifts.

Unemployment haiku

This seems to have taken on a bit of a theme lately, but since this is my outlet and my employment situation has such a major impact on my life, it's to be expected. Here's a haiku:


Without employment
Certainty is uncertain
Remaining hopeful 


Actually reading this? Unemployed? Leave your own; it's strangely therapeutic.

A Census Taker Came to Test Me Once....

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

I hope that doesn't happen to me. Tuesday morning, I take the test and fill out application for a census job. They have IT positions in addition to the canvasser and supervisor positions. At this point, I'm willing to accept any of the above; an IT position would be best because obviously, it's within my field, but the others pay enough to give us some breathing room. A canvasser position would be at the very bottom of the pay scale that I could accept, but it would allow us to get by without too much struggle. Hopefully they have some openings and I can start right away. I'm not too concerned about passing the test; I just took a look at the practice test on their site and it looks like the same test I took back in the day when I tried to get hired at the post office. Really, REALLY basic test of clerical skills, reading, math, logic and organization. I get 30 minutes to complete it and I'm pretty sure I'll have no problems with it. I also get a veteran's preference on the test due to my military service. After I take that, I can apply to take the supervisor test as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hoping I can get in pretty quickly so that I can start collecting a paycheck before my severance pay officially runs out.

Ahh... the crapfest continues.

When I separated from the firm a couple of weeks ago, I was told by the HR person that my accumulated vacation (3 weeks' worth) would be paid out to me on 12/15. Imagine Beth's shock when she checked our account and there was  only a deposit for what amounted to 2 days' pay. She freaked; as did I, but I was able to keep it together enough to secure a loan from mom to cover us until the end of the month. (Mom ROCKS!) After I dropped Jack off at pre-k, I called the HR call center to figure out WTF happened. The HR manger was wrong is what happened. Vacation is not paid out until the end of the month. I explained the situation to the HR rep I had on the phone and she is working to get an emergency payout of my vacation that, if approved, I should have in my hands on Monday. A crappy way to start the day, but I seem to have salvaged something of it.


I stopped in to where Beth works to let her know that I'm not getting screwed out of that money and that everything was taken care of, thinking that would set her mind at ease (as much as possible in this crappy situation anyway) and I was met with an icy stare. Not the reaction I was expecting and not the support I was hoping for. I know this is a crappy situation we're in and it's scary as f#*%, but I had nothing to do with this SNAFU. And, I managed to get it taken care of. I wasn't expecting a ticker tape parade or a hero's welcome, but JFC, something other than a look to kill would've been nice. Of course, had I managed to stay employed, it never would have happened to begin with. 


Oh well, off to Monster.com, etc... in my quest to fix this shit.

Another wonderful day of unemployment

Once again, here I sit searching for a job. Actually, here I sit posting about looking for a job; I did my job hunting earlier. I find encouragement in the fact that there do seem to be a goodly number of job listings for the IT field out there. Monster.com seems to have quite a few, and they're even in places where we'd be willing to live; which is handy. I'm coming to the conclusion that employers are using their online application process as a tool to weed out job seekers who aren't serious about wanting a job. You have to go through PAGES inputting information that's already contained in your resume and then at the end, they instruct you to not only copy and paste your resume into their form, they want you to upload a copy of it as well. It took me over 30 minutes today to apply for one position. Hopefully, it's time well spent. 

Unemployment sucks

I got fired 2 weeks ago. I believe my manager had been working toward this for quite some time, but I'm not sure why. Over a year ago, I started receiving less than stellar periodic performance reviews. I didn't necessarily agree with the content of those reviews, but after discussing some of the points he brought up, it seemed he was not interested in changing his mind; to avoid seeming like a whiner, I thought it would be more professional to simply agree with him and attempt to "improve" my work. Nothing I did however, appeared to help. The only feedback I ever received from him was negative and if I did something well, it went unnoticed. He was required to review 2 of my calls per month and for a while, those always seemed to be negative as well. I noticed that he was playing 5-7 of my calls before settling on the ones to review. When I called him on this and noted that it appeared as if he were LOOKING for calls he could review negatively, that seemed to stop, but if he reviewed a call where I did everything correct, he either commented on how I could have done something better, or there were simply no comments at all. It took him over a year, but apparently, he finally collected enough reason to justify letting me go. Right before Christmas. Asshole.

