The Unemployment Chronicles Chapter 1: The Strife of Brian

Since my weight loss blogs are nearing an end, what a perfect time to get laid off so I can start a new blog series - The Unemployment Chronicles! And what better a first chapter name than this - The Strife of Brian!

No Longer The Warming Voicemail of the Company

Reality hasn't set in yet, but I'm sure it will Monday when I haven't woke up from my 7:45 am alarm. Just to make sure that does not happen, that particular alarm was just deleted from my phone.

Or maybe it will be when I send my computer back to the IT folks via FedEx. I spent a part of my week making sure to email all those fun excel sheets that I used in this very blog space.

Or quite possibly,  it will be when I file for unemployment to start the hopefully short process of collecting those checks. I'm hoping that I won't have to receive more than a few.

One thing I almost forgot to do was change my voicemail to a more generic one. With my cell having been the phone number connected to Tango2s website,  I needed to have a company-detailed voicemail.  My warming voice lent itself to the voicemails of my old company.

The Next Steps

The past 12 days have shown that I have a great group of people around me that don't want me to be on the ground for long. Family and friends have been messaging me, asking me to provide my resume so they can send it to their networks. For this, I am forever grateful. Hell, there's even a few Facebook friends who I never met in person who are helping in my search.

I have had the pleasure of speaking with a couple of recruiters from unrelated fields,  and while neither call led me directly to a job, they both led me to the same conclusion: I need to have a clue of what I'm looking for before going all out in this search. There's no sense in rushing right away into something if it's not what I really want. 

Within reason, regardless, I will need a job of some kind,  but at this juncture, assessing my next steps is the way to go.

If any of you have your own unemployment stories, I'd be glad to hear them. I've gone through this before but I always welcome a good story or advice as it relates to the process (more so the success of escaping unemployment or how you may have coped with an extended layoff). 

If you would like to potentially help with my search,  I would be glad to send you my resume for you to send to your networks or even just constructively edit. Thanks in advance for your help.

This is the strife of yours truly. At least for now. Until next time, peace.

Time of Your Life...Me? Ehhh, Not So Much: The Contrast of Emotions While Watching the Hawks Win the Cup

It's a surreal experience. Everyone around you - all your friends having the time of their life, the best day of their year. Within a couple minute span in real time, Blackhawks fans went from pondering their Game 7 plans to figuring out who they are going to the parade with on Wednesday.

It's awesome to see all these happy faces. And yet, at the same time, you can't fully enjoy the moment. Not when you've had one of the shittiest days of your year.

It didn't start shitty, and by no means did I plan on having it end shitty. But the news I received mid-afternoon, that I swore to keep to myself as long as I could to risk changing the mood around me, could only be buried under so much cheap beer (22 oz cups my ass).

After surviving cuts at work at the end of April, I thought I might be in the clear for a little while. A little while turned out to be a couple months. I received "The Call" about my job being no longer once July 5th reaches its end. At this point, unless I am able to find a job, I will be without work.

I leave with no ill feelings - in fact, I still love the company and love the people that I worked with for my entire 35 months there. At this point in my life, it has been the best company I've worked for in my brief professional career.

Going back to Monday...I debated whether I was going to meet up with Jen's co-workers as planned for the game or if I was going to lay back and likely sulk/drown my sorrows with Summer Shandys. I flipped a few times (nah, the walk there ain't worth it >>> don't let this stuff bring you down, go out >>> you just bought beer, stay home >>> how often do you get to go out with people during the week?)

So yeah, I went out. And I'm glad I did, despite the microburst that hit right before I reached the bar. I had to run the last mile of the planned walk in my flip flops due to the pending storms, with the last couple blocks being completely aided by the unreal winds and storm that I had no idea were coming.

I spent the entire time at the West End (blocks away from the United Center) standing up, taking different shifts at the TVs that surrounded me. I shared my sob story with one other friend before the game (thanks Ruthie), but otherwise kept it to myself as to avoid ruining the mood. I didn't sob, but call it a sob story for the simple fact that it sure as hell ain't a laugh story.

