On week 3 of unemployment (1 week officially as of today, but the bank doesn’t care about that).

I am not sure how many apps and resumes have been sent forward, but haven’t received a call back yet. Starting next week I move to “phase 2″ where I begin no longer looking for an equivelant job, but a decent paying job and decent paying part time gig … I shutter at “phase 3″. Until then, we now begin looking for things we can sell to pad the bank account until income comes in.

Ebay and Craigslist may be my income make for a few days.

Emotional level is much better … now I just get tired instead of depressed and cranky.

I stepped back into my previous work on Tuesday to officially say goodbye to some people there. It was good, like I was able to close the gap on that part of my being “positionally eliminated”. (You guys feel free to write me so I know how you are doing as well).

Wednesday I went to Corban University College, saw that they had a Masters in counseling program starting up in 2009 … might look into that, but again same reason I don’t finish my current Masters now is time and money. A friend from school/church/life has been promoted to Provost there … very proud for him, God has moved him into that position! He is quite a smart guy and have always enjoyed talking with him and listening to his formulations of ideas. Except … he seems so serious now, I miss his laughing. But it was like the first week of school and all … so I will let it slide. What I find humorous is that in this new position, he was “forced” to get a cell phone so he tried to add me in, but was fumbling through.

Pretty much most of the things I wanted to do my first week off didn’t happen. Too busy looking for jobs. I know a few people out of employment currently and even thought about forming some kind of group to pass along ideas to each other for … the Fellowship of the Unemployed. Catchy?!?

I might try to write a song tomorrow. It will either be cornball or ok. Not sure how it will go. I hope to give William Hung a run for his money.

UPDATE: I checked my iMatch skills (through state of oregon, a job seeking app) It matched me to a job opening in the location I was just laid off from. I guess I can be thankfull it wasn’t my old position! The irony!!

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Kenzi

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Google announced recently that there photo application (Picasa photo albums) will have a feature where it can recognize faces from your pictures and allow you to lump them together.

Weird.

Being able to have facial recognition … what are the applications of this? For those that have built in cameras in their computer/laptops, does this mean that Big Brother has another way to find you? I found it interesting (and kind of cool, but I tend to be a techno geek anyway).

Read more here. Picasa Picture Recognition

UPDATE:(OK … after clearly looking into the new app, it doesn’t recognize your face in a crowd, or  mark you into the big brother arena.) The amount of hits on the site was quite incredible for today alone though!

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Our family saw this recently and thought it was worth bringing back in.

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All these pictures were taken at Wildlife Safari.My favorite is the top one!

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These are some jobs that just don’t quite fit me …

• Cook for fine dining restaurant (please … I got maybe 4 recipes and the mostly end in Ramen or N ‘Cheese)
• Live Sign holder (I am not somber enough)
• Model/Dancers needed (have you seen this white boy dance? Good, cause there are reasons)
• Bingo caller (been there, done that)
• Roofer needed (I had a tough time just placing a roof on a shed!)
• Home Cleaning Equipment (vacuum … that sucks … l did it for two weeks)
• On call/substitute bus driver (noooooooooooooooo!!!!)
• Henchmen for evil empire (my all time favorite now, but it has now been removed … hmmm)

Many have asked what is it that I would like to do. It has been a hard question to answer because the only thing that excites me is to be a pastor. I think because of our debt, that I wouldn’t want a church to have that burden to pay for me. So I most likely would have to go to do a different career.

Having evaluated comments over the years of what people saw as my strengths and what I feel personally fulfillment in, I would like to utilize the following skills:

• leadership
• communication (spoken)
• listening/counseling/advising/encouraging
• relating the Bible
• humor

I do not believe that any would exist in my life in their current capacity if it were not for Jesus giving them to me. God has shaped those areas and continues to do so. The interesting thing on the 3rd one is that on all those gifting assessments/test, I have always had my lowest score be mercy … and yet I have always seem to be around those that need someone to talk to. For a while it seemed I was a counselor to several pastors in town! People have always said that I listen well (now if I could be that consistent with Mer!) I do believe that whatever that “gift/talent” is … it is from God though because of the way that service helps others, even in my slightly impatient modes. Sometimes I just want to tell people “are you kidding me!? Do you not see the impact of (behavior)!?” Sometimes I actually do … and it actually helps them out??? Unbelievable. The problem with this is that I am not a licensed counselor, so I can’t do it as a career.

I had joked around with some friends recently saying I should hire my self out as a spiritual guru (or spiritual coach, spiritual adviser) but it just sounds cheesy! Hi, my name is Randy … and you need me to guide you in this dark world. But the weird thing is that I keep thinking I should explore it, but in a non-cheesy way.

