Last week in general

Last week I called up Elwood Staffing to see if they had any work available.  While the job that popped up was  for a company that will need people soon, it wasn't actually a job available at this time.  Elwood needs to get some people ready for a distributor of homegoods products.  I won't mention the name of the company, but it's located in Portage Indiana and is a local company, with corporate office in Lynwood Illinois.  The pay won't be as good since it's for only $8.00 a hour, but there's a possibility of overtime with this job.  My last job was $8.50 a hour and was forced into a pay freeze last year, and learned if I were still at Ashland, that I would have gone a 2nd year without a pay increase.  I would either work in the shipping/receiving area, or work as an order picker/packer.  At least this job is near I-94 and will deal with few traffic lights.  I believe if I get this job, that it won't be permanent.  I believe something else will come my way that will be better than this job.  It's a wait & see.  Even though I don't have this job yet, Elwood has me on a waiting list, and I'm to keep calling back every week.  Anytime Elwood gets a call from this distribution center for a certain number of people, the people who called in earlier in the week that get called will have first shot at the place.  I made sure I gave them my cellphone number & carry it with me at all times.  I will still get around to getting an application in with Labor Ready in Griffith.  I wouldn't mind getting a little work with them.  Main reason is that they pay workers daily & I would make a little money so I would have gas money, in case Elwood calls me for the distribution job.  Maybe if Labor Ready has a job that lasts a while, then I'll have to make a few trips to the bank to deposit cash, since Labor Ready does payroll the minute you turn in your timecard, gives you your payroll notice, then go to their ATM to enter in a code# on the notice to get your money.  With Elwood, they're like most other employment agencies with doing payroll weekly, and they're following many of them on how they pay.  Most agencies no longer issue checks.  If you want your money in your account, then you have to have direct deposit.  Otherwise, you get either a Visa or Mastercard debit card. 

Then on Wednesday & the rest of the week, I did a lot of resting, playing pchgames.com, & taking walks to try & lose enough weight to get back into my big ass pants.  I need to lose a bit of weight since I put on weight after being out of work for nearly 8 months now.  It's been difficult to stay optimistic, but I'm trying to not be negative about this.  I'll eventually get back to work somehow.  If certain dreams I've been having lately are what my future is holding, then this job is just a small bridge to what will be happening sometime this summer.  I'll believe it when I see it.  For now, I just want to be back to work.  I forgot to mention that the distribution job will either be a 1st or 2nd shift job.  First shift would be 7am - 3:30pm & I believe second shift will be 3:30pm - 12am.  It's a wait & see for that, but I was told that I would most likely be on first shift..

I've also watched a lot of TV as well, including watching on PBS (WTTW & WTTW Prime) a show called POV (Point Of View).  POV was airing the movie documentary called Food, Inc.  The TV version showed some of the stuff big name food companies don't want people to know about the food we eat.  What I saw all showed me reasons as to why we're having a lot of contaminated food.  Animals grazed the old fashioned way are a lot healthier than the manufactured shit we get from the so-called experts who run these big corporations.  I have yet to watch all of it, but I did watch what was aired on WTTW & WTTW Prime.  The extra content is available on the PBS.org website & it's also available on DVD & Blu-Ray that didn't air on TV.  Once I'm back to work, I intend to buy Food, Inc. on DVD.  I also want to get the DVD called, The End of Suburbia As We Know It (have to look up actual title).  When I didn't watch TV, I was watching my Family Guy DVD's.  I plan to get Family Guy Volume 8 once I'm back to work and released (tentative release June 15th, 2010).  While I don't watch cable or satellite, I've done alright watching over the air TV, which is making a comeback, because people are complaining that the cost of cable & satellite going up too much, and little can be done to control the costs.  So I'm like many people who are now using a broadband connection to watch select episodes of shows online.  So I can watch what I will actually watch.  I probably won't go back to satellite anytime soon, and Comcast for cable service is shitty in my neighborhood, since it goes out a lot, & when it works, digital cable is as bad as satellite.  Internet thru the cable is slow too when it works, but tends to be out more than on.  I just need to get a couple of new antennas and especially need a separate UHF only antenna pointed toward Cedar Lake for WYIN to get a steady signal of that station.  All other Chicago area stations are on the Sears Tower & John Hancock & I have 1 antenna pointed toward Chicago for those stations. 