Several people in the group saw my empty stare towards the end of the game, at which point I could no longer really hide the weight of my day. Once the game ended and there was plenty of time to celebrate, I told a few of them what happened. I appreciated their well wishes, as I did with the initial wave of people that I told earlier in the evening before going to the bar.

The striking moods - about as 180 degrees as there could be between a person and a group of people - was present in my mind most of the night, especially as the spurt of goals led to a sudden Stanley Cup win for the Blackhawks. It was fantastic seeing the people who I've known a short while and suspect very little to be bandwagoners to have such joy on their faces. A fan's sports team winning a championship never gets old, even if it's the second time in four years, so to see that joy is fun to see.

On the other side, there's this bum of a guy who just got some bad news, trying to enjoy the moment of his friends while burying the bone of the bad. If anyone has been in a situation like this, where you've tried to keep a happy face on a great situation with a group of people around you while masking something that pains you, I'm sure you know my ordeal.

Life goes on - I'll get on my feet quick. I have the right attitude and will get through this situation just fine.

For that hour or so at the bar, the contrast of my friends' euphoria and my brief realization of my fate (which hit just as the game was winding down) was quite the mental spectacle.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone around me for your future help (and current help).

Stairway to 2011

April 1st is around the corner, which roughly marks the start of the 2nd quarter of the year. It also marks the start of my brief demise last year after battling some personal issues. As I said during that stretch, sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before you climb your way back up. I'm hoping that personal rock bottom was achieved, because ever since I got back on my feet fully in mid July (the start of school and a new job), I've been heading up for the most part. This applies especially in 2011. Some personal achievements:

(1) Approaching the end of my 10 month program with the Illinois Center for Broadcasting and I've figured out what I want to apply for- video editing positions. I know there's plenty for me to learn about editing still, but I know I can get better and have been getting better with each assignment.

(2) I was able to meet my company at Tango2 (a consulting company) for the first time in my 9 months on the job in Puerto Rico. As many of you saw through pictures, I was able to enjoy 4 days in awesome weather, which played a part in all of the company mingling and getting to know each other for the first time. This trip will make me work harder to get my co-workers more work in health systems.

(3) Our bowling team won the 1st half championship and can clinch first place money by winning 2nd half. With my new bowling ball, I have improved my average by 7 pins in 9 weeks of bowling (172 to 179) by averaging over 190 in that span. Likewise, much of my team is making awesome strides and getting better as the season progresses. The worst we can finish for this session is 2nd place.

(4) To cap off an awesome weekend which was primarily based at Tim Wolfs and included the company of many of my great friends from the past 12 years, I was able to enjoy the company of one of my best friends (Spence) and his/our friends this past week as part of Mr. Spencer's bachelor party. Whenever a group of friends can get together after a long hiatus, it reminds you of the great past you have had as friends and what a great fortune it is to have great friends to share your future with.

(5) I continue to meet and be introduced to awesome people. Unlike some people who grow older and close off the expansion of their friend base, I love meeting new people and striking up conversation with whoever is willing to listen to my loud voice. To those I've met recently that have become part of my daily rotation of conversation, I'm glad we've met and I hope we continue to get to know each other.

(6) Our family took in a foreign exchange student about a month ago. I must admit at first, I didn't know what to think about a new person living in our house for three months. However, Maria has been nothing but a delight to have around. It's nice being able to pick the brain of someone who is experiencing American culture for the first time. Someday, I'd like to think I'll come up in stories in Columbia where a Spanish to English translation of  "I have no idea why Brian had so much gas" comes up.

That's about all I got for now. I hope you read it and enjoy.

All I know is that the first quarter of this year has proven to be awesome and will only continue to get better.

Thanks to everyone for contributing to the above and I hope we continue to share awesome times together.