Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Return of the Blogi!

Today I'm posting a new blog without changing the name of my blog...so really it can only mean one thing...I'm once again unemployed! WTF, you ask? Well, long story short....

I started a new job on November 16 at an online video game company. The company has been around for 5 years and is actually owned by a publicly traded company in Japan with 500 employees worldwide. I was really excited to start because it has offices all around the world - Japan, U.S., Ireland, Brazil - not to mention development partners in Korea and Russia. Anyway, I could probably ramble on and on about the specifics of what I was hired to do and what I did, but seriously, you can go to http://www.craigslist.org/ to find out what a marketing position entails.

Just shy of my 90 day trial period, I'm sitting on my couch blogging about unemployment again because the company just wasn't a good fit for me and I quit...Hm...perhaps I should beat around the bush a little here and say some politically correct things, but that's just not my style. The reason I left is because I just did not like my manager. I'm sure that if I listed his personality traits and gave examples of his lack of managerial skills as reasons why I didn't like him, I would sound completely immature and petty, so I won't list them. Instead, I'll just give you some quotes of what he said during my 70-something days there and you can decide. Here are my top 3 favorite quotes from this guy:

1. To me: "Just to let you know, I filed a formal complaint against ____ on your behalf."

2. To a coworker: "People are asking me why I would hire an Indian person."

3. To no one in particular but I heard it because I sat next to him: "They need to deport all the homeless people in Berkeley back to Mexico."

Bonus quote about a coworker: "You know her situation....she's pregnant....who knows if she'll be emotionally stable to handle work."

To be fair, he was a smart guy and I think that if I knew him outside of this situation...well, I probably wouldn't have been friends with him, but I definitely would have been nice to him! In retrospect, I wish I had started a blog while I was working there so that I could have documented something everyday. It would actually have been a great Twitter account, similar to @shitmydadsays and I could have just tweeted nothing but quotes. LOL. (If you've never heard of @shitmydadsays, I highly recommend it. It makes me laugh.) Anyway, I guess I could have worked there a while longer and looked for a job at the same time, but spending 12 hours a day at an office makes it a little difficult to job search and being there just wasn't me being true to myself and I'm too old for bullshit and fakeness, so I thought I would cut my losses sooner rather than later.

Let me just say though...this is the first time I've ever quit a job without anything else lined up, and it feels CRAZY!! On the one hand, I feel so HAPPY that I told HR the truth about why I left and I feel completely validated because the other girl in marketing quit on the same day as me and for the same reasons! But on the other hand, I'm a little worried because, well shit, I'm now unemployed!!!

I want to add too that my experience was not completely negative. I did realize that I missed work more than I thought and I did meet quite a few cool and smart people who taught me a lot and who I hope to keep in touch with. I also learned how to play World of Warcraft, something I never thought I would do! Plus a coworker introduced me to some interesting food which I had been dying to try ever since I saw both Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain eat it on Travel Channel...balut!! It's fertilized duck egg and apparently a huge delicacy in Vietnam and The Philippines. I probably would never have bought it even if I saw it at the market, but she got it for me and I'm so excited about it that I need to share:



Anyway, I think I'm going to continue my blog while I look for work again...even if no one reads, it's fun for me!! Soooooo...here we go again....!

Monday, November 9, 2009

"Landing a job like getting into Harvard"


I have some news...at the end of last week, I accepted a job offer and I start my new job marketing online video games a week from today! After 13 months of unemployment, 4 months of searching, 1 blog, a bunch of informational meetings and a few REALLY bad interviews, I finally landed a something...apparently, in this economy, this is not that easy, and a recent CNN article likens finding a job to getting into Harvard. So basically, my parents can finally be proud that their daughter was nerdy enough to be accepted to an Ivy League institution!

A few posts ago, I talked about my thought cycle of doubt, fear and worry. I'm still a little bit in that cycle, especially since I haven't started working and don't really know how it's going to turn out, but I'm hoping for the best and I'm actually pretty excited to start something new! Change is good, right?

So now what? I still want to continue my blog as it's been a fun outlet for me and really, how will my readers cope without my bi-weekly Farmville update?? But what shall I rename it? Some ideas I'm tossing around in my head:

- www.diaryofanmbabackontrack.blogspot.com
- www.backinthesaddleagain.blogspot.com
- www.omgiwishiwasaladywholunches.blogspot.com
- www.diaryofanlatransplantinsiliconvalley.blogspot.com
- www.imissla.blogspot.com
- www.withlovefromsunnyvale.blogspot.com
- www.iworkwithabunchofdudes.blogspot.com
- www.whatlifeislikeinmanjose.blogspot.com
- www.iworkandthereforeieatfrozendinners.blogspot.com
- www.notimeforthemall.blogspot.com

Hmmmm...I think this MAY require some more thought...

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%

Yes, I just plagiarized the title of this blog post from the title of a NY Times article . I just read the title, and couldn't believe it, so I read the article. I don't really have much to say about this, but thought it was interesting enough to share. Maybe I'm missing the big picture, but does 17.5% seem quite high? Is this why I always have someone to have lunch with?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Salary to Happiness Ratio


Recently, I've been thinking about salary. Mostly because I've had a few interviews for start ups that offer no salary! But then I started thinking...since I started working full-time, my salary range has run the gamut. To be completely honest, it has run the range of $23K-$100K per year. Where was my happiest? Somewhere around $40K...I'm just wondering if that says something or not. My salary to happiness ratio makes me think twice about happiness and how it can't be measured by salary alone. Thoughts?

It also reminds me of an old song, Mo' Money, Mo' Problems...I actually had the YouTube link to the video posted but it has been taken down. Anyway, in the video, there's a certain super rich mogul type someone dressed in a red jumpsuit dancing around like a retard. So, when I start making $100M/year, I too will buy a red jumpsuit and dance around like a fool...but I'll actually post it on YouTube and let everyone use the video without regards to copyright infringement because by then, I am sure that my happiness factor will be off the charts and I will just STFU and enjoy myself! :)