My Lines: 2007 in Review

2007 in Review
Hey, I’m not promising this is at all interesting, or that you’d want to read it—it’s just the facts....

January I continue my occupational therapy (OT) on my right hand from being hit from behind by the speeding drunk on 24 October 2006. My new car is returned after three weeks in the shop, mostly repaired from the deer collision on 18 December 2006, when it was three weeks old. Because of building declines, an outside salesman is transferred to another Reico store.

February By staying at a motel in Frederick, I become one of the few personnel to report for work during the only true winter nastiness of the season, Valentine’s Day. Due to continued housing economy declines, our first lay-off occurs at Reico—and although I was last hired, it was not me. In fact, I become senior Project Coordinator on the major builder team because of the shake-up. Although I could not throw, I round up seven bowls to contribute to the annual Potters Bowl, which benefits the Hagerstown Community Free Clinic—and get to go to the dinner anyway.
Also: My cousin—the family success story—unexpectedly dies.

March I am commended for “saving” a retail account at our monthly meeting. I buy a new suit, gray with pinstripes, for at the cousin’s funeral—and for the expected court date of the drunk on the 15th. I have it altered by the store’s tailor. The day of my cousin’s funeral, a professor friend’s husband suddenly dies at the wheel of his truck, his vehicle then crosses the median, and collides with a semi, causing the semi to explode and kill its driver. I attend the viewing that Friday—the entire parking lot is full—I park a quarter of a mile away and wait 80 minutes in line to pay the widow my respects.
The drunk who hit me pleads down and is not held responsible for rear-ending me—I am! The lady with whom I went through the six-weeks of Reico training is laid off/ let go, as is one of our two Field Service Representatives. By month’s end, my improvement of our Excel Punch-Out Service Sheets saves us time and money. As I’m told I have not yet depleted my medical benefit, I opt to continue my OT for another six-week course. I once again volunteer for the community college’s Flower & Garden Show, taking a second shift.

April When at a two-day design seminar held in Elkridge, MD, I opt to stay over and get to attend the first birthday party of my first great-nephew, Brandon Lee Simmons. I am laid off from Reico on Monday, 23 April. (Good thing I have the suit—I’ll need it for interviews.)
I am released by my hand surgeon the following day. She advises a follow-up in six months to a year, unless in pain, etc. The long-term prognosis: at least one of the injured joints will have to be replaced. The artificial joints last 15 years, tops. She recommends pushing that surgery out as far as possible.
I apply for Unemployment Insurance.

May I begin receiving Maryland Unemployment Insurance, about 60—75% of my take-home at Reico. My former supervisor at Ryan Homes, Trish, offers me some hours, but I explain that whatever I make is deducted from the Unemployment Insurance. It seems to make more sense to me to devote my full-time energies into finding another full-time, permanent, and, hopefully, good-paying job rather than to have to juggle part-time work with interviews and have no net gain in income.
After testing very well, a long-established insurance company's Carlisle, PA district wants me to try out for a sales position. There is no offer to comp the licensure classes or license, and it involves outside sales, something at which I’ve never done. I decline the offer.

June In an official form letter, my presence is demanded at an "Early Intervention" two-day seminar in early June, to be held at the One-Stop Job Center in downtown Hagerstown. My Unemployment Insurance may be in jeopardy if I do not attend. I go to scope out the place a day ahead, and the fellow who will teach the seminar pretty much apologizes for the letter's tone, saying he wishes the State of Maryland would let him re-write that letter. So I attend. It's a pretty good deal, and it's comforting to see a broad range of folks in the group. I am not alone. Plus, I learn I am a "dislocated worker." Probably the best tool I got from the class was the job meta-search engine, Indeed.com.
I attend the alumni’s Weed and Feed at Willow Pond Farm, Fairfield, PA. Willow Pond is a regular vendor at the Flower & Garden Show. While there, I volunteer for their Pennsylvania Lavender Festival. I enjoyed the Festival so much that I volunteered a second half day, and then drove down to the community college to help with concessions for one of our band concerts of our summer season at the amphitheater. I volunteered at almost all alumni concessions in summer and fall.
Also: My brother Bill has a car wreck. He’s OK, other party is bruised, but Bill’s new Subaru is badly damaged. (As of December, he’s still with a loaner.)
On 5 June, my nephew Bobby marries his partner of 14 years, Mike Binko, at Niagara Falls, Ontario with fourteen friends and family in attendance.
Brandon Lee Simmons, my great-nephew, begins to toddle. He falls, but picks himself up and continues on, without complaint.

