A few Laid-Off Lessons

Being laid off was not a great experience.  It was the first time I had ever involuntarily left a job.  But I suppose it’s better than being fired.  It wasn’t my fault, I was just a victim of poor financial standing by my former employer.  But unexpectedly having to search for a new job was stressful, although it was pretty nice to have 3 and a half weeks to just kind of hang out and relax.  During my time off I learned a few things and made a few interesting observations with the extra time I had.  Some laid-off lessons if you will.

1. Craigslist is a decent place to find a job. Believe it or not the job I currently have was found this way, and the only other interview I had also came from Craigslist.  As long as you can comb through all of the scams and creepy old men looking for personal massage therapists to work out of their basements you can find the diamonds in the rough.  Craigslist is a free job posting board, while sites like Monster and Career Builder cost money to list jobs, so small businesses and local companies use it to save money.  You may not find a CEO level job here but it’s not bad for lower level positions.
2. I am not qualified to bus tables. That’s right, I couldn’t even get a call back to any place I put in an application.  I applied to well over a dozen part-time, minimum wage, restaurant positions in Jacksonville and couldn’t even get a sniff of interest.  Most restaurants wanted a few years of experience which I sorta kinda don’t  have. I worked five years in food service, not in a commercial restaurant, but five years of food service experience.  Maybe since I was a salaried managed for a major food service company I'm over qualified? Or maybe my lack of experience waiting tables makes me under qualified? Either way I'm undesirable.
3. Jacksonville is really nice this time of year.  I just threw that one in there to rub it in to everyone back home.  70 degrees in January and very sunny.  
4. Reading and writing are all kinds of fun. I had lots of time to write (this blog) and read some good books. And it was really refreshing to spend more time using my brain instead of melting it away in front of the TV.  I’d recommend it to everyone.
5. Working out and eating healthy leads to getting in better shape.  I think everyone probably already knew that, but I actually had the chance to follow through with it for a month at a time.  I lost 8 pounds in a month, which wasn’t really my intention but I guess it doesn’t hurt.  And I kind of like running for an extended period of time again.
6. Learning new stuff is both fun and rewarding!  Okay so that sounds a little corny but it’s pretty accurate.  I taught myself HTML programming and feel pretty smart right now.  I had turned my academic brain off since graduating college so it was good to see it still works.
7. Starbucks is busy at every hour of the day.  I started going to a few different Starbucks in town to get out of the house while writing or working on my programming book at various times during the day, and I always had a hard time finding a place to sit.  There was almost always a line.  And their new blonde coffee blend is pretty good.
8. Red Box was a really good invention. I can remember the days of Blockbuster and paying like $6 to have a movie for 4 days.  Why was that an accepted way to rent movies for so long?  Why did we ever need movies for more than 2 days?  Most people pick up a movie to watch it that day or the next, and once they’ve watched it they’re done with it.  But with Blockbuster you had the option to watch it for 3 more days if you wanted.  No wonder they went out of business so quickly.
9. I like sleeping in. Nothing else really needs to be said about that one.
10. I like money.  Or I like having money.  Well, I like having enough money to not have to worry about spending an extra dollar or two here or there.  Okay, so I don’t know what that actually feels like, but I know what the opposite of that feels like and I know that I don’t like it.  Hmmm. Goal: Make more money. Or win the lottery.
11. Craigslist probably took someone about 10 minutes worth of programming to make. After completing and intro to programming and HTML book I could make a site like Craigslist.  But I don’t think I would change anything about it, because it coincides with the shady nature of many of the people advertising on there.  Maybe that’s what the creator was going for.
12. Don’t ever watch any of the free movies Comcast has available for you OnDemand.  They’re all really bad. I would prefer any SiFi movie over one of those rotten tomatoes.
13. Harrison Ford was in really good shape in the early 80’s.  Watch BladeRunner, you’ll see what I mean. On a related note, I have learned that not everyone that lived in the 80’s was out of shape.

You may find some of these helpful, but probably mostly worthless.  Either way, thanks for reading.  And even though no one ever listens, please, leave a comment. They’re fun.

The Search is Over

So after 3 long weeks of searching and stressing it’s finally over. I found a job.  I’ll be starting my new career as the marketing guy (I don’t actually know my official job title???) for a law firm here in Jacksonville.  I’m very excited to have the opportunity to take the reins on the marketing efforts for the firm and hopefully take them (I guess I should say “us”) to new heights.  I’d like to say a few things . . .

