Back In the Saddle Again redut

Ah, I’m working again at last! Only off for three months this time! Three months? Ackk!!

And I only have a three month contract – how ironic! The job is through Robert Half Technology with a giant law firm in Chicago, so I get to ride the train every day. This is great on several levels: I’ve been wanting to get an assignment through Robert Half as they are a premier tech consulting firm and can probably keep me working steady; and I will finally have experience at a law firm which will give me more opportunities to apply for work. This is because almost all law firm employment ads stipulate up front that only applicants with previous law firm experience need apply. I think this is because they have special software to support, or they have ‘special’ users to support; although, I must say that everyone I’ve met here so far has been extremely friendly and cooperative. It’s a very nice work environment – so happy to be working again! And here’s a cool thing: this is the law firm where Barak and Michelle Obama met! Neat, huh?!

I am definitely taking the opportunity to complete my MCSE certification while working here – I missed several jobs this time out only because I didn’t have it – not that the jobs required it; it was just a way to eliminate candidates. These days employers can be very picky! I have online training available to me through Robert Half, plus I still have access to similar resources through Manpower from last year. These both require connectivity to use, however, so I am also looking for cheap (read: free) programs I can load up and use on the train. My goal is to get the cert before this contract ends. I have been working on SQL through Manpower recently. Anyway, the job is good, and I’m glad to have it!

So updating…. Let’s see. Oh, Chicago lost the bid for the Olympics. We were very disappointed with that. You could feel the city gearing up for the big push to 2016; there was energy in the air. Now, I know you could read polls in the press that the populace was somewhat ambivalent about supporting it, but I don’t know who they talked to for those polls ‘cause everyone I heard from was all for it! The possibilities were vast – the plan was well thought out and very creative; it would have left positive constructions behind and the most overwhelming structures were to be temporary; plus the whole place would have been cleaned up and modernized (not that it’s not a very clean city now – if they’d just separate the storm drain system from the sanitary system so the air would smell a bit better generally). Mostly it would have made Chicago international. It’s got a bad rep right now (politics as usual for the last 150 years haven’t helped that, of course – but they’re actually working on that and the future looks much better).

On the other hand, I can understand the thinking that gave it to Rio: never had an Olympics in SA (and I think this is the first serious contender to come from that continent), and if any city needed the shot in the arm an Olympics has the possibility of providing, it’s Rio! Their rep is probably work than Chicago’s world-wide, what with 2 million of it’s citizens living in poverty, the drugs, the crime, the slums etc. etc. – but the beaches are still nice I hear. Anyway, that’s gotta get cleaned up before 2016 so now they have a very public imperative to do what they must do. I’m rooting for them! I always want a great Olympics no matter where the venue.

Next topic: MLM has had quite a bit of dental work the last few months. Lots of fillings, a crown and a couple of extractions. It’s like her low resistance to infection has settled in her teeth like it attacked her shoulders. For as long as I’ve known her she has been absolutely rabid about oral hygiene – always flossing and brushing several times a day (she was just completing her training as a certified dental assistant when we met, then worked as one for several years so her skills in that arena are top-drawer). So, after taking such good care for all those years it’s really sad to have them fail her like this – particularly the extractions. I feel awful for her – she has a wondrous smile, you know. It was her smile that captured my heart before I even knew her. The body is all one interrelated system, of course, so we need the get the dental work done so she can have her shoulder surgery so she can get back to exercising so her overall health can improve and they can work on her elbows and her knees and her spine. Whew! THEN we can return to Disney World to celebrate our next anniversary. We were there in 2005 to celebrate our 30th; that was the last trip MLM was able to make before she was totally bed-ridden. I pray every day we might go there again someday soon…

I also pray I can get a permanent job (whatever that is) so we can move back downtown so MLM can be near her doctors. At least with the loss of the Olympic bid we can expect apartment rents to not skyrocket over the next few years. Moving to the burbs was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. ‘Course, I was working for Sara Lee at the time – planned to work there until retirement – so moving near the job just made sense. (It’s still much cheaper to live here – it always made economic sense; it just never made sanity/lifestyle sense!) Six months later, I’m laid off and life has been a shit-storm ever since. Now, I would have been laid off anyway, so if we’d still been in Chicago we definitely would have lost that apartment and who knows where we would have gone from there. Our Bishop says in times like that we need to turn to family for help, but except for some money from time to time, my side of the family has studiously avoided offers of shelter, and if I bring it up the subject gets changed. At least my in-laws have stated from the very beginning that we can move in with them if we need to, and that is much appreciated! For now we are stuck in the apartment we’re in because my credit rating is so poor I cannot qualify for housing in any area we would want to live in (safety), and I’m still working toward getting all the required fees to our attorney so we can file for bankruptcy. So, once I get a permanent or long-term position, it will be at least three years for my credit to clean up enough to move to another apartment. At least when we signed our renewal this year we got $80 a month reduction by committing to a 14 month lease instead of a year. Every little bit helps.

Wow! Super-sized post, eh? Well, it’s been a while, and I have a lot I need to get out of my head, plus I don’t think anybody reads this anymore anyway so it doesn’t much matter, does it?

What else is going on ? Well, I finally got all the Christmas and train stuff out of the living room and into storage. I have a lot of loose papers and cartons of clothing to deal with, but then the living room is done. I am also driving around with a home hospital-type bed in the van that a friend from church is loaning us for MLM to use after her surgery. I am waiting for help from the brethren to get it out of my van, up the stairs, and set up in the living room. How Christmas rolls this year will depend on how long this contract runs. Right now it’s supposed to end on Dec. 11th, but if they can’t make the schedule – and they’re currently behind – then it may get extended. Also, I’m not really working that much on the project. I got the day shift for follow-up rather than the second shift doing the migrations. This means I support the user community all day for 40 hours a week; the guys that got the migration shift are only doing 20-30 hours a week! So I lucked out there (actually, the client placed me here because they wanted a professional, competent tech who could work well with the attorneys). And of course, I continue to look for better paying and/or permanent work on the job boards every day. Anyway, I am hoping to do some nice new decorations for the holidays this year. Time will tell.

The Polar Express is in the warehouse for now, along with a few accessories, the extra track, and the Dept 56 buildings. I have to look at this dispassionately and determine what I want to do with trains as opposed to what I can do with them. Maybe I will leave this discussion for another post. Or I may start a new blog focused only on trains. That might be best.

So, here I go, keeping the faith and putting one foot in front of the other all day long…