Day two

Took a different route today on my walk. I braved the stairs that go up the hill from my house. They are daunting, and I usually skirt around the long way rather than tackle them, but today, I just forced myself to do them. I put my iPod on shuffle and hit the road. It was pretty entertaining, actually, since my taste in music is so eclectic that I found myself giggling as the songs switched from one genre to another. To give you an idea, here's the trip up the hill to the top of Queen Anne:

Itzhak Perlman - klezmer music
Marvin Gaye
The Commodores
Hadag Nachash - Israeli rap
La Cage Aux Folles - soundtrack
Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli

Luckily, the rap music came up on shuffle right when I was hitting the worst of the stairs. It really helped me get to the top! Of course, I was wiped out by the time I hit the street, so my walking speed slowed a bit at first, but then I cranked it up - Thanks, Marvin! - and got to the top of Queen Anne in good time. Now I have some fresh Peets coffee -- on sale at Safeway!

Sending off my resume to a friend who knows someone who is hiring. Hope it's not too late to be considered for the job. The sun is out, and my mood is up, so today - day two - is a good day.

Eating and drinking is still a struggle, but I'm determined to get better

Networking the job search

The process of looking for a job is turning out to be very emotional, but not in the way I expected. I thought I would be depressed (I'm sure that there is some of that) and worried, but I'm finding that the prevalent cause for tears these days is the receipt of recommendations from the people with whom I work and have worked.

LinkedIn has an automated request form, making it easy to send a request for recommendation to any number of connections. The responses I've gotten have more than once moved me to tears. Whatever happens, I'm glad I had the impetus to send out those requests.

Tomorrow I meet with some outplacement folks at a company that GE hired to handle those of us who were let go. The company is Right Management, and they have a good reputation in the community. The premium package from them must cost companies a bundle, and is a very nice benefit in my severance package. I'm as lucky as someone can be who is without a job in this lousy economy.

What does the future hold? I have no idea.

Strange problem with ellipses

Used a few ellipses (of which I am excessively fond) in my last post, but the page wouldn't load when I got to work to view it. I took them out, and now I can see yesterday's post. I wonder what Blogger doesn't like about ellipses?

I feel like I spent yesterday holding my breath, blindly sending out S.O.S. messages to contacts and friends - more like messages in a bottle than serious job-search activities. Of course, they count, but still. Today, I'm trying to just breathe, relax, take a look around and figure out what I'm going to wear to the Puget Sound Business Journal Job Search meeting tomorrow. The good news is that I'm losing weight; the bad news is that it complicates my finding "business casual" clothes to wear to meetings and interviews.

My big plan for today is to get Shaynala to the vet to get her nails trimmed. Poor thing is sticking to the carpet. Luckily, they only charge 15 bucks for the effort. The other portion of the plan is to figure out what I need to do for tuition reimbursement (part of my severance package) so that I know when to pull the trigger on enrolling in the classes I want to take.

And breathing.

A Journey of 1000 miles

begins with a single step.

I started the week by submitting my resume to Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG). They are in the same building as my current job, and I ran into someone I know who works there last year. We hooked up on LinkedIn, and I checked with him about submitting my resume, since I know some companies give employees kick-backs if they hire someone who was referred in (as opposed to paying recruiters, I suppose). Anyway, I just submitted it, so I don't know how long it will take to hear whether I passed the first hurdle.

I also took a look at our company's website to see if there are any open jobs. The only ones I could find for which I was somewhat qualified are really a better fit for a friend who's currently working in LA, but wants to move back up here. It wouldn't get him all the way to Seattle, since the jobs are in Yakima, but it would be a shorter (and cheaper) commute to Snohomish, where his family is already living in anticipation of his finding work up this way. I hope one of those jobs works for him. Didn't propel my search any, but I'd feel more than satisfied if it helped someone I care about to find something good.

I have a seminar downtown on Wednesday morning, and a meeting with an outplacement company on Friday. So, I'm not being my regular lazy self this time. That's an interesting change. I still have not taken Lester down to see what I can come up with for volunteering, but that will come in time.

Meanwhile, I'm just about finished my current Nero Wolfe mystery, and there's a new one waiting at the library for me. Also, today was a good calorie day, I had a fast walk from the pet store (wet food for Shaynala was on the list) after work, and the kitchen is officially closed until morning. I will treat myself to a cup of tea, but nothing more to eat. If it gets too hard, I'll just head up to bed and call it a night. Being on a diet is a lot like living like a cat - short periods of wakefulness and frequent naps. Whatever it takes.