July At an old college friend’s suggestion, I begin reading The Celestine Prophecy, a book she says changed her life. It seems the book is also speaking to me—and possibly a connection with this friend in the belief of "purposeful coincidences" and how some people seem to be of import at first glance. She encourages me to consider writing as a career, writing that my e-mails remind her of NPR contributor and essayist David Sedaris. I continue to interview and send out résumés. My brothers come up and see me on the 4th, and we have a good time during mundane things (riding the same old roads, shopping at Wal-Mart, etc.). They treated to lunch and dinner—I was stuffed.
Also: On Saturday, 21 July, Bobby and Mike throw a belated, nicely-catered wedding reception in their backyard at their Stewartstown, PA home. It’s a Hawaiian luau theme. (Everyone wearing Hawaiian shirts is a cloaking device to what “gaydar” I have—luckily, I’m not on the prowl at the event.... But the food is good, and it’s a happy time for the couple and guests.)

August By the end of the book, the plot and theories jump the shark. I am disappointed—like a patron of Barnum’s circus after visiting The Great Egress—and a bit saddened that my friend, who is much more intelligent than I am--would find deeper meaning in this fairly shallow rhetoric--call me disillusioned, but as precious as life is, you shouldn't read too much into it—it just is. But I write her that if it works for her, I am happy. God bless her for some supportive e-mails at this trying time in my life.
I am asked to interview at Laurel Run, a retirement community, for the Activities Director/ Volunteer Coordinator position. Leaving my apartment with ample time, I drive a few blocks before I realize I have a flat. I destroy the tire en route to my auto shop. A fellow immediately stops and drives me to the shop, where I call and reschedule the appointment. AAA informs me I need to have the vehicle inspected too. Over $200 in repairs.
The interview is graciously re-scheduled for the next day, but not only is the job not what I’d hoped, the HR Director informs me they will probably go with a more experienced candidate with a nursing degree. Despondent, I end the month with a record four interviews in one week, including a library position in Thurmont, MD and a position at Harford Community College, in development. I have hopes again. I try the potters wheel again, and although rusty, I get eight bowls for next year’s Potters Bowl—17 objets d'arts total make it to the glazing round. (I will lose two to glaze crawl in the glaze firing.)

SeptemberI attend a wonderful fireworks display on Labor Day Sunday in Boiling Springs, PA. I interview for a full-time position at a smaller company that builds homes; it is based in Westminster, MD, but doing business in PA. I leave thinking the interview did not go well—I talked too much. The hopes I had for the last of August’s interviews are all dashed.
I approach my old supervisor at Ryan Homes about work there--it would be reassuring to know I can at least tread water when the Unemployment Insurance (UI) runs out. She assures me she could maybe get me 30 hours a week when I am ready—though the reason I left, 30 hours now sounds good, as I’ve but a month left on UI. I decide to continue on Unemployment, so I can interview whenever it is requested.
The Westminster company calls for a second interview but shrinks its offer to a part-time position at that interview. After interviewing at a stone veneer company of Littlestown, PA, I withdraw my application, as I felt the ladies with whom I interviewed pulled a bait-and-switch with the position for which I was interviewing. Had they been up front when setting up the interview, I still would have accepted the interview and probably would have accepted the position they were pushing me into, as it was very much like the sales support I did at Reico. But I expect to be paid by an employer before they start lying to me.
Also: Bob Jr., my brother, continues to look for his own place—perhaps to buy a house.

