hi Bearstate, yeah generally in summer we tend to slow down in the postings around here, and it always picks up in fall & spring. Good to hear from ya... I have also joined ya in the unemployed ranks... I've worked for an investment firm for 7 years and finally got laid off (I was aware it was coming for about a year now). I got a decent severance to buy a few months of time, so its kinda nice to finally do something different. For now I am working on home project remodels and will look later. We're not only screwed here in California, but the whole country. Too bad people cant think anymore and believe what theyre told by corporate television etc. Anyways, this is a Gardening forum and thats not a gardening topic so we'll leave that for somewhere else.

Cant wait for fall though! And I stopped by Lowes the other day and got some cool 'clearance' plants in 15 gallons for like $5 bucks each. Got a dwarf crepe myrtle, princess flower and dwarf nectarine, all regularly like $20, but instead paid only $5!

Skrips,

Don't wait to start looking for something. You'll be sorry. The sooner you start looking out for yourself, the better. You may find you have some things to learn about how things have changed in the job market since the last time you were looking. Things are lot more mechanical now. People have no souls or spirit. They're just bodies with experience and characteristics. Even the organization that helps people do their job search here in San Jose, encourages practices that seem like deception to get through the various stages of job aquisition.

Yep, it's a gardening forum, but you can't garden if you aren't secure enough to be able to. That's why I'm likely to sell my plants soon.

Hey, did you know I was a clairvoyant? Yeah! I predict that pretty soon, you'll see a lot more plant nurseries closing down.

Well, a vegetable garden will help stretch the money a little farther in these tough times. We've eaten a lot of dinners out of our veggie patch this summer and it has really helped.

Best wishes for a sucessful job hunt.

Hmmm, I guess I really should start learning to grow veggies. As you know I've always chosen to grow those science project plants.

Can I grow veggies during the winter months?

Can I grow veggies under a freeway overpass, hidden behind clumps of bushes so the other bums won't take my veggies?

What's the quickest growing veggie that produces the the best yield and the widest nutritional values? Most veggies are carbohydrate? What can I grow for protein? Oh wait, I know the answer to that, beans or nuts. These actually fall into the meat group on the food pyramid.

As I consider the future, I have to wonder how quick I can grow a veggie vice walking through the produce section and and either eating a veggie in the store while no-one is looking or pocketing it. I think a good technique here is to put your veggies in a cart, pretend you need to go the bathroom, eat the veggies in the bathroom and then come out and take some back like you decided you didn't really want them afterall.

For protein, can I get enough by eating bird seed from the bird feeders people put out in their yards?

:)

Hi Bearstate,
Nice to see you have not lost your sense of humor, and that is is just as warped as it always was!
Renee

Why thank you hosenemesis!

A sense of humor is a valuable thing right now.

Here's a good recipe for boiled cat or dog:

1) Visit an upscale neighborhood and snare or lure off (1) cat or dog.

2) Skin and butcher.

3) In a large empty coffee tin, boil chopped up part of cat or dog with some chopped up potato and wild rosemary until meat falls off bones.

4) Eat quickly so you don't have to share.

Upon close analysis, root vegetables are to be prefered to others as they are hidden underground and other bums won't know what they are looking at from the green part above ground. So if you plant vegetables, things like potatoes, onions, beats and carrots are to be preferred to alternatives like squash, tomatos, bell peppers and cucumbers.

haha, thanks for that info bearstate. Yeah, its pretty grim out there and its not as it used to be in the job market.

People have no souls or spirit. They're just bodies with experience and characteristics.

Exactly why Ive been sick of my last job and am so glad to leave it. One good thing Ive learned is here in So. Cal, its about who you know to get you into many jobs. Of course, they're not paying as much as they used to or you're working longer hours! Forget online apps and all that painful job hunting. Ive been offered some stuff already but I need some time to get my thoughts together for the new place that will eat away at my soul. But at least its something new for a while.

I wish you the best, I know its tough up North, I have relatives up there.

If not, Canada here I come! LOL

I think after my fall plantings, I will be ready!

Skrip,

Yeah, networking is what they preach now. They say your chance of finding a job goes like this.

Doing Nothing 0% chance
Newspaper ads 1% chance
Career Fairs 2% chance
Headhunters 5% chance
Online Job Boards 15% chance
Friends and Aquaintances 60% chance

I regret to say that I don't know very many people here in San Jose anymore. It's been 10 years.

So I guess I'm scr*w*d ... or would being hosed count as a more garden worthy description?

Anyway, I'm learning to reach out to strangers. It's great fun.

Hi BearState,
Are there any fruit trees overhanging fences or walls you could forage from? In my neighborhood I can access white sapote, pomegranite, jujube, avocados, oranges and plums.
If you recall, last I posted I thought I'd have to move, well I didn't (rent control law was on my side) however, nearly a year later, Mr. Landlord has reneged on his mortgage payments and the house is in the last stage of foreclosure (auction day is Oct.15th). Legally I can stay another year under rent control and the relocation assistance is a substantial sum of money now - but eventually I too will have to move. I will be selling a good part of my plant collection too, if not to raise money to make moving easier. I'll only keep what I can't replace (e.g. my rare species Plumeria from Zacatecas).

