Happy New Year!

All is still looking good with TPC for me so far. They've asked for a salary history and references and have sent me info on benefits. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though because it's not over until the deal is signed on the bottom line.

Check your calendar's for January 25. I'm heading out with some folks to see the Stevie Starlite Show at 10 p.m. in Streamwood. Stevie says the venue is pretty good for them. Join us for a great time. Just drop me a line and we'll make arrangements.

I've been going to Stevie shows for the last few months and they're a hell of a lot of fun. I've been to 6 shows so far and every one is different and a wild time. I've met Stevie at several of the shows and am now considered a "regular" and friend of the band. My picture is even up on their web site.

Stevie Starlite plays a mix of rock and blues guitar. His music is irreverant and follows Stevie's own variations of what the words should be. He is very crude, lewd, and verbal. No one in the crowd is safe from comment as his shows are interactive and involve lots of audience participation. There is nothing PC about Stevie's shows. It's a laugh and a smile from start-to-finish.

So, join me on the 25th if you can make it and aren't easily offended. I'd love to see you there.

Kevin

Hi All,

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a great Christmas with your families.

Ours was good except for the fact that the Flu is running through the family. First my son, then me, and now my dad. We're all pretty miserable now.

As for my job search, Mike Miles of Technology Professionals Corporation (TPC) has been talking to me about a job in their new Chicago branch. TPC needs me to help them with ModularIS implementations. I will work closely with ModularIS and use their software to build systems for their clients.

The ModularIS product generates a complete system in .NET working from a data model. 70% of a system is coded by ModularIS and then a coder goes in and finishes the job. Keep your fingers crossed that I get the job.

Well, it's back to bed for me. Talk to you more later.

Kevin

Hi all,

I've been in ModularIS training the last couple of days. I'll write more later.

I found three laptops for my class. Thanks to my friends Martha Hann, Russ Maloney, and Andy Little for the laptop offers. Thanks also to Ian Bretherton for offering me some .NET training materials.

Kevin

Good evening everyone.

I went to the Ryze networking event this evening. It was an interesting evening and event. I met some very interesting people.

I can't joke about my Blog being like the The May Report anymore because I met Ron May this evening. He is quite a character.

I also talked to a Mike Miles from Technology Professionals Corporation who is helping his company establish a new branch in Chicago. He brought along a business partner to the party who just happened to be a former Whittman-Hart employee. In fact, the old BALR crowd out there will know him best....A.J. Singh who is now the CEO of ModularIS. I spoke for a long time with both Mike and A.J. and have an interview with ModularIS on Friday. In fact, A.J. invited me to a ModularIS bootcamp on Thursday. All I need is a laptop loaded with Visual Studio .NET. I'll be locating that equipment Wednesday.

Things seem to be looking up. It's my job jinx though. It always happens... As soon as I do something that costs me money in my job search, something breaks. Today, I picked up my business cards and then ordered a new set because of a mistake on the cards. We'll see what happens with ModularIS now though. Keep your fingers crossed.

Have a great night...morning.

Kevin

HUZZAH !!! HURRAY !!!

I spoke to my builder this morning and they are giving me a 30-day closing delay without penalty. Merry Christmas! There IS a Santa Claus! That will give me about 20 days in January to land a job and then we have to talk to them about a further extension if possible....or needed.

My mortgage guy told me to just push through the mortgage as if I were still working for divine. He said he wasn't going to re-check my employment (even though he now knows I may be working elsewhere).

Tonight is the Ryze networking mixer and I have my new business cards. I'll get some out to each of you as time goes on or as I see you.

The job leads are trailing off right now as the holidays approach. I'm still going to plug away full speed ahead until something hits.

Bye for now.

Kevin

Hi gang,

Today started Week 9 of my unemployment. It's not a pretty picture this week. My house closing is scheduled for Friday.