I don’t prefer to do sales jobs, because I don’t want people to think of me as “that guy who always wants me to buy something from him”, plus during my Kirby Vacuum career … I regretted using my persuasive skills to make me money off of a poor family and vowed not to do that type of thing again.

I like to write, but my style is not necessarily professional as it tends to be more like how I talk.

I read a book recently that Vin gave me to borrow, “48 days to the work you love“. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It helped me think through a little more on some things. By trying to think through what my skills/strengths are, I might find a job that might be more my calling. Good stuff.

I do still plug away though looking for something for now, trying to see if there is even serious legitimate things that can be done at home to be near the family more.I do see the weirdest behaviors in me though. At times I get pumped to just flood the market with applications and resumes, and then at times I just want to watch Perry Mason.

I so desire to see what God will do with this situation.

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In my job hunting, I have found a few different jobs that at first seem very appealing. In my ongoing effort for truth, justice and the American way … I wanted to post some of these that just seem to good to be true.

First of all, beware of craigs list. (do a google search on Craigslist and scam, and you will see a lot of responses)

1. Online surveys - at first glance, seems to be legit. We have all filled out some kind of survey or another, why not get paid to do so? But the overwhelming Bill Gates type income to make from this (and many of the others) doesn’t add up. One morning I decided to try it out. I created a new email (from gmail) and signed up. Immediately I began “working” filling out surveys. Two hours later I had finished 2 large surveys, and about 5 smaller surveys. Each one prompting me to fill out yet another survey. Some surveys ask for private information (which I didn’t give) mostly they asked for information on products. After the effort, I decided that it wasn’t for me. I couldn’t spend my time doing this no matter how many “millions of dollars” I could do. At that time I decided I would google the company name and then found out .. they never pay.
2. Processing refunds - The idea behind this is that there are people who deserve certain refunds. Sounds good because you are helping people find these refunds that are theirs … you are not ASKING for money, but GIVING money. But the deeper you go you find out that these instances are few and far between, costs you money to sign up for their program (from 19.99 to 199.99) and the only person who makes the money, is not you. In most cases you end up actually peddling a product for other companies, you offer “discounts” via reimbursements where you get a slice of the refund pie. The problem in this is, the consumer can just go directly to the company and get it, knocking you out of the picture.
3. Turn-key business - some of these actually are legit. The problem is in the enormous start up costs to buy the “Training and equipment”. You have to ask, is this a viable product that people will purchase and have a “need” for? (How many buttons does one truly need? Or is there seriously a market for writing pens?). You would be better off designing and creating your own.
4. There was a position open for management at a local Victorias Secret. Wifey-poo nixed that idea, even after trying to explain that she could get good discounts on items in the store!

First lesson learned: google search everything - if there is no easy way to contact someone for further follow up … it is not worth it. Many of these are designed to get you to survey products for free, and some are phishing sites designed to get your personal information

Second lesson learned: just because a company says they are “legitimate” doesn’t mean they are. This was quite hillarious, the new gig they are doing is to recognize the “bad” companies/opportunities out there, and then let the consumer/victim be aware that “we are not like that … we are … legitimate!”

Third lesson learned: there is no such thing as just getting a lot of money without putting hard work in to it. “Get rich quick” only works for the person that is telling you, but won’t work for you.

Fourth lesson learned: find a job your spouse will be ok with you doing. There is no sense on spending a HUGE chunk of your life away from your spouse, in something that she dislikes or even might think is unethical. As a man, you will lower your “respect bank” severely. (no I didn’t even apply for the Victoria’s Secret job.

Learn from mine (and others) mistakes/adventures/discoveries. Work hard and find a job you could work hard at.

P.S. I have one of those google advertisements on the side of my blog, it will be interesting to see how many of these “don’t do jobs” wind up there.

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Recently I began taking up carving again (I am a total hack, but at least in the ballpark of what it should look like). All week Kenzi has been asking if she could carve on the wood to. I am thinking no, because she WILL carve off a finger, and that wouldn’t be good (even though she is beyond the need to count on her fingers, there are many other useful things that can be done that require 10 digits.)

But I do decide to help her carve a turtle out of soap. I gave her basic instructions, and she was intent on doing it as I said. She did well.

Afterwards I noticed that she was trying to put together a kit (of tools and her current work and extra soap) … just like me. WOW! It may not seem like a lot, but I was honored!!

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soccer chick

mentos fountain

jump

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