October I interview some, send out résumés more. Trish informs me that there have been some cutbacks in the Model Home Coordinator positions—my old job. She can maybe offer two or three days tops. My life boat has broken free.
Volunteer Frederick has the same Volunteer Coordinator position open that I had applied to and interviewed for soon after leaving HCC. I send in my résumé with the same hopes I had then: if I get this position, it justifies all that has happened—I will get to help people. The Human Resources lady reply that the would like me to write a letter of interest for the position. Funny, that's what I called the cover letter I sent with the résumé and list of references. I bullet a few key qualifications on those letters, and I try to keep the thing brief. Someone now wants me to be more detailed, more verbose? I take a full evening to compose a four-page letter (1½-spaced) and then have it proofed by my friend Trish and my nephew Bobby. I adopt all of their suggestions and send it in.
Eleven days later—just in time to ruin my weekend—I am e-mailed that they've selected someone for the position. This time, I didn't even get an interview out of them--and I'm more experienced and capable now then when interviewed. That was depressing.
Trish informs me that more cutbacks have been administered: the Manpower contract will be closed come 1 November and the division's Internet Sales Representative will substitute for the Community Sales Representatives. (Later this is amended slightly: Manpower will still provide back-up from time to time, but there will be no work for me.)
At month’s end, I interview for a drug store chain's Assistant Manager position that has a salary commensurate with my Reico one, less the commute. The interview goes well.
Also: Another wedding—this time in Edgewater, MD: my nephew, Luke Simmons, marries his high school girlfriend, Rebecca Lee Blackwell, in a backyard ceremony at her mother’s home. 10½ years after the loss of the last Mrs. Simmons—my mom—and 34 years since the last bride came into the family—we were very happy to welcome Becky officially into the family. She already was a member, especially after providing us with Brandon Lee Simmons, the first of the next generation, in April 2006.

November My Unemployment Insurance ends; I begin to live on savings. I interview at the local newspaper as an account executive, in Baltimore at a small publisher as a Sales Representative selling ad space in the back of Catholic Church bulletins (western Maryland territory), and at a Frederick company which owns several hotels in Frederick and Hagerstown, as well as the franchise rights to a small ("food-fast") restaurant chain. The latter interview is for Marketing Coordinator for the restaurants they own in the Mid-Atlantic area, as well as the franchised ones in the eastern United States. The drug store chain stalls; I now want the Marketing Coordinator job, as it invokes creativity in me: I begin brainstorming ad campaigns, and send some ideas with each request for a search status update. A second interview with the Baltimore publisher results in a job offer. I ask for time to think it over, but again, it’s an outside sales job with no home office. The night before my decision, I am sick. I declined the offer, ostensibly because of the variable salary, insufficient mileage and phone reimbursement, but really for the fact I don’t want to work out of my car, and start the job in the cold. Surprisingly, my friends and family understand my decision.

