How I Spent The Forty-Second Week Of The Rest Of My Life

Twitter has turned out to be invaluable in my job search.  Recently an account called @ResumeBear started to follow me.  Of course I followed it back since it was linked to an incredible site.  While resumebear.com is, of course trying to sell resume tracking software, they have some of the best Web 2.0 marketing that I've seen.  Their blogs (every company out there reading this, if you don't have a blog on your website, you are seriously missing out and I doubt you're an expert in your field) are the most useful things that I've read.

Today, for example, I read one that said that you should apply to any job posting within the first two weeks since that's when most companies look to fill vacancies.

I wish that I had known that about six months ago.  Or two weeks ago.  Yesterday I applied for a job that was supposed to close on October 31.  It was already filled.  While this upset me a bit (since it was a job I was qualified for), it was my own fault.  So in the month of November, I'm going to attempt to stay current.  Even while I'm in New York City next week for a couple of days (my sister is there), I'm still going to apply for jobs within two weeks of when they post.

And tomorrow and Monday I have a bunch of jobs that expire on October 31 that I have to apply for.  If they haven't already filled them.

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In other news, my brother and I got the apartment in Rockville.  I will be living off the Twinbrook Stop and the commute I have to any job will be cut in less than half.  This should be a great kick in the pants to get out and really get full-time work.  That and having to pay rent again.

I can't wait.  Living in Virginia wore thin about two months ago.  Even travelling to the city will be cheaper on the occasions when I want to do so.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18 (Free)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19 ($157.61)

• 10:32 a.m. CVS/Pharmacy - $4.69.  After putting if off for a long time, I decided to visit Occupy D.C.  I didn't want to go empty handed so I bought the people some water like they had requested on Twitter.
• 10:46 a.m. OccupyDC - Free. A friend of mine was doing a teach-in on using Twitter in social movements.  That was the real reason I was there.  But I have to say I was surprised at how clean the D.C. campsite was after all that I had heard about the New York City one.
• 11:33 a.m. FedEx Kinko's - $3.67.  Immediately after leaving Occupy D.C., I went to do stuff to try to find a job.  Though the two had nothing to do with each other.  I just needed to print out my resume.
• 2:16 p.m. Roti Mediterranean Grill - $8.52.  Since I was in the area, I needed to stop by Roti.  If I was an active participant, this might be a bit too much of a ritual.
• 3:35 p.m. Budget Rental Car - $140.73.  While I didn't absolutely need to rent a car to drop off paperwork in Maryland and go to a job fair, it certainly made life easier.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 ($13.35)

• 11:55 a.m. Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center - $3.81.  As odd as it was to wear a suit in a mall, this job fair was worth it.  I dropped my resume off with two temp agencies and a couple of other places.  It was mostly retail though.
• 1:53 p.m. Capital One Bank - Free.  I had to pick up cashier's checks to drop off at the apartment complex and I had no idea there was a Capital One Bank basically next door to the complex.  Another reason I love my new location.
• 2:43 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  For the first time, this really felt like my local Starbucks.  I sat in here with a new hope that things were going to look up.
• 7:32 p.m. Pizza Hut - $5.54.  Trying to drive from Maryland to Virginia turned out to be a huge adventure.  By the time I got halfway, I had to go to the bathroom and I was hungry.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 ($54.93)

• 11:58 a.m. FedEx Kinko's - $3.42.  The good news was that I had a car to fax in the documentation that I needed to for the apartment complex in Rockville in Woodbridge.
• 12:24 p.m. Taco Bell - $6.99.  I couldn't rent a car without eating at Taco Bell at least once.
• 1:17 p.m. Extra Space Storage - Free.  Even if it was a slightly excess expense, I definitely got good use out of my rental car.  I put every unnecessary box that I had in storage.
• 1:38 p.m. Parkway Express - $23.18.  Had I not gotten lost the day before, I probably could have gotten away for much cheaper refilling my rental car.
• 2:06 p.m. Budget Rental Car - Free.  I wasn't as upset to return my car this time since I didn't get the Kia Soul again.  I didn't particularly like the Ford I was given.
• 3:34 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  While I can't say that I hate the Woodbridge Starbucks, it's definitely not my favorite either.  It's always pretty noisy.
• 6:10 p.m. Qdoba Mexican Grill - $5.97.  There was another predicted Rapture and so I wanted my last meal (even if I didn't believe in it) to be here.
• 6:39 p.m. CVS/pharmacy - $11.37.  I was exhausted after driving from Maryland to Virginia again.  I just wanted to be able to chill the next day.  So I bought everything I was out of.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22 (Free)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 ($13.37)