I'll keep you all updated on my job search.

An overall update since my last blog

Sad to say that I'm still unemployed.  I've been out of work for 6 months now (longer than any other period of time for me).  Elwood Staffing has had any work that qualify for.  One job that they would send me to is one I was on previously, and that job didn't work out with another agency (it resulted in me being wrongfully fired) that I can't be sent to a place called Roll & Hold.  It's a place that handles wrapping up steel coils (from the steel mils) in either cardboard or plastic.  I just don't like handling those heavy oily coils.  Not only that, you work in the elements.  This place has no heat or air conditioning, nor any fans.  With all that is why it didn't work out for me.  Davis Staffing had me fired over the place releasing me from the assignment, but it worked against them when they eventually lost the contract to the place.  Elwood now has it and sounds more like they're being upfront what the job is about.  But I had to tell them even if I wanted to work there again, I couldn't because of how Cyndi Sanchez who used to work at Davis lied to get me to take the job and caused Davis to lose Roll & Hold's business.  I also am going thru Spartan Staffing (in Indiana, they used to be PMI Staffing & before that, Star Staffing Services) hoping that I'll get some work with them.  Spartan Staffing primarily deals with Ashland Hardware at the moment (my former employer) and won't be working there again.  I even talked with Kelly Services in Merrillville Indiana.  I asked them about how the Frankfort Illinois office denied me employment, claiming my attendance at Ashland was why they wouldn't help me out.  It had nothing to do with Ashland.  It had to do with an asshole named Russ Conte remembering me from Hidden Valley and had not liked me being on assignment at Hidden Valley, and didn't want me working on any assignments he had this time around.  Anyway, one of the ladies at the Merrillville Kelly office looked in the computer, she noticed my application was incomplete.  So basically, Russ thought he was smart by making my info incomplete to keep me from working for Kelly Services, but another office (the Merrillville office) asked for me to finish it up online.  They're gonna see if they can find me work.  They however will have a difficult time due to my ineligibility to be sent to Ashland Hardware (worked there previously under Star/PMI Staffing & eventually being employed with Ashland, but employment ended on bad terms) & Dawn Foods (supposedly Dawn Foods has a no rehire policy) because I worked there briefly.  So they'll have a challenge.  Had I been able to get work at the Frankfort Illinois Kelly Services office, I would have been back to work in October.  Since I live in Indiana, my residency has made it nearly impossible to get work on the Illinois side.  I blame Indiana for not willing to work with Illinois to work out the reciprocal income tax agreement.  I also blame most of Chicagoland for refusing to make their own taxes affordable that some people either move to Wisconsin or Indiana (wherever people live closest to their jobs) to live somewhere more affordable.  Nothing against those who live in Chicagoland, but I can barely afford to live where I do now due to the jobs I get.  I also haven't been able to get help with any temporary residency that I'm stuck living with my mother who refuses to move out of Gary Indiana.  So I'm stuck.

