One week has elapsed in my new life as a house husband. This happens to be the title I'm most fond of at this particular time since I'm technically a kept man. Other titles include Man of Leisure, Errand Boy, and Unemployed. Anyways, there's much to do around the house and I feel like I'm getting myself back in shape. These are all positives in my book.
I've only applied to one job at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and really like the idea of working there. A job with a noble cause seems rather appealing after helping car dealers increases their car sales over the last nine years. I'm toying with doing some fun volunteer work to fill in the days.
The first week of unemployment was like a vacation. The second week, meaning today, has been a bit more sobering. It does get to me that my former company decided after working there for nine years, I was expendable. Maybe this explains why my pay was as crappy as it was, but alas… those days are behind me. I will do my best not to dwell on the past, but I do have heaps of time to ponder.
Tidbits I've learned about myself in the last week: Daytime TV still sucks and I can't understand why NBC needs the fourth hour of the Today Show. It's hard to change spending habits when you have heaps of free time. Kotex changed its packaging. Fry's Electronics is lame store. Expedia's customer service is really terrible. I can kill time like nobody's business. Finally, my daughter and wife enjoyed visiting Mt. Rainier on Mother's Day. Baby Singe sees Mt. Rainier and says "it's slippery", love that kid.
Wait until the 8 month mark.
I took to calling it “funemployment” pretty early on. And as long as you have some form of income coming in, it is fun. I didn’t work consistently for 6 months, and I wasn’t bored even one day. Plenty of time to enjoy and get dinner on the table. heh.
I’m not touching the Kotex, but I think NBC can’t resist unscripted entertainment. Translation “ka-ching”. The news writes itself, as they say at crappy news stations everywhere.
Stay strong, I think the BM&G foundation would be a good place to work. They might do less cost cutting than elsewhere.
Again the best advise came from TBTL, I have nothing good to offer in this instance other than an invite for beer. Beacon Hill pub I hear actually has good beer, or light railing down to Columbia City Ale House might be an attractive option. Other than that, just think of how awesome you’re going to feel when someone offers you a new job, and they will. Until then, live the moment and enjoy…aw forget it…the buy a beer option IS much better.
DVDs and on demand cable as well as blog reading were my saviors when I was between jobs. Oh and lots of cooking. Go back to my old blog and you’ll see loads of cooking when I wasn’t working. And the fun of cooking was I could walk to various markets so that gave me time outdoors. Oh and walking to the public library since I couldn’t justify spending money on books. Berkeley was a wonderful city in which to not be employed.
You may hit this point of boredom and frustration but when youfind yourself employed again, you’ll miss the endless hours you have now.
And what is up with the Kotex thing? How dare they change their packaging.
Love that you notice Kotex changed it’s packaging because I noticed too and I guess it makes more sense for me to notice, hey what are you doing browsing tampons anyway?
Hey there..
I can understand the ‘hey.. waitaminute’ kind of feeling you must be having.. but honestly.. don’t let it stop you for one second from wallowing around in the extra time and enjoying every minute of it. You’re going to move onto something even better, but you already know that.
“It’s slippery.” That’s adorable.
I am/was always amazed how a day can fly by when I’m not at a “job”. It’s like time speeds up!
I like Man of Leisure. I sometimes dream about becoming a Lady Who Lunches, aka Chicks With Huge Hats.
I think here they’d call you a Hausherr. And that’s way better than my title, Hausfrau.
I like the idea of you and charity work. Don’t forget teaching–the world could always use a few more French speakers, don’t you think?
Definitely keep an eye our for the non-profits! They’re awesome and you meet terrific people.
Good on you for using this as an opportunity what you’d like to do. Enjoy the freedom.
Funny how being 86′ed from a job you spent so much time with makes you re-evaluate what you want out of life – both personally and professionally.
Hope you find that gig that makes you WANT to go to work every day.
Kirk – I’m going to make damn certain it doesn’t get past the 3-4 month mark, easy to say at the start of week three.
LesleyG – yeah, I’m not bemoaning the fact at all. I love the term “funemployment” for this period and have adopted it. Thank you. It’s so nice to have spare time for the things I want to do, like exercise and gardening that has alluded me in the past.
Bob – I’m holding out for the B&MG since I think it would be intriguing work and they have unbelievable benefits. Thanks for the encouragement. I sometimes watch NBC, but not much these days.
Wheelson – what exactly is the TBTL advice? I would be up for meeting you in a place not called Red Apple Market or Bellingham if you’re down with it. I know it will be so nice to have a new job doing something completely different than before. Bring it!
Kailyn – I’m digging the endless hours. I need to be better about documenting these times on my computer, but I’ve been keeping myself busy away from the laptop. I believe I will attempt more cooking in the near future. Tomorrow I plan to make some awesome banana bread/muffins from scratch with all the fixings. Seattle’s a pretty good city to live if you’re unemployed. How dare Kotex!
Essentially Me – during my grocery run, I had a piece of paper that said “Kotex” so I bought them after sending a text or two to Mrs. Lessinges to confirm the appropriate absorbency.
Golden – I enjoy this message coming from you for many reasons, thanks.
Sizzle – I can hardly keep track of what I’m doing during these days. Which reminds me I need to make a list each day so I can keep track of my Honey Do items.
Pants – this comment was perfect. There’s a whole world out there for the unemployed people. It’s quite odd if you ask me. The Chicks with Big Hats are fun to watch in their native habitat.
Gwen – teaching has been on the brain. Non-profit has also been on the brain. I have some thinking to do. I would love love love to start my own business, but that requires a few things I don’t have: a business plan, money, and a solid idea.
Michelle – sounds like you must do some non-profit work, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I kid.
Amanda – that’s exactly what I fully intend to do. After 9 years of working, I like the downtime. It’s not completely downtime as much as it is slowed down time.
Eunice – it’s quite true what you say. Why after 9 years of work was I expendable? That still rubs me the wrong way, but their freaking loss, not mine. The odd thing is I never dreaded going to work. It was an enjoyable place to be and I had fun there. Not a great paying job, but fun and damn did I ever learn a lot.
i’m glad you’re enjoying the kiddo, that will be something you remember when you’re working again and your (brief, I’m sure) time off is just a memory.
why does your blog tell me I need to log into some twitter.com thing every time i come here or try to look at the comments? i don’t know what that’s about. this big weird box pops up.
Oh, hang in there. It gets better. After it gets worse, of course, but it does get better.
And I’m sending tons of good juju that you get the job with Melinda and Bill. That would be fan-friggin-tabulous!
Nice to know there’s someone else besides me who’s on the dole.
Sari – I found the Twitter sign in issue finally. It was a damn widget I added to the right margin of my blog. The kiddo is good with one tiny exception, her late bedtime is an issue, 10:35pm tonight. Yep, enjoy the now.
emma – I feel so much better about things a couple weeks after typing this post. It’s really quite nice. I didn’t get the Bill & Melinda Gates job, but I knew it was a longshot. Their benefits are incredible. Take care.