• 8:40 p.m. Walgreens - $8.69.  It turned out that I was out of more than I thought I was.  Oops.  It wouldn't be a Sunday without running out of something.
• 9:01 p.m. 7-Eleven - $4.68.  And, of course, I couldn't go to Walgreens without getting burritos on the way home.  And a Slurpee since I was starting to get a bit of a sore throat.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24 ($20.17)

• 12:20 p.m. IKEA - $5.74.  Even though they had gotten rid of their Monday special on pasta, I got macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes.  They didn't hurt my throat.
• 1:42 p.m. FedEx Kinko's - $14.43.  Faxes are so expensive from this FedEx.  Yet another reason to want to leave Virginia.  But this was the last bit of paperwork we needed to send to the complex.

So that's $258.89.  Pretty expensive but hopefully all worth it.  I have a feeling that once I get to Maryland, I'll actually want to leave the house less because I can.  But hopefully the applications that I fill out in the 19 days (yes, I'm counting them) before I move to Rockville will pan out now that I have this new advice site at my disposal.  My total money spent since I've been unemployed is $8603.60.

How I Spent The Forty-First Week Of The Rest Of My Life

I'm really not sure how my interview went on Monday.  Besides phone interviews, it was the first one that I've had in over a decade.  It did seem a little bit short but thorough.  They seemed to ask every question that they could and I brought up all that I could about what would separate me out from other interviewees (if they existed).  I'm not holding out hope since it seemed like a mediocre date.

But with a girl that I really kind of liked.  And will still be Facebook (er idealist.org) stalking looking for another chance.

By Thursday, I was looking elsewhere by attending a job fair in Wheaton.  It was much better than the one that I went to in Arlington.  It was mostly retail (which I wouldn't mind working at once I moved to Rockville if I was in school at the same time) but I dropped my resume off with two of the staffing companies which were there (once which I had applied at a few jobs on Careerbuilder or Monster with).

Then I dropped by the area where they were critiquing resumes.  The woman who did so cut out my GPA and said to just list my college "volunteer" positions as jobs since I was paid for them.  Although I'm going to miss listing my germane accomplishments as an intern.  Getting old is no fun.

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Speaking of settling down, I put down a security deposit on the place my brother and I will (hopefully) be living in Rockville on Thursday.  I finally managed to convince him to live in a complex about a block north of the one that he wanted to live in.  If we get it, it's right behind a shopping center and off of Rockville Pike.

I'm just hoping that my credit comes back good enough to live there.  They seem to be pretty strict.  I'm feeling good about it though.  Better than my job prospects of working in an office right now at least.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11 ($41.12)

• 2:00 p.m. Amici's Restaurant - $9.00.  At this point, I'm such a regular that I should be getting free food.  Of course that's wishful thinking.
• 2:59 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Since I wanted to write a blog entry on Michael Goldman 2.0, I decided to go back to Starbucks and get some peace.
• 4:16 p.m. Great Clips - $17.00.  Not knowing why except that I felt a bit scruffy, I decided that this would be the day that I finally got a haircut.  It was amazing that it was actually empty this day.
• 4:26 p.m. Harris Teeter - $11.12.  I bought a bunch of burritos even though I had a car.  The rest was just too expensive.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12 (Free)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13 ($55.70)

• 10:54 p.m. Sheetz - $33.13.  Knowing that I had a lot of driving to do to look for apartments, it was time to finally fill up my rental car.
• 12:01 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  I had a webinar to watch.  Unfortunately, the internet didn't work at all so I gave up.
• 1:21 p.m. Big Cheese Truck - $6.75.  The good thing about the fact that I couldn't watch my webinar was that I actually got to Friendship Heights to catch the Big Cheese Truck before it left.  Barely.
• 6:10 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  While looking for apartments all day, I came across some complexes that weren't in the book.  I used the working internet at this Bethesda Starbucks.
• 9:10 p.m. Taco Bell - $5.73.  I had received word about my interview earlier and I visited apartments that I liked.  I didn't want to head back to Virginia.  At least I got burritos.
• 9:44 p.m. Walgreens - $2.09.  Even running out of soap wasn't as bad with a car.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 ($16.68)

