End of Hiatus

It's been awhile. The past couple of months have been a bit overwhelming. Since Thanksgiving we've sold our place, moved in with my in-laws, sold my truck, bought a Pathfinder. And on top of that celebrated Christmas with both sides of our family. We did make sure to arrange the move well after Christmas. But the whole process has wiped me out. I still am trying to make the adjustment to our new arrangements. Not to say that things are bad, my in-laws have been great and very supportive of us. Just taking some getting used to.

But now the dust is starting to settle and it's time to move on. You will notice a few tweaks to the web site. And expect some more in the near future. Like an email newsletter, and more integration with my Etsy page. I also aim to post to the the blog, here, at least once a week.

A Menagerie of Thoughts

Today marks two weeks of unemployment and so far it has been anything but boring. Here I was hoping I would have a lot of free time to do odds and ends of things I have needed to do around the house for months, and some time to decompress from the stress of my situation. Not so much. Granted I have been able to get a lot of things done, just whenever I finish a task a feel like three more pop up. It has been a mixed blessing being unemployed right now. On one end I know Heidi enjoys having me around to help her with Jo, but at the same time we wonder how long we can financially make living off of unemployment and disability checks. But I have had some good down time to help clear my head which has been nice. Here's some thoughts I have had over the past couple of weeks.

• It's amazing how quickly a day passes just watching a newborn baby. They really don't do much (eat, sleep, poop, repeat) and yet after a day at home looking after Jo the time just seems to fly.

• When an interviewer says "How attached are you to your salary figure?" it usually doesn't bode well.

• I have learned not to get my hopes up. Just because someone says they may have something for you I have learned to not count on it until they sign on the dotted line. I learned that long ago in the business world but it's constantly getting reinforced these days. Granted I have never been unemployed before and have only been fully unemployed for about two weeks. I can't even fathom what people who have been unemployed for nine month to a year are feeling.

• It's quite infuriating when you hear about all these government programs that are supposed to help out people like Heidi and I, and when I look into them we don't qualify because we either make too much or we don't make enough.

• They should call USA network the NCIS network they play that show all day everyday.

• It's quite a challenge to create a routine while at home all day and with a newborn it's almost impossible. First newborns have no schedule, second there are so many distractions at home it's a challenge to keep focused. After 10 years of going to work, I feel so displaced having nowhere to go in the morning.

• Though I have never been a big goal setter, but I am seeing how goals are very important out on your own. It helps give you hope, something to look forward to. I have a few so far this summer. Obviously one is get a new job. Another one is do the High Sierra Trail (Sequoia to Mt. Whitney). I am so eager to get out in the mountains again. it should be a good diversion, and thankfully relatively cheap since I have all the gear. Yet another goal is to start putting up pictures up on a daily basis starting next week. Just away to keep my creative juices flowing while I am idle.

That's just the beginning of my thoughts over the past two weeks. I am sure more will hit the blog in the near future. Now that I feel like I am getting a grasp of the things I need to do at home I should have more time to work on my own work, including the web site, my art, and other projects I have been meaning to get to.

Those on Facebook can check out my photos of Jo over the past couple of weeks. I am still trying to unify all my different web entities. More on that later.

Onward and Upward

Spire of Dublin at Dawn
Originally uploaded by dubland

Well this past weekend was a nice unwinding time. I have been going pretty much non-stop for the last 6 weeks. First it was prepping for the Liberia trip, then the actual Liberia trip, followed immediately afterwards with job-hunting. Mentally and emotionally I am pretty wiped.

So Friday and Saturday I spent away from my work and had a little vacation from my computer. Sunday I opened up my computer, but just to work on some old photos I had been meaning to get to. It was quite therapeutic, and it helped recharge my creative energy. So over the next couple of days I'll be rolling out some of the photos I worked on, onto the site and Flickr.

These photos are both landscape photos that weren't taken in the traditional landscape horizontal format. Something about these two shots drew me to take them vertically. The above photo was taken in Dublin, last year, with the Millenium Spire in view. The one below was taken in Lynden,WA back in February just outside of downtown.



Lynden at Sunset
Originally uploaded by dubland

The Revised Dubland

It's up and running. Just a need to do a little more tightening but Dubland has been revised to include my professional portfolio, including web sites, print work and videos have done over the past 9 years. Between that and working on my resume I am pretty wiped. It's ironic how I am busier now with a reduced workload at work than I was when I was fully employed. Go figure. Hope you enjoy the new site.

Say What??

Sorry for the lack of posts of late but the last two weeks have been quite a roller coaster. I found out last Tuesday, only three days after getting home from Liberia that my hours and pay were being cut in half effective April 1st due to slow business. And potentially I could be let go altogether if work doesn't pick up in the next couple of months. Quite a jolt! Especially with a baby on the way and Heidi going to part-time work afterwards. Thankfully my boss did give me a sizable bonus to help offset the reduced pay but that only goes so far.

I have gone through the whole gamut of emotions. Multitudes of questions are creeping in my mind. Can I make my mortgage payment? Will be able to find a comparable job? You get the picture. On top of that I have been spending most my days of late rapidly working on the new web site for my work during the day, and my own site/resume in the evenings as well. So much to do in what seems to be very little time. I think the whole situation has really worn me out.

But then I remember how I have been through far worse (maybe not financially) and God didn't abandon me then. And part of me is eager to see where He leads me. Heidi and I are doing some serious praying and searching to see where we go now.

So it might be awhile longer before I can post my Liberia pictures and some of my thoughts and stories from the trip. But I do intend to post them.