Rant #2,457: I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

As promised, today I am going to veer off the "I am out of work" theme just a wee bit and talk about something else.

No, I won't veer off very far, because everything now that I write, say, do or experience has to do with the fact that after nearly a quarter century of continuous employment, I am out on my butt.

But after send out all the resumes for the day, fill out all the forms for the day, and really, have reached the finished line for the day as far as looking for a job, what do I do to fill up the remaining hours, in particular during what used to be my work day?

One thing that I have been consciously doing is staying away from plopping down and watching an inordinate amount of television. I love TV, and I could probably find something to watch on the tube if I wanted to at all hours of the day, but once you get into that habit, I really feel that you are sunk.

It kind of makes you lazy, and I really try to hold off watching TV until at least 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Yesterday, I put on the TV after 4 p.m., as I was busy filling out some forms to apply to some freelance sites.

But there comes a time each day when I am really and truly done with my searching. I mean, if I wanted to make myself completely crazy, I could probably search the job boards from dawn until dusk and then some, but I have found that that type of search is a fruitless one, making me search and apply for jobs almost just to say that I did it, not because I am really interested in doing this.

So yes, there does come a point where I am truly done for the day. And when that happens, I do remain on the computer, checking back now and again to see if anything new has been posted.

But what am I doing on the computer to fill up the time when I have done all I can do for the day?

I am digitizing my vinyl records.

I find that a relaxing exercise, something that I really never had that much time to do when I was working--except on the weekend--and that I personally find very relaxing.

Doing so is not only fun--putting these great records into MP3 format allows me to gather them up, put them on a thumb drive, and listen to them in the car--but it has also given me some ideas about my writing, and where that may take me in the future if this situation goes on for a pronounced period.

So many people told me that I should take advantage of this time away from the rat race, that I should do things that I never had the time to do, so I figured that there was no harm in doing this during down time, of which I hope I have a dwindling amount as this thing goes on.

Today, a week after the axe fell, is a particularly dead day, or looks to be one at least. I don't have to take my son to work--my father and I are switching off each day in doing so, as well as picking my son up--so today is an off day for me.

I don't have to make dinner. because my wife goes into work early today, and will be home in plenty of time to do this for us.

I don't have any supreme obligations during the day--my parents have asked me to do a few favors for them since I have been off, which I have done--and I always spend at least 45 minutes to an hour reading the newspaper, now reading some in the morning and the rest while I east lunch,

The only obligation I have today is to take my son to his therapist tonight, around 6:30 p.m., and I won't have a problem doing that.

So today is not going to be a very busy day for me, although I hope it is, but if it isn't, I will be sitting at the computer and digitizing my records for an hour, maybe two hours or more today, depending on if other things come up.

And what am I digitizing? Right now, I am focusing on some of my 45s, and directly focusing on the over 30 singles released in the U.S. by my favorite British Invasion band, the Dave Clark Five.

I have almost all their singles in my collection--they released a total of 36 singles in the U.S. from 1963 to 1972, or about four a year during that period, really an incredible output--and I think that I am just missing about eight of them.

So I am digitizing them, listening to them as a convert them to MP3 format, and believe it or not, getting some ideas on some possible future writing endeavors, which I won't get into just yet.

It serves as my own personal reward for doing what I should be doing--looking for a job--so when I reach this point, I know that I have completed my main "job" for the day, even though I will pick it up again if I see something that I should apply to as I go into my email periodically, which is why I was working on the computer through 4 p.m. yesterday.

I mean, I am out of work, but why should I torture myself?

Next week, I will be busy as a bee. Not only do I have to tell New York State that yes, I am still out of work and to start sending my checks, but I have two job fairs to go to, two work-related classes to go to, and yes, the usual hubbub that goes into looking for a job, so I probably won't have as down time next week as I have today and probably tomorrow.

It looks like my only obligation on Friday is taking my son to his basketball league at night, so Friday appears to be sort of a repeat of Thursday, other than the fact that I will be taking my son to work and bringing him back on the last day of the work week.

So that is how I am spending my work "vacation."

Digitize, baby, digitize!

Classic Rant #1,114 (January 2, 2014): 2014

How was your New Year's Eve and Day?

Mine was pretty much nothing with nothing.

We were allowed to leave work early on Dec. 31, 90 minutes early, which rarely happens, but when it does, it is like a blessing from heaven.