Thank you to everyone who supported me during this time.  I want to thank my family and friends for always being there for me.  I want to thank the fans who make it possible for me to be here. I want to thank the coaches and trainers who helped keep me prepared for every game and performing at my best.  I’d like to thank all of the writers and critics who gave me the motivation . . .

Oops sorry, that’s the Heisman Trophy speech I had prepared just in case I ever got really good at football in college.  I forgot I didn’t have a “I just got hired after being laid off for 3 weeks” speech prepared for this occasion, so I’ll just have to wing it.

But seriously, I do appreciate all of the support that everyone has given me during my three week unpaid vacation.  Thanks to anyone who has ever read my blog and continues to read these.  Getting some positive feedback about this blog and my writing in general was a large part of staying positive and giving me the confidence to keep writing.  Although I will have less time to update this going forward, I’ll try my best to keep writing and continue to post some good material in the future.   I still have a few gems in production that I’m waiting to put together.  Hopefully I can deliver and you’ll continue to read.

Buffalo Chicken Bites

Here’s a tasty snack that I’ve created and am still perfecting.  Although I can’t take all the credit for it, a little inspiration from Old Chicago and an idea from Alexandra helped create what I’m calling Buffalo Chicken Bites.  If you like crescent rolls and buffalo chicken then you’ll love these.  I’ve even included some photos to help guide you through the recipe. It’s real easy but pictures are fun, so enjoy.

What you need (I don’t have exact measurements because I just kind of winged it)

• Chicken (amount of chicken depends on how many bites you want)
• Buffalo Sauce (Can use hot sauce/butter combo or buy buffalo wing sauce)
• Blue Cheese crumbles
• Crescent rolls (one can of 8 crescent can make 16 bites)
• Ranch dressing (optional for dipping bites in)

Those are the basic ingredients, now I’ll give you the amounts I used and how many I was able to make. (all measurements are approximate)

• About 1lb of chicken, shredded
• About 8oz of buffalo wing sauce
• About 6oz of blue cheese crumbles
• 3 cans of 8 jumbo crescent rolls

Alright now for the step by step on how to make these tasty little snacks

   Boil chicken until cooked all the way through 
   Preheat oven to 350
   Once chicken is cooked remove from water and let cool
   While chicken is cooling put buffalo sauce into a bowl (if mixing hot sauce and butter, mix into a bowl) 

Shred cool chicken and mix into bowl of buffalo sauce

Set out cookie sheets and spray cooking spray to prevent sticking
Lay out crescent rolls and mush (no that is not the technical cooking term) together to form long strips (like in picture)

Cut strips into small squares and place on cookie sheet.

Place small amount of shredded chicken in middle of crescent square and add blue cheese crumble

Fold square in half to form a pocket around chicken and blue cheese

Place in oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown
Allow to cool, and enjoy

This was the second test run on making these so the recipe is by no means perfect, but I received some pretty good reviews from multiple people so I did something right.  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or an experience trying them out, leave a comment. I’d love to hear how to make this recipe better.

Give it Three Spins

This is a post about listening to music, but first I need to tell you a story before any of it will make sense.

While my parents were visiting me here in Jacksonville back in September we made a trip 30 minutes south to St. Augustine.  It’s a beautiful city with a lot of history, a lot of great sites to see and things to do.  We took a guided trolley tour, which I would recommend doing if you ever visit the city, and stopped off for a wine tour at the San Sebastian winery.  It was my first wine tour, and frankly I was pretty excited to drink a bunch of free wine in the middle of the afternoon.

Upon starting the tour we were introduced to a very passionate winery employee who gives us our first sample and also gives us a lesson on how to taste wine.  I had no idea there was any science to it, but apparently there is.  And it actually works. 

The secret to truly tasting a wine is to take three sips.  The first sip you take in and swish around your mouth like mouth wash and then spit out.  The purpose of this is to cleanse your pallet of any existing flavors and wipe it clean.  The second sip you allow to sit in your mouth for a few seconds to help acclimate your taste buds to the texture and flavor of the wine.  The third sip is the true tasting of the wine.  Your pallet was prepared to accept the flavor of the wine by the first two steps and can now completely appreciate all that the wine has to offer.

I’m not writing this post though to tell you how to sample wines or how to prepare yourself for a wine tour.  Like I said before, this post is about music.  I’ve actually found that the same process for properly sampling a wine can be used to listen to an album.  Let me explain.

