Copyright Information
All original content is
copyright © 2008-2010
Michael T. Barrett
All other material and brand or product names are copyright and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
E-Mail sent to any michaeltbarrett.com address, or the feedback address listed at the top of the page, may be considered for publication unless the recipient is expressly notified otherwise.
Apr
30
I finally heard from a recruiter. Of course, it wasn’t one of the ones I have been communicating with, but an entirely new recruiter who has just started working with a company a few other recruiters are working for.
She didn’t have a position to discuss with me, and no opportunities on the horizon, she simply wanted to introduce herself to me. Her introduction would have been a lot more impressive if she had something to offer other than a “hello, I am here, I will call you when I have anything, thanks, bye”.
I’ve developed a lot more of the new site, but have fallen a bit behind. There is no way I will be able to launch tomorrow, because, well, honestly, the site is just not there yet. So why am I here typing then? There is work to be done.
More tomorrow…
Sphere: Related ContentApr
29
Today was a good day. I finalized some things that needed finalizing. Wow that sounds weird. I finished doing some things that were in desperate need of being finished. Does that sound any better?
I have my business plan in mind, and I have outlined goals I want to reach in the next 30, 90, and 180 days. I see no reason why I cannot reach those goals if I stay focused and I keep moving forward. I worked on the new site all morning today and this afternoon I got a call from the Office of Community Development that my business license was approved and I could pick it up. It’s now sitting on my desk waiting for a frame. I wonder where we put those when we organized?
Tonight and tomorrow night are my final two nights of development. I have approximately six more pages to write the content for and the project will be completed. Once I launch the new site on Friday, I will be able to focus on the next step in the process. That step includes designing a brochure and some new business cards so I can start networking on Monday.
I sent several more emails this morning and I still haven’t heard from a single recruiter (out of 9 of them) for nine days now. The latest reports show that the job market is picking up in North West Georgia, but I wouldn’t know it from the lack of contact from the job recruiters who seem to be ignoring me.
That’s it for tonight. No photo and no pithy philosophical quote either. I have work to do and about 24 hours to finish it. Now I know how Jack Bauer feels, only without the fighting, gunfire, torture, and heart pounding action.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
28
I haven’t heard from a recruiter in eight days. I’ve emailed them all, left voicemail for some of them, and have not heard a single word in eight days.
After the third day with no response, at all, from any of them, I was really angry. These are people who do not get paid the big bucks unless they place people in jobs. How does ignoring people when they email or call going to make them any money?
By the fifth day I was fed up, completely. I decided right then and there that it may be time to start working on my own idea, while I wait for the phone to ring. I researched the market in our area, my wife came up with an awesome name, and yesterday, I applied for the business license. I should receive a call sometime tomorrow that it is ready to picked up. Our county is cool that way.
So, today, I have been placing calls again. This time I am calling prospective clients, not prospective employers. I applied for four positions I found on one of the job sites, but while I wait for that phone to ring the last thing I am going to do is sit here twiddling my thumbs.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
27
Gidget and the boys accompanied me down to the Office of Community Development where I applied for my business license today. I should get a call in the next day or so to come down and pick it up. How cool is that? One step closer to taking that big step. Again.
Many years ago, I wrote custom software. Many of the packages I put together were customized with one or two people in mind, and were offered as freeware, shareware, and even email-ware. I started out writing applications in Turbo Pascal and had a whole series of games written for some of the people I worked with at the time.
When I met my wife, eleven years ago, I was writing custom applications for IRC, as well as a few office utilities that proved to be quite popular at the time. There are still more than 100 downloads of Gidget’s DateFinder each month. It’s a simple application, but apparently quite a few people still find it quite useful.
When we moved here to Georgia, I ran my own business again, offering web design, software development, and internet service and hosting. We sold that business ten years ago to the company that laid me off just three months ago.
So here I am again. I am still looking for full-time work, but in the meantime I figured it’s time to step up and start making contacts and re-starting what I do best… Running my own business.
