I’m down to my last month and a half of unemployment benefits and I’m starting to feel the pressure which isn’t being helped by the lack of response my resume submissions have generated thus far. I’ve been approached by a couple of different people about possible positions as a programmer or web developer, but I wasn’t qualified enough for the jobs on offer. As a result I’ve started broadening my search beyond Michigan’s borders. Not that I have a clue how the hell I could afford to move the family and set up shop in another state with the meager savings we have, but that’s a bridge I’ll figure out how to cross should my inquiries actually produce any results.
For the moment I’m being kept busy with a couple of interesting non-work opportunities that have come along. First I’ve been contacted by the publishing house that’s putting out a book by Matthew Alper titled The “God” Part of the Brain that they’d like me to read and then write a review of for SEB. I was quite flattered to be asked and I’m just waiting on the book to arrive so I can sit down and dedicate some time to it.
Speaking of books, I’m just about to finish up Carl Zimmer’s Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures
Lastly I’ve been contacted by someone from Scribe Media asking if I’d be willing to be interviewed about my thoughts as an unemployed automotive worker on Governor Granholm’s upcoming No Worker Left Behind program after they saw my entry about Michigan’s State of the State address. I explained that I probably wasn’t what most people thought of when they hear the words “automotive worker” — most people think of the folks working the assembly line — as my career with the Big Three has been as a contracted IT person, but that still technically makes me an automotive worker and I was let go as a result of the cutbacks and buyouts they’re doing right now. After checking with the powers that be it was decided that I was still worth talking to so I’m expecting a phone call from them sometime tomorrow. I have no idea if they’ll use anything I have to say in their article or even where it’ll show up if they do, but it’s pretty cool just to be asked in the first place.
Oh, and I’ve managed to get Balfour, my dwarven hunter in World of Warcraft, up to level 65 and finally managed to purchase an epic mount for him. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Blizzard will offer me a job in California. Or even better, maybe they’ll take advantage of the Governor’s attempts to lure more high-tech companies to Michigan and open up a branch here that I can go work for.
Wishful thinking: It’s not just for the overly credulous.
So ... what are your PHP/MySQL skills? I may have some probably-low-paying but fairly simple database work coming up in a few weeks.