The Situation (Day 9)

So today I went to the local unemployment office and Michigan Works office to do what the paperwork requires -- check in in person, and certify that I was me, and I was looking for and available for work. That actually went pretty well -- I didn't have to wait very long, and the folks I dealt with were quite friendly and helpful. So I shouldn't have any more bureaucratic hoops to jump through until I certify on Monday that I was out of work and looking for the previous two weeks.

I ordered some books from Amazon -- on Scala, Objective-C, and iOS programming. They should be here in a day or two.

I try to stay positive about our adoptive community of Saginaw, Michigan. But last night we put our trash out for pickup, out in front of our house, in the usual dented metal trash can, along with the recycling. At some point during the night or early morning, it appears that someone came along, before the trash was picked up, dumped out the trash bags, and stole the can. What? We kept thinking maybe it blew away, but the trash bags were left neatly on the tree lawn and the can was just -- gone. We drove around the neighborhood a bit wondering if it wound up on someone else's lawn, but couldn't find it.

Last night I was over at our church for a group beginner guitar lesson I've been helping with. When I left, I took a wrong turn in the corridors, came up the wrong stairwell, and went out a door with a big illuminated "EXIT" sign. It wasn't the same door I came in, but I figured it would get me out of the building.

Instead, I found myself in little courtyard behind the Atrium building. The door I came through locked behind me. There was a chain-link fence around me topped with barbed wire. It extended all the way down the back side of the church school -- maybe 75 yards -- and fenced me in completely. All the doors along the back of the school were locked and the offices were dark -- everyone had gone home.

I was totally stuck and couldn't get anyone's attention because the buildings were mostly empty, and there was not much of a line of sight to flag down someone occasionally driving by in the parking lot.

I finally had to call my wife on my cell phone and ask her to come and ask the receptionist to let me out. So I stood there behind the fence waiting for her as several inches of wet snow fell on me.

When they finally let me, out I told the receptionist "I am an extremely skilled and experienced software engineer and a talented writer and musician"