Now it gets real

I'm proud to be an American

I am not ashamed to be an American because I can't find work. The company I worked 19 years for decided it couldn't survive economically if it didn't lay me off. I have drawn design scale maps from aerial photography for governments, developers, and engineers for 36 years. As of this date I have been out of work for 79 weeks. I'm not putting anything into a retirement fund... I don't currently contribute to Medicare. I had to liquidate my entire retirement funds to survive. I have applied to and documented 234 jobs I felt I could do to survive. I have had 2 interviews, one with a firm in San Diego that decided they would wait to see if the economy improves before hiring me. It hasn't. The other interview was in Ames, Iowa for their Department of Transportation. No reason given for not hiring me. But I haven't given up yet. That's the American way...
Rebuttal on 'The Ed Show' 08/23/10 - TV Replay

Cool summer night

It was a cool northwestern evening and the air was filled with rock and roll. Blacksmith made a triumphant debut. Seppi Hall didn't disappoint with their set of classic rock. Offtrack was definitely ontrack. Thanks to Charlie Pappas, real estate guy extraordinaire for providing the venue and great hospitality. Looking forward to next year... :-)

Pictures on Picasa

photos by David Schweitzer

New Seppi Hall lineup

With the departure of Ben Bolos as drummer, the gang recruited the renown Bruce Lewis. Their first gig will be on Saturday, June 12th at 10:00pm after the fights at Jack's in Auburn, WA.

They will also be appearing at the Buckley Firehouse Pub in Buckley, WA on Saturday, June 26th at 12:00pm for a couple of hours of music, then you can enjoy the rest of the Buckley Logger's Rodeo festival.

photos by David Schweitzer

Encouraging news

Employment numbers are up. This is a good sign things are improving... hope we can keep it up.

Whitehouse blog on employment situation in April

Signs of the Great Recession of 2009-10 (Update)

Flipping burgers?

The latest employment numbers indicate that only 36,000 non-farm jobs were lost in February. So, the unemployment rate essentially stayed the same at 9.7%. But many are coming to the end of their benefits. The underemployed and those who have given up pushes the rate to 17%. During the great Depression, the rate was 25% - one out of 4 Americans were out of work. There is an upside though. First and most important is the increased time that can be spent on personal relationships. As my presence on the Internets indicate, I have lots of time. Another benefit is the lack of time constraints. No time clock. I have read many books, one of my favorite pastimes. All this time has provided opportunities to become involved in the local music scene. And given me incentive to pick up the guitar a little more often. Although a honorable job, flipping burgers isn't in the stars.
MSNBC: Jobs data show signs of a turning point