• 3:03 p.m. Noodles & Company - $6.30.  I'm not going to lie.  The fact that there's a Noodle & Company in the Congressional Mall really did win me over to the neighborhood (especially after looking for apartments after not eating all morning).  I hadn't had it since I left Chicago.
• 4:37 p.m. Interfuel - $10.38.  Topping off the car in Springfield turned out to be an adventure.  Apparently there are two Budgets in the city.  Luckily, the wrong one was by a gas station.
• 5:17 p.m. Budget Car Rental - Free.  Returning the Kia Soul was very disappointing.  I really had started to love that car.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 (Free)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16 ($14.00)

• 6:07 p.m. IHOP - $10.00.  Any day with pumpkin pancakes can't be a bad day.  They were so good.  I didn't even mind walking there in the cold for them.
• 6:45 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Even though I knew I had an interview the next day, I figured it couldn't hurt to apply for a couple more jobs.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 ($43.09)

• 8:31 a.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Not wanting to be late for my interview, I took a really early train.  So early that the FedEx to print out a copy of my references wasn't even open yet.
• 9:26 a.m. FedEx Office - $2.61.  They had pretty paper that was worth the wait to print out on.
• 10:31 a.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  I don't know why I expected the interview to fill up enough of my day to not have to figure out what to do with the rest of it.  I decided to head over to my usual Starbucks even though I didn't bring my gym clothes.
• 12:56 p.m. Chipotle Mexican Grill - $9.00.  Eating seemed like a good idea even though I was in an application groove.
• 1:22 p.m. Kogod Courtyard - Free.  After eating, I had pretty lost my mojo.  But it was still too early to take the VRE home.
• 2:53 p.m. Safeway - $17.39.  Despite having had a car for the majority of the prior week, I never took it to go grocery shopping.  Instead I waited until I got to the city.
• 5:16 p.m. Subway - $6.09.  My grocery bags pretty much exploded as I got off the train home in Manassas.  Luckily the owner of this subway knows me and gave me Subway bags to replace them.

So that's $170.59.  But that was in a week where I may have gotten a job and an apartment.  Or maybe neither.  Hopefully both.  Who knows.  Anyway at least it was a week that showed some hope for the future in some ways.  I still keep thinking once I get out of Virginia, my life will look up completely.  So far everything in Maryland has pointed to that being the case.  My total money spent since I've been unemployed is $8344.71.

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

Looks like I'm not going to break the record for most job applications without an interview that I have unintentionally gotten close to setting.  I sent my resume out 141 times before I heard anything back besides rejections.  On the 142nd time, on a resume that I sent at 9:37 p.m., I got an e-mail back that an organization I greatly admire was looking for a part-time web assistant and that they would like to talk to me about my interest in the position.

Now, I admit, I would rather have heard about the other job I applied for there immediate before this one, but I'm not going to turn down any offer for an interview.  I want to earn money for something more than looking for work.  And they seem really eager to interview me.  They asked if I was available to interview the next day.  I was looking for apartments.  But I have an interview with this organization at 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

And, to boot, I got a call about a web designer position with a temp agency while about to go into a restaurant for food yesterday.  While I wasn't qualified (the position was more about back end architecture than updating content), it was still good to hear from two potential employers within 24 hours of each other.

It makes me want to send out more applications late at night and on the weekends.  I mean, how much devotion does that show?

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As far as the apartment search is going, I spent the last two days solid looking for places in North Bethesda and Rockville.  The place that my brother loved still has no openings, but a place next door - that isn't quite as nice - but, again right next door does have openings.

Chances are the place I do get a job (or most of my temp assignments if this full-time or part-time thing doesn't pan out quickly) are going to be on that branch of the Red Line, I might as well give up and say that I'm going to live in Rockville.

I actually quite like that area of the city.  And it's pretty close to the Twinbrook stop.  Realistically, I should be making a list of all of the places that I've seen and sending it, with pictures, to my brother rather than applying for jobs tomorrow.  But, hey, this getting called back is addicting.  I want more of it.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4 ($9.00)

• 6:29 p.m. Amici's Restaurant - $9.00.  After putting off changing my resume for almost a week, I finally decided to just carb it up and get on the horse.  The cheap Tuesday buffet was good for that.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5 ($19.39)

• 1:55 p.m. IKEA - $7.00.  Since I stayed home to participate in a chat online, I decided to go to Starbucks to send out resumes and participate in another chat.  IKEA was a good place to eat that was close.
• 2:53 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  While I sat in the Starbucks, I applied for one job and participated in a Klout chat.  I think the second thing was more worthwhile.
• 7:09 p.m. Potomac Mills Mall - $8.39.  I forgot to take into account that I stayed at Starbucks past a decent bus home.  So I just ate at the Mediterranean place in the mall.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6 ($22.74)

