catch-up

[prgrmr]

Samantha had a band concert tonight, and they did something new. The school district is a compact of 4 towns plus the village of Penacook (where my kids live), which is part of the city of Concord (where I live). There are 5 elementary schools, grades 1-5, for each of the four towns plus Penacook. There is one middle school and one high school, both located in Penacook. Tonight, they had the 5th grade bands from all five elementary schools perform together at the high school auditorium.

They played four pieces and all of the kids seemed to have a good time doing so. Then, the high school music teacher (who conducted and coordinated this event) had the high school band perform two pieces, so the grade school kids could hear and see what they could have to look forward to if they continued to play. The high school band played a piece from the movie The Patriot, and then a piece that was inspired by the blizzard of '93 that sounded very Copland-like. Sam was very impressed with the high school band. However, she seemed to be more impressed with the boy she sat next to, who also played clarinet. I'll have to mention this to her mom tomorrrow so they can have some girl talk about it.

I've found a few more jobs to apply for this week, but I think the most that will accomplish is to help fullfil my quota for the unemployment benefits. There's a job fair down in Manchester on Thursday, so I'm having high hopes that something good will come of that. On the flip-side, I did get my Ex to agree that if I don't get an interview with more than just an employment agency from that, that we will go to a realator and put the house up for sale. This will, undoubtedly, freak-out my kids--especially the older two, but they need it, quite frankly. My oldest who has his graphic arts degree but cannot find work either, has stated he is going to join the Air Force. My second oldest is basically not talking to me still, and isn't doing a much to get on with his life, so this will be a wake-up call.

The waiting list for government-assisted housing in Concord is somewhere around three years, according to a recent article in the newspaper, which is going to impact what my Ex can and cannot do about a new place to live. We are still something like $50k ahead on the house, even with the market collapse (at one point we were close to being $100k up), so even after whatever sale price we realize and closing costs, we should walk away with something, somewhat substantial. She won't be able to buy anything, but she should be able to easily rent something three-bedroom-ish that's not in the ghetto.

The difficult part about selling the house is that without a job, doing the basic repainting of walls is going to be a bit problematic. There's an old shed in the corner of the back yard, and the roof on it paritally collapsed this winter, so that needs to come down and get taken away. The dishwasher isn't working and I'm not even going to speculate what a plumber would cost just to look at it. These (and a few other things) were slated to be addressed with the income tax refund, which now has been reprioritized toward paying the mortgage and utilities.

I've expanded my range to an hour and a half commute, which has me applying for jobs down in Boston now. I really don't know how well that will play out, particularly considering most of these jobs are paying less than what I was making at the hospital, let alone what I was making at my last job. But with only 4 of 18 jobs applied for being in New Hampshire, I don't feel like I have much of a choice at this point.

Comments

[malterre.livejournal.com]

Now that I know you have expanded your search, if I see anything I'll shoot it your way

[prgrmr.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Tiffany just hooked me up with something that looks very good, provided the hiring manager doesn't have qualms about my commute or expectations for me to show-up before 9am or so. Of course, I'm sure this has quite a bit to do with no one even wanting to phone interview me so far too.

[antlers2.livejournal.com]

See what the employment laws have to say about that. In Wisconsin one thing you can't ask in an interview is how the prospective employee will get to work.

[simply-juniper.livejournal.com]

We're sort of a 9-6 company. And I know some people come from NH and RI.