It’s scarier this time, however, because we have kids now and we have no other source of income. I have no doubt I can do it, and maybe this is what God has planned for me all along.
With His guidance, I’ll just keep taking one step at a time. As long as I don’t start walking backwards I should do just fine.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
26
I’ve got big plans tomorrow.
The project still isn’t complete, but I can’t really put it live yet anyway, not for a couple more days anyway.
After more than 20 years working in software development and web design, and after spending the past three months looking for a full-time job, I have decided to hang out a shingle and see if I can drum up some business on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I am still looking for a full-time job with benefits, but until that comes along I thought I might as well get as much income flowing into this house as possible.
I don’t have enough of the main design completed yet, but as you can see, I did finish the logo. I spent the past few days working on a business plan, researching the market in our area, and tomorrow I will head down to the county offices and apply for my business license. Everything should be up and running by Friday.
If I can line up a few customers with contract positions, I might just be able to pull in enough to cover the bills comfortably, and then some.
More tomorrow…
Sphere: Related ContentApr
25
I spent most of the day today working in the garden and mowing the back 40.
Gidget spent a few hours yesterday working in the garden and I helped her as long as I could. I don’t do well in the heat, especially in the direct sunlight, but I got five rows done so she can just turn on the hose and the garden will water itself.
As I recovered from the heat, I worked on “the project” for a while, and then I went back outside and started mowing the backyard. The battery is dead in the riding mower, but I am able to jump start it with the truck, so it’s not all bad.
As you know, our air conditioner is out, with a nice hole in the main line. As we wait for the builder to repair the unit (it’s covered under our home warranty), we purchased a window air conditioner from Wal-Mart for $100. Let me tell you something. Our living room is just as cool with that thing running. It’s nice to have while we wait.
Now, I am going back into the pit to work on “the project”. I was hoping to have it done tonight, but that just wasn’t going to happen.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
24
I had a busy day today. We celebrated the birthday of Gidget’s sister, April. She turned 50 years old today. Not too shabby for a girl who wasn’t supposed to live past the age of three.
I’ve been working hard on a new project, which I will hopefully be able to write about tomorrow night. Bear with me.
Until then, remember this…
Sphere: Related ContentFriendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.Muhammad Ali
Apr
23
I just don’t understand why some people are the way they are. They can be real assholes sometimes.
When someone applies for a job, they usually want to work for the company they applied with. The potential employer usually interviews the person that wants to work for the company. Right? Isn’t this how it works? Okay, now that we have that straightened out…
I applied for a position with “Company X”. They contacted me for a phone interview. Obviously impressed with my responses during the phone interview, they contact me to come in for a face-to-face interview. During the interview process I am told all about their company. I am filled in on a current project, which seemed to be a bit of a crisis for the company. After the interview I was introduced to everyone at the company, and I mean everyone. I met everyone, from the designers to the support geeks. After the introductions we returned to the conference room where I was told about current projects, two of which needed completion immediately. I was told I would hear from them on Monday.
I don’t know if I am just being a dumb ass or what, but it sounded to me like I might be getting a job offer. It turns out I wasn’t. I didn’t. And from the sounds of the email I received, I won’t.
“Company X” led me on, they made me think I was going to get an offer. They took the extra effort to introduce me to everyone at the office. They took the extra effort to fill me in on projects that were pending. They hired someone else.
Who does that? I want nothing more to do with “Company X”. I will just say one thing about “Company X”.
They better watch out because they’ve lit a fire under my ass that won’t be extinguished anytime soon. I took today off to reboot and regroup. But, tomorrow is a new day, the dawn of a new beginning for me.
They will soon realize that one person’s dawn is another one’s dusk.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
22
I started the day jumping through hoops and I’m ending the day jumping through hoops.
I woke up this morning, started my normal routine browsing job boards, and catching up on some email replies I have long neglected. Gidget started cleaning up the house almost immediately after her feet hit the floor this morning. I don’t know how she does it, but I am glad she does. I don’t know what we would do around here without her.
