It's August...WHAT DID I MISS IN JULY??!

Doc, last I remember, the All-Star Game ended in an 8-0 rout for the National League.  Things were going well for me.  And now it's August???  What did I miss??!

Well:

• Allen & Ginter came out (there is a mini card for the Filipino collector again this year)
• Ichiro was traded to the Yankees
• The 2012 Summer Olympics are already underway
• Hanley Ramirez works in LA now...and so does Zach Grienke (albeit for the American League squad)
• Ryan Dempster is now a Ranger, and so is Geovany Soto
• The Cubs are no longer in last place
• The National starts tomorrow...in Baltimore
• The Baseball Card Cyber Museum finally has 2012 Topps Series 2 up and running
• The Ginter Code involves a murder mystery, a blog, and 25 twitter accounts
• My son turned 10 years old, and he now has his own e-mail address
• What did you mean my wedding anniversary is today (August 1)??!

You're probably wondering (unless you stopped reading and moved on to another website) why there hasn't been anything posted on here since the announcement that my family was taking a trip to Iowa.  If so, thanks for the concern.  

(Just a note, I'm going to stop talking about baseball cards for the rest of this post. It's going to take on a pretty personal tone now.  I understand if you decide at this point to stop reading and move on to the next blog on the Sports Card Blogroll).

On Monday, July 16, I found out that the company that I have worked with for the last 14 years, yes, I've been there longer than I've been married, had kids, etc, is closing.  So that trip to Iowa, as much as I was having a good time (or at least trying to), I was totally stressed.  I'm stressed now.  Right now, I'm on vacation at home (because it's the week of my son's birthday and my anniversary...not kidding on those last two notes...I normally take off around this time).  

But now, what was supposed to be a week off for vacation has now been spent updating my resumé, and sending out job applications to a handful of companies.  I even joined LinkedIn to begin looking for connections.  I should have done that sooner.  It was a nice gesture from my father-in-law to recommend that I visit a job fair at a nearby hotel, only to find out they were looking for airplane mechanics (and no, I couldn't even tell you what's in my car let alone what makes an airplane run).  Which reminds me, I have to start looking for insurance for the kids and possibly getting their physicals done before school starts (and before insurance goes away).

All kidding aside, I have never, ever, been in a situation like this.  I've always had a job waiting for me before leaving the previous one, and I haven't had to look for a job in almost fifteen years.  I looked at the last resumé I did before I got my last job.  Needless to say, I need to overhaul it (does anybody still use WordPerfect 5 or 6???)  The company officially shuts down around the middle of September, so I still have six weeks left to find work.  I have to be grateful to the company though, because they've been bringing in their competitors and staffing networks in to host job fairs for us now that we're being displaced. 

I am choosing not to feel bad for myself and do something.  It isn't just about me anymore.  I have others who rely on me.  I can't let them down.  I won't.  I have read other bloggers stories in the past when they were out of work. I sympathized with them then, and was happy for them when they found something new.  Now it's my turn to take one for the team and start over.

As you can see, there are other things going on right now that may take a bit of precedence over card collecting (although I still plan on catching up soon). Who knows, the break from work might give me time to focus on more important things...like family, my kids, their education, etc.  I might be able to focus on this humble, little blog again.  After all, hobbies, whether it be baseball card collecting or skydiving are meant to be distractions from our everyday lives.  Believe me, I can use the distraction.

Until then, is there anybody out there in the NW suburbs of Chicago that is looking for office help (data entry, database management, receptionist, receiving clerk, filing, etc)?  Please let me know.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama