matt

I'm 4 days into the new job and so far it's going as well as one can expect. The people here have been super nice and it feels good being back in a stable company where my future isn't just up in the air. Yesterday I got my new PC and I have my office arranged nicely. They have me in what used to be the lounge and thus far it's just me in here and I have a great view of downtown Orlando outside my window but they say at some point others could be in here.

I've been meaning to get in touch with another guy to do some work on the side, but honestly I'm not sure if I can anymroe. I could definitely use the money, but with the new job, I'm getting up earlier and coming home later than before so I don't exactly have the spare time I once did and aside from my own laziness, I also feel obligated to spend time with Marissa. I'm not sure what to do.

The other big news is we got a cat! We went to the human society of Orlando on Sunday and picked out an orange cat that we've named Manny Ramirez Hochberg. He's very cute, although he is sort of annoying in a few ways but I like him. Marissa spent the last 5 days with him so I think she's gotten a little sick of him and being his personal source of entertainment but I think once we all kind of settle in and find our own grooves, it will work out.

At long last, I found a job for me. On Monday morning I got a call to come interview for a job and like all requests for interviews, I took it. It ended up being a web development position at a law firm in downtown Orlando and both I and the employer really seemed to hit it off. The job offered me a position developing sites using Drupal along with the full time pay I was looking for. Yesterday I got a phone call with an offer and I gladly accepted it and am glad to be finally employed once more (starting Monday).

Technically I was unemployed for 2 weeks and I'm grateful I was able to get a good job like this in short time. It kind of feels weird not looking at the job sites for jobs but I'm glad that I can finally stop worrying about the future and money.

The funny thing to come out of all of this is I have three other offers on the table for part time work. I interviewed for a position this past Friday and it would have been a perfect fit but the company can't afford to hire me full time for the long haul. They offered me some part time work and the company I was employed with that I was doing contract work offered for me to continue to do some work on the side. And finally, I have an interview on Friday with a local university here for a teaching position. I'm going to have to mull over the possibility of doing work on the side for extra cash while the teaching job really intrigues me and if I can do some evening/weekend classes, I'd be all about that.

I hope this new job will allow me to spend some time here and really get to be in one place for a long time. I'm done with hopping around from job to job every year and I'm ready for a commitment with one place where I can really establish myself and I think this new place could be that place.

Today is day one of being unemployed and I hate it already. I feel like a degenerate and despite my best efforts to apply to as many jobs as I can with well written cover letters and call backs about the positions, I get nothing. It frustrates me to no end because unlike the last time when I was layed off, this time I have a house to my name and I have a constant fear in my mind that we're going to lose the house.

It's bad enough not having a job, but the house seems like a much bigger worry. It's enough to keep me from being able to fall asleep at night and during the day, every time I check a job site and I see nothing, my mind races around the possibility of losing the house. I hate it and it's only been one day. I hate how nobody has the courtesy to just write back "No" so you can move on. I hate walking around the house with no direction. I hate the fear, angst, frustration and depression. I just want a new job with a steady pay check that I can reasonably enjoy and be productive at.

Sometimes I just get so frustrated with things and tonight was one of those nights. First, I tried to charge my A/C in my car after getting directions from my dad but for some strange reason I could not get the stupid thing to stay connected to my car and it royally annoyed me. It's the kind of annoyance where you know things should be working but they aren't and you can't seem to figure out what's wrong. I just gave up, slammed the hood and threw the stupid can into the ground and it made me feel a little better. After, my fingers were covered in the stupid gunk and as a result my hands were all numb and it just added to my already annoyed mood.

On better news, I felt like I was very productive at work today. I got a lot done and I even impressed myself with a particular issue I figured out. I left work feeling good and like things are going well with the project I'm working on.

Earlier this week, I mentioned how this week at work we switched from 9-5 to 8:30-5:30. Well as of today, we're back to 9-5. Evidently I was not the only one annoyed by the change and the change wasn't sitting well with most of us and we also weren't any more productive than before the change so we switched back as of today and I love the change back. The only thing that is different now is instead of a full hour for lunch, we only get 30 minutes but I'm so willing to make that compromise. I'm glad the owner saw the issue and remedied it and quite honestly it's made us all a little happier and happy workers and busy workers. Besides, now I'll have less traffic to deal with and I get to sleep an extra half hour and I get home earlier. If you can't tell, I'm happy about this change.

After work today I'm going with Marissa to the gym for a nice workout. I'm looking forward to it because I do like the gym and I feel motivated to exercise and (hopefully) drop some weight. Plus there's the whole get into shape idea.

This weekend we don't have any firm plans. My friend will be in town for the Disney Marathon so we'll likely be hanging out with him but other than that, no other plans to speak of and that's fine with me. I always enjoy quiet weekends.

One last note, my lovely wife has asked me to build her a blog because she too wants to share her random thoughts with the world. She once had a blog a number of years ago but stopped writing in it because her dad used it to spy on her but I guess she's ready to give it another shot so feel free to stop by and see what's on her mind at her blog and say hello.