Later, my family and my parents had a Chinese food feast. It was delicious.

And then, reality set in.

Sure, this was a special night on the calendar, but really, how special is it?

After the Hanukkah and Christmas onslaughts, is New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day, really that big a deal?

Not to my family, at least.

My wife fell asleep at 8:17 or so--I know because when she officially dozed off, I checked the clock--and then my son and I were the only ones up.

My son was on the computer or playing video games, and I watched television.

I watched the news, which was pretty dry, but the anchor was very pretty (yes, it has come to this).

Anyway, right after the news, "The Honeymooners" marathon began, so I went right into that.

At about 11:55, I turned on ABC to see the ball drop, and if you were watching, didn't you get the feeling that somebody made a big error during the ball drop?

It seemed that the camera was positioned in such a way that you really couldn't see the movement of the ball clearly. There was a big advertising sign in front of the ball, which didn't help either.

As the countdown went on, they showed shots of the crowd rather than the ball.

And then, to add insult to injury, they then moved to a different angle for the ball--probably because they saw that they made a mistake earlier on--and you could not see the movement of the ball at all.

I put this up on Facebook, and I wasn't the only one who was disappointed in the way the ball drop was handled.

I have to think that Dick Clark was turning in his grave at the sight of this, and to what his show has turned into--a freak show--in his later years and now that he is gone.

Anyway, I watched some more of "The Honeymooners"--an eternally funny show that has stood the test of time--and then I went to sleep.

New Year's Day was really nothing with nothing. I only ventured outside once, to throw out the garbage.

We watched "The Honeymooners" and "The Twilight Zone" all day, and that was pretty much it.

But now reality has set in on January 2.

The work week kicks in again, and there are predictions of a major nor'easter coming our way later today.

2014, apparently, will start off with a bang, and a white one at that.

My family has some major plans this weekend, and hopefully, they will not be derailed by this nonsense.

So happy 2014 to you and yours, and we are probably in for another interesting year.

Let's see just how interesting it is--Rant 1,114, the first Rant of 2014.

There is something eerie about the two number 14s aligning there, but I will leave it at that.

Rant #2,456: Reach Out of the Darkness

Yesterday ended up quite the busy day, as I applied for jobs, called the New York State Education Department, and went to my town's job center to see what they could do for me.

That visit proved fruitful. They have numerous resources to help one find a job, and I am now enrolled in a few classes to help me to find a job, including one about LinkedIn, a site that confounds me about how to use it and to be honest, what its use actually is,

I also learned about another job fair that I can go to, so next week is going to be quite a busy week for me in my pursuit of a job.

I called the Education Department on a whim, to be honest with you.

Way back in the early 1980s, after I got my Masters Degree, I pursued a job in teaching at the secondary level. I never found a regular teaching gig, was always a substitute teacher--the absolutely worst job in America, bar none--and I left the field after three years of pursuing something that, at the time, simply wasn't there, a job as a middle school or high school English teacher.

So I contacted the Education Department to find out if I could be a sub again, and what my exact status was with the department--basically, how I could become certified again.

To make a long story short, I found out that back then, I was a provisional teacher. That was a designation given to certified teachers who did not hold a regular teaching job. Once somebody that held this designation became a regular teacher, he or she would get full designation, which is something I never received.

Astonished that I was still in the system--I had my teaching credentials from 1983 to 1993 and hadn't subbed since 1985--I asked how I could get my teaching credentials once again, and if I could still substitute teach without them.

First of all, the state BOE doesn't even offer a provisional teaching credential any more, and when I heard that, I knew I was sunk.

So, in order to become a fully licensed teacher, I discovered that I would have to go through a morass of testing, taking classes and filling out forms that would take forever to do, and thus, it would not pay for me to go through this for my goal, which is not to find a regular teaching job today as it was back more than 30 years ago, it is simply to sub and make money. Period.

As far as subbing without the credentials, first of all, Long Island is not New York City. However horrid New York City's educational system is, it is housed under one roof, the New York City Board of Education. On Long Island, each municipality has its own board of education, so you basically have each town or group of towns having their own BOE.

Some allow non-accredited teachers to sub, at a reduced rate, of course. Others do not. I would have to literally call each town's BOE to find out which did, and which didn't, accept non-accredited subs.

