Unemployment Nine: Four weeks and counting

Exactly four weeks ago today, at approximately 11:45 a.m., I was called into my publisher’s office while right in the middle of editing a story for the Web site. I didn’t recognize the woman who joined us but would soon learn that she was from human resources. I don’t envy her. Football teams have an expression, “The Turk,” which describes the coach or staff member who tells players they’ve been cut. It’s not an easy job. This HR person was definitely The Turk, as by 1 p.m., I was on the PATH train back to Hoboken, feeling like I got sucker-punched in the jaw.

You always hear about people getting laid off and never think it can happen to you. Guess what? It can.

So, what have the past four weeks brought?

They’ve brought three interviews, all of which I thought went well, but with varying results, so far.

One was with a start-up Web site, and I never heard back, despite two follow-up e-mails, so I have to assume that they went in another direction or never got the funding to launch.

One was with a major media company, and I would have loved this position, but after feeling hopeful after the interview, I got a good, old-fashioned, terse, one-paragraph e-mail rejection yesterday.

And the last one was with a city agency, and I won’t know anything until next week. I really think this one went well, but I also thought the one with the major media company went well, so who knows what to think anymore?

The past four weeks have also brought plenty of time to read, although I’d prefer the type of reading I get paid for.

And they’ve given me plenty of quality time with my cats, who, after being happy about the company the first couple of days, have resorted to the annoyed, “Oh, it’s YOU” look and gone back to sleep, with 8-Ball snoring like a truck.

They’ve given me a little perspective. I’ve learned a lot about which issues are really serious and which issues that seem serious at the time are really trivial.

I’ve also learned that aside from the obvious reasons for wanting to find a new job quickly, the most important one is that the pool of unemployed people is about to become deep enough to hide Atlantis.

Even when I try to avoid news on the Web, which is next to impossible, just hearing things from friends is disheartening. One friend who landed a temp assignment with a major beverage company lost her chance to have her status change to permanent when the person who hired her got laid off. Another who works for a trade association reported that one-third of the staff was wiped out. And the media industry, where I’m trying to land, is in total chaos.

Things are starting to get a little scary.

Unemployment Nine: Roller coaster down

I think one of the hardest things about being unemployed is the emotional roller coaster the job search takes you on, and this week, the roller coaster is flying downhill.

roller coaster

I went on an interview last week that I was particularly hopeful about, with a major media company, for a position that seemed like a perfect fit. The fact that I spoke with three different people boosted my hopes, as you’d like to think that if person No. 1, the division’s boss, wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t have wasted the time of Nos. 2 and 3.

I got a form e-mail rejection note today. It came as somewhat of a shock, as I didn’t think I’d hear anything until late this week or sometime next week. As I said in a previous blog, it was one of the first job interviews I walked out of saying, “I want THIS job,” rather than, “I want A job.” I really thought it was in the cards.

I’m not down on myself. I know part of the problem is that there have been so many layoffs in the industry that the pool of competition is deeper than usual. And I know nothing is ever guaranteed, so I wasn’t exactly scouting for lunch locations in the area where this company is headquartered.

But it still sucks. I really, really wanted this job.

It doesn’t help matters that as I sit here typing this Wednesday afternoon, I have sent out a whopping total of one résumé this week. The job sites I’ve been surfing are as barren as they’ve been since my layoff. And I’m very concerned that with the holiday season approaching, this may be the norm, rather than the exception.

So, what else can I do? I’ll revisit the sites, double back with some connections and hope for the best. I just hope there’s an incline coming for the roller coaster, and soon.

Marley & Me

If you love animals, especially dogs, stop what you’re doing instantly and get your hands on a copy of Marley & Me, by John Grogan.

The unforeseen glut of free time I’ve encountered lately has left me with a lot of time to read, and my girlfriend was kind enough to supplement my library stash, as I’d reached the point of rereading some of my Stephen King favorites and my currently tight budget doesn’t exactly feature room for books.

Marley & Me

Despite the two rather portly examples of the feline species who share my apartment, I’ve always been a dog person. I’ve never had my own dog, largely because I just don’t feel like my schedules and living situations over the years would have been fair. But I’ve spent quite a lot of time with them and around them, and I definitely intend to be the proud owner of a canine furball at some point in my life.

For those who don’t like pets, or who don’t understand pet owners and how they feel about their animals, read Marley & Me. If, after reading this book, you don’t grasp the emotional connection between pets and their humans, you might be beyond help.

Marley & Me is the story of a newlywed couple and the yellow Lab puppy they adopted, following Marley the dog through his adulthood and old age and introducing his three human brothers and sisters into the mix.

Anyone who has ever owned a pet will relate to the stories told in this book. Animals have a unique and humorous way of getting themselves into trouble, and every pet I’ve ever been around has a little bit of Marley in him or her.

So stop reading this stupid blog and get your ass to the bookstore. Now. Git.

Save me from zero

The new Toyota commercial, based on “Saved by Zero” from 1980s few-hits wonder The Fixx, must die.

Commercials are a necessary evil and, while most are annoying, some really grate on my nerves. This Toyota ad is one of them.

Maybe it would almost be tolerable if it wasn’t the first commercial in every single ad break during Sunday NFL coverage and the World Series. Probably not, but maybe.

But I’ve had it. This is the most irritating ad I’ve encountered in quite some time, and it needs to die.

Save me from zero. Please.

Fuck you, Toyota. Honda for life. Represent.

Unemployment Nine: Hopeful

I don’t have a job yet, but my blah of earlier this month is starting to fade, which is promising.

I went on two interviews last week, and I really feel like both went very well. One was with a major media company, and it’s one of the first job interviews I walked out of saying, “I want THIS job,” rather than, “I want A job.” The other was with a city agency and, while I would really prefer the media job, this one had its good points, too.

2008 Shannon Lounge Softball Team

And for only the second time in my 20 years or so of playing softball, I was a member of a championship-winning team. This one was much more special than my first, as I was actually on crutches with a torn ACL (suffered while playing football) for the semifinal and final game of my first championship, with my only contribution being coaching third base while leaning on a crutch.

So congratulations, Shannon Lounge, 2008 Hoboken Co-Ed Softball League Champions!

Unlike my last self-imposed break from job hunting, this one did not involve alcohol, but recovery from it. The celebration last Thursday night was legendary, and I seriously don’t think I accomplished one productive thing Friday. Getting out of bed before 2:30 p.m. is usually a precursor to being productive.

But I’m back on the case today, a prisoner in the house while waiting for DHL to deliver my new cell phone. And I’m really hoping for some good news on the job front this week.

The 2008 Dallas Cowboys: False start

The National Football League has changed a great deal since I became old enough to appreciate it in the mid- to late 1970s. And one of the most significant changes is that being an NFL player is now a full-time job.

The days of NFL players using training camp to get into shape are long gone. Now there are mini-camps, passing camps, organized team activities and countless other opportunities for players to work with their teammates.

By the time week seven of the NFL season is reached, teammates have worked together so much that everything should be running like a finely tuned machine.

Penalty flag

So why can’t the Dallas Cowboys, an alleged Super Bowl contender, master the simple task of not moving until the football is snapped?

Obviously, false starts are far from the only problem dragging Dallas down. But in Sunday’s debacle loss to the St. Louis Rams, every time the Cowboys’ offense started to gain the slightest bit of momentum, down came the yellow flag. And all of the calls were correct.

An offense that was already struggling without starting quarterback Tony Romo could ill afford seeing third-and-one becoming third-and-six and, even worse, fourth-and-one in a situation where they were about to try for the first down becoming fourth-and-six and yet another field-goal attempt.

But what’s the answer?

Another dramatic change in the NFL — players’ salaries — has taken away any fear of reprisal. Is a team supposed to bench its multimillion-dollar starting tackle in favor of a backup when the starter can’t pay attention to the snap count? Fines aren’t even worth considering, both due to the strength of the players’ union and the fact that $10,000 to an NFL player is roughly equivalent to $5 to a common person. Will making the players run more in practice after mistakes solve anything? I doubt it.

I really wish I had an answer for this, but I don’t.

More New Jersey wine

Back in June, I wrote about a stop at Cream Ridge Winery and how much I enjoyed drinking wine produced in the Garden State.