Have you ever picked up a highly anticipated album by one of your favorite artists, only to be greatly disappointed upon first listen?  I know I have.  Many people will write the album off as a big failure and bury it in their collection never to be listened to again.  Maybe it was the same thing as their last album.  Maybe it sounded nothing like your favorite song or album of theirs.  Maybe it really was just a bad album amongst much better work, Weezer being a perfect example.  No matter what your reason for disliking an album, one listen is not enough to make that judgement. 

This is where the wine and the music get tied together.  Give it three spins.

The first listen will help clear away your preconceived notions for what you think this album will be.  If you’re expecting it to be like their last album, which you loved, or you’re looking for something different, let the first listen wash that away.  Now that you’ve come to the realization this album is not their last album, or your favorite album, take a break from it and give it another listen.  Let the second listen sink in through your ears and settle in your brain.  Get an idea of how it sounds and what it’s about.  Now on the third listen you’re ready to actually enjoy, or not enjoy, the record.  You’ll notice that you will start to hear things about certain songs or the tone of the album that you didn’t hear during your first two spins.  And just like with the wine, it really works.  At least it does for me.

Remember that doing this doesn’t mean you’re going to love every album you hated upon first listen, it just means that you’re ready to make a sound judgement of it, good or bad.  Now usually this process is only necessary when you don’t like what you hear the first time through the album.  If you really like it the first time around then listening to it a few more times probably won’t change your opinion, but it may give you a greater appreciation for how good it is.

I’ll give you an example from my personal experience with this, which is really the album that lead me to this epiphany.  Death Cab for Cutie is one of my favorite bands, they’ve had a few great albums and lots of material that I really enjoy.  I was eagerly awaiting the release of their most recent album, Codes & Keys, and upon first listen I was pretty disappointed. I remember talking with someone else after it came out about how we were both felt let down by it.  So I did what most people do, I didn’t touch it for weeks after that.  Then one day while updating my Ipod (I have a 16gb Ipod and more music than can fit on there so I’m constantly cycling what’s on there) I decided to give it another try, and to my surprise I started to enjoy it more and more with each listen.  I remember thinking how weird it felt to enjoy what I was listening to when all I could think about was how much I didn’t like it the first time I listened to it. 

What had changed?  Why didn’t I like it the first time around?  Why did it suddenly sound so much better to me?  I think my expectations and feelings of what it should sound like were different than what I actually heard on the first listen, so I immediately concluded it was a bad album.  This doesn’t sound anything like Plans or Transatlanticism, so it can’t be good.  After the first listen those expectations were gone, and I didn’t really expect much from listening to it again.  That was the key.  I could begin to accept the album for what it was, not what I expected it to be.  Then every subsequent listen after that I could appreciate what it was and actually enjoy it.

The fact is, artists change their sound and style with every album they make.  If they didn’t, you’d have more Nicklebacks, the same sound every single song, everytime.  We don’t need anymore Nicklebacks in the world.  So next time you listen to an album, try and go into it with an open mind, and if you don’t like what you hear, listen to it again, and again.  You’ll be surprised at how your opinion may change after each listen.  And if three listens later you still don’t like it, then maybe it is just a stinker.  Even the best of artists and bands put out a stinker every now and then.  I mean we can all agree one of the most anticipated rap albums ever, the Carter IV, was pretty bad right?

If you’ve had this kind of experience, think this idea is crazy, or just want to share a story about a really awful album, leave a comment below.  Thanks for reading.

You'll Be Bright

Unemployment can be a dismal doldrums of frustration and self loathing for many because it can spawn feelings of futility and worthlessness.  The inner struggle one has with their consciousness is as much of a challenge as finding a job and making ends meet in the these trying times.  Once you begin to succumb to the negative feelings it is easy to continue down that slippery slope into depression and loss of confidence.  Once you reach that point, you’re in big trouble. 

But don’t worry, this is not a post about what shade of blue I currently am.  It’s actually just the opposite.  It’s a post about winning the battle I spoke of in the first paragraph.  It’s a post about staying positive and upbeat while it would be just as easy to feel down.  I found inspiration from within myself and from several outside sources, and hopefully for anyone facing a similar situation you can take away something from this.  This post title is actually taken from a rather inspiring Cloud Cult song, if you haven’t listened to them yet, do it.

