I have officially been in Texas for one week now – I won’t count my arrival last Saturday because I didn’t get into town until after ten at night.  I made the drive from Colorado Springs to San Antonio in one shot.  I made two stops throughout the course of the fourteen hour trip for gas and to use the bathroom.  I left Colorado Springs around eight in the morning and made my first stop in Clayton, New Mexico.  Clayton was a smelly and ugly place so I was quick to get back into my car to drive.  My car was packed with only a few things really; most of the stuff would just be put into the moving truck after our house is closed on.  I made a makeshift clothes bar from some leftover PVC pipe in the garage and hung all of my clothes on it.  Everything else was just packed into a medium sized luggage and my backpack.  For the drive I had packed some sandwiches, a bag of animal crackers, and two bottles of Gatorade.  I also brought a couple of apples and bananas (I like to eat, eat, eat, eeples and baneenees) so I would feel like I was eating healthy.

After leaving Clayton it was only a short while before I hit the Texas border.  I initially thought it seemed far too easy to have already arrived in Texas, but it didn’t take long for me to better understand how huge Texas really is.  It took some adjusting for me to make the move from Massachusetts to Colorado – Colorado is approximately ten time larger than Massachusetts!  So really, Colorado is quite a large place.  But then to try and fathom that the state of Texas is two and a half times larger than Colorado?  That’s just hard to comprehend without driving through it.  And driving through it.  And driving through it some more.  There is a whole lot of nothing between some of the towns in Texas.  There were periods of time where I was the only vehicle on the road for thirty or forty minutes at a time!  Most of the drive was at 65 or 70 miles per hour, but as I approached some tiny towns that the highway crossed through the speed limit would momentarily drop to 30.  Some of these towns (most of whose names I unfortunately forget) were miles and miles away from any real cities and it made me wonder what those people do to survive out there.  For instance, I drove through Wingate, a tiny little town smack dab in the middle of nowhere as far as the eye could see.  I honestly have no idea how long it would take for residents of that town to even get to a grocery store.  Perhaps they grow their own everything?  At one point during the drive I slowed down as I entered another similarly small locale.  As I slowly cruised through town I noticed a man sitting out in front of his house – the first human being I had actually seen in any of the little towns I had driven through!  It must have been just as exciting for him as it was for me because as he watched me drive by he began waving excitedly as if I were the first car to drive through his town in weeks.  Part of me wanted to stop and say hello to this lonely man in his lonely town but the other part of me said that I would be a prime candidate for a missing person…  So I continued on.

I also kept track of the temperature as I drove to San Antonio, which was progressively increasing the further south I went.  The peak temperature my car showed was 120 degrees!  I could not believe that there was a place so hot that didn’t include a harsh sandy desert environment.  It was at this point that I considered turning back to Colorado and wondered what I had done by making this decision to move.  I was curious as to what 120 degree temperatures felt like, so I opened my window and stuck out my arm to check it out.  I was surprised that it didn’t feel nearly as torrid as I had anticipated.  I rolled up my window and rethought my decision again.  But I soon learned that there is a significant difference between the air temperature when you’re driving seventy miles per hour down the highway and when you are at a complete stop somewhere.  Running low on gas, I stopped in Sweetwater, which is known as the Wind Turbine Capital of Texas and is also the home of the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup.  I only know this because of the billboards I passed coming into town.  I pulled into a Shell station to fill up and before I got out of the car I noted that the temperature outside was a balmy 108.  As I stepped out of the car I was immediately overwhelmed by the most miserable, uncomfortable heat I had ever felt.  Just hot.  No moisture in the air.  Just 108 degrees of unpleasant heat.  I felt like my sneakers were getting soft on the pavement.  It was absurd how unpleasant I felt and how quickly I began to perspire.  I filled my tank as quickly as possible and after a quick stop inside the station to use the bathroom and to get a Dr. Pepper for a little caffeine pick me up I was on the highway again.

Not much else to note as it pertains to the actual trip.  I arrived in San Antonio after dark so I didn’t even really see the city as I approached.  The only other highlight that I saw was a property for sale somewhere along the way.  There was a huge sign on the side of the highway that advertised an eight hundred acre property with a private hangar and landing strip.  I thought that was pretty cool.

As for my accommodations, I am residing at the home of Adam and Nichole Myers.  Nichole is Vanessa Leonard’s cousin and the Myers’ also attend the same church as Crystal’s mother’s cousin Elaine, who had offered her home to Crystal a few weeks back when she came out to look at homes.  The Myers’ had a vacation planned that almost totally coincided with my housing needs so it was a perfect fit.  I am staying here from my arrival to town on the 25th through July 7th when I close on our new house.  They have been more than hospitable to me and more or less gave me free reign over their home while they are gone with the only condition being to feed their fish.