Yes, you can grow veggies in the winter in California - peas, broccoli, chard, kale, cabbage, leeks, carrots, beets, runner beans, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, certain onions, certain cold tolerant tomatoes, chayote squash. Look for the short season or early type and increase your yield (read the catalog for the days to harvest). You can start a lot of veggies from the produce section or farmers market. Forage for coffee grounds at Starbucks and fall leaves/grass clippings people leave in bags for pickup - free mulch and compost makings. Veggies need a rich soil to crank out good eats. The best book on this I highly recommend and I hope you can find at your public library: Gardening When it Counts by Steve Solomon

Hang in there, you won't be unemployed forever. I still have my job but it has changed drastically under a new boss and he has taken away what I was good at and made me just another worker bee (albeit an expensive one) so basically I'm obsolete - I hope the company stays solvent or I'll be on the list for lay-offs to cut costs.
FWIW, I totally agree with your statement about money leaving the state. However the people have screwed up, the land and weather is still as beautiful as ever, this is as fine a place to live as anywhere in the world.

Hi Greenwitch,

Foraging! Yeah, now there's the rub. Let's get atavistic and go back to the good old hunter-gatherer days of old. Lower our wit to grunts and growls and pick the lice out of each other's hair, eating them for protein.

Anyway, I can't buy books right now, except for my school courses I have enrolled in.

I just read that the FBI is investigating the bad financial institutions. I doubt anything will come of it. And I doubt anything will be said by anyone about rising joblessness and foreclosures being associated with dollar drains like outsourcing, etc.

I trying to figure out how to do a protest vote. If I don't vote democratic or republican, who do you think should get my vote. And don't say the Green Party, 'cause if they're environmentalists they'll probably worsen the situation by having the united states pay every other country's carbon tax.

Hey ho!

Just wanted to chime in and let folks know that I've got a job! And yes, doing what I love to do in my chosen career field!

I get to make a wonderfully scenic drive over the 17 hump to Santa Cruz and back every day and enjoy some wonderful sunrises if I get there early enough. People have some absolutely feast for the eyes gardens around their homes in Santa Cruz. It's a treat.

One of the first things I'm gonna have to do is get the brakes serviced on the BearState vehicle.

Hey and today is my 'Undiscovered Country Day'. If I'm going to die, I've decided it'll be on Oct 12th. So tomorrow, I get to celebrate big time. Yeah! A whole new year of certainty!

Have a great week folks!

Good news, Bearstate. Just don't count your chickens before they are hatched: you still have ten and a half hours before you make it to the 13th. Don't be driving that vehicle on those hills until then!
Renee

Thanks Renee!

I'm docked at home til tomorrow.

Gotta do my homework. Still going to school 5 nights a week. So now, I'm clocked. Even Sunday has a purpose other than spiritual. I did manage to get my laundry done. :)

congrats bearstate on your job find!

im not looking yet and am enjoying working on my house very much!

Im sure I'll be tired of it in a few months.

Congratulations, BearState. Everything sounds like it's going very very well for you.

Enjoy that bautiful scenic drive! I love looking at other people's gardens, too! Some of those pictured in the potager forum are a real knockout, and very much like the kind I hope to have one day.

j.

Well folks,

Unfortunately, this thing has a new twist. This person who hired me carefully explained during the interview how he invests in training people and I disclosed how I am migrating my skills. He told me how their platform was the Apple computer and I disclosed that I am at home on Linux and work on MS Windows too. But that was all right and he hired me.

I worked my first day and the environment was somewhat new and I had to work through some stuff to adjust and find my way. Well I am told that he thought I'd take an hour to do the first trivial job and it took me four hours. After completing it and having a better understanding of the environment, I have to admit I could have done it in 20 to 30 minutes. But Apple's spinning color wheel of death, a missing captcha and just generally grabbing hold of their process added time.

So this guy is telling me that maybe they and I are not a good fit ... after 1 freaking day!!! He must have expected me to bail him out of some customer difficulty right away, because he hinted blame on me for having to reschedule a customer's site going live to later this week because he expected me to do it on the first day.

Where the investment in training went, I have no idea. But I know one thing, this assessment after one day is abominably rediculous and poor management style as it has definitely given me a negative impression. These folks must be really pressed for money and their clients must be backed up screaming to have their web sites published because they don't have the staff and can't keep it because they are too tight and too demanding.

I was told their other PHP guy left because of illness, but I have to wonder whether that guy left for some more motivated reason.

Anyway, I've put back up my resumes and have resumed my search.

That's the way it goes.

Wha a letdown!

Does this mean you are unemployed again, or that you are looking in anticipation of being unemployed? It sucks for you, either way, but it would be nice to be able to hang on there while you continue the search.

I'm sorry,Bearstate,
jan

Jan,

You know I was so miffed that I contacted an attorney to start a lawsuit. But I was told that nothing could be done because I was hired as an 'At Will' employee. This guy is definitely a cretin and he'll likely not get what he needs because he's not realistic in his assessments. People damn themselves.

The silver lining is that I just accepted another position here in San Jose. It's a contract, but it's work.