• 11:46 a.m. Wisconsin Sports Club - Free.  Even though my plan was to look in Wheaton at an apartment that my brother and I saw, I decided to stop at the gym on the way.
• 1:15 p.m. Roti Mediterranean Grill - $8.52.  Also on the way to Wheaton was the Roti on New York Avenue.  This had been the only one I didn't enjoy.  It was better this time.
• 2:16 p.m. Starbucks Coffee - $4.00.  The Starbucks in Wheaton was way more full than most of the ones that I had been to in the suburbs.  Wheaton reminded me of my hometown a lot.  I ended up calling apartments instead of applying for jobs.
• 8:20 p.m. Walgreens - $4.99.  Having run out of Benadryl, I walked back to the Walgreens from the bus stop.
• 8:27 p.m. 7-Eleven - $5.23.  I wanted a burrito even though it was too cold to want a Slurpee.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7 ($196.59)

• 1:11 p.m. Potomac Mills Mall - $10.06.  Since I missed the bus that I wanted to take, I ended up eating at Sbarro at the mall.  The fact that I ate at the mall twice in a week made me want to move more.
• 3:39 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  I didn't want to rent my car too early so I stopped by the Starbucks in Alexandria and applied for jobs.
• 6:28 p.m. Budget Car Rental - $175.54.  Renting this car, I realized that I didn't have enough money set aside to get insurance on the car.  I also found out that Budget takes debit cars.  I got a Kia Soul.  It did not come with rapping hamsters.
• 7:38 p.m. Taco Bell - $6.99.  As long as I had a car, I was going to eat my "road trip" food.  Even if I wasn't planning on taking a road trip.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 ($51.57)

• 10:10 a.m. Sheetz - $28.17.  The rental car place gave me the car at a little under half a tank.  I figured I'd try this gas station on the way to I-95.
• 3:31 p.m. Congressional Deli - $6.40.  After looking at apartments in Rockford all morning and not eating, I was pretty famished.  This little deli turned out to be a Korean place.  But they still made a mean veggie burger.
• 8:55 p.m. Hard Times Cafe - $17.00.  My brother wanted to watch the Tigers game.  The place we were staying at was close to a Hooters, but I wanted to take my brother to an authentic D.C. chain bar.  So I brought him to Hard Times' Rockville location.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9 ($9.44)

• 4:55 p.m. Tyson Corner Center - $9.44.  After another day of looking at apartments all morning and not eating, had I not eaten at a Mediterranean place here, I probably would have crashed my rental car.
• 6:49 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial - Free.  We met up with one of my brother's friends from Arlington and played tourist.  This new monument is amazing.  And I actually got a photo taken of me with my glasses.
• 7:17 p.m. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial - Free.  This is my brother's friend's favorite memorial.  It looks cool in the dark but I like it better during the day.
• 8:02 p.m. Lincoln Memorial - Free.  My brother's friend has lived here for a bit longer than me, but I taught her about the museum beneath the memorial.  She showed us where the Einstein statue was, but it was too dark to see.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10 ($10.09)

• 12:01 p.m. Extra Space Storage - Free.  I was a nice guy and didn't make my brother drive his stuff to Virginia.  My storage unit is still pretty empty even with his stuff in it.
• 5:26 p.m. Subway - $6.09.  With a car, it was much less of a pain to drive to the Subway.  Though I did feel bad about driving.
• 6:01 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Knowing that I wasn't going to blog last week's entry unless I locked myself in a Starbucks, I went there.  And got stuff done.

So that's $318.82.  It feels like a went on a road trip both monetarily and physically.  And the sad thing is that I don't even think my brother and I saw the apartment we're going to move into.  I'm thinking I probably saw that this week.  Though I'm going to look at a few more places near the train next week.  If I'm not fully employed and otherwise disposed of that is. My total money spent since I've been unemployed is $8174.12.

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

This has certainly been a busy week.  That's why it's been almost two weeks since my last post.  I didn't find a job, but the second best thing happened - I'm finally getting out of Woodbridge!

In the back of my mind, I always wondered when my younger brother was going to end up in the Washington D.C. area, but it turned out to be far earlier than even I expected.  He got a potential job with the FDA in Rockville.  And while it's a bit disconcerting that he's gotten three government jobs in shorter than the time it's taken me to find one, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  He needs a roommate since he's having a hard time finding a way out of his lease in Indianapolis.