The Sunday after my arrival, after church, I decided to check out the location of my new employer.  The campus is only ten minutes from my current living arrangements.  The place is absolutely and ridiculously huge.  I would later find out that the campus covers 286 acres and the building contain more than three million square feet of space.  The next morning I was able to truly discover how large the place was – after finding the main entrance I was guided to the staffing department who soon thereafter whisked me and about fifty other new employees up some stairs and down a huge hallway that seemed to go on for hours.  I was immediately reminded of an airplane hangar.  There were tons of people walking this way and that, as well as a number of small golf cart type vehicles and adult sized tricycles cruising around.  I tried to absorb everything I could but was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of goings on I observed.  And this was only one floor of the building!  I think there are five or six floors total in the main building.  There is also multiple fitness centers, stores, and cafeterias including a Chic-Fil-A, Subway, and Wendy’s – right on site.  I spent the majority of the week in a new employee orientation class where I learned about the mission, values, and goals of the company as well as the benefits offered.  The benefits, by the way, are spectacular.  On Thursday afternoon we completed the orientation and were picked up by another trainer specific for those working in the bank environment.  I anticipate another six weeks of training for my particular job, which I will begin on Tuesday morning.  All in all, I am quite impressed with the company, how they do business, and how well they take care of their employees.

I haven’t done anything else really.  I’m not all that enthusiastic about going exploring only because it’s not as fun without someone to go with.  On top of that, I don’t really know where to go!  I am not feeling like a tourist, so I have avoided the Alamo so far.  On Saturday, I decided to avoid the potential insanity that might come from sitting around the house by myself all day long.  I picked a few random local businesses as an excuse to get out of the house but also as an opportunity to see the town.  So I went to the following stores:
- Game Over Video Games – Specializes in retro video games and systems.  It was fun to look around and reminisce.
- Thrift Town – Kind of like a Goodwill, just a little more dingy.  Lots of odds and ends.
- Second Looks Men’s Clothing – This was a cool place.  Suits, dress shirts, etc. all on consignment.  Very inexpensive for very nice suits.
- Hog Wild Records – A (mostly) heavy metal music store.  Great employees who just talked and talked and gave me a few new recommendations.
- King’s Court Frankfurter Express – Awesome!  A real hot dog place with a nice assortment of dogs.  All Vienna beef products too.  I had a “Dogfather” – beef dog, sauerkraut, Texas chili, and bacon.  It was really good.  They also had Mexican Coke which added to the deliciousness of the lunch.  The owner was really nice too.

After that I went over to the new house and met with our realtor to take a quick look at the house.  I felt bad doing so because the owners were packing and stuff, but Crystal thought it would be a good idea to see it in person.  So I did.  What a nice house.  I am excited to move in although it is so darn big – just under 3000 square feet – I don’t know what we’re going to fill it with.  One thing is for certain…  We will need a new couch because our current couch is going to look terrible in the house.  Oh well.  One day at a time.

And there you have it.  I’ve spent the rest of my time watching movies or television – thank goodness for Netflix.  That has certainly kept me entertained during these long days.  Lots of Doctor Who.    This coming Thursday is the closing on the house, assuming Wells Fargo does their job.  Then, Saturday morning I go to the airport for the super early flight and meet with the family and the moving truck at the Colorado Springs airport where we will be headed back down to San Antonio as a complete family.

The end for now.

Texas.

I was absolutely ready to spend some time writing out my thoughts on the first handful of days I have spent in San Antonio.  But before I was to begin writing, I thought it would be nice to go out and pick up some Chick-Fil-A.  When I arrived at said chicken establishment, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were currently offering their peach milkshake.  Fantastic.  I love their peach milkshakes.  So I go ahead and order their chicken sandwich meal with extra pickles and a peach milkshake.  Driving back to the house where I am staying I think to myself, “Self, this will be a nice evening.  A pleasant meal followed by a nice milkshake and some time writing about the current events in my life.”

After pulling into the garage I hopped out of the car with a bag containing my chicken sandwich and waffle fries in one hand and the milkshake in the other.  Because I was also holding my keys, I held the milkshake from the top of the cup.  Nanoseconds after I shut the drivers’ side door and turned towards the door into the house, disaster struck!

My fingers, either slightly moistened by the minute San Antonio humidity or from trace greases left behind after sneaking a waffle fry while driving, lost grip of the cup containing my delicious milkshake.  Before I even knew what was happening, the cup collided with the smooth concrete floor of the garage.  The force of the Styrofoam cup against the hard floor not only shot the milkshake out of the mouth of the cup, but it also caused the bottom of the cup to expel not only a circular disc of Styrofoam, but the remainder of my milkshake as well.

Five minutes, a dozen paper towels, and some disgustingly sticky hands later I was shutting the garage door and preparing to wash my dinner down with a glass of water.  This turn of events spoiled my mood and so with that, I will not be doing any more writing tonight.

Henry Peirce Miller was born July 16, 2010.  He’s awesome and amazing and I am once again awestruck at God’s unbelievable work.

I finally found a job.  It’s with a certain huge banking institution.  I’m not going to mention their name because although I only skimmed through the employee handbook when I was first hired, I think I recall reading somewhere that I was not to say anything about the company in online arenas of any sort where it might be misconstrued.  Anyway, it’s not exactly what I had in mind when I had to find a new job, but now that I’m back in the game I’m enjoying it.  I am exceptionally fortunate in that I have really been enjoying the work but I also have some really great coworkers which has made the job even more enjoyable.  I’ll write more on it later.

