How I Spent The Ninth Week Of The Rest Of My Life

Even though I'm not Catholic (not even religious), I know what I'm giving up for Lent.  I'm giving up spending as much as I have the past few days.  I was just throwing away money on Fat Tuesday.  But that's what it's about, I think.  Excess.  But now, approaching the last month of living in Chicago and all of the associated expenses that will come with moving, I have got to stop splashing the cash.  Except on trying restaurants that I've been wanting to try.

Now, being drunk yesterday came at a bigger cost.  I completely forgot to apply for the job that I posted on Sunday.  However, I did apply for one on Monday with Health and Human Services in Bethesda, MD that I found in a general search.

Job Title: Administrative Support Assistant

Department: Department Of Health And Human Services

Agency: Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services

Job Announcement Number: HHS-OHR-CSC-DE-11-440180

Salary Range:	$42,209.00 - $60,765.00 /year
Series & Grade:	GS-0303-07/08
Promotion Potential:	09
Open Period:	Tuesday, March 01, 2011 to Monday, March 07, 2011
Position Information:	Full Time Career/Career Conditional
Duty Locations:	2 vacancies - Montgomery County, MD
Who May Be Considered:	United States Citizens

Job Summary:
Become a part of the Department that touches the lives of every American! At the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) you can give back to your community, state, and country by making a difference in the lives of Americans everywhere. It is the principal agency for protecting the health of citizens. Join HHS and help to make our world healthier, safer, and better for all Americans.

This position is located in the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Resources, Bethesda Operations Center, Client Services Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

This vacancy is also being announced concurrently with vacancy announcement HHS-OHR-CSC-MP-11-440305 under merit promotion procedures. Please review that announcement to see if you are eligible for consideration under merit promotion procedures. NOTE: Applicants must apply separately for each announcement in order to be considered. 

PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps (not as a career/career-conditional employee) are encouraged to apply under the merit promotion announcement indicated above.

Special Notes
Persons with mental retardation, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities, may be considered for hiring on a permanent, time-limited, or temporary basis without competing with other applicants provided they have proof of their disability from a licensed medical professional.CLICK HERE

Additional selections may be made from this announcement.

Key Requirements:

• U.S. Citizenship is required.

Major Duties:

The incumbent performs the following duties:

Provides staff support in a variety of administrative management services within the office.

Receives and determines disposition of calls, callers, and correspondence for the supervisor.

Prepares replies to specified personal correspondence.

Acts as the supervisor's liaison with key officials, or the Office advising them of the Supervisor's viewpoints on matters under consideration, transmitting information and instructions.

Review monthly operating reports/ expenditures of funds to ensure compliance with the operating budget.

Manages workflow progress expediting the completion of assignments made by the supervisor.

Facilitates the flow of HR actions ensuring that appropriate documentation is provided to support HR actions being submitted for processing.

Coordinates logistics of special events/meetings to include locating venue.

Researches and retrieve information from multiple sources.

Establishes and maintains filing systems in accordance with official records management and retention regulations.

Qualifications:

Applicants must have one year of Specialized Experience as defined in the next paragraph:

GS-07:

Specialized experience is that which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position be filled to include experience maintaining an automated document tracking system; providing assistance on special projects; gathering information for evaluation; and utilizing a personal computer and a variety of software applications.

GS-08:

Specialized experience is that which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position be filled to include experience maintaining an automated document tracking system; providing assistance on special projects; retrieves and summarizes information for evaluation; reviewing correspondence for errors; and utilizing a personal computer and a variety of software applications.

Now I hold nothing against my supervisor at my old job when I was in the Instructors area (who is now the Manager of the department I was laid off from I recently found out), though I do wish I had been allowed to participate in budgeting.  Of all the requirements in this position, I meet almost every one except for having worked in a budget.  Now, to be fair, I didn't ask to help with the budget, but I don't know where I can pick up this skill, it's been found in a lot of job descriptions I'm seeing with the government.

