Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Day In the Life of Mike: Unemployeed but NOT relaxing!

Since I've been unemployed for a more than a month now, I have commented to a few friends that I have been actually more busy now than when I was working. It's amazing to think that "having no job to go to" can very much mean "working your butt off" on all stuff that has to be done. To give you an example, here is how today went for me:

  1. 1am - Left a friends house where I had been providing (free) computer technical services and talking about a small business venture
  2. 1:15am - Got home and "crashed"
  3. 7:15am - Jarred awake in sudden "I'm Late!" panic ( good thing too - the alarm was set wrong)
  4. 8am - Got up and showering
  5. 8:30am - Driving to my "prearranged day labor"work location (aka a friend's house) I'm doing this for gas money, exercise and very light socializing.
  6. 9am to 11:30am - Landscape work - had to take several breaks 'cause I'm getting too old for this ... kind of work (heard my cell phone ringing a lot as I worked but had to focus on the work at hand)
  7. 11:45am - Ate a cheese burger for lunch and rested a bit
  8. 12:45pm - 2pm - Landscaping "consulting" (guessing) and pushing the cart at Lowes
  9. 2pm-3:15pm - More landscape work and more cell phone rings
  10. 3:20pm - Cleaned up tools and got ready to leave for home
  11. 3:30pm - Started listening to cell phone voice mails on the way home (10 today, 4 from yesterday, 1 accidentally deleted)
  12. 3:55pm - Finished listening to voice mails
  13. 4:00pm - Arrived home and called "911" friend back 4 times - no answer
  14. 4:15pm - Showered ( 'cause I was a dirty boy... )
  15. 4:25pm - 4:55pm - Made one personal phone call and get 3 short personal phone calls in return ("Oprah" was on at their house.) From this phone call, I have two more "handy man" jobs setup for tomorrow.
  16. 4:45pm - Listened to phone answering machine - 6 new messages
  17. 5:00pm - Called "911" friend back 2 more times - no answer
  18. 5:01pm - Made one job hunt related phone call - The recruiter needed to call me back
  19. 5:11pm - That recruiter called back
  20. 5:16pm - Emailed my resume to that recruiter
  21. 5:18pm - Put new vehicle "tags" on car while taking the "911" friends "I'm OK-ish but can't talk now" call
  22. 5:20pm - Start processing job hunt emails, voice mails and phone messages
  23. 5:50pm - 6:30pm - Ate two peanut butter and peach jelly sandwiches and two glass of good red wine ( "Estancia", 2003 Caerne Sauvignon from Keyes Canyone Ranches, California )
  24. 6:45pm - Called my friend with today's landscaping job to confirm the schedule for tomorrow (minor work)
  25. 7:55pm - Finished processing job hunt emails, voice mails and phone messages
  26. 7:56pm - Received an IM message from a friend about nothing much at all
  27. 7:59pm - 8:04pm - Phone call from same friend about nothing much at all until when I begged off the phone to get more done
  28. 8:06pm - Watched two recorded TV shows ( "Scrubs") while answering 9 personal emails
  29. 8:59pm - Emailed a friend that I hadn't gotten to a task I said I would today / scheduled the time for tomorrow evening (had to skip a dinner invitation to do it)
  30. 9:01pm - Started this list of things I did today (in notepad)
  31. 9:15pm - Thought I was finished this this list (but wasn't sure)
  32. 9:16pm - Realized this list might make an interesting blog entry to explain why I haven't gotten back to describing my last trip to Bulgaria, or called friends and family back or...etc
  33. 9:33pm - Thought I was finished with the blog entry (but wasn't sure)
  34. 9:34pm - Added more entries I had forgotten about and some more formatting
  35. 9:53pm - Pressed "Publish" on this blog, put the wine bottle back in the kitchen, and went to bed