I started school again.  I took two sixteen week classes that ended in December.  I continued in my quest to astound myself by getting A’s in both classes – astronomy and English literature.  I’m now at the point where I need to decide on a major and go for it – I have completed all of the required general education and elective courses.

A new year has come.

Leslie Nielsen died.

Um.  Not sure what else to mention.  I’ve actually made some time to write this weekend as Crystal and Henry have gone to San Diego to attend the funeral of her Aunt Gail.  It was certainly unexpected and she will be missed.  They flew out with her parents on Thursday and will be returning Sunday afternoon.  I opted to stay home with Dominic and Ezra (as opposed to going to the funeral with the boys as well) and just have some fun with them.

On Friday I took the boys to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  After we ate, I let them play for a bit in the play area.  Dominic had insisted that he carry a lollipop that he had received earlier in his pocket so it went with him into the play place.  A couple of minutes in and he came running up to me to tell me that it had fallen out of his pocket but he couldn’t find it.  He went and looked for it in the area where he thought it had fallen without success.  I told him not to worry about it and sent him back to play.  A minute or two later I spotted a little girl about three or four years old hiding in one corner of the play area.  She had the lollipop in hand and was nervously looking all around.  I immediately knew I had found the culprit.  Unfortunately, before I could do anything about it, she had popped the lollipop in her mouth, although it was quite clear she was not able to enjoy it due to the amount of time she was spending looking around in all directions.

I thought about the situation for a minute and decided that since she was already eating it I should let Dominic know – he could use the opportunity to confront her without worrying that the candy would be aggressively snatched from the girl’s grasp.  Knowing Dominic’s eating habits, he wouldn’t touch a pre-eaten anything, even if I offered him a lifetime supply of Legos.  I have a hard enough time getting him to eat food I have prepared for him, let alone a lollipop that had been licked by a stranger!  I called Dominic over and compassionately let him know I found out what happened to his lollipop.  He was disappointed but knew he had to at the very least confront her about the theft.  I let him go for it.  He approached the girl and asked her why she had taken his lollipop.  I was too far away to hear the interaction but it became quickly obvious that she was upset that Dominic dared confront her at all because she gave him the remnant of his lollipop – a partially chewed up stick with a few chunks of candy hanging on.  Dominic rushed over to me, stick in hand and made sure I knew she had eaten the majority of the candy.  The girl must have known she had upset Dominic, started for the door out of the play place.  Dominic saw she was trying to leave and asked her again, “Why did you take my lollipop and eat it?”.  Her response?

“You shouldn’t have brought it in here.”

I am serious.  This little three or four year old girl calmly said it was Dominic’s fault the candy was eaten.  At this point the little girl was within my reach, but to avoid jail time I opted to say something instead.  Just to make sure I heard her right, I asked the girl as she was opening the door, “Why did you take candy that was not yours?”.  She turned to me and without hesitation said, “He shouldn’t have dropped it”.  This was certainly one of those moments where I had to absolutely control my temper.  Although I knew she was trying to get away from the situation as casually as possible (probably because she knew if her mother or father were to get involved she would face bigger troubles), I stared her down and told her, “Maybe you should think about stealing other people’s candy, regardless of where you found it”.  The look on her face after I accused her of stealing was priceless.  She said nothing else and crept out of the play area.  Another mother sitting nearby who watched the entire interaction asked me, “Did that girl steal his candy and then say he shouldn’t have dropped it?”.  I gave her a brief recap of what had happened and she was just as shocked as I was.  It’s moments like this that make me want to whisk my family far away to a place where they don’t have to interact with the future of our world.  It’s quite depressing.  But on the other hand I was able to talk to Dominic briefly about how to handle these situations and what to do if he was the one who found something that belonged to somebody else.  I guess that’s the only benefit to dealing with children with no respect for anyone is that I can use them as an example for my kids on how not to behave.

Perhaps, as time permits, I will make an effort to write a little more about life in the next few days.  We’ll see how ambitious I am.

So, the interview began and after clarification, I apologized for not being on top of things.  Anyway, one of the questions was “If you were given this job, what would be the first thing you do?”  I did my best to answer the question along with whatever else he asked.  At the end of the interview I discovered that the guy I had been talking to was in fact the CEO and the guy I would be working for!  Whoa!  Oh well.  Anyway, he said they would be deciding on the next step by the end of the day or tomorrow morning at the latest so I felt it was more appropriate to send a thank you card via email.  Before I did, I spent some time reading about the CEO and his company.  While I was reading his biography on the company website, I found a misused word in the second sentence of the bio.  Whoops.