I certainly don't want to sub in New York City--why would I travel into the city as a mere sub?--and calling each and every BOE would be a long and drawn out process. And state law only allows a non-accredited teacher to work up to 40 days in one district, so to be honest about it, I would have to find about five districts that would accept me as a sub, and hope that they use me for the maximum 40 days.

Maybe something to ponder about later, but it doesn't pay to even start to get into this now, and to be honest, I don't think this is something that really pays to do. I will keep this in my back pocket, but I probably cannot do this even one day a week while collecting unemployment--whatever I make would push me over the threshold for what I can make on the side and still be unemployed.

So it is time to move on from this, at least for the next six months or so.

And if my figuring is right, if I do not get a full time job after my six months of unemployment--which by the way, is taxable--then my unemployment insurance will end right around my birthday on April 28, 2020.

A nice birthday present indeed.

One great thing that happened yesterday is that I paid off whatever I owed on my car. I had vowed for months and years that if I ever lost my job, I would pay off my car quickly, using money that I had squirreled away in a Roth IRA, and that is exactly what I did yesterday.

One less bill--my biggest bill each month--to worry about.

So that is where I stand now.

After writing this entry, I will be at it again, scouring the want ads and looking for work.

The next few days will be a bit slower--I was also asked by the Navy to do a little job for them, it doesn't pay anything but it will keep me in their sites for maybe when something might open up with them--and when I send out what I have done for them, a resume will go with it too.

Let's see what happens. Right now, I am satisfied that I have done all I could do during the past six days to get myself into the groove again.

And maybe tomorrow, I can write my usual Ranting and Raving column, and not refer to my job woes again ...

That's if I don't find a job in the next 24 hours.

You can bet on that!

Classic Rant #1,113 (December 31, 2013): Happy New Year

Well, it has finally come down to this.

In less than 24 hours, we will be in calendar year 2014.

Personally, I don't think that 2013 was any year to write home about.

It had its ups and downs, but it wasn't nearly as bad as 2012 was--one of the worst years in my memory--so, at least we can say that we hit bottom in 2012, and 2013 was sort of an improvement.

I look forward to the new year as I always do, a time to get a fresh start.

No, I do not make any resolutions, because, as you know, they are made to be broken.

I just look forward to the ball dropping in Times Square, which I watch from the cozy confines of my warm house.

There is absolutely no way I would ever attend that thing.

I remember that when I was a kid, I also watched the ball drop, but things were a bit different.

My parents used to go out with their friends, so it was up to me, the big brother of the house, to watch my sister.

That was the one night out of the year that I could basically stay up to whatever time I wanted, eat what I wanted, watch what I wanted, and then doze off to sleep--but not before the inevitable phone call from my mother, asking, "How are things at home?"

I loved it. I watched Johnny Carson, watched the ball drop, stayed up into the wee hours, and felt like a real adult.

Today, things are so different. As an adult, I haven't been out on New Year's Eve for years--why bother? Everything is so expensive, and I would rather be home.

Does anybody even go out anymore for this celebration? I know that people do, but it doesn't appear to be as joyous as it used to be.

But at least I get a day off tomorrow, so I will next see you on Thursday.

Have a great New Year, and thanks for coming around here every day to see what I have to say.

I really appreciate it.

Rant #2,455: Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)

The key to surviving what I am going through now is to not veer too far off of routine as I go through the process of looking for a new job.

About the only thing different that I am doing is getting up a bit later--I got up today at 6 a.m. rather than at 4 a.m. as I had been doing--but otherwise, it is best to keep the status quo as I go through this latest journey.

Today, as I have been doing for decades, prior to when I get showered and dressed, I will shave, because I have been shaving on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for as long as I can remember, probably since late high school and college.

And yes, after I eat breakfast, I write this column, and after writing it and putting it up on Facebook, I go right into my email, and see what jobs are available that I might like to send out resumes to.

I still don't trust the job listings sites, but let me tell you what happened yesterday when I went on the Indeed site, just one of the many sites that I use to search for jobs.

Lo and behold, once again I viewed by old place of work's bogus listing posted, and I got furious.

I went to Indeed's Facebook site, and I saw that they still had not answered me, so I wrote to them that the listing was still up, still running, deceiving people into sending out their resumes to a company that is out of business.