Today I've been sober and tonight there's another position closing.  I'm going to apply for that as soon as I'm done with this blog entry.  Ironically about...BUDGETING.  But not in the accounting way they're looking for.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, MARCH 1 ($14.88)

• 4:36 p.m. Borders - $14.88.  The Chicago Public Library completely let me down on my book club book.  Knowing that I at least wanted to start it before the meeting, I went to my favorite Borders in the city - Clark and Diversey - and they had one copy.  They were only at 20% off, but I snatched it up.  It will be sad to see this one go.  They never failed me.
• 6:05 p.m. Gyood! - Free.  Using the second and final Groupon I had for them on the day it expired, I waited in an expected line.  I did not, however, expect the soft serve machine to break.  Or them to forget that I hadn't completed my order which included a Gyood! Cow (their root beer float).  Guh.  I had planned on going to the gym until this took over an hour.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 ($37.68)

• 12:01 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  After all the ice cream that I ate, even though some of it was lactose free, I felt the need to burn it out of my system a.s.a.p.
• 1:57 p.m. Atlas Cafe - $10.00 - Since I needed to kill some time before walking my sister's dog, I decided to stop by this little international restaurant/coffee shop on Armitage.  It was every bit as amazing as I remember it, though not entirely conducive to reading the book.
• 5:22 p.m. Jewel-Osco - $4.38 - I had planned on going to Walgreens after the gym the day before.  Since the gym didn't happen, a beard had attacked my face and wouldn't let go.  I bought razors at this very convenient grocery store near where my book club was meeting.
• 5:41 p.m. The Coffee Studio - $3.30 - Oh my goodness, this coffee shop was fancy.  In comparison to the little thrown together look of the one I went to earlier, this looked like a classy sushi joint.  At least the wi-fi was free and the herbal tea was normal price.
• 7:15 p.m. Edgewater Lounge - $20.00 - I couldn't follow the book club discussion at all since I only got about 70 pages into a book that was over 500.  But I did love the food and beer at this place one last time.  A lot of it.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3 ($74.36)

• 12:59 p.m. Logan Theater - $4.00 - Blue Valentine absolutely blew my mind.  It wasn't as dirty as I heard that it was, so seeing it in a deserted movie theater in the middle of a day didn't seem as perverted as it had walking in.  It almost made me sick how real this movie felt though.
• 7:42 p.m. Subway - $4.36 - Shockingly, I had never been to the Subway under the California Blue Line stop.  But I needed to grab something quick on the way to The Pogues.
• 8:19 p.m. Congress Theater - $53.00.  The ticket was only $30.00, but since it was a Pogues show, I drank a few Guinnesses.  I didn't actually pay for the ticket though.  Instead I paid for the cab ride to the after bar.  Either way, I was not going to miss the farewell tour of this legendary band with its original lineup.
• 12:04 a.m. Neo Nightclub - $13.00.  This included my portion of the cab ride home.  It was $2.00 PBR night so I got by dirt cheap.  Except for the $5.00 admission.  I hadn't been to Neo in a decade but it seemed as small as it ever had.

FRIDAY, MARCH 4 ($52.97)

