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.