So, here’s the email I sent:

Mr. *****,
Normally I would send a note via postal service thanking you for the interview opportunity today.  However, since you are progressing to the next step so rapidly I felt it more appropriate to send you an email.  I certainly hope you don’t mind.
With that, thank you for taking the time for me today.  I enjoyed talking to you a little about the Executive Assistant position and I apologize for the hiccup in communication in my understanding about who the interview was for.  I appreciate you taking the time to give me a little insight about what you personally enjoy about ******; it certainly gave me a better understanding of the work environment as well as the company’s goals.    I look forward to hearing from you concerning the decisions you make for the next step of the hiring process.  Again, thank you for your time and consideration.  Respectfully, Brian Miller  P.S.  I would like to change the answer to the question regarding what the first thing I would do if I was given the Executive Assistant job.  The first thing I would do would be to correct the spelling error on your personal biography page (http://www.rjandmakay.com/about-us/891).  The second sentence states, “He regularly consultants with some of the biggest firms in the world about traditional and innovative solutions to human capital issues in the financial sector.”  (Emphasis mine).  This should read, “He regularly consults…”   Once I made that correction, my previous answer would apply.  Thanks again!

Fourty-five minutes later, just for the fun of it, I went to that page again…   Lo and behold, the word was corrected!  Ha!  So, I just have to hope that he doesn’t think I was being cocky…

***UPDATE***

I received an email from the CEO this morning.  This is what it said:

Brian,

Thank you for your interest in the Executive Assistant role. I appreciate you taking the time for our interview and enjoyed our conversation. You’re sharp and I’m grateful you caught the typo on my website.  Unfortunately, we’ve screened and interviewed many applicants (as I shared with you) for this role and have decided to go with someone else.  Therefore we will not be offering you the position, but I do thank you again for your interest.

Oh well.  After reading the original post my sister messaged me and said “Haha – probably won’t get that job”.  She was right.  Harumph.

At this point I was about to just give up.  I was out of ideas and had nobody else to call.  Fortunately, my dad decided to suggest that I write my congressman.  At first I thought, “Who does that anymore?”, but figured I had nothing to lose so I might as well give it a shot.  So last week I wrote a nice lengthy letter to Congressman Doug Lamborn as well as to Colorado Senator Mark Udall explaining my situation from beginning to end.  From being shafted by my former employer to my current status, I explained it all and sent it off via email not expecting a thing in return.  Surprisingly, the next morning I received a call from a member of Doug Lamborn’s office who was going to try and help me resolve my Medicaid issue.  She said she had a few numbers for people in that office and would see what she could do.  I reiterated my situation to her and she made sure she understood all the facts and then told me she would call me back with any details she might discover.  No more than an hour later I received a call from one of the people with Medicaid that I had left a message for more than a week before, profusely apologizing for the delay.  She also told me that the entire family had been approved for coverage and that as soon as our ID numbers (needed to claim benefits with a doctor) were generated she would call us back and provide them to us.  Wow.  Someone must have been reprimanded.  Crystal and I were ecstatic to finally have a response.  When the Congressman’s office called back to follow up all I could do was thank her for whatever she did to get something moving.

The unemployment situation came to close to the same result.  Later that afternoon (still less than twenty-four hours from the time I emailed the Senator’s office) I received a call from one of the Senator’s representatives, who wanted to know my social security number so they could pull my file from the unemployment office.  I provided that to her and she said I would hear something soon.  About an hour later I received an email that essentially said, “Someone will be calling you on this.  If they don’t, let me know and they WILL.”  Wow.  I was loving this.

Another hour or so passed and I received a call from one of the directors of the redetermination office.  He was extremely apologetic and said that basically, due to “gross incompetence” on the part of the unemployment office, all of the paperwork I had submitted six weeks prior for the redetermination of my unemployment status had been completely and totally lost (W2′s, a year and a half of pay check copies, a lengthy and detailed letter of explanation of my former employer’s shenanigans, etc.).  Fortunately I made copies of everything I had sent them for my own records and offered to fax them directly to him.  He was glad that I was so particular in keeping records and said he would personally attend to receiving my file and ensuring that it was placed in the appropriate hands.  With that, I had to find a fax machine.  The first place I thought of was the church, as it was the closest to home and least likely to charge me a per page fee.  I gave Jim, the minister a buzz and fortunately found that he was at the building.  He said it would be no problem to use the fax and to come on over.  The fax machine at the church was a little archaic; it languidly processed each page of the forty four page fax I had to send.  Including a couple of paper jams, it took about two hours to get it through.  But, Jim was nice enough to hang out with me and chit chat about anything and everything – something that I surely have needed lately, especially with the disquietude of life I have been experiencing.

Several hours later I received a second phone call from the unemployment office who let me know that he had received the fax and would be personally sending the file to the person responsible for reviewing my initial file from six weeks earlier.  Approximately one hour later I received another call, this time from Thurman, the man who would be (and apparently was previously) working on my redetermination.  He asked me several questions pertinent to my employment status and then gave me the opportunity to ask him any questions I had.  Obviously, I made it clear that I was curious as to the expected turnaround time for any benefits to begin.  He told me I would be looking at approximately four or five more weeks before anything changes!