• 12:15 p.m. Chicago Public Library - Logan Square Branch - $0.80.  I accidentally let a pile of books go overdue the day before.  However, I also discovered something awesome for my fine trouble.  The One Book, One Chicago spring discussion is the first week of April.  So I'll get to participate one more time.
• 1:12 p.m. Atlas Cafe - $4.00.  I wrote my Yelp review for the place on this day so I decided to stop by and grab something small on the way to the gym.  The lentil soup absolutely hit the spot to give me some energy that I should have gotten from eating breakfast.
• 1:33 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  It felt like I hadn't been really serious about going to the gym multiple days in a row up to this point (or at least I hadn't done it).  Since I got there "early," it meant I could get there late the next day and accomplish this!
• 3:57 p.m. Taco Bell - $4.92.  I agreed to go on a pub crawl later and so I figured crappy food would be in order.  Not surprisingly, this was more than the healthy lentil soup I had earlier.
• 7:18 p.m. Streetside Bar & Grill - $5.00.  This was actually the second bar of the crawl but I was sleeping off the Taco Bell at the time it started.  I just got one beer since I was not hungry at all.  That's the joy of junk food sitting in the stomach.
• 8:28 p.m. Dorothy's Liquor's - $2.25.  Definitely the cheapest bar of the crawl.  They have $1.25 PBR on tap.  I was expected this package goods store/bar to be dark.  But it was actually lit up like a Christmas tree. I definitely couldn't become a drunk here.  The funny thing was Alderman Rey Colon (the hippest city council member in the United States) showed up while we were at Streetside and was holding court while we were here.
• 10:00 p.m. Marble - $5.00.  Someone knocked over the one beer that I got.  But it was still fun.  And I still want to come back to this nicer bar and try the food.
• 10:51 p.m. Weegee's Lounge - $22.00.  This included the cab that I had to take back to my part of Logan Square since it started to pour.  I was drunk enough to walk.  And too drunk to walk at the same time.
• 2:24 a.m. El Charro - $9.00.  I got the brilliant idea that we should go to a 4:00 a.m. bar.  When there was a line, we just went to my late night Mexican place across the street.  I almost fell asleep at the table anyhow.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5 ($21.09)

• 4:30 p.m. Aldi-Milwaukee - $17.69.  After all of the money that I spent the first two days of the weekend, my budget was completely blown.  I figured it was time to lock myself in my apartment with cheap food again.
• 7:16 p.m. Bubbleland - $3.40.  While no offers to spend money came in, I knew that if I cloistered myself at the laundromat, I could avoid the temptation to go out.  It was definitely louder than it had been the past few times that I had been there.

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 ($11.00)

• 10:32 a.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  How I didn't get to the gym with a wide open Saturday, I'll never know.  But the point is that I didn't.  We'll call it a hangover.
• 12:51 p.m. Inspiration Kitchens - Uptown - $11.00.  This is a not-for-profit mixed with a slightly upscale restaurant that donates all of its profits to charity for the homeless.  It was only $8.00 for a plate of eggs and such.  I didn't think it was great so I want to go back one more time.  I feel like I might have caught them on an off day.

MONDAY, MARCH 7 ($21.09)

• 2:54 p.m. Navy Pier - Free.  Explore Chicago stated that there was a Polish festival for Pulaski Day.  It turned out that it had been the day before like every other ethnic festival at Navy Pier.  Since it was a holiday, there were still quite a few screaming children.  But I honestly don't hate the place as much as most Chicagoans and it was good to play tourist.
• 3:38 p.m. Connie's Pizza - $6.09.  I figured as long as I was acting like a tourist, I might as well eat like a tourist as well.  At least I didn't go to one of Navy Pier's sitdown restaurants and waste a lot of money on crappy food.
• 3:48 p.m. Smith Museum of Stained Glass - Free.  This has to be Chicago's most hidden museum.  Way in the back of Navy Pier, basically under the Shakespearean Theater it has dozens of pieces.  A lot of them probably really expensive.  These include monuments to both Jesus and Michael Jordan.
• 5:42 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  I was practically falling asleep on the way to the gym but I went anyway.  And I made it through my usual workout which meant that I finally went two days in a row.  Now if I can only do this 10 more times before I move, I've got my goal of 100 times at this gym.
• 11:06 p.m. Skylark - $15.00.  I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to see my friend's band play, if ever, so I had to make my way down to Pilsen one last time.  And I had never tried their famous tater tots.  They were not the best I've ever had, but really pretty good.

So that's $233.07.  I'm pretty sure that I never even spent that much in a week while I was working. Okay, I rarely did.  Anyhow, it will probably be good if the Department of Health and Human Services doesn't see this particular week.  Maybe I'll work on a line item budget a couple of weeks before I move to Washington D.C. and it will look better.  My total money spent while I've been unemployed is $1392.85.