Eyes in the Dark

I live adjacent to a small mesa..........an open area of sandstone, yucca, and cactus overlooking Colorado Springs, CO.

A few nights ago about 11:15 PM, I decided to take a walk out there in the full moon! It was awsome.......moonlight illuminating the yucca and rocks......the twinkling city and mountain lights......the light reflecting off a pair of eyes about 20 feet away by a yucca!

It could have been a mountain lion, a kitty cat, a coyote (already saw one of those there), or a bunny.........but I didn't have a flashlight and didn't stay to find out! LOL

The Great Job Hunt!

OK, I have updated all my resumes on various job sites, gotten a local phone number, and had my first interview in 7 years at a Temp Agency!

Yup, it all still sucks.

I uploaded my resume to the interview site, but in their office, they can't download it. Uh huh.

Companies I have worked for in the last 15 years (Manpower) have purged me from their files (no record...........but I have my W-2's).........last employer has a company policy of not writing letters of reference or even phone references....only work date confirmations. Uh huh.

And an updated correctly formatted Resume is worth what exactly?

One local School District 20...........well, let me post their requirements......this is for any position even janitor or Bus Driver, as well as Teacher. Uh huh.

This must eliminate 80% of applicants. I have letters of references from jobs back in the 1980s..many are dead or retired. Not good enough................the clerk at HR tells me references need to be recent last 5 years. Who can do this?

A completed application includes:

• 
  The Application Form
• 
  Current Resume with Work History (from date of high school graduation to present)
• 
  Four Professional References (listing the business, the references name, title and current phone number)
• 
  Three to Four Letters of Recommendation (preferably from current or former supervisors)
• 
  A visit to the Human Resources office to show driver's license and to complete paperwork requiring signature in person
• 
  Release of Information Form
• 
  Notarized Applicant Testimony Form (This can be notarized in the Human Resources Office or else where at your convenience.)

This is starting to annoy me.........I mean, I am not looking for a career, but only something to get me to age 62!

Job hunting is as bad a dating!

Go West Young Man......Old Geezers Too!

OK, I give up...UNCLE!

The job market in Detroit , Michigan is dismal at best. Numerous newspaper articles in the Oakland Press and the Detroit Free Press allude to a 3-4 year timeline for any recovery.

HR friends say I am competing against 300 - 400 people for every job! That's rediculous.


I give up, and plan to move within a week to Colorado Springs, Colorado (369,000), a state with at least 2% better unemployment and which I have lived over 15 years.

It can't be worse than a place that I have lived for over 7 years. In that time the unemployment went from 3.7% to the current 6.7%. At this point even Temp Agencies like Manpower aren't taking applications..........That's really bad.

I really like Michigan too..........Maybe will come back if things improve or I win Lotto. Meanwhile I need a job............so it's "Go West Young Man...and Old Geezers Too!"

Gee a cold spring day in Rochester. Went for a walk in city park............lots of ducks, mostly drakes. Cold damp wind......not fun, but at least the sun was out! Not many people out and about........though there were a few "joggers"!

What a waste of time!

Jobs? Where are they?

Looking for a job? So am I, or at least the income. I can find enough to "keep me busy", but I need an income stream!

Work basically sucks, just look at all those 100,000 layoffs looming in the auto industry.....geeeeeeeez, where will all those people go to find jobs?

People I chat to on the web say Florida is rocking with jobs.....uh huh. No one wants to live there casue of the hurricanes...probably many have moved out!

The Northeast isn't the palce to work. The SW is growing as always, but the pay sucks and the housing is expensive!

I hate looking for work...how about you?

GM Set to Implode......"Black Tuesday"

WOW, the job market is getting to really suck here in SE Michigan. GM is giving the pink slips to 500-1200 salaried engineers and white collar workers today! Marching them right out the door. Uh huh.

The TV interviews with the potential "layoffers"....all run the same......Surprise, shock (who me?), anxiety over how to pay for all the expensive crap they just bought, etc.

The Real Estate market should be even more of a glut soon! Already there are tons of houses, some of which, have been for sale for over two years!

Words of advice for all you children in school........Don't go into the Auto Industry!

Job Creation Myth

Wow, I have been looking for work. It sucks. It sucks big time.

I have about 75 graduate credits in Education and MBA courses. I have a BA and enough other undergraduate credits for two more degrees! (Yeah OK, I was kind of a "professional" student!)

Anyway..the job environment is highly competitive.....I mean 200 qualified applicants apply for the same $25,000/yr job. Does that mean 1000's apply for $75,000+ per jobs? Crap!

They claim there is a booming economy......to me that means every qualified person should be able to get a job with pay according to their skills and education! NOT! It means that the few jobs out ther epay more, but there are thousands who apply. That's just bullcrap!

In my reality, statistics say that 25% of people have a bachelors degree.......10% have a Masters, and 5% have a PhD. All that education should translate into multiple job offers, not multiple job appliers!

Nature? What the hell?

OK, I started hiking out in mother nature......Michigan's version that is. I bought an annual Metro Parks Pass ($20). The nearby Stoney Creek Metro Park is a good size, a big lake, tails, boat rental, a golf course, etc. It evidently also has a nearby offsite shooting range. On my last hike, I thought I was in Bosnia or Iraq. These two idiots a shotgun and .22 must have fired 1000 rounds during my hike. It was highly annoying.

Today I went to a small nature center. No guns, but traffic noise was clearly heard. Then just after spotting two white tail deer, parents with screaming kids showed up, closely followed by a couple with two dogs......dogs in a nature area? What the hell?

I can see now that quiet is not something I'll see (unlike in Colorado, where you can be miles from other humans), until I go up north perhaps to the UP?

Making Money the Old Fashioned Way

OMG, getting started on eBay, setting up AdSense on my web sites, is soooooo time intensive.

Perhaps it is easier to get money the old fashioned way...by working?

If I had paid myself $10/hr for what I have done so far, I would have several hundred dollars in my pockets instead of ....zero!

Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Time to check my Ebay site, the auction is almost finished. I will only lose about $150. Great!