December After no further correspondence with drug store chain, I let go of the possibility. Ditto with the Marketing Coordinator position—until I receive a message at 5:05 pm on Friday, 7 December to call their HR! I spend the weekend giddy—and brainstorming more ideas. Monday morning, I leave a message that I’m available in later afternoon. After a scheduled interview with a large race track concern (as Facilities Manager for their local Off Track Wagering venue), I again call on the Marketing Coordinator job, but am told an interview would not be possible this day. I go home to a mailed rejection letter from the company, postmarked the day after the phone message. I have never had a company wish to speak to me personally to let me know I wasn’t chosen. Because of the phone message asked me to call them back, my friends assure me my expectation of getting a second interview or an offer were not unrealistic hopes. That I had been so down and let my weekend thoughts go to visualizing that my situation would soon improve and I could move forward again—well, I forgive me. But I was doubly down after the rug was pulled.
Later in the week, I interview at a thread manufacturer for sales and marketing support. I know, not promising—but it is a major manufacturer, fairly near, and may pay sufficiently. They had a print of Annapolis City Dock, 1983 with a view of two places my dad once worked, taken very near where my dad once owned a Gulf Gas station: I saw it as a positive sign.
During the third week of December, I interview at two manufacturers for inside sales positions. I again meet with the owner of Westminster-based homebuilder. I may have a two-day part-time job with his company starting in January. (My drain shall run slightly slower.)
As I have no home computer, I face limited access as Shippensburg University and Hagerstown Community College computer labs shut down for Winter break for a half month. I have a time limit on the computers at the local libraries, and with the kids let out of school, there will not always be an available computer. Also, fewer companies advertise at year’s end.
Christmas week began with a surprise visit from my oldest brother--including a nice dinner at Rolling Mill Restaurant, formerly Chestnut Logs Restaurant. My former girlfriend informed me she a gift for me; an exchange was arranged for Monday, Christmas Eve. I warned her that her gift was handmade--code with Brian simmons for "pottery." So I went to her place on Christmas Eve, and really liked the cheese selection and box of chocolates she gave me. (These are two items I dearly love, but I don't allow myself right now.) I decided to go to the Eve Service at Greencastle Presbyterian with her--again, my faith is waning at this point--and enjoyed the service. They had a new program this year, and I did not burn my hand holding my lit candle again this year. (Rita got hot wax on her hand this year though.)
Christmas Day I slept in--Protestants don't seem to offer morning services anyway. I fixed a small ham and had mashed potatoes and buttered peas, however "ready-made" they all were, at least it beat Thanksgiving's Banquet^TM TV dinner. After getting gasoline, I drove down to US 40 at the South Mountain Summit and got on the AT for a four-plus mile hike south.
For one day only, the day after Christmas, I was again gainfully employed! I filled in for my old supervisor, Tish, at her new community at Ryan Homes. The model was a smaller version of the model with which I was most associated while at Ryan, the one in Greencastle. So it really felt comfortable--except on my shoulders, as I prepared 200-plus mailers.
Later in the week, I applied to one job and interviewed in person in Gettysburg for another on Friday afternoon.
Saturday I walked a good walk around Caledonia State Park and helped clear some of the trails from recent storm damage (tree limbs and wet leaves on the bridges).
The last day of the year, I was formally offered the weekend job with the smaller new homes builder. I'll have Net access and an official company e-mail address. It won't save me at all, but I will have a title once more. On New Years Eve, I am up at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania's "Anchor Drop" for the second year in a row.
Also: Becky Simmons and her son, Brandon Lee, were involved in a car wreck in the rain. The car was totaled, but I am told they are all right.

ConclusionThere is little possibility of any job offer before Christmas. Yet again, I must extend my “hope deadline”: first month, second month, Labor Day, summer’s end, before cold weather, before Unemployment Insurance ends, before Thanksgiving (so I could have a Thanksgiving), now Christmas, and most likely, year’s end.
I am not all that—I've always known it, whether I have come off on occasion as cocky or arrogant, well, it ain't real. (I would submit that one should go 'round as though one knows what's what, as no one wants to deal with a goof for long, if at all.) However, even I thought I would line up a job within a few months. The fellow who taught the Early Intervention seminar said the rule of thumb is you will be out one month for every $10,000 per year in salary you hope to make. That would put it at 3½ months--I've been looking now over twice that long.
But it’s not over yet. Although Reico wasn’t the port I thought at which my career could finally anchor, take repairs, and sail away better from—much less the port at which I could have a little shore leave (wink-wink), I finally got to taste success. I got to do some repairs—new glasses, some doctor visits, some loan repayments, etc. and some shore leave: some long-postponed vacations and other recreation. Even post-job, I walked and hiked some in the warm weather. I am proud and thankful I’ve gotten this far.

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Last major update of this page was on Thursday Evening, 14 February 2008†.