Today, I made a return visit to Cream Ridge, enhanced by the always lovely company of my girlfriend, and we hit two other New Jersey wineries, as well.

The last time I stopped by Cream Ridge, I picked up American Merlot, Riesling and Gewurtzraminer. I enjoyed all three, particularly the latter two. On this visit, we were both big fans of the Kiwine (Chardonnay with Kiwi flavor — I know it sounds hokey, but it’s really, really tasty) and the Fredonia (a really unique red).

Laurita Winery

Our second stop was Laurita Winery. This place is absolutely gorgeous. You really feel like you were transported to Napa Valley, even though you’re much closer to the New Jersey Turnpike than the Pacific Ocean. Both the tasting room and the vineyards were beautiful.

We enjoyed everything we tried at Laurita but actually took home the Classic Chardonnay (exactly what it sounds like), the Chambourcin (a red and my favorite wine of the day) and the Tailgate Red (a very tasty table wine).

Our final stop was Silver Decoy Winery, as charming for its tiny tasting room as Laurita was for its palace. We liked a few Silver Decoy selections, too, but were especially taken with the 10 Maréchal Foch, another outstanding and different red wine.

All in all, it was an excellent day. We left Hoboken just before noon and were back by a little after 5 p.m., including a quick tour at Cream Ridge. Everyone at all three wineries was very friendly and helpful. And everything we bought was both reasonable and good.

Next up, hopefully soon: Long Island.

Unemployment Nine: A much-needed break

I had a great day yesterday. I took a much-needed break from doing laps around the Internet Explorer bookmarks under “Job Hunt,” and from staring at my résumé and wondering if further changes were needed. It doesn’t mean I’m being any less aggressive about this job hunt, but sometimes clearing my head is a good thing.

I met a longtime, very dear friend of mine and her boyfriend at a very unlikely place: The Irish Rail in Manasquan, N.J. The bar is, literally, the Manasquan New Jersey Transit train station. There’s a small waiting room and ticket booth, and The Rail takes up the rest of the building.

On Thursdays, The Rail offers $3 pints of Guinness, Bass and Smithwicks. Since Guinness makes up about one-third of my blood, and it would be unhealthy to risk fluctuations in that ratio, I decided to take the train rather than driving. I’ve always been very good about having no more than two drinks before driving, and I knew there was no way in hell I was limiting myself to a pair of $3 pints of Guinness (great pour, by the way).

Unfortunately, there are no direct trains between Hoboken and Manasquan, so the trip ended up taking nearly three hours each way, versus the one hour plus assorted traffic that it would have taken by car. But it kept me away from the PC and gave me the time to read a great book.

Slam

If you’re not familiar with Nick Hornby, become familiar with him. He is a truly fun writer who is probably best known for High Fidelity (the John Cusack movie) and Fever Pitch (the real one, about Arsenal soccer, not the gay-assed Red Sox disgrace starring Drew Barrymore). Yesterday’s selection was Slam, about a 16-year-old boy in London who gets his girlfriend pregnant. It’s a great, humorous, fun read, and I definitely recommend it.

I got a lot more reading done on the way to Manasquan than I did on the return trip, however, and it wasn’t because the Guinness was making me see three books and I was having trouble focusing on the one in the middle.

When I boarded the train for the second leg of the trip, from Long Branch to Newark, it was quite crowded, so I just grabbed the first available window seat. I couldn’t have possibly picked a worse location.

This bizarre ass hat proceeded to sit directly across from me. He looked like Bill Walton, only with short, dark hair. He was tall, thin, lanky and goofy. Despite being a big guy, the Phillies hat he was wearing dropped down over his head, making him look like a kid wearing his father’s hat. He was carrying a Sony Walkman — not an iPod, not an MP3 player, not a CD player, not a Sirius or XM satellite radio: the original Sony Walkman. I had to really fight the temptation to tap him on the shoulder and say, “Um, dude: 1982 called. It wants its product back.”

Sony Walkman

The train pulled out of Long Branch, and this tool started yelling — not mumbling, not singing, YELLING — the words to the songs on what I not-so-affectionately nicknamed the Solo White Man Mix Tape. I like all of the artists I’m about to mention, but not when the lyrics are being yelled by someone who sounds like his testicles are caught in a can opener.

