04-06 Feb 2009

OK. Things went well on Monday.

My friend Chris had set me up with a possible interview at his plant for Monday. Monday morning he called me and told me that he had just fired one of his employees for not showing up for work all the time. Chris had told the HR department that I was coming in and the HR guy planned to interview me on the spot! And that is just what happened too.

As far as I can tell I aced the interview, but I had a small wardrobe malfunction that I hadn’t noticed till too late. My frickin “barn door” was open (gesturing vaguely towards my lap). I didn’t notice this until later after the interview with the HR guy. I can’t believe that happened. I had sat in the waiting area with a clipboard and job application in my lap for 20 minutes and never saw it. I just hope that it wasn’t like gaping open or such….

In the mean-time:

I called the HR person from my old plant and I found out that I didn’t lose all my vacation time after all. But it was being saved for me for when (I read “if”) they were to call be back to work. I told them that I would just take my vacation time now so I would be getting a paycheck for the next couple of weeks.

And she seemed hopeful that there would be a call-back, but she said it may not be for several months. Well, I gotta have a paycheck until then.

Friday.

Well I called Chris yesterday afternoon but got his voicemail, so I asked him to call me back. Now its 24 hours later and he still hasn’t called me. I’m starting to get a little worried.

There have been a few things tickling at the edges of my brain for the last day or so now. I’m thinking of maybe a part-time job and going back to school for… something. What exactly I have no freaking clue.

I want to know how to weld. And I can take some basic classes and work from home on stuff that people bring to me. Kind of a small business I can run from home. Right now I don’t really have a place to do it in. We were hoping to build a garage this year, but that plan is on indefinite hold for obvious reasons.

I’m also thinking of trying to get some kind of medical certification just so I can get a job and maybe work my way into something better. Maybe I can even get a hospital to pay for college classes or something.

M downloaded a couple of part-time jobs at the VA yesterday and brought them home but I never got a chance to see them.  I just need to get my foot in the door at the VA and then so many other jobs become available.  So many of the positions at the VA are for “Status Candidates”  only, which means you have to be already working for the VA or a disabled veteran, or qualify as a “War-time Veteran”. I am currently none of the above, so getting in on a chit job part-time will get me in the system for a better job down the line. The only thing is I have to be there at least six months before I can qualify to move up. The question is: Can I survive a chit part-time job long enough to get the BBD (Bigger, Better, Deal)? And can we survive that long Financially? I guess I could always get a second part-time jobs, too.

This weekend M and I will set ourselves down and go over all of our options.

Believe it or not, I actually miss work right now. Mainly because the weather sucks and we got about 5 inches of snow on Wednesday so going outside and doing things is kind of not an acceptable option. But it’s supposed to get up to 53° today and up to 63° tomorrow so I may just have to get my motorcycle out of the barn. It’s been over a month since my last bike ride and I’m starting to feel a bit twitchy about it.

For those of you who don’t know me too well, my motorcycle is my idea of therapy. I have had actual therapy before in my life, but this is so much better for me. Costs less too! Well, now that the bike is paid for and all that, it costs less. The best part about riding a bike is its transportation too. I save money on gas driving to and from work and it makes me feel better too!

Now I can’t wait until the weather breaks out into Spring and I can ride all the time again!

Damn Dentist.

Oh, yeah I almost forgot to mention this. I have to go in on the 17^th and get a crown put in along with removal and replacement of 2 fillings on the same side. Allow me to describe what a crown is for those of you who don’t know: A crown is used when the cavity is on the outside surface of the tooth. So what a dentist will do is take a cast of the existing tooth and then drill the tooth down (the WHOLE tooth) until the cavity area has been removed. Then the dentist will put a temporary crown in place of the tooth that was ground away. Three weeks later, the then completed crown will be installed in place of the temporary and then affixed to the other teeth in the area as well to keep it in place. That is why they are removing and replacing two other fillings at the same time.

Just so you know, I HATE going to the dentist. I honestly mean that. My current dentist is great, but it was my childhood dentist that has me freaked out 25-30 years later. He was a monster. He would drill and give me fillings at almost every visit and he would tell my mother that he had given me Novocain, but he actually had NOT. I swear that 99% of the fillings in my mouth were never needed but he did them to get $’s out of my family.

I find it surprising that ever since I stopped going to that guy when I was 15, I have only had two cavities that needed fillings. I’m 36 now. And one of those is the one where I need a crown next week.

So, as you can tell I have had some traumatic events take place in a dentist chair. Even when I go in for a cleaning I usually end up with a headache due to the tension in my head and neck.  Not much I can do about it. But like I said my current dentist is really good. He has written a prescription for 10 Valiums for me and I’m supposed to take two, a half hour before they start working on me. And they will give me Novocain and Nitrous Oxide to breathe. And he said that he will probably have me take another one about halfway through the procedure.

I have never had Valium before so I have no idea how it will affect me. I’m hoping that this will be a good experience, or more likely, just not a BAD experience!

I’m Alive… So Far…