I tried to explain that his response was unacceptable – I have gone two months without any benefits!  He explained that because the documents had just hit his desk, he would have to start the process of redetermining my status over.  The next thing they would have to do, now that they have been able to review my W2′s, pay stub copies, and other submitted documentation, is to send a letter to my former employer to see if they would respond.  Thurman also mentioned that neither of the two companies I worked for were listed with the State (furthering my belief that my former employees were certainly cheating the system) so they would have to enter them manually before sending out the letter to them.  This step alone would take approximately two weeks.  I explained to Thurman the situation I was dealing with regarding my former employers – most specifically the fact that I had requested a case be opened against them with the State of Colorado Department of Revenue as well as with the IRS and Social Security Administration.  He didn’t seem to think that made a difference in the matter.  I persuaded him to provide me with his direct line and left the conversation at that.  I decided I would take advantage of the correspondence I had with the Senator’s office to see if I could get anything else taken care of.  So I quickly put together a note explaining the lack of interest in expediting my file at the unemployment office and sent it off.

The next morning I received a quick note from my “helper” at the Senator’s office.  It said in part, “Ok—help is on the way—your case has been given a priority and we have two really good top folks working it.”  That was five days ago.  I decided to see what the unemployment office would do to make things happen before I started getting whiny again.

This afternoon I received an email from the Senator’s office.  It said, “Just got word that it looks like your UI will be released today in the amount of $3,409.00.  UI will verify that the release has actually occurred tomorrow morning.  Effective Sunday you can apply for the past 2 weeks.  Let me know when the money is received.”

Wow.  How awesome.  I wasn’t really expecting to get back benefits right away.  I was more concerned about getting the ball rolling on current benefits, but this is amazing!  I haven’t officially received anything yet, but seeing that I’ve had such tremendous success with the Senator’s office so far, I can’t imagine that the unemployment office is going to mess around with me at this point!  Hooray!

The moral of the story?  You’re never too old to listen to words of wisdom from your father.  Seriously.

When I’m not trying to figure out my unemployment status or medicaid information, I have decided to do a little to get myself in better shape.  I have taken up jogging.  Just a little bit really.  I actually started with the Couch To 5k Program, as a means to get myself going, but have modified it a bit to better suit my physical condition.  At first I thought I would have to follow the plan exactly as it is presented, especially after completing day one.  For those who didn’t check out the site, it consists of a five minute walk, a two minute run, and another five minute walk.  Unfortunately for my self-esteem, Crystal and the boys were with me when I decided to complete the day one run.  After the two minute run I was a complete wreck!  My legs ached, my lungs were wheezing and tight…  My entire body just felt miserable.  My poor wife and boys had to see first hand how out of shape their husband/dad was.  Ouch.  However, I have stuck with it and have made great strides in my ability to jog.  I have been going out every other evening after the boys go to bed and have progressed over the last four weeks to the point where I can continually jog for approximately one mile.  I have kept myself at this point for an extended time because I want to improve the time it take me to do it before moving on to longer distances.  As of yesterday, I was able to jog an eleven minute mile – not bad for a guy who has never done any physical exertion in my entire thirty-two years of life.  Maybe there is hope for me after all!  If nothing else, my lungs have felt spectacular and better than they have in as long as I can remember.  I have dealt with exercise induced bronchial spasms for quite some time but the more I am out doing some jogging, the more I wonder if it was simply associated with being out of shape.  I’m thinking so because most traces of the tightness and discomfort I formerly dealt with have gone away.  We’ll see if I can stick with it.  I certainly hope so.

With that, I should call it a day.  I’m sure there is plenty more to discuss, although none of it is worth writing about at length.  Although knowing how easy it is for me to write and write about the most meaningless of topics, perhaps I could get wordy on other topics…  But I won’t.

I do have to mention that my wife has some awesome friends and our church is pretty awesome too.  Crystal had an awesome baby shower on Saturday and the guests who attended (most of which were from our church) were exceptionally generous to us which in turn will make life a whole lot easier as we deal with unemployment as well as the last sixty days of income-less life.  We’ve also received some very generous offerings from other people who really didn’t have to and even some help from a couple we have never even met.  It’s been amazing and I am truly thankful to God for putting my life in perspective.  Perhaps this is just something that I needed to have happen to me.  It has made me appreciate things in a different perspective, that’s for sure.  I think it’s just another step in my spiritual growth, which is an awesome thing.

“Once a position has been removed from the website, it has been filled.  We always hope that there will be correspondence from the Administrator, but this is not always the case.  I know that we hope to have another position posted very soon.  I hope that you will apply with us again.”

Bummer.  Back to square one…  Again.  This certainly isn’t the most pleasant of rides.