The first number I was treated to was “Angry Young Man,” by Billy Joel. This was followed by the one and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with “Badlands.” The worst musical performance I’ve ever been forced to sit through finally concluded with Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom.”

I don’t know if his four AA batteries died, the cassette tape caught in the spool, or it was an act of God, but the shrieking finally stopped and I was about to dive back into my book.

Anyway, all in all, it was a refreshing break from the monotony of searching for employment, and the bonus was finally checking my e-mail late last night and being offered the opportunity to interview at a well-known media company sometime next week. Keep your fingers crossed. Just don’t sing on a train while doing so.

Unemployment Nine: Blah

Well, the good news is that I am now back in possession of a fully healthy Honda Accord. The bad news is that, after an oil change and replacing a defective oxygen sensor, the princely sum of $419.12 will appear on my Visa bill.

BLAH

And the worse news is that for the first time since getting laid off Oct. 2, I did not send out a single résumé today. I’d like to tell you that it was because I was treating myself to frozen drinks at a waterside bar. Sadly, the effort was consistent, but the results were nil.

I still think I’m doing a good job keeping my spirits up, but cracks are starting to appear.

Salvaging the Cowboys’ season

The noise from all of the Dallas Cowboys haters has been deafening. My cell phone and e-mail box have blown up since the Arizona Cardinals blocked Matt McBriar’s punt to beat the Boys in overtime this past Sunday. I guess the facts that the Redskins lost to the Division III Rams, the Giants got schooled by a Browns team that Dallas trounced 28-10 in Cleveland in week one and the Eagles barely beat the 49ers went over a few people’s heads.

So go ahead, kick dirt on the Cowboys’ season. But may I recommend Texas Pete’s hot sauce for the crow you’ll end up eating later this season.

That is, of course, if the Cowboys do a few simple things.

• It’s time to start blitzing. The secondary has been a weak link on this team for years. With Terrance Newman hurt and Pacman Jones falling back into the world of stupidity and getting suspended, it’s even weaker. The argument against blitzing is that it leaves a weak secondary exposed. My counterargument: What’s the difference? They play like they’re exposed, anyway. Opposing quarterbacks have had way too much time to throw against the Cowboys and, naturally, found wide-open receivers. Even a great QB can’t complete passes with a forearm across his facemask. The Boys need to pressure the quarterback, period. DeMarcus Ware is one of the best football players I’ve ever had the privilege of watching, but he can’t do it alone. Bring some heat. Bring it often.

• This one will have to wait about three weeks due to an unfortunate hamstring pull, but Felix Jones needs to touch the ball more. I’m not suggesting starting him over Marion Barber III. But get him the ball. Line the two of them up in the backfield together. Throw him screen passes. Throw him quick passes in the flat. The man has speed the Cowboys haven’t had at running back since Tony Dorsett. Use it. It will only make Barber’s brute strength more effective.

Little T Learns to Share

• This may be the toughest suggestion to implement because of the enormous egos involved, but Terrell Owens MUST buy into the idea that newly acquired Roy Williams will only help him. I love Patrick Crayton (although I’m still livid that he dropped the pass that cost Dallas the playoff game against the Giants last year after running his yap all week), but Crayton is far better as a No. 3 receiver in the slot. Defensive coaches don’t game-plan to stop Crayton. They’ll have to game-plan to stop Roy Williams. Maybe T.O. won’t get as many passes thrown his way, but they’ll be much better quality opportunities. After all, what’s the difference if a pass is thrown your way when it sails over your head because you’re double-covered tightly? Even if the Cowboys overpaid, the Roy Williams addition was solid.

• Don’t rush Tony Romo back. Brad Johnson is a perfectly capable quarterback who has played on several playoff teams and won a Super Bowl. Obviously, Romo is better, more mobile and more dynamic. But if he can’t grip the football, having him in the game is insanity.

With all of the craziness, the Cowboys are still 4-2 and the Rams are on tap. This season is far from over.

But it’s time for Wade Phillips and his staff to make some much-needed adjustments.