I've learned some important lessons:

My son Jack will never know his grandfather

Because ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) took him from us 2 months before Jack was born.

Dad had always been vibrant and active, but really started slowing down about a year or so before he died. Being in his 70s, he just chalked it up to "old age and dry rot", but after a few months, it became obvious that something else was afoot. He had various doctor's appointments in an effort to diagnose what was wrong, but nothing really nailed it down; osteoporosis, compression fractures of the vertebrae due to the OP, urinary tract infection, etc... Each time, treatment was applied but no real improvement came out of them. Finally, his GP suggested visiting a neurologist. Mom and Dad, met with him in his office and described everything that had been ailing him the previous year or so, what the various other doctors had diagnosed, and the treatments he received. The whole time, he was observing Dad; asking specific questions when appropriate, cataloging the answers, but most of all: watching. When he was done with the interview, he told Dad he had already narrowed it down to one of two things: a brain tumor or ALS. Dad went for the tests and we all waited for the results. That Saturday, Dad went to sleep and never woke up. Mom got a call from the doctor's office later in the week and they confirmed the diagnosis of ALS.

Watching Dad go from being this guy in his early 70s who still mowed his own lawn, did most of his own home repairs and worked a part-time job at an assisted living facility where some of the tenants were younger than he was to being a stooped, shuffling old man who needed a walker to get from the living room to the kitchen was heartbreaking. I don't think anyone should have to go through that or watch a loved one go through it.

This is why on November 7, I will be participating in The ALS Association’s Tour de Vie. I am dedicated to raising funds to help the Association accelerate the discovery of a cure for this catastrophic disease, and to provide programs and services that are so desperately needed by ALS patients and their families.

To do this, I need your support. I am asking you to help by making a gift to The ALS Association. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using the link below. Simply click on the link below to visit my personal fundraising page and donate directly online.

http://web.alsa.org/goto/John_Markowitz

You may also choose to send your contribution in the form of a check. Please make all checks payable to The ALS Association Florida Chapter and send them to The ALS Association at the following address:

The ALS Association Florida Chapter
ATTN: Tour de Vie
3242 Parkside Center Circle
Tampa, FL 33619

Thank you so much for reading this and for your support.

Job Corps update (and other stuff)

Hmmm... not sure why I didn't post this last week when we found out; Josh heard back from Job Corps and his reporting date is Feb 24th. He'll be attending the Gainesville center and the plan is for him to do the pre-law enforcement program. When he gets there, he'll have a meeting with a counselor and give them his top three vocation choices and they have him shadow someone in each of those programs for a short period of time to make sure that's what he really wants to do. Once that's done and the final decision is made, he gets started on his academic and vocational training. We're pretty excited for him and we're both going to drive him up to the center rather than putting him on the bus; we want to check out the campus and surrounding area where much of his time for the next few years will be spent.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's day just passed and I've got a wife with a sense of humor. I was on vacation all last week and my coworkers wanted to pull a prank on me, so one of them reached out to Beth for inspiration. She gave them all sorts of ideas and had them put up a big poster wishing me a happy valentine's day from her. She has pics and back-story on her blog. They will all eventually get their comeuppance. I just can't post any of that here until it's been executed because she's nosy.

Potty training Jack
Jack apparently had a poop in the potty today! Beth said that he was very proud of himself and of the sticker that she gave him. We also put a calendar in there where he'll get a sticker every time he uses the potty. Hopefully this means he'll be in big boy underpants soon and we can stop spending money on training pants.

Faith in humanity slowly being restored.

It's very refreshing to run into people who aren't oblivious, self-absorbed jerks or people who can recognize when they've acted in such a manner and apologize for it.

I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work the other day. As I was driving through the parking lot, I saw an open space and made my way to it. I say open in the sense that there was no car parked in that spot; there was however, a guy standing in it and talking on his cell. I pulled up and waited for him to move on through, my natural assumption being that he was on his way in or perhaps, out of the store and simply paused there. But, he wasn't moving. He just stood there yakking away. He turned in my direction, looked at my car then made eye contact with me. "Ahh... here we go, now he'll move," I thought. Not so much. He just turned away and continued his conversation. It was the end of the day, I just needed a couple of things for dinner and I just wanted to get home. Rather than raise the local level of douchebaggery any more by honking at him or giving him the finger, I just rolled my eyes, shook my head and drove on by to park in the next available spot. I walked past him on the way in to the store and he was still blathering away on the phone, in the same spot. By the time I entered the store and made my way over to the bakery (we were having spaghetti with a sauce made from butternut squash and I needed a loaf of crusty bread to go with it), I had all but forgotten about him. That's when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around and there was Cell Phone Guy. He looked slightly embarrassed and said he wanted to apologize for being in my way; "I'm sorry, I was just spacing out there and didn't realize what I was doing. I'm really sorry." I accepted his apology, he wished me a good day and we went our separate ways.

Just like that, I was in a better mood. Not that him blocking my space made my mood any worse, but his recognition of his own disregard and simple act of contrition went quite a way to lightening it. It's cool that there are still people out there without that 'it's all about me!' attitude that seems so pervasive these days. I hope to see more of it.

Time for an update.

And this is definitely update-worthy. Josh had his Job Corps interview today and was accepted! He'll be going to the Gainesville center for their pre-law enforcement program and leaves in 30-60 days. Beth says that he's pretty excited about it and he did a great job on all his prep work for the interview. She saw (and helped him with) the essay he had to write for the application and said it was pretty good. She also said that he was one of only 2 who showed up in a shirt and tie, had his essay actually typed (and complete before he showed up for the interview) and also included a cover sheet on the essay.

I think it's the start of good things for him. I hope I'm right.

Went to the zoo this weekend...

We went on Saturday and we called it 'Jack's Super Fun Day'. He had a blast as usual and was wiped out by the time it was all over. Check out Beth's entry and pics over on her blog.

So, it's 2009

OK, it's 6 months or so and I think I'm in the right frame of mind to start this again. The whole situation affected me quite a bit and a little bit more than I'd care to admit, but I've decided to just let it go. I'm tired of being an asshole and I'm just going to do my best to get back to being me. The full me. Not just the halfway, but sullen me; the real, likeable me. If that translates into any type of rewards/recognition at work, great! If not, who gives a shit? If they don't appreciate me, they can go jump in a lake for all I care. I'm done being negative and I'm going to make an effort to be more positive. Our six month "lock" was up in December and we can start posting for other positions within the firm again. I've already jumped on that chance and posted my resume for a technical writer position. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

We started Jack in pre-school back in August. He's doing great and he loves it; he's made all sorts of little friends. this is him on his first day.


We're attempting to get Josh into Job Corps. School just isn't going all that well and this looks like a great opportunity for him. In addition to the vocational training, they assist participants getting either a GED or a high school diploma so that will be a great help for him as well. He has an orientation on Wednesday, so we'll see how it goes.

The holidays were good; did Thanksgiving at Mom's and Christmas at our house. Jack had a good Christmas. He was still a bit leery about Santa up until Christmas morning, then suddenly, he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Now Jack's been asking to go see Santa every day since then. It's a toss up for most popular gift: either the new Thomas the Tank Engine blanket or the Imaginext Batcave. He drags the blanket all over the place right after he wakes up, but just about every other waking moment, he's playing with the Batcave.

That pretty much covers it for now. Once again, I'm going to try to update this more regularly.