Now since I've been out of work, I've been watching a lot more TV than I usually do.  I only have OTA (over the air) TV; so I'm limited in what I can watch.  I however have watched some Livewell HD on WLS-TV 7.2, WTTW Prime PSIP 11.2 (24 hour primetime PBS programming), Create on WTTW PSIP 11.3 (a crafts, cooking, travel, and home repair channel, similar to cable channels DIY & HGTV), MeTV 23.1/26.2 (24 hour classic comedy shows, similar to TV Land) & Ion Life 38.3.  I should also mention that my TV viewing comes from Chicago.  PBS is what I watch the most.  I'm either watching This Old House Hour (This Old House & Ask This Old House)on WTTW Prime, This Old house on WYCC & WYIN & Ask This Old House on WYCC.  This Old House is renovating old homes while Ask This Old House focuses on small home repairs (regardless of age of house).  I also watch Hometime, which another home renovation show.  That show focuses mostly on newer homes, but they did work on a much older home once.  My mom watches a lot of Simply Ming (a chinese cooking show), Cooks Country (her favorite and I watch it occasionally).  I watch Rick Steves Europe.  Rick Steves tends to focus more on less visited parts of Europe instead of focusing on all the tourist areas that most people visit.  His visits to the lesser known parts of Europe help people see areas that most people wouldn't normally visit, & eating at restaurant where locals eat help people save money.  Also on PBS, I've watched a lot of Nature & Nova if there's something that interests me.  Nova has shown an episode on solar energy.  Nature has shown episodes on orangutans, lions, tigers, polar bears & grizzly bears.  I like the nature shows.  On Livewell HD, I watch Motion (a show about hiking the wilderness and other outdoor areas) & Advice For Life (an advice show on various subjects of life) I should mention that unless your cable company carries Livewell HD, it's currently only available OTA on ABC owned & operated TV station subchannels (usually XX.2  XX=whatever the channel ABC is on).  Livewell HD has a website that has had visitors from all around the workd.  Their website is livewellhd.com . 

While I'm on the subject of TV, I just looked at my outdoor antenna and I may have to replace it soon.  I noticed that the UHF portion of the antenna is slowly bending downward.  I have a suburban/rural VHF/UHF antenna that I bought in 2002, and the UHF portion has no support to hold up the weight of the back of the antenna.  The VHF portion is in 2 pieces in a V shape.  The top portion has one set of VHF elements & the bottom portion has another set of VHF elements.  That portion isn't affected, but the UHF portion eventually breaking off will make the antenna useless.  So once I'm back to work, I'll be in the market to buy a new antenna or 2, maybe 3.  I haven't decided whether I'll get another VHF/UHF combination for Chicago & a separate UHF for WYIN, which transmits out of Cedar Lake Indiana (where their transmitter is located at).  The other combination would be separate VHF & UHF antennas.  If I go that route, I would need 2 UHF antennas & 1 VHF antenna.  Chicago has 2 VHF stations (WLS-TV on channel 7, but rumor has it that they're vacating the channel in June and staying on channel 44 fulltime, which they're also broadcasting on; & WBBM-TV on channel 12).  All other Chicago stations are on the UHF.  So if I go this route, I'll have 1 VHF antenna & 2 UHF antennas since WYIN transmits southwest of me while Chicago stations are to the northwest.  This a VHF/UHF antenna I'm considering from Winegard.  Here's another VHF/UHF antenna I'm considering from Antennacraft.  Here's a UHF antenna from Eagle Aspen I'm planning to get to use for WYIN TV, since I don't need a big UHF antenna to get their station.  For a VHF only antenna, I'm either an antenna from Antennacraft.  For a UHF only antenna, I'm debating on this Channelmaster antenna or this Antennacraft antenna.  I'm even thinking about this Winegard UHF antenna.  Whichever antenna combination I go with, I will need a signal combiner.  I already have this signal combiner if I go with separate VHF/UHF antennas from Antennas Direct.  If I go with the separate VHF/UHF antennas, I still need this signal combiner regardless from Wingard.  If I go with the VHF/UHF combo antenna for Chicago & UHF only antenna for WYIN, then the Winegard signal combiner will be the only combiner I'll need.  If I go with a separate VHF & separate UHF antenna for Chicago & a UHF only antenna for WYIN, then the Winegard combiner will be for the UHF antennas while the sole VHF antenna would hook directly into the VHF/UHF signal combiner.

While the antenna part of my blog sounds boring & pointless, I still wanted to include it.  Most people who know me will really want to know about the status of my job hunt, as I've been out of work for 6 months.  I really want to be back to work as I hate being home all day with my mom.