On a more exciting note, I will be spending tomorrow afternoon and evening with my friend Brad in Denver.  For most of the afternoon we’ll be goofing around and then we’re going to Coors Field to watch the Red Sox/Rockies game!  Awesome!  I haven’t been to a Red Sox game since my senior year in high school in 1996, so this will be quite the treat.  I’m very much looking forward to it and I am sure I will report back on it later this week.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I want to take a minute to share the cute little things that my boys made for me for Father’s Day.  They are nothing huge and spectacular, but they are getting to that age where they are starting to do some things on their own (at least Dominic is).  Dominic decided to make me a card:

Not too bad, eh?  Especially considering that we haven’t been doing all that much practicing on his letters.  Crystal had to help him with the “S” but the rest he did on his own!  Ezra wasn’t able to do as much on his own, but he had a cute little project that he did on Sunday morning as part of his bible class:

You might have to click on it to see it a little better.  It’s a laminated bookmark with a caterpillar made from his little fingerprints!  Very sweet.  On the opposite side of the bookmark is the following poem:

These are my fingerprints
Tiny and small.
To place in your books
Winter, spring, summer, and fall.
They are here to remind you
The whole year through
That you’re the best Dad,
And…
I love you!

Sweet and cheesy, but I love it.  I hope to hang on to it for a while since it’s useful.  It has Ezra’s name on one side and “2010″ as well so I’ll remember when it came from.  I thought it was worthy of sharing, whether or not anyone but my mother cares is another thing.  Ha!

I have also been spending a considerable amount of time lately wondering what to do about the next phase in my education.  These are tough decisions to make!  It doesn’t help that I am struggling with the job search as well as the full time responsibilities associated with being home all day long.  I think having those things hanging over me makes any decisions that much tougher.  Since my long term goal is to get a Masters degree in Library Science, I don’t really have to be particularly picky about the bachelors degree I focus on.  For a few months now I have considered attending Manhattan Christian College out of Manhattan, Kansas for their Biblical Leadership degree.  It is a biblical/theological degree with an emphasis on leadership and ministry and it’s a program that I think would be fun as well as educational for me.  Unfortunately, the more I think about it the more I struggle with how much it will cost to attend this school.  Each three credit hour course will run me approximately $1017.00, not including the cost of books as well as some specific bible software that the degree requires me to have.  According to a preliminary review of my transfer credits by the college, I would have approximately fifty-two credit hours remaining in order to get my bachelors degree.  That’s the equivalent of eighteen classes.  At $1017.00 per class, that comes to more than $18000.00 not including the cost of books for each of those courses!  Yikes.  On the other hand, I could move forward with my degree with American Military University, the school I am already enrolled in, and take that route instead.  In that case, each three credit hour course has a cost of $750.00 and that also includes books…  That’s right – this college simply sends me the books once I enroll in a class or classes!  That’s a huge savings versus most other schools.  Although I have not had this college review my recent associates degree (it’s in process), I will assume that I will need the standard sixty credit hours for the bachelors degree, equivalent to approximately twenty courses.  That comes to $15000.00 for the classes as well as the books for each course, a significant savings.

Then there’s the deciding what major to work towards!  Decisions decisions.

More to come…  tomorrow?  Maybe I’ll even get some pictures of the family up.  That’d be nice, yes?  I also have to share the two little things I received from my boys for Father’s Day.  Very cute stuff.

For those who aren’t in the know, I am unemployed.  I officially lost my job at the leather store on May eighth.  I really don’t care to go into the ins and outs of the layoff, so if you really want to know the events leading up to and immediately thereafter losing my job, drop me a note. In a nutshell, Saturday, May eighth was the last day I worked and three days later when I went to drop my keys off, the store was vacant.  But the real icing on the layoff cake was that after filing for unemployment benefits and being denied I discovered that my employers had been withholding my taxes from my paycheck but apparently never bothered to pay them to the appropriate authorities.  So essentially the state of Colorado, as well as the IRS and the Social Security Administration show no record of me earning any wages of any kind since 2007!  Wonderful, yes?  The first two weeks of my unemployment life were spent getting all of my ducks in a row in order to present a one-off “re-determination” of my wage earning status with the state in hopes that I might be eligible for some sort of unemployment benefits.  Fortunately I was able to not only provide my 2009 W2′s with the amounts withheld, but I also sent the state copies of every single check I received from my former employer from January first, 2009 through the very last check I received.  On top of that, I provided the state with two letters written and signed by my former employer regarding my wage earning status in 2009; there was a bit of a hiccup with my state tax return this year and they had asked for a letter on company letterhead that stated what my earnings were and how much was withheld in state taxes.  For whatever reason, my employer thought it would be a smart move to provide such a document even though they never bothered to pay the taxes they withheld!  It only took a quick call to the state department of revenue to explain my situation and they were more than willing to provide me with the original letters so I could send them on to the unemployment department.  Now, I wait.  I received a letter in the mail from the unemployment office after they received my documentation and a brief questionnaire about my employment status when I was working for the mortgage company.  They simply wanted to clarify and ensure that I wasn’t a commissioned employee.  Beyond that form, I haven’t heard a thing.  According to the initial documentation I used to file the re-determination, I could be looking at four to six weeks of waiting before I receive a response.  The good news is that if I do become eligible for the benefits, the state will back pay me for the weeks since I initially applied for them.  But I still have to get approved.  Time will tell.