Finally, they replied:

"Hi Larry, thanks for contacting us here! To clarify, job postings on Indeed are uploaded directly by the employer and we always encourage them to close their jobs when they have made a hire. If a job appears on Indeed this means the employer has actively posted the job themselves and should mean that they are hiring for the position. That being said, while we encourage employers to keep applicants updated on their individual hiring processes, we are unable to guarantee that all employers will respond to your applications on Indeed. Unfortunately, we cannot communicate with all employers regarding every job that they post.

"We have passed the job along to our internal team to investigate. We'll let you know here once we receive an update."

Well, that is all fine and good, but it kind of sashays around the problem, doesn't it? Again my former work claimed that they never put the job posing up, that Indeed and other search engines put up such posts in order to generate business.

And by the way, in my post to them, I threatened to alert my local legislators about what I see as a major breach of truth perpetrated by these sites.

Well, a few hours later, that promise to them seemed to have worked.

Here was their next reply to me:

"Hi Larry, just to follow up with you here, we have received an update from our internal team and they removed the jobs from Indeed."

Well, that still leave me nowhere, but at least it gives me some type of personal satisfaction that I have exposed them for their double talk,

Did my old place of work lie to me about placing this ad months ago, or did Indeed lie about how they gather job listings?

I still don't know the answer.

Anyway, yesterday I spent scouring the job listings, finding several jobs that I applied to, and the biggest thing I did yesterday was finally to apply for unemployment.

This, itself, has been made a more complicated process by the fact that one must do this either online or over the phone. In New York State, you cannot just visit the Unemployment Office and do this. In fact, my old local Unemployment Office is now a Social Security office.

Anyway, I was finally able to fill out the form, and I am now officially registered to collect unemployment in New York State.

One problem is that I have to check in with them on next Wednesday to actually kick this in and get this going, so I probably am not going to receive a check for a few weeks ... and yes, the money I will be getting from the state, the money I have been paying into for years, is fully taxable, so when we do our taxes, those monies will have to be taken out.

I also discovered that there is a job fair being held next Monday not very far from me--ironically, it is being held right across the street from where I worked in the early 1980s--so I will be going to that next Monday. I don't think that job fairs are all on the up and up either--I think a lot of firms go there to see what exactly is out there--and it is a bit of a cattle call, but I will go anyway and hope for the best.

After I write this entry, I will search the job listings, will send in my resume to a couple of potential employers, and then, I will try to contact the New York State Education Department and see if it even pays for me to try to re-up my teaching license, something I haven't used in more than 30 years.

Subbing is a possibility, but it might not be a reality for me if it takes too much to get certified again. Hopefully, since I had my teaching license from about 1983 to 1993, I won't have to take any further tests, but if I do, then it simply might not pay to do. But we will see.

Other than that< i am officially a free agent, and I will play each day as it comes to me.
There is really nothing else that I can do right now, and I have to hope for the best.

Classic Rant #1,112 (December 30, 2013): There IS Something To Watch On Television

I constantly lament throughout the year that there is nothing to watch on television.

I hate the new crap ... err ... crop of shows that come out each year, because they are pure trash, with a few exceptions.

I mean, does anyone admit at this point that they actually watch "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Anyway, now that we are coming to the end of another year, various niche TV networks are putting their best foot forward, namely showing marathons of great past programs as we move from New Year's Eve into January 1.

Whether we are talking about "The Twilight Zone," "The Three Stooges" (not really a TV show, per se, but what other pre-TV series other than the "The Little Rascals" seemed to be almost made for TV?), or :"The Honeymooners," this is really TV at its best.

And all in black and white!

Was there a more sharp-edged series than "The Twilight Zone?" It spoke about things you couldn't talk about on TV at the time with a sci-fi perspective, and the writing and acting was top-notch.

Yes, the Stooges are pie in the face type humor, but heck, what is wrong with that? These shorts are, in some cases, 80 years old, and they are still funny. Will "The Big Bang Theory" still be funny in 2093?

And then we have Ralph, Alice, Ed and Trixie, probably TV's all-time best comedy troupe. They take minimalism to an extreme, but Jackie Gleason knew exactly what he was doing with this show, which appeals to the masses probably better than any other show in TV history. Everyone can sympathize and empathize with the Kramdens' and Nortons' plight, and we laugh along with them because, well, we are them, so to speak.

There are other marathons, and some feature more recent TV shows, but I think the three that I mentioned really encapsulate the good side of TV, giving us all something to watch on one of the calendar year's most overrated, over-saturated days.

Sure, it is fun to see the ball drop, I guess, but it's even more fun to see Ralph Kramden yell out to Alice, "You're the greatest," and then give her a big smooch, isn't it?

I pretty much go back and forth with the marathons, staying with one set for a few episodes and then moving on to the next set.

But of the mighty three, well, I can't pick my most favorite. They all have something that just gets to me.

So, have fun as we all prepare for the New Year.

I will have fun thinking about those shows, and how they at least get the New Year off on the right foot each and every year.

What happens for the next 364 days is anyone's guess, but at least it is perfect at the beginning.

Rant #2,454: A Brand New Me

Happy Columbus Day!

No, it is not "Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day," it is Happy Columbus Day, and to those who want to change the day's name and focus, I say create another holiday, if you must, but Columbus Day is Columbus Day and that is that.

If you do not celebrate the day for Columbus, himself, then at least honor the day as a day where Italian Americans can rejoice at their heritage.

Don't take that away from them, as many would, are trying to, and have during the past few years.

Columbus supposedly discovered America, discovered the New World, and right now, although not as great historical-wise, I am now discovering my own new world, and it is forcing me to reinvent myself and make "a brand new me."

The last couple of days since the announcement on October 10 that my place of business for the past 23 and a half years is going out of business, and thus, I was losing my job have gone by in sort of a silent whirlwind.

Yes, I don't know what has hit me, and yes, I have had up and down moments to deal with, since this is so new to me.

I have tried to file a claim with unemployment, and have been unsuccessful in doing so. Due to some really idiotic rules in New York State, even though I tried to file the very day I got canned, New York State considered the amount of days I worked last week--four--and the amount of money I made during the week--up to a threshold--as being too much, so I have to file the following week.

Of course, there is no place on the site that actually says this, so I had to go through the process twice, because there is also nowhere on the site that says you can file only between the house of 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.

After I figured out on the site why it was claiming that my email was invalid--it took me a sold half hour before I figured out that the site would only allow my email address in ALL CAPS rather than in lower case, which is in to begin with, and after I filled out the form, I got an error message that I could not file after 7:30 p.m., because it was some time after that time before I supposedly fully filed.

And then when I tried to file the next day on Friday, I found out about the work levels that evidently I went over.

The next problem is that I am going to try to file today, but again, today is a holiday, and will I be able to do so? I will have to wait until 7:30 a.m. to find out.

Since losing my job, I have applied for probably upwards of 20 jobs, both full time and part time. It has kept me active and hopeful, but the reality is that it has also depressed me a bit, because when you read these ads, you wonder about their legitimacy.

Case in point is that I once again used the Indeed job site for my search, and lo and behold, I found that they were still using the bogus advertisement from my old place of work--yes, the place that hasn't hired anyone in at least five or sis or seven years when they were around and the very same site that went out of business last Thursday.

As it has been explained to me, Indeed puts up bogus ads like this to try to get the companies listed in these ads to re0sign with them to place job ads on their site. When the company sees the responses they get, Indeed hopes that they can convince the company to re-up with them to place help wanted ads on their site.

All that this is is false and deceptive advertising, and it leads unwitting job hunters to apply for jobs that do not exist. And as for the company I worked for, they do not exist anymore either, so it is even more deceptive.

I have once again contacted Indeed on this, to take this ad down. The first message was that their site was down, I should try later to send them a message. I then went to their Facebook site, put up a message about this, and also put up a message on Facebook proper.

To this moment, I have not heard a word from them about this, and yes, that ad is still running.

I wish I was a lawyer, I would sue them for false and deceptive advertising. I still might go to my local representative and see what he can do about this.

Whatever the case, it leads me to wonder if the ads I am applying to are real or fake, legitimate or bogus.

Other than that, not having anywhere to go, even with the weekend in between, is a new thing for me, and I am not used to it, and probably won't ever be.

Yes, I am venting here, and again, I promise you that this will not become my job venting blog, but every once in a while, I am going to dedicate some space to my plight, which hopefully will be a short one but in my heart, I know won't be.

So in about 45 minutes, let me try to file for unemployment and get the fall rolling here.

Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. I am discovering my own New World in 2019, and so far, it is off to a rocky start.