Much to my chagrin,the valley downturn that brought about the end of Caregiverzone was not to be the short lasting correction that I had hoped for. Instead, the economy continued to worsen over the next few years. I had hoped that job hunting would be, if not easy, at least not too difficult. My hopes were doomed. I was able to find a temporary contract after Caregiverzone. It was with an in-house company at Intel. We were creating a web site for an independent group. I could tell early in the contract that there was little hope for a long future, and as I expected, the plug was pulled after I had been there for a month and a half.

After that, things got a lot harder. I looked for a new job for a year and found nothing. The combination of the natural correction after the Internet boom and the near economic collapse after the attacks of 9/11 conspired to lay off hundreds of thousands of tech workers. Every job posted on the Internet garnered such a storm of resumes that there was little hope of shining though the flood. My friends who had jobs were sympathetic to my plight, but they had nothing to offer. Indeed, they were all just holding on by the skin of their teeth and praying that nothing would go wrong for them. I must confess, the free time was nice, but watching my savings trickling away over time was frightening to say the least.

One year after loosing that last temporary job help of a sort appeared. I was offered a job as a sales person at the local Woodcraft store in Dublin California. At the time, it looked real good. Any paycheck is better than no paycheck. That was in January of 2001, and I am still there. I am still happy that I have a job. It would actually be fun working there if they were able to pay a living wage. Sad to say, retail does not pay what I consider a living wage. I would very much like to find another job in tech. Still, as already stated, any job is better than no job. At least I am not loosing money at the ferocious rate that was the case before I was re-employed.

Change the last paragraph to the past tense. A new owner bought the franchise. We did not see eye to eye. I am at the moment once again among the ranks of the unemployed. I wish I could say I was real unhappy about the fact, but I'd be lying. Working at the store had advanced from merely not fun to downright unpleasant a lot of the time. I am unhappy to be jobless, but delighted to be able to look elsewhere. Hopefully something better will come along soon.

A further note on this. I have discovered that working in the retail world is a strain for me. I certainly will not do it again if I could find something more to my liking. I have been doing a lot of work on the weekends as a kayaking instructor and that has been a great help in making the unemployment last. That being said, I am VERY aware of just how much I have. A house, lots of toys, a loving pet and a healthy family is much more than many people can boast. I'm not always satisfied or contented with my lot, but I know just how much better it is than it could be. I am thankful for what I do have. And just greedy enough to want more.