Other than that, I have been applying for jobs left and right.  As of Tuesday evening, I have applied for fifty six different jobs!  Most of them were beyond simply sending off a resume and cover letter – most employers have fancy-schmancy websites with a lengthy application process in order to apply for jobs.  What has been most frustrating is that most of the employers that I have applied with don’t even bother letting me know the status of my application.  There have been a few emails or letters that I have received, most that say something to the extent of “At this time, we have narrowed our search to other applicants who better meet our needs.” or “We have decided to move forward with an individual who more closely matches the skills and qualifications required for this role.”  It surely has been a frustrating ride so far.  I’ve had two real interviews; one on the phone with the State of Utah tax department, but after doing some additional research I determined that it didn’t pay enough to justify moving out of state.  The second just occurred Monday morning at a local dermatology office.  I was excited for the opportunity to interview and this particular position seemed to be a good match for me as they were looking for someone who could grow and develop within the company.  I figured if I could get in the door I’d knock their socks off with my interviewing skills.  Unfortunately I left there feeling totally unsure about what would come of the job.  I enjoyed the interview process immensely and felt very comfortable in the environment but what really got to me was how professional and stoic the interviewer was!  Typically I am a good judge of a personality and can shift my interview in directions that will best benefit me.  I guess I like to consider myself an excellent interview.  However, at this particular interview I was given zero verbal or non-verbal signs of approval or disapproval throughout the process which made it difficult for me to feel good or bad about it.  Regardless, I did my best and certainly presented myself well and will hear back about the position by the end of the week.  During the interview I was told that they received more than three hundred resumes for the one position!  If nothing else, I have to stay positive that I managed to make it to the top twelve of those three hundred applicants.  Yes, they are interviewing a total of twelve people for the position.

***Update***  This is a problem when I want to write over a length of time.  Sometimes my topics quickly become outdated.  I received the following email from the dermatology office Wednesday afternoon:

Dear Brian,

Thank you for coming in and meeting with us earlier this week.
I enjoyed getting to know you and learning more about how your career has evolved from mortgages to leatherworks.  Unfortunately, we will not be extending an offer.  It was a difficult decision, because you are a strong candidate who is professional and articulate.  However, we had a strong applicant pool and have decided to go with another candidate.
I wish you the best in your continued job search.

Back to square one!  I’m trying not to get too upset about it, but knowing that it is my only real job lead it was definitely disheartening to receive that response.  Anyway, let’s talk about something else, shall we?

When I am not applying for jobs I am trying to keep myself busy around the house.  Some of it stems from the lack of gainful employment and some of it is just my desire to keep the house nice and whatnot.  I’m also doing a lot of reading, although I don’t think I am spending as much time reading as I think I am.  Being the ridiculously fidgety guy that I am, I have found myself in the midst of reading three books at once; not a new venture for me, but still interesting nonetheless.  I simply can’t stay focused on one topic at a time, so having a few going at once makes it a whole lot easier.  I’m sure I drive my poor wife crazy doing that.

OK, I’m going to stop writing for now and work on something else.  Maybe I’ll try to find some meaning in my long days off.  Next time I’ll write about the boys and how they’re doing these days.  Hopefully I’ll write more later.  I’d love suggestions for topics to write about, so don’t hesitate to give me some ideas.

I’ve had a few days like this lately…Not really, but I thought this picture was too good pass up.  I can say that this is about how I felt this past Saturday, May 8th.  The day before was the third pay period that came and went without a check.  At this point my employers had no longer even bothered giving me excuses for their delinquency.  Early on they were apologetic, making every effort to try and keep me from up and leaving.  Over the last five and a half years they have been more than generous with me and have paid me quite well, so I thought it was only fair that I offer a little flexibility with them while they deal with some financial struggles.  But over the last six weeks I had received a single check for $1000.00; they owed me considerably more than that.  They have been dealing with some financial issues for months, but the true icing on the cake came this last Saturday when I (representing the sole employee at the store) was served paperwork for legal eviction of the retail location due to nonpayment of rents.  Yikes.  I knew this was a long time coming, but I was still feeling unprepared for what I would be facing.  After speaking with Crystal at length over the last few days and we had decided that my boss was obviously too selfish to let me go (seeing that I had been working for free out of the kindness of my heart for the previous six weeks) so the only option I had left was to force him to terminate me.  I was not looking forward to the call I would have to make (he has been on the road since February doing craft shows and gun shows throughout Arizona and California to help make ends meet).  But, I managed to get the point across and although he didn’t like it he really had no justifiable defense.  He tried to impress me with his “projected” sales figures for the store and shows for the next twelve months, but after working for him for the last five years, I knew how unrealistic his projections were.  I told him he had to let me go if for no other reason than I could no longer afford to work for free.