I was born an optimist.  I’m wired to be laid back, take things as they come, and embrace the unpredictable.  This set of qualities has been particularly useful in the last few weeks.  Part of the reason I’ve been able to keep my head up is because I’ve always tended to look on the bright side of things and turn challenges into opportunities to learn and grow.  A lot of that is because I have always had an incredible support system around me.  My family and friends have always been encouraging, and have been especially helpful in the last few weeks.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I am a firm believer that positive thoughts yield positive results while negative thoughts lead to failure.  Your attitude is typically a direct correlation to your level of effort, which leads me to my next point

Waking up with, and maintaining the right attitude is key.  Your attitude is the one thing that you can control when everything else in life is left up to fate or destiny or chance or whatever you believe in.  You can’t choose what happens to you, but you can control how you deal with it.  I could continue listing cliches, but I think you get the point.  I read a book recently, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand , that tells the incredible story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner that finds himself in WWII. (my second recommendation of this post, read this book, it is amazing)  His plane is shot down in the middle of the Pacific and only 3 of his 11 crew mates survive the crash.  He is left to float the waters of the pacific ocean in a small life raft, with no supplies or provision, for 47 days and over 2000 miles of sun baked, salty sea water.  He says several times that the hardest part about his situation was not battling hunger, thirst, or the horrific conditions, it was holding on to his will to live.  The human body is capable of incredible things, but the mind is capable of things even greater.  I choose everyday to stay positive and as long as I hold on to that, I’ll be fine.

The negatives will come, deal with them and move on.  If you read my last blog post, you would probably be thinking “hmm that wasn’t very positive” and begin second guessing everything you’ve already read.  Yes I’ve been frustrated at times with the job search and the lack of success I’m having so far with finding a job.  But the difference is, I deal with each negative and move on.  So far I’ve had two handfuls of rejections and not one job offer.  It hurts to get that rejection, but I can accept it as part of the process of finding a job, and get over it.  I always found it ironic that people, and girls in particular, use the phrase “I’m over it” because it usually happens right in the middle of an emotional argument when they are in fact, no over it.  But at least they have the right idea.  I’m over it is the right attitude to have.  In my case, take the rejections, write a blog post about them, and move on to being happy. 

Finding happiness in new ways.  I’ve learned a lot about finding happiness recently from a friend my girlfriend used to nanny for.  His name is Bryan Skavnak and he runs a very successful golf academy in Minnesota.  He’s a terrific guy, a great father and husband, a wonderful golf instructor and a very talented writer and motivator.  He recently wrote a book called “The Happiest Golfer” (here’s a link to the Amazon page, and my 3^rd recommendation in this post) which talks about how to be happy and be a better person both on and off the golf course.  It’s a great read for golfers and non golfers alike. 

I learned a lot about finding happiness in his book, and one of the ways I’ve found happiness is by using the time off I have to enjoy and expand on some of my hobbies and talents.  For starters, I started this blog and began writing.  Writing was always forced upon me in school, and while I always enjoyed writing I never had the chance to write for my own purposes.  Now I’m doing it because I want to and I’m really enjoying it.  I’ve been reading a lot of books.  I never realized how much I loved to read until I had the time to do it.  I’ve rededicated myself to working out and getting in shape.  I’m running everyday now, playing basketball, and eating healthier.  I’ve been able to play some golf, thanks to the nice January weather in Florida.  I’m listening to music, a lot.  Now I know a lot of this is only possible because I don’t have 9 hours of my day occupied by work, but I’m able to fill up all of the time I could be spending bummed out about life with activities that bring me happiness.  Whether you’re working or not, make time to do things that you love and discover new things that bring you happiness. 

Learn from mistakes and Improve yourself.  One of the most important things I’ve done since being laid off is taken the time to perform some self assessment, and look for opportunities to improve.  If I can use this extra time to gain some knowledge, acquire and improve some skills, and improve myself, how can I not be excited about what lies ahead?  I realized I needed to gain some more experience in social media and generate some written content to expand my skill set for my career.  I set out to create a blog, practice writing, and learn ways to better use social media for business.  I try and take time everyday to learn something new or attack some personal project to better myself.  With the help of a good friend I’ve realized it would be incredibly valuable to learn some basic programming skills, so I’m starting to learn HTML and CSS.  I would think most people would agree achieving self improvement creates a great sense of accomplishment and generates a positive attitude about ones self. 

I know your eyes are probably getting a little tired from all the reading.  I wanted to try and keep this short, but I was pretty excited to share all of this and didn’t want to limit myself.  Hopefully you have taken something away from this, and have been inspired to find a little bit more happiness and positivity in your life.  I have to give credit to a lot of the people around me for helping me write this, even though you didn’t directly contribute to this post, you’ve provided me with the support and inspiration to create these positive feelings. So again, thank you.

I feel confident that despite my situation, I can remain positive and continue working hard to better myself.  At least until I run out of money . . .