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

Today was a wake up call.  It all started when I read an article on the History of the Resume on Mashable (http://mashable.com/2011/09/04/history-of-the-resume/).  The 2010 time point states that infographic resumes are the new trend.  Considering that I'm applying for both creative jobs and entry level jobs, I'm probably competing against a lot of recent college grads - some of whom are probably using these.

So, freaked out, I decided to try to make an infographic out of my resume.  Searching the internet for tools to do so, I stumbled upon a free resume service from vizualize.me and created my own, simple, "pretty" resume (http://vizualize.me/ekVnZBUD9n).  Part of the problem that I saw was that it drew its data from my LinkedIn profile - which was incredibly incomplete.

Until today, I didn't even have a profile picture on this site.  But, using my communications resume as a template, I now have a 95% complete LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=13663601&trk=tab_pro).  If someone wants to give me a recommendation, it would kick me up to 100%. :)

And somehow I found time to get a haircut in all of this internet madness.

The funny thing is that I had an interview with a temp agency on Friday.  It was nice to break out my nice clothes.  The interview portion seemed to go well, but I don't know if they'll find me a "fit."  The problem is that they need someone who can be on call in the city.  And while I can do this, it will involve leaving with my roommate at 5:30 a.m.  Which I can definitely do.  Except who knows how my temp reports will come back waking up that early.

It's a cart before the horse problem.  If I could get an apartment in Alexandria, this wouldn't be a problem.  But that would involve having a job.  I'm not sure how a potential landlord would take that my job was temping.  Though I have heard of other people surviving in the city on temp assignments.  So I know it's possible.

There was another problem.  Their testing system was down because of the internet.  All I could take was a clerical test.  And, all I can say is that I was way better at spelling before spell check.  Though I think I did fine.  I guess I'll know on Tuesday.  I've got a sneaking suspicion that they'll call me to see if I'm available on call like I said I'd be in the interview.  So Tuesday is my first day of going to the city at the crack of dawn.

Tomorrow, being Labor Day and all, I'm going to spend the day sending in 10 application in another effort to find a job on my own (this temp place markets your resume if they hire you).  I'm going for one per hour.  Who knows if that will work.  Either way, no one can deny that I labored to find a job on this Labor Day weekend.  Whether that's ironic or fitting, I'm not sure.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 23 ($29.57)

• 10:31 a.m. Washington Sports Club - Free.  After another Monday of doing nothing, I felt like I needed to kickstart my week.  Nothing would do that like a trip to the gym.
• 11:54 a.m. Chinatown Express - $7.00.  Getting there early worked for me since I wanted to beat the lines.  I was so hungry by this point that I could barely stand.
• 12:51 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  After applying for a job, something weird happened.  The ground started to shake.  This was where I was for the Great East Coast Earthquake.  Even though it wasn't very scary in the Starbucks, I decided to go outside since I figured it was safer.
• 3:30 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Wandering through the city looking for a cell phone signal led me here.  I got a signal outside of the FEMA offices and beyond so that was reassuring.
• 4:56 p.m. Safeway - $14.57.  While I was in the neighborhood, I decided to go shopping.  I met up with someone from D.C.'s Yelp which was even more rare than the earthquake.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24 (Free)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 (Free)

• 12:37 p.m. County Center Owner's Association Clubhouse - Free.  Knowing that I needed to get a lot of resumes submitted, I went to the gym to get some adrenaline going.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 ($53.28)

• 10:38 a.m. Teaism Penn Quarter - $23.38.  The good news was that my date this day was a vegetarian.  The bad news was that she was from Dupont Circle.  But she was pretty funny.
• 1:53 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  After initially thinking that I would see a museum before going to the gym, I just ended up walking to L'Enfant Plaza and then taking the train to the Chinatown Starbucks.
• 4:23 p.m. Washington Sports Club - Free.  Since there was a hurricane forecast for the weekend, I figured that I wouldn't get another chance to work out.  And that I might have to battle sea monsters.
• 5:18 p.m. Safeway - $20.45.  With the weather forecast calling for potential power outages, I decided I needed to buy dry goods.  There were lines, but it actually wasn't that bad.  People in Washington D.C. were very orderly.
• 7:56 p.m. Subway - $5.45.  Knowing that I might be surviving on dry goods all weekend, I couldn't wait to eat one more tasty thing until I got home.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27 (Free)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 (Free)

• 5:37 p.m. County Center Owner's Association Clubhouse - Free.  Even though I usually don't leave the condo on Saturdays, getting out after the hurricane felt especially nice.  Though after the gym, I felt sick.  That was not nice.

MONDAY, AUGUST 29 ($157.51)

• 1:04 p.m. IKEA - $3.64.  The fact that IKEA has .99 cent pasta on Mondays was a dangerous discovery.  And that they had mashed potatoes made me in love with them.
• 1:54 p.m. Extra Space Storage - Free.  In a last ditch effort to find a writing sample, I tore my storage unit apart.  I couldn't find the policy manual that I thought was in there.  It was very frustrating.
• 3:06 p.m. Target - $99.99.  I had been rationing my meds for a bit.  But I finally ran out and it was definitely time to get more.  At least I could afford them again.
• 3:48 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  Being as I still wanted to get an application or two in, I decided to actually stop at a Starbucks in Woodbridge.  It was surprisingly quiet.  If it wasn't hard to get to by bus, I'd go more often.
• 6:00 p.m. Qdoba Mexican Grill - $7.96.  After the day's disappointments, I needed a burrito to cancel it out. It worked.
• 6:24 p.m. Borders - $41.92.  With my newfound income from my money market, I created a miniature marketing library.  I plan on reading the four books that I bought at 60% off soon.  Probably starting soon.  After all, I need some marketing book learning eventually.

So that's $240.36.  But that involved a lot of education and necessities so I don't feel too bad about it.  And I did follow through on applying for jobs each day so I feel that I didn't waste any money the entire time. My total spent since I've been unemployed is $6877.75.