So now I’m unemployed.  It’s been a week now since I have been without work and I have applied for fifteen various jobs as of this morning (Sunday, May 15th).  I am struggling with a potential hiccup in my unemployment benefits; meaning it appears my former employer did not actually pay the taxes they withheld from my paycheck.  I applied for unemployment this past Monday and received the paperwork yesterday.  Unfortunately, the paperwork said that their records showed that I had made zero income last year and therefore I was not eligible for unemployment benefits!  I’m assuming the worst because I know they have done a few disreputable things in their lives…  Ahem.  I am going to get my ducks in a row to ensure I can at least evidence that I had no idea that’s what they were doing; I have received tax refunds each year and there has never been an issue with the tax returns I filed.  I’ll be requesting copies of every check I have deposited from them for the last eighteen months from my bank; that plus my W2′s should be enough to at least have a case for the unemployment benefits.  What’s worse is how my former employers handled my concern.  After I received the paperwork from the state unemployment office, I instant messaged Pat, one of my former bosses.  I asked her if I could ask a quick question and she said it wasn’t a problem.  I said, “I am a little concerned about the information I received from the unemployment office.  Can you please let me know if in fact you paid my state and federal taxes?”.  No response.  I waited a few more minutes.  Nothing.  Then – Poof!  She was offline.  Surely she wasn’t ignoring me…  So, I hopped on the phone and gave her a call.  Right to voicemail.  Great.  I sent an email to her asking why I was suddenly being ignored and if nothing else would she please provide the termination letter she said she would write.  No response.  I am now officially blacklisted.  After nearly six years working for them, through good times and bad, they are simply going to write me off.  Based on how they have handled previous situations like mine, I will likely never hear from them again.  It’s kind of sad really.   Over the last year or so they had piled up considerable debt from a number of different places, mainly from the terrible management of their retail store.  When they owed money and the companies would call them, they simply ignored them.  It was never my place to question their actions, but I certainly have learned over the years how they dealt with things they didn’t want to face.  I can’t even tell you how many times I saw them receive past due notices in the mail and simply put them straight into the trash.  Now I’m in the same category.  I’m no longer useful to them, so they’ll just throw me aside and ignore me until I go away.  The question is, what should I do?

One thing is for sure.  Once I get the unemployment situation straightened out (or not straightened out as the case may be), I am going to be sure to file an IRS form 211, which is the official form for an IRS “Whistleblower”.  Basically, if the IRS is owed money by a cheat or a fraud and they are able to collect, I will receive a percentage of what they collect.  Here’s some more information if you’re interested.  I will do everything in my power to ensure that they have to face justice.  Heh.  That sounded like something a superhero would say.  I’m also struggling with the desire to “redesign” their website (since I designed and implemented it) to better reflect their standing as honest, law abiding small business owners.  Wait…  I actually want to make a nice website dedicated to their terrible, cheating ways to ensure everyone who considers doing business with them will think otherwise.  Since I have all the passwords to the websites and they know no clue how to access it, it would be a breeze to make some creative adjustments.  I am really having a hard time controlling this urge right now.  But don’t worry; I’m not that vindictive, as tempting as it is.  “If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.”  Deep breath.

Alright, I’m going to stop now so I don’t let this entry sit as a draft for the next week until I decide to write again.  I’ll be sure to post more as time allows (which should mean that I can write twice a day!).  By the way, before I forget – check out the final verdict from Pueblo Community College:

For those who can’t see it, it shows that my final GPA for my associates degree is 4.0.  Sure enough.

Speaking of Brad and Vanessa, I feel it necessary to spend a minute extolling their awesomeness.  They have been quite the fantastic and generous hosts to us while we were homeless.  They have opened up their brand new home to us and allowed us to stay here – even before they had officially moved in!  Simply put, they have been beyond benevolent in their hosting us for the last month.  They are wonderful people and I am exceedingly thankful for all they have done for us.

From this point forward, I apologize if my commentary seems rushed from here on out.  It is now Sunday morning and I suspect today is going to be absurdly busy between getting ready for church, getting the boys ready for church and then moving, moving, moving all afternoon and evening long.

I am now approaching the final days of my community college career.  Actually, I have approximately one week of courses left before I am finished and begin the next phase of my educational life.  I’m not sure what’s next, but I DO know that I am going to take the summer off from school.  Perhaps I’ll do some genealogy…  Or maybe some metal detecting.  Or maybe absolutely nothing.  I’ll probably have to continue doing some job hunting since my multiple applications have gone virtually unnoticed except for the few generic emails letting me know I am inadequate for their needs.  I surely would like to get a new job, especially as the prospect of getting paid at my current place of employment becomes less and less likely.  Yesterday, as I was wrapping up the gross sales figures for the month of April, I decided to compare the numbers from March and April of last year with March and April of this year.  Keep in mind that the store was newly opened in January of last year, so sales would likely be less the first year of the store being open.  Comparing March of 2009 to March of 2010, last year we did several hundred dollars in sales more than this year.  As for April, last year was almost one thousand dollars more than this year!  Of course there are a lot of factors to consider with these numbers, but when considering that my pay check depends on increasing sales as the summer comes closer.

I think I’m going to wrap up this post for now.  There is another article I wish to write about for my genealogy-centric blog while it is still fresh on my mind.  It’ll just be a little note of frustration sent out to the public world.