I had the final walkthrough on my new place today. It's beautiful. Afterwards, I drove home and made the call to the builders' corporate office to tell them I am out of work. Their systems were down and they said they'd call me back to see if there is anything that can be done. I'm still waiting....

Tomorrow, I will call my mortgage lender. Oh joy!

On the job front, no changes. I have lots of leads but no one is biting because of the holidays. So, there's lots of potential but no movement. Hopefully, I can stress this fact to the builder and get an extension.

I'm off to attend a business networking party tomorrow night sponsored by Ryze. To prepare for it, I'm creating business cards for myself. They will be business cards and mini-resume teaser cards. Hopefully, I can generate some leads with them.

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone. It's another fine day here in cloudy Elmhurst. I sit here pondering the meaning of life as I scan my e-mail for job messages and listen to Christmas music on WLIT 93.9 FM (all Christmas music 24/7 thru the holidays). Ahhh, nothing new worth mentioning.

Lynn Weissentein's moving tomorrow. I'll be helping her bright and early in the morning.

I ran into Ben Wilson last night at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Warrenville. He got laid off from divine last week. He didn't see it coming and was blind-sided. Anyway, divine is a mess from what he saw last week. They are laying off huge chunks of the business and selling off piece. Sounds like marchFIRST all over again. (You know, I feel like Ron May writing this stuff. It's very surreal. Welcome to "The Woj Report"!)

Did you know that you can do part-time work while collecting unemployment and not affect your unemployment payout. The rule is this...you can make up to 50% of what unemployment pays you weekly as supplemental income without impacting your normal payout. Anything earned over that 50% gets subtracted from your normal weekly payout. So, if unemployment pays you $326 per week, you can earn up to $163 additionally each week to supplement your income. Any amount over $163 gets subtracted from the $326 reducing what unemployment will give you. I'm filling out my application for Starbuck's as we speak.

Well, until tomorrow, keep your chin's up!

Kevin

Well, so much for Wednesday. I've got another recruiter working with me now.

A potential job in Elmhurst is still pending until next week because the manager reviewing my resume was called out of town.

I received a call from my lawyer today regarding the house. We're going to prepare something on Friday to inform the builder about my current situation. So, I'm at the mercy of the builder come Monday. They can be nice and give me a break and a time extension or... sue me.

My tension and stress are high right now and my neck is killing me. It's off to see a Chiropractor tomorrow.

Till then, keep your fingers and toes crossed.

Kevin

Hi friends,

It's Wednesday and I'm still trucking along with the job search. I had a great idea this morning for keeping the house even without a job but it was shot down after I did a little checking with the bank. The configuration of my mortgage loan puts a damper on the idea.

I also heard back this morning on two of my job potentials. One is still reviewing my resume and hasn't provided my recruiter with feedback. The second is interested in me but they are concerned about my commute distance. They have interviews setup with three other candidates but are still considering me. I will only be hopeful once they give me a chance to speak with them face-to-face. I don't consider the commute to be an issue since it would be less than my commute was to divine. My daily commute to divine was 43 miles one-way.

Talk to you all later,
Kevin

Happy Wednesday!

I pulled the following from the May Report and thought I'd post it for a laugh. I have, of course, edited the link slightly per the suggestions. Click it to see divine's card.
------------------------
Subject: Happy Holidays from divine!
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 08:46:04 -0600

Ron,

I think some aspiring flash artist should do some modifying of the text on
this thing to say "Wishing you Peace and Happiness throughout the New
Year, while you look for a new job" and "Seasons Greetings and Happy Job
Hunting, from divine".

-----Original Message-----
From: divine News Flash
Sent: Mon 12/9/2002 5:48 PM
To: _All divine
Cc:
Subject: divine's holiday e-card


Dear Friends and former divine employees,

Seasons Greetings and Happy Job Hunting, from divine

Warm regards,
......

Happy Day All !

Monday was a slow day for the old job search. I heard back from a couple of people. One was an outplacement firm that wanted to charge me an arm and a leg to use their service and I decided against it because I don't have a spare arm and leg to give them.

