Long Frustrating Week

I haven't posted since Saturday???

It's been a difficult week...

We were beaten to a pulp by the blizzard that ripped its way though the area on Sunday. Chantel and her mom were supposed to fly to Las Vegas Sunday morning, but the flight was cancelled. The storm hit right before they got to the airport. They were trying to catch a different flight, but to no avail. They didn't get back to her house until late in the day.

The storm kept me from leaving my house even though I would not hesitate to go somewhere if I felt the need. I was going to see a movie with Mike (Bro) that night, but he had heard a lot of streets were closed. He is new to driving a 4x4 (he just got a Range Rover) so he was not comfortable trekking across town. I didn't even bother to see if the movie theater down the street was still open.

The next morning was gloomy, but the storm had ended. I was waken by Erik. School was closed. Irene, my ex, dropped him off on her way to work. I got up and hung out with Erik for a while. Kevin was stuck out at our friend's house in Calhan. He spent the night there on Saturday and couldn't get out during the storm. The Interstate had re-opened, but the east/west highways were still closed.

A snow plow came down the street. I was surprised how quickly they got to the residential streets. It started warming up very quickly. The street in front of my house had a nice path cut into it that I could see was already melted down to the pavement. My driveway was a sheet of ice about an inch thick. All of the snow had blown off just leaving this thick crusty ice. There was no way I was going to be able to clear it off.

Chantel called, her kids were home as well. Erik and I decided to go visit. I was not sure that was a great idea considering the roads may be worse in other parts. We would only have a few hours since I had to be back for Kevin if they were about to clear Highway 24. It was my night to take the boys to dinner (my week without the kids). We took the truck.

The streets were relatively clear through town. A few patches where the plows needed to make a few more passes. The Interstate was clear. I probably could have made it in the car without any problems but I felt better in the truck. It took us longer than usual to get to Chantel's because of all the cars that had been abandoned on the Interstate. There were cars, buses, and semis stuck in the median, so in really bad shape. Up in Castle Rock there was a delivery truck on its side in the median. It amazed me how quickly things were warming up. Springtime in Colorado, you gotta love it.

I got a call from Irma that the highway was opened and they would be taking Kevin to my house soon. I told them I would be back in a few hours.

Chantel's older boys went to the mall with Marasel (one of these days I'll figure out the spelling) before we got there. I guess they were thinking we would be staying for dinner. Erik played video games with Josh. Erik likes Josh a lot, but he was hoping the other boys would be there too.

Chantel and her mom rescheduled their trip for Tuesday so she was repacking her bag. A few days before she had tried some things on to get my opinion. To be honest I was nervous. She has a great body, and with the clothes she was taking she was going to get a lot of guys eye-ing her. I joked about her just taking some plain clothes.



Chantel asked if I would be able to take her and her mom to the airport Tuesday evening. I had no real plans for the next day so I agreed (OMG, I have to meet her mom). She could have had her brother take them, but she wanted to see me again before they went.

Erik and I had to get back down to get Kevin and go to dinner. We ended up at Red Robin since Texas Roadhouse had a 90 minute wait. We had a good evening. I kept them a little longer since Irene was at some dinner thing with her boyfriend.

I spent most of the next day with Chantel, helping her with some shopping and re-packing...again. Josh came down with a cold and was not himself. Apparently he likes me more than most people. I sat there on the couch and rubbed his back. I guess he won't even allow his dad to do that. I thought that was kind of sad. He is such a sweet kid.

I got them to the airport on time. I started missing her immediately (is this normal?).

The next day I was very depressed. It has been 6 weeks since I had a job. I had not heard back about interviews for far too many days. Being out of work is really getting to me. It didn't hit until this day because I was distracted by Chantel. I was not motivated and felt like I may have to start looking for contracts out of state. I have avoided this because of my kids, but I was not expecting to be unemployed this long. I spent the entire day online searching for jobs. I looked for work in LA, Detroit, Dallas, and Phoenix. I stuck to these places because I don't want to go somewhere that I don't know anyone. It was a very long day.

Thoughts of missing my kids was making me even more depressed that night. I told myself, quoting my good friend Arlene, "get a grip!". I realized that I was being to passive in my search since jobs in the past were just dropping in my lap. I needed to be more aggressive. I was going to get on the ball tomorrow.

I woke early. I have been anyway since I have been having a lot of back problems. I immediately started contacting all of the agencies that have put me in for jobs to find out what is going on. No immediate response. I then started scouring other job search sites looking for other places that may be posting other than on Monster.com. I kept seeing the same jobs I was already submitted for.

A recruiter that I had missed in my flurry of morning e-mail reminders called to see if I had heard anything about the position she put me in for. I told her I haven't heard a single word. She was annoyed with that and said she would rattle some cages and get back to me ASAP.

I got out and started rotating the tires on my car. I was way behind on doing that. I thought about what else I could be doing to find work. I got a call from the last agency I was with. The permanent job they had put me in for was not going to be able to meet my salary requirements. I asked what they could do. I agreed to a lower salary (can you tell I am getting desperate?), but she couldn't tell me the client because it was going through her colleague. Some of the rules these people have piss me off.

I decided to take the car down to the car wash. I needed to clean under the hood as well. I left the phone in the car. While I was washing the road shit from my mobile I got a message from an old colleague that thought of me as soon as he heard they had an SCM opening. He did not know I was not currently working. He informed me that a bunch of my old colleagues were working for him. We all worked together back before 9/11 knocked the company we were at (Opuswave) under a bus. He contacted me this morning saying that he submitted my resume to the hiring manager with his recommendation.

What a difference a day makes...

Today I am working on cleaning up the truck and getting ready for my week with the boys. Tomorrow is going to be a bitch. It is opening day for Little League. Kevin has team pictures at 7:30am, a game from 9 to 11. Opening ceremonies starts at 12. Erik has his team pictures at 1:15, then a game from 5 to 6:30. I am going to be exhausted.