Grrrrr.....just.....one.....more......inch....and....I've......got it! 

I thought the days of lying down to zip my jeans were over years ago.  Ugh.  An unexpected by-product of 13 months of unemployment has made it's presence known, unfortunately, in a really BIG way. 

At 11.6%. there are countless stories of unemployment in the big city;  the pounding of the pavement;  the plethora of interviews; hours of staring deeply into the 'eyes' of an lcd screen, peering at one job search engine after another.  I'm here to touch on those, but to clue you in on a lesser known side-effect of the unemployment scene. 

Sacramento is a terrific place to live.  Great weather, a booming arts scene, hip restaurants, close proximity to recreation no matter which direction you're headed.  From an employment standpoint, as a commercial print veteran, there were a plethora of employment opportunities;  we had more than our fair share of commericial printing faciilities and enough demand to keep them all humming along.  At least, that's how it was a decade ago. 

It's been 18 months since my first lay-off---oh, yes, there have been more than one. Layoff #1 happened when my job was eliminated due to a corporate merge.   I'd never been unemployed before, but at the time, I wasn't too terribly panicked;  I'd never had the luxury of devoting every waking moment to jobsearching. I should find something in no time  flat............right? 

At first, I bore the brave face and hopeful optimism of a child.  I'd happily spend hours tweaking my resumes to emphasize the skills I possessed that would best fit whatever job I was applying for.  There wasn't much in the commercial print arena, but I was confident that hiring managers would see past my lithography-heavy resume, and look at my ''big picture'', the broad skillset I'd amassed that could transfer into other industries with ease.

Um, no, that didn't happen. Not once. No phone calls, no "Dear Johnna" emails, not a single "no thank you". Just silence

BU (Before Unemployment)  I was a human Energizer Bunny.   I was the single parent who worked a full-time job, plus a sometimes-part-time job, organized two wine and cooking groups, and still got up every morning and hit the gym before work. I rarely had a moment to catch my breath, so rapidly spun my hamster wheel.  It was total insanity at times, and I'm still not sure how I managed to cram it all into each day.  From 5:30 am to 11:30 at night I was a whirl of activity.  It felt like stress, but in hindsight, it must've been the adrenaline pumping instead. 

It took exactly 3-1/2 months until I was employed again,.  A referral by a former co-worker landed me a great work-from-home gig for a broker.  I started on July 1st, and ahhh, that first month was great:  terrific boss, and the perfect working environment.  I didn't have medical bennies, but the pay was good, and I WAS WORKING!! Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that there was not enough work to keep me busy for 8 hours every day.  On September 26, my sweet work-from-home gig went away.... 

Pass the guacamole please, and that really BIG bag of chips......

  Part II - Unemployment 'Stimulus' and the Baskin Robbins 2 fer Sale....