We've been looking for places all weekend.  He wants to live in Rockville since a lot of the places in Silver Spring apparently have roach problems - that were never mentioned in reviews of Rockville properties.  Though the Silver Spring properties are right on Colesville Road and I love seeing the city.  I'm even willing to pay $800 per month to live in the living room of one of the giant one bedrooms in one.

We'll see who wins the war of wills.  Either way, I'll be living in a city that people (including, hopefully, potential employers) have heard of for more things than an IKEA being there.

Also exciting that in order to be able to get around Maryland this weekend, I rented a car.  This means that I'll be able to better get around for the entire week.  I think I'm going to go to Ocean City on Wednesday.  Though after driving so much this weekend (especially visible since the car has 5 miles on it when I got it), I'm not sure if I want to drive anywhere for the rest of this week while I have the car.

Here's how I "spent" the last week:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 (Free)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 ($14.70)

• 2:44 p.m. Subway - $6.09.  My marathon of webinars continued well into this week.  Instead of eating lunch, I sat online.  By the time I reached the Subway, I was a hungry mess.
• 3:06 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  I knew that I had a blog entry that I wanted to write and that I would do it unless I was at a Starbucks.  It worked.
• 5:08 p.m. Harris Teeter - $4.61.  There hasn't been much food in my apartment for a few weeks.  I decided to go extra cheap and get a bunch of burritos for the week.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 ($18.43)

• 9:45 a.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  In yet another day of webinars, I needed to make sure to be by wi-fi by 10:00 a.m. I managed to make it into the city just in time for this cast.
• 1:51 p.m. Chipotle Mexican Grill - $7.00.  After applying for a few jobs after the webinar, I finally made my way over to Chipotle for a late lunch.
• 2:10 p.m. Kogod Courtyard - Free.  This was a chance to apply for more jobs before attending a seminar on resume writing, but I decided not to do any more damage before I learned how to properly write a resume.
• 4:23 p.m. Farragut Square - Free.  After all of the writing that I had done, I needed to decompress and do some reading instead.  This was a good place to do it.
• 5:27 p.m. Shake Shack - $7.43.  Unlike the last time I attended a networking session, I decided to eat and be in tip top shape for this seminar.  This place's mushroom burger is pretty good.  I couldn't even taste the mushrooms.
• 6:01 p.m. The Meyer Foundation - Free.  The most useful piece of information that I got out of this seminar was that my three page resume was too long.  Most people are looking for a one page summary resume.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 ($20.53)

• 12:02 p.m. Washington Sports Club - Free.  I found it really weird that after attending the resume seminar the day before, I wanted to apply for jobs more than go to the gym.  But I still did the latter.
• 1:46 p.m. Truckeroo - $12.75.  Not wanting to miss a chance to get many of the food trucks in D.C. in one place, I attended my fourth Truckeroo of the season.  I've yet to miss one yet.
• 3:17 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  The long day the day before has exhausted me.  Still, I decided to try to go to Starbucks and redesign this resume.  I got some bad news there and so I just ended up sitting there feeling awful instead.
• 7:03 p.m. Taco Bell - $3.78.  After my really awful day, I needed some Taco Bell to make me happy again.  It mostly worked.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 (Free)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2 ($5.28)

• 8:46 p.m. 7-Eleven - $5.28.  Fall had begun in earnest in the D.C. the day before.  But I still craved a Slurpee.  And some of their unhealthy burritos.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3 ($37.76)

• 11:51 a.m. Washington Sports Club - Free.  After my horrible Friday had spread into a horrible weekend, I needed to de-stress at the gym.
• 1:05 p.m. Panda Express - $3.30.  Arriving in Columbia Heights, I saw the Panda Express and realized that I hadn't been to a Panda Express since I left Chicago.  It was as mediocre, yet satisfying, as I remember it being.
• 1:15 p.m. Target - $24.37.  Since the weather seemed to be getting colder, I figured that I needed to get a hoodie before it was too cold to leave my house and get one.
• 1:59 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  I wanted to go to my "original" Starbucks in D.C. but it was really full so I ended up back in Chinatown.  Where I still didn't apply for any jobs since I didn't feel well.
• 4:59 p.m. Subway - $6.09.  The fact that I wanted to take a nice nap when I got home had me stopping at Subway after taking an early train.

So that's $96.70.  I think this might have been my first week under $100.00 in months.  Of course, I spent more than that on the rental car this week so I more than made up for my lack of spending.  Once I'm in Maryland, I'm going to definitely have better luck than I did in Virginia with bringing money in than I did in Virginia.  It just feels more right.  So it was worth it.  My total money spent since I've been unemployed is $7855.30.