The Man Who Wrote Too Little
Wow. It's been a month and a half since I last wrote here. To be honest, I don't have a blog pre-planned in detail, but I figured it was time and then some! So, without further ado, the recent events of my life:
I had a call over a month back from Powell, the guys who used to own my old workplace. Turns out one of their guys quit, and they wanted me to come work for them in Indiana. That wasn't going to happen, but I was open to the idea of going down for a few weeks short-term, to help them through their immediate crisis, taking up some of the slack and training the new guy if they could get one quick. I spent a few weeks emailing back and forth with the manager there, and we came to an agreement on the details, but it needed the approval from the owner before it could be official. A week later, no response, so I'm thinking it's a no go. (I sent a follow up email just now, so I'll probably hear back in a day or two.)
Other than that, it's been slow on the job front. I had a interview in Stoney Creek a couple weeks ago. It went ok, but it was kind of far, and next year they're moving to Burlington, which is really far. In any case, I didn't get a job offer, possibly because I mentioned my concerns about the distance. (I don't think they want to hire someone who'll quit in a year.) I've been checking out Workopolis, the Job Bank, Monster, etc., but no luck... Still, it's early to panic. It's been 3 1/2 months, and last time it took me six to find a suitable job, so in theory it's still early, if I go by that standard. I'm at the point where I'm getting a bit antsy, but hopefully come January, more places will be hiring, now that they've started a new year and have a new budget to spent.
One option for finding a job (if I get desperate) would be to relocate, probably to the Hamilton area. Lots of jobs there... but it's a) not cost effective to pay rent etc. when I live here at half that cost, and b) I'm not ready to give up my family, friends, and church here. That actually was the main draw of the Indiana trip: to live away from home for a few weeks, and see how I would cope with not having my loved ones nearby. It would be very sucky to move away for a job and find out that I hate it, but have already moved, and am now committed to the job and a year-long lease! (Breaking news: I just got an email from Powell. Apparently no decision has been made yet, they've been too busy fixing their daily crisis's. Actually this is a little worrying - if I do go to Indiana, it's to help them with their crisis, which could be stressful. *shrug*. We'll see what happens.)
One of the perks of being unemployed is that I have more time to spend with my friends. Normally after work I'm rather tired, so I often get the (justified) comment from my friends that I rarely am available to do stuff. Church activities in the evenings don't help the situation either. This week on the other hand, I've spent most of a day with Shannon (he and I watched Heroes, which is a great though slightly gory show), had a good lunch chat with Shane from movie group, and spent most of a day with Aldo from church. It's rather nice being able to invest in my friendships, without as much of the usual time pressures!
Last week was busy, but with an unusual source: I unexpectedly ended up spending most of the week researching the middle ages. Did you know the Black Plague wasn't a one-time event, but moved around in waves throughout Europe and it's surroundings for the better part of a century? By the time it was done, it had wiped out about half the population. This created a shortage of serfs to work the land, so the ones who were left demanded better treatment, or went to work for other lords who were more reasonable. Unexpectedly, one of the worst plagues in history was a significant factor in creating the middle-class, and by extension, the society we live in today!
My researches on the net have also led me to several conclusions: 1) the net (and http://www.wikipedia.org/ in particular) can be a wonderful and easily accessible source of information. 2) Don't assume anything on the net - including from wikipedia - is accurate, I found lots of data that was contradictory. (In part because scholars themselves know surprisingly little on some topics that seem relatively simple.) 3) Research takes a lot of time! I was astonished at the end of the week how much time had passed. I guess it's like being in school for a week!
Bonus points: can you name the movie who's name I've hijacked and modified? If you need a laugh, this movie has many!
I had a call over a month back from Powell, the guys who used to own my old workplace. Turns out one of their guys quit, and they wanted me to come work for them in Indiana. That wasn't going to happen, but I was open to the idea of going down for a few weeks short-term, to help them through their immediate crisis, taking up some of the slack and training the new guy if they could get one quick. I spent a few weeks emailing back and forth with the manager there, and we came to an agreement on the details, but it needed the approval from the owner before it could be official. A week later, no response, so I'm thinking it's a no go. (I sent a follow up email just now, so I'll probably hear back in a day or two.)
Other than that, it's been slow on the job front. I had a interview in Stoney Creek a couple weeks ago. It went ok, but it was kind of far, and next year they're moving to Burlington, which is really far. In any case, I didn't get a job offer, possibly because I mentioned my concerns about the distance. (I don't think they want to hire someone who'll quit in a year.) I've been checking out Workopolis, the Job Bank, Monster, etc., but no luck... Still, it's early to panic. It's been 3 1/2 months, and last time it took me six to find a suitable job, so in theory it's still early, if I go by that standard. I'm at the point where I'm getting a bit antsy, but hopefully come January, more places will be hiring, now that they've started a new year and have a new budget to spent.
One option for finding a job (if I get desperate) would be to relocate, probably to the Hamilton area. Lots of jobs there... but it's a) not cost effective to pay rent etc. when I live here at half that cost, and b) I'm not ready to give up my family, friends, and church here. That actually was the main draw of the Indiana trip: to live away from home for a few weeks, and see how I would cope with not having my loved ones nearby. It would be very sucky to move away for a job and find out that I hate it, but have already moved, and am now committed to the job and a year-long lease! (Breaking news: I just got an email from Powell. Apparently no decision has been made yet, they've been too busy fixing their daily crisis's. Actually this is a little worrying - if I do go to Indiana, it's to help them with their crisis, which could be stressful. *shrug*. We'll see what happens.)
One of the perks of being unemployed is that I have more time to spend with my friends. Normally after work I'm rather tired, so I often get the (justified) comment from my friends that I rarely am available to do stuff. Church activities in the evenings don't help the situation either. This week on the other hand, I've spent most of a day with Shannon (he and I watched Heroes, which is a great though slightly gory show), had a good lunch chat with Shane from movie group, and spent most of a day with Aldo from church. It's rather nice being able to invest in my friendships, without as much of the usual time pressures!
Last week was busy, but with an unusual source: I unexpectedly ended up spending most of the week researching the middle ages. Did you know the Black Plague wasn't a one-time event, but moved around in waves throughout Europe and it's surroundings for the better part of a century? By the time it was done, it had wiped out about half the population. This created a shortage of serfs to work the land, so the ones who were left demanded better treatment, or went to work for other lords who were more reasonable. Unexpectedly, one of the worst plagues in history was a significant factor in creating the middle-class, and by extension, the society we live in today!
My researches on the net have also led me to several conclusions: 1) the net (and http://www.wikipedia.org/ in particular) can be a wonderful and easily accessible source of information. 2) Don't assume anything on the net - including from wikipedia - is accurate, I found lots of data that was contradictory. (In part because scholars themselves know surprisingly little on some topics that seem relatively simple.) 3) Research takes a lot of time! I was astonished at the end of the week how much time had passed. I guess it's like being in school for a week!
Bonus points: can you name the movie who's name I've hijacked and modified? If you need a laugh, this movie has many!
posted by Peter | 12:19 PM
2 Comments:
the man who knew too little, of course... i've seen the original hitchcock the man who knew too much as well - it had its moments...
he got to it first- old movies- they don't make them like they used to
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