The other opportunity I heard back about was for a Business Analyst. They told me I was overqualified and would be bored to death in the position. They also told me it was pretty much entry level and wouldn't pay enough for me either.

One of the things I'd like (like to have) in a job is for it to be local to Aurora. So, with that in mind, I've driven down the I-88 Corridor and written down the names of all of the major corporations I could see from the highway. Using this list, I'm hitting corporate web sites to check for available jobs and/or submit a resume for them to have on file.

My thanks go out to Larry Sopala for all of the great leads he recently gave me. I also pass my thanks on to Lynn Weissenstein, Tony Troup, Tori Brown-Wipf, Louai Blan, Ken Clow, Claudine Roberts, Mike Bohanek, Kevin Govender, Dave Gilbert, Pat Andler, Dave Bost, Andy Little, Dian Survance, Tammie and Alan, and everyone else who has given me a hand or forwarded my resume on to their companies during this job search. (If I've missed anyone, please let me know and I'll add you to this page.) Thank you all for your efforts on my behalf.

Check out my new page at the Ryze Business Networking site.

Ciao for now,
Kevin

Today starts Week 8 of my unemployment. The job market is pitiful and the fact that it's the holiday season doesn't help much either.

I've only had two interviews so far and they were with recruiters.

I have about 5 leads with recruiters right now that are being presented. But, I haven't had any interviews or callbacks.

My biggest problem during my first month on the market was that my resume was too broad and a mess. I had adapted my Whittman-Hart/marchFIRST/divine consulting resume to a chronological format and it was just way too long. It was hard to find out what I was really seeking. So, I shot myself in the foot with that resume for a long time.

I've rewritten my resume and I think it's great. The people who have seen both like the new one much better. Plus, people have been responding to me better since I started sending it out.

The builder of my house is finishing early and has moved my house closing up to December 20. So, that's my official deadline for a job right now. No job = no house. I need something quickly to keep it or, I will be at the mercy of the builder who is holding my Earnest money. I just have to hope the builder has some heart and will postpone my closing based on the circumstances.

Keep your fingers crossed!

For one of my first posts, I wanted to drop you all some wonderful news I received today from one of my good friends, Mike Duff, regarding his wife Jen. Mike was a work associate at marchFIRST. He and Jen both helped me move after my divorce. Anyway, if you know Mike and Jen and didn't hear about their good news, here it is...

On Thursday night, Mike and Jen got a call from Northwestern that there were some organs being harvested from a recently-deceased donor, and that Jen was a possible recipient (in her case, for a Kidney and a Pancreas), but that three other people were on the list as well. It was a "be ready" call, but with the expectation that they would probably not be called.

Fortunately for them, Jen had the best match of the candidates. She received the call that she would get her transplants. After many hours of surgery, the doctor came out to tell Mike and family that everything went perfectly and that the organs were both functioning normally!

Jen was in the Intensive Care Unit for about half a day, but was fairly quickly moved up to the transplant recovery floor once they were confident the organs were being well-supplied with blood. Both organs are operating at excellent capacity and for the first night since she was twelve, she woke up with a blood sugar of 125 without needing to take an insulin shot, and for the first time in nearly three years, her body has a fully-functional kidney system.

It was a very scary, but exciting day for them all.

=====
I've included this news because I think it's wonderful. I hope Jen's recovery goes well and quickly. My thoughts will be with her and Mike through the holidays and I wish them both well.

Hello friends and welcome to my brand spanking new Blog.

I ran across the term 'Blog' on a website today and decided to investigate what it meant. It's simply another name for Weblog or Web journal.

Now, that I know what it means, I've decided to give it a try. I've started this Blog to keep you all up-to-date on what's happening in my life, my job search, and whatever else comes to mind. I'm hoping it will help ease some of the stress of my current job hunt as well.

Thanks for your support and come back often to see what's new.

Kevin P. Wojdak
"Woj"