Les Singes: The Life of Monkey Boy

We went to Italy

We went to Italy recently and I have much to share about the adventure. Therefore I'm forcing myself to do it by leaving this generic blog entry.

Three Weeks of Leisure

Three full weeks have already passed since I said my final office good byes.  I figured the first week would fly by because it would seem more like a vacation than anything else.  Heck, after 11 consecutive years of work... I'm not going to lie, I was very lazy the first week and didn't do a heck of a lot.  I ran into some friends while shopping during the day and caught up on some movies.  Let me tell you there's a whole different world out there for the leisure class as witnessed when shopping.  

Week two rolls around and I finally began to step it up a bit.  I got on my cute bike and went for two bike rides in one week.  I even made it to the pool as well.  Note: when you haven't been to the pool in a very long time, it's entirely possible you might forget your padlock combination.  That did happen to me, so I stashed all my belongings near the side of the pool.  

Over the past week I've been to the pool four times, on the bike twice, and went for a run last weekend.  This are important steps as I attempt to lose my curves and tone my not-so stately body.  Along with working out, I also had some time to make food this past week.  I made banana nut muffins from scratch and also made goat cheese and red pepper lasagna.  I could get used to this more leisurely lifestyle.

Aside from feeling better about my physique and cooking/baking, I've been getting stuff done around the house.  The infamous Honey Do list is enormous, yet I've been able to knock a few items off the list.  My most ambitious project is yanking out musty carpet in the attic stairwell.  Yesterday, I ripped it all out and will sand and refinish the stairs to make our upstairs living space more inviting.

Gardening too!  On Wednesday I got out in the wet weather and planted our grape tomatoes in pots, weeded out our strawberries, and cut back some other plants.  

Oh yeah, looking for work.  Oddly, my wife had many more interviews than I did the past couple weeks.  Of course there's news to share on her success, but I should wait a week or so.  Anyways, I applied a couple places for social media jobs.  I find this medium incredibly fascinating and would love a paid gig where I can do good work for a company via the internet using  sites like Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, YouTube, or even a blog.  Most of the jobs are marketing jobs instead of account management work, but that's fine with me as social media is a constantly changing field.   

I'm as content as can be right now.  I thoroughly enjoy the slower pace and having time to do things that would have been rushed before.  I know it won't last forever so I'm appreciating it as much as I can.  Three weeks from today we'll board a plane destined for Chicago and then four days later we'll board a different plane taking us to Milan.  I can't wait!  La vita è bella.

P.S. can you tell I'm hard up for some social interaction?  

The World Ahead

One week has elapsed in my new life as a house husband.  This happens to be the title I'm most fond of at this particular time since I'm technically a kept man.  Other titles include Man of Leisure, Errand Boy, and Unemployed.  Anyways, there's much to do around the house and I feel like I'm getting myself back in shape.  These are all positives in my book.  

I've only applied to one job at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and really like the idea of working there.  A job with a noble cause seems rather appealing after helping car dealers increases their car sales over the last nine years.  I'm toying with doing some fun volunteer work to fill in the days.  

The first week of unemployment was like a vacation.  The second week, meaning today, has been a bit more sobering.  It does get to me that my former company decided after working there for nine years, I was expendable.  Maybe this explains why my pay was as crappy as it was, but alas... those days are behind me.  I will do my best not to dwell on the past, but I do have heaps of time to ponder.

Tidbits I've learned about myself in the last week:  Daytime TV still sucks and I can't understand why NBC needs the fourth hour of the Today Show.  It's hard to change spending habits when you have heaps of free time.   Kotex changed its packaging.  Fry's Electronics is lame store.  Expedia's customer service is really terrible.  I can kill time like nobody's business.  Finally, my daughter and wife enjoyed visiting Mt. Rainier on Mother's Day.  Baby Singe sees Mt. Rainier and says "it's slippery", love that kid.  

The Nine

Nine years ago I was a simple man.  The big day was blustery, but very pleasant.  My fiancée and prepared for a life ahead as husband and wife.  We had a lovely time with 25 of our closest friends and family.  We got married and have lived happily ever after. 

Well, not quite.  Life isn't a Disney story folks.  The nine years since we got married have been interesting.  Prior to my getting married I worked numerous jobs, 25 or so to be imprecise.  Amazingly I've been at the same job for almost the entire time we've been married.  After we got hitched I changed jobs a couple times which included a brief stint at the Costco corporate office.    

I had so many dreams in my head in 2001.  The sky's the limit I kept telling myself.  In essence it was very true as we were able to save our money and purchase our first home the following year.  In 2004 we spent two full weeks vacationing in France.  Needing a bit more space than our 840 square foot house, we upgraded to our current home in 2005.  The following year I trained my ass off for Ironman Canada.   2007 brought us a little bundle of joy known as Baby Singe.  

Life has been rather good.  The correlation between 2001 and 2010 are hard to overlook.  The last time I was a free agent in the job market was 2001.  I recall a sense of freedom when I landed a spot at my current company.  While chatting with someone yesterday about my uncertain job future, I hinted at how I feel like I can dream again.  It really does take me back nine years to when anything seemed possible.  

Of course though, none of this would be possible if it wasn't for my loving wife, Mrs. Lessinges.  She's been a pillar of strength the entire way, an amazing life companion.  Breaking the news to her about my layoff last week wasn't nearly as bad as envisioned.  She took it in stride and is probably a bit relieved.  This job has had many ups and downs.  To my own surprise I've lasted about 6-7 years longer than expected.  Onward ho!

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Now that I'm leaving my job, it's time to share some wonderful gifts I've received during some company gatherings.  Of the Why Bother category: smiley face stickers, luggage ID tag, and a garment bag.  Seriously, I was given a luggage ID tag with a sincere look accompanied by a firm handshake saying thanks for all your hard work.  Gee thanks, nothing says you're a hard worker like a luggage ID tag.

Of the This Is The Shit category: iPod Shuffle, Kindle, and some glass trophy.  I may never have made great bucks at this job, but there were a couple really nice gifts for my time worked at said company.   

Every Person Has Their Story

Well this time it seems official.  My nearly nine year run at my current company will come to a screeching halt May 7th, three days after my 37th birthday.  This was announced to me last Wednesday at the end of the day.  I had no clue it was in the works until my boss booked a One-on-One with me for the end of the day. Something felt off.  So much so that I IM'ed my coworker, stating how I suspicious I was about my meeting.

A similar situation was presented to me in January of 2009 where it was stated my current position would no longer exist after a given date.  In that case at the very last minute, after spending a week in limbo, I was offered an account manager position.  It was a challenging job with lots of new tricks for this old dog, but overall I liked the new challenges and enjoyed the different perspective.

So you may be asking, will I try to find something internal before May 7th?  Nope, I'm ready to move on and assess my career.  The job market is in much better standing than January of last year.  I will get severance and my vacation time paid out so I'm set for a few months.  Honestly, I think it will be a good thing and I'm not looking back.  I've had lukewarm work feelings since after this January's jury duty.  Work has been insanely busy the past year which has prevented me from taking care of myself.  Jury duty provided an opportunity to explore my own city during lunch.  It was fantastic playing tourist in my own town and had me craving a change of pace in my personal life.

Oddly enough, I did some chatting with the voices in my head last week.  I told myself it's time for Mr. Singe to be selfish again.  I haven't been taking care of myself as I should.  Now this can change.  I'm excited to get some house projects done.  I'm excited to get my ass back in shape again.  I'm excited to start anew.  I can do this.  I've got mad skills that are desirable and it's just about communicating the message to potential suitors.   This is the sort of thing that tests us a humans and I'm ready to succeed.