Some recent events:

• Partner forgot to lock the doors to his car and someone opened his door at  night between midnight and 7am, taking only a dollar and an old iPod Nano device he got for free. Since then I started locking the garage door which I really should’ve been doing in the first place.
• Starting to think about applying to other companies again. My bf said I should focus on how to make 60k in the next two years. That is not going to be an option at my current company. I don’t even think a base of 40 is likely.
• Got a raise. Slightly more than I expected and earning more than my last job, but still not anywhere near where I want to be. Don’t expect to get another one for the rest of the year.
• Likely not getting a bonus. We didn’t meet numbers as far as getting our customers to renew and our director basically said we’re f*cked. He hit home that a large part of that was people not taking accountability for their work. Would’ve been an extra $4-500 or so take home pay.
• Pretty sure the guy I used to work with / was DJing on the side got fired or was on the verge of it. He really wasn’t even trying.
• Sold bf’s old phone on ebay for $50. Cost me $13 to ship.

It’s 3:30AM and I’m having the worst sinus pain right now and my nose has been running what seems like nonstop for the past 24 hours. The weather in Dallas is especially cold, some nights even colder than NY. I really loathe seeing the doctor. Quickly prescribe a medication that is likely to wreak havoc on my gastrointestinal system. I may or may not call in sick for MLK Day. I have never not worked that day though perhaps I should on principle.

For the first time in a while I might have more than 2k in my bank account come next paycheck. ::Knock on wood::

So in 2011 when my partner and I moved to Dallas, I was very aggressively looking for jobs. Basically anything remotely related to the banking industry which I spent several years in. One of the companies I interviewed with was a consulting group that basically had larger banks as clients and took outsourced work. I was on the fence for some weeks. I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of working in banking again. Basically it was very repetitive, pressuring people to sign up for products they might not really need or be able to afford and one mistake stays on your record forever. I specifically wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of talking to people whose homes were foreclosed on or very close to that step.

I reached a breaking point where I was willing to do something that my heart wasn’t really in for a paycheck. The idea of $30/hr when I was making $0 and ineligible for unemployment wasn’t bad either. So I interviewed there and made a good impression with the recruiters at least in my opinion. A total of 3 interviews, then after waiting a week I didn’t hear anything from them. At the same time, the company that filed for Ch 11, laid me off after 6 weeks and bounced my paycheck made me an offer. I was told they couldn’t make me an offer at the last minute because their client pushed back their start date. 3 Months later another recruiter there approached me and I ignored the e-mail.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I never want to beg an employer for a job, I want it to be a mutual fit between alignment of my skills and what the organization is looking for in a candidate.

To make a long story short, they laid off all employees in their office this week. I would be jobless again and probably unable to collect unemployment since the people who worked there are considered contractors.

I was listening to some audiobooks the other day and a part touched me personally about perseverance and giving up. A lot of people you meet completely give up on their dreams or the ability to earn more / acquire more skills throughout life. I am guilty of it myself, there are always times when I wonder if this is as good as it gets. Successful people take more risks and area always on the lookout for new opportunities.

I kind of like entertaining the idea of being a modern-day Renaissance Man. Not sure if I can pull it off, but I am constantly interested in learning new things provided I have ample alone time to let my mind wander and process.

OT, it’s raining like crazy here in Dallas. Super glad we got the roof fixed and the brickwork out back fixed because surely there would be water damage after neighbor’s foundation work and sizable gaps. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Wrote a decent blog post tonight, thought I posted it and deleted the original file. Guess the moral of the story is don’t blog when it’s time for bed. We all make mistakes.

Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap

I will retype / repost tomorrow. 🙂