We made a quick trip to Fred’s for a couple things we needed for the birthday party today and then I was out the door to my Department of Labor “workshop” on Interviewing. Today was our oldest son’s 11th birthday. Yes, Gidget and I feel very old today.
The workshop was a joke, like all of the other workshops I have been required to attend since beginning to draw unemployment. I don’t see how pulling me away from my job search for 2 hours (which includes travel time) and making me waste precious funds on the fuel to get there, will help me find a job, but it’s a hoop I was required to jump through.
As the workshop concluded, I made a beeline for our favorite wing spot. Our kids get their choice for their birthday dinner. Sometimes we have tacos, sometimes fish, tonight we had hot wings. They were delicious as always, and we all had a good time. Check out the cake Gidget baked for the occasion.
She used a German Chocolate cake mix, baked on cookie sheets and rolled like a yule log to get the “tree” effect. The birds were courtesy of Freds, and the nests were Chinese Rice Noodles boiled and then colored with food coloring. I thought she did an awesome job.
As the evening wound down and the kids climbed into bed, I checked my email to find out that the second job I had interviewed for (the one I really wanted), had chosen someone else and I was no longer in the running for the position. Talk about letting the wind out of your sail. I was so sure they were going to make me an offer. Heck, the owner of the company took me around from office to office and cubicle to cubicle to meet everyone in the office. Who does that if their mind isn’t already made up?
I won’t deny that I am pissed, and I admit I am feeling very down right now, but I will not let it affect me. I won’t let it keep me down. As I type this tonight, I am checking out a few other sources for job listings, jumping through hoops once again in an effort to end the economic recession in our home.
Have a good evening, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning. I’ll be the guy over here in this corner of the Internet jumping through hoops trying to impress the lion tamer.
Sphere: Related ContentApr
21
I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am this evening.
Today started like many other days around here, except it all started an hour or two earlier than normal. The dogs wake me up every morning to let them out. They do this roughly 30-45 minutes before my alarm would have gone off anyway, no matter what time I set the alarm for.
When I let them out this morning, the sun wasn’t even up yet. I let them out, stumbled back upstairs and climbed back into bed. Not 15 minutes later I woke to our little dog, Stitches, making some of the strangest noises I have ever heard come from a dog. It sounded like a mix of complete terror and sheer happiness. It was so strange.
I ran down the stairs to see what was going on, and both dogs came running from the back of the yard when I opened the door. I did not see anything (I wasn’t wearing my glasses anyway). When the dogs started acting up, Gidget woke up too, and she ran and looked out the bathroom window. It turns out, a few deer had jumped our five foot fence on their way through to the meadow behind our house. Of course, this startled our little mongrel of a dog and he didn’t know whether or not to be excited or scared out of his mind. I can’t believe those deer jumped the fence to get into the yard and again to get out. I don’t know who was more scared. Stitches or the deer.
We tried to go back to sleep, without any luck, and our day started a whole lot earlier than it normally does. I spent the morning checking in with all the job sites, checking email job subscriptions, and submitting resumes and applications. It gets old, but I figure I will hit on the right job at the right time sooner or later.
As the morning turned to afternoon I sent out a few emails and was completely knocked over with one of the responses. One of the positions I had interviewed for (both phone and in-person) notified me that they had extended an offer to another individual. I wasn’t ready for that.
I have been out of work for three months and we are at a very critical point around here. The creditors are just beginning to call, and if things don’t pick up soon, things could get very ugly. I think I was more shocked with the blunt response via email than I was about the job itself. Don’t get me wrong, the job would have been nice, but this obviously is not the one that is waiting for me. It’s almost like I am happy and sad at the same time. Now I know how the dog felt this morning.
I am still hoping to hear some good news tomorrow about the second position I was interested in. I really like the company, and I met everyone in the office last Thursday, so I am anxious to see if they will make me an offer. Until then, I will keep moving forward.
Sphere: Related ContentWe keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney