Source: OpenCongress

I've been anxiously watching the debate in Congress over extending unemployment benefit date until November 30. This is not another benefit extension; it is merely an extension of the date that benefits already in place can be collected. The bill, H.R. 5618, recently passed the House but has been blocked by Senate Republicans for months. Apparently, they think that those of us who have been unemployed for over one year have been sitting around on our fat duffs doing drugs and collecting large sums of the public's money while causing the deficit to spiral out of control. One wonders what planet they are living on.

I am not yet a "99er," the term used by the Washington Post's Michael A. Fletcher to describe the unemployed who have reached the end of their 99-week extended unemployment benefit period. I still have one more six-week extension that I can't collect because of Congress' inaction. When that is gone, I will be living on my meagre retirement savings until I find work. At least I have that advantage; thousands of unemployed Americans with families to support have no savings to speak of and no other safety net in place beyond unemployment insurance. The 99ers, Fletcher tells us, are the 1.4 million people who who have been out of work "for at least 99 weeks" and that number increases with each passing week. According to the Department of Labor, there are "five unemployed people for every job opening" and the total number of folks who are unemployed is estimated to be 14.6 million, not counting the millions more who are under the radar. That's a lot of Americans without jobs.

I've spent the last two years, not on my duff, but in graduate school earning my master's degree and a tidy $12,000 student loan debt to boot. With an M.A. in hand, I hoped I could find steady work at a pay rate at or above what I was making as a photojournalist. But so far I'm fishing in an empty pond. I'm fighting not only against a "jobs deficit" but also against my age (55). Employers are wary of hiring older workers who will only stay a few years and then retire, or worse yet, who have been out of work for an extended period of time and are therefore perceived to be not as sharp in their skillsets. I've already resigned myself to taking part time work in lieu of a job with benefits like healthcare and a 401k but even part time jobs are hard to come by these days. I'm over-qualified for low-paying production jobs and under-qualified for tenure-track teaching positions. I've approached dozens of companies to offer my services as a freelance photographer only to hear "we already have someone who does that" or "that's taken care of by the corporate office." I've attended numerous job fairs, passed out dozens of resumes and placed my business card in countless stores and waiting rooms across the Lehigh Valley but have not received one phone call.

Today, the Washington Post announces that "Corporate America is hoarding a massive pile of cash" but "just doesn't want to spend it to hire anyone." In other words, profits are way up but as long as we have employees who have been shouldering the workload of their laid-off counterparts for the last two years, we ain't gonna hire anyone new. And so the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round.

The Republicans scoff at long-term unemployment insurance, saying it breeds laziness. I've been ashamed of being a Republican ever since the fiasco of the 2008 presidential race but this is the proverbial straw that will make me switch parties. I've had enough. Their corporate interests (does the name Halliburton ring any bells?) by far negate any alleged concern for the burgeoning deficit. Shame on them.

The current bill in Congress won't help the 99ers. Even House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi [D, CA-8] has said "no" to any further extensions of benefits beyond the 99 weeks. Even if H.R. 5618 passes in the Senate it means only a four-month stay of execution for the many millions of unemployed Americans. After that, thanks to Congressional Republicans, we are completely on our own. Sounds to me like it's time to vote the bums out.

During an examination of my eyes this afternoon the optomitrist asked me if I was married or had any children. When I said no on both counts, he replied: "Then you have a pretty stress-free life." I had to admit that I do, at least at this particular point in my life. I just graduated from college with a master's degree in English and Publishing on Saturday, the extension of unemployment benefits has enabled me to complete that degree in an accelerated manner and I have enough of a cushion in savings that I don't need to panic while I step up my job search. I have most definitely been blessed. As I've said before, God is good.

I am the first in my family of seven to earn a college degree and that honor brings with it much expectation. My father left school in the eighth grade, a common thing in his day. Education was not as important as earning a living in the decade preceding WWII. My maternal grandmother only made it through the fifth grade. But what they lacked in formal education they made up for in street smarts and common sense. So I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

I know it's not the ideal situation to lose your job at age 53, but for me it was a new beginning, the start of living for my dreams. I left behind a job where I was rarely appreciated and constantly belittled. On the first day after being laid off I started this blog. With this forum I could work through being forced into early retirement and showcase my talents to my little heart's content without worrying about any negative repercussions. I don't have to please anyone but myself and that freedom is the joy of my life right now.

Source: www.themaclawyer.com

There are only two corporations in the world that I will not pay to do business with anymore, even if they become the only ones providing that service: Apple and AT&T. Fortunately, they are now in bed together (iPhone with AT&T provider) so it makes it easy not to buy from either one of them. I can't give you a single, all-encompassing reason for not wanting to give them money; it's more like an accumulation of abominations. With AT&T, it started with the $3 charge for not using the long distance service. That's right. You paid for long distance service, but if you didn't make any long distance calls during the month, you were charged a $3 fee. Okay, I think I get that (?). The former huge monster of a telephone company began to get too full of itself.

Then comes Apple and their USP: the Macintosh computer. Oh, please deliver me from the arrogance of Apple. You put an "i" in front of it and I will ignore you.

I hate to admit it, but I grew up on Macs. I took my first desktop publishing class on a tiny Mac SE30 with a 9-inch monitor. I became a Photoshop master from working on photographs scanned into Mac G3s and G4s. (Never mind that they locked up about every five minutes or so and you'd lose the lovely project you just spent four hours working on). As a journalist I transmitted photos from the field on a Mac 12-inch G3 laptop and a cell phone. I was pretty darned cool, plus I was part of an elite group known as Mac Snobs USA. The PC was something to scoff at as inferior and common. No true artist would ever be caught dead using a lowly PC. Years later I studied computer graphics at a college using Mac labs and one of the first things the teacher taught us was to save our work every couple of minutes. Good thing, too, as the Macs crashed early and often. (Yes, folks, Macs on networks crash a lot, way more than PCs, and yes, they crashed less after OSX but they still crashed A LOT.  And let's not forget the "blue screen of death" and the dreaded "spinning beach ball," both excellent sources of frantic frenzy on deadline).

Then a funny thing happened. A few of my respected graphic artist friends, including my computer graphics teacher, began switching to PCs and espousing their virtues. Hmmmm.... They loved the ease of operation, the speed, the logical hierarchy syntax, the ability to build a computer to their own specs, the vast array of software available, etc., etc. (Never mind the fact that 95 percent of the world's computer users are on PCs.) I began to sit up and listen. When it came time to buy my home system, which would be used for my photography, video, graphic and Web design business, I was convinced to buy a PC. With $1600 in hand, my friend Keith and I built a beautiful high-end graphics machine that would have been over $3000 in a comparible Mac. It took a while to learn the new operating system but once I did it was like a light went off. Eureka! There is a logic to where your files are stored! It all made sense! And the mouse with a right-clicker and a wheel—what a wonderful invention! Within a couple of months I was a lifelong convert. I will work on a Mac if forced to and accept one if it's free, but I now prefer the PC for everything. And now that Steve Jobs is switching to PC components and stealing PC ideas, like the scroll wheel, it looks like he is finally coming around, too.

Recently the following discussion question came up on a social media site: Mac or PC? The question caused a great deal of controversy and garnered over 300 comments. Some of the pro-Mac comments were so silly they almost don't bare repeating, like "a Mac is sexier," "Macs never crash" (NOT!), "Macs are better at graphics" (NOT!), "I'd need therapy if I had to use a PC," and so on. The sanest and truest comments came from the PC people, although they were unfortunately in the minority.

Once upon a time I lived under the false impression that Macs were for creative people and PCs were for numbers geeks. Today that line of thinking is so ridiculous it doesn't even warrant a response. The software is the same whether it runs on Windows or OSX, so get over yourselves, Mac Snobs. Some of us right-brainers like to use logic along with our creativity. And let's not forget that you can build a kick-ass PC to your own specifications for less than half the price of a Pretentious Mac. Of course, there are definite cultural differences between those who like Macs and those who like PCs. As graphic designer Jeff Marinelli wrote, "I'm pleased to see a universal consensus that Mac people are nicer, and that you would want them for your friends, and you would invite them to special parties and barbeques and give them presents. Plus Mac people never have comb-overs and they don't wear polyester. Or use slide rules."

I have had my PC for six years now and I have never contracted a single virus and I've been using Windows Vista for two years without a single problem. The only positive thing I can say about a Mac is that "apple-Z" is easier to key-in than "control-Z." Whoopee! Let's have a party and invite Mac people!

Probably the best comment on the forum discussion was that of illustrator Thomas Tonkin: "I've been using a PC exclusively for 8 years both at work and at home and I've never been hit with a virus on either computer. This 'virus paranoia' is a laughable argument as it's only applicable to those who practice unsafe computing using unchecked P2P and downloading email attachments from people they don't know. What does it mean when a society evolves to a point where using one style of electronic box over another style of electronic box can actually cause a social stigma?" Amen, Thomas. The computer is a tool. So let's just stop talking about your tool vs. my tool and show me what you've created with it.

I'm 54, a multimedia artist and a PC, and Microsoft did not pay me for this endorsement, although they are certainly welcome to contact me in that capacity. I could use the extra money. Are you listening, Steve Jobs?

Shame on me for not posting anything in a while. Following The Morning Call's downfall has been psychologically draining, to say the least.

One of the many joys of being unemployed is a newfound fascination with social media sites. I used to think these sites were for losers who had way too much idle time. But suddenly it's all about the networking when you have no job and are looking to drum up some freelance business. I'm LinkedIn, Elanced and ready to Twitter at will, but not much thought is given to the unpleasant byproduct of putting lots of personal information out there for all the world to see. A blog is one thing, but social networking requires that you and your accomplishments become the primary focus. It almost demands a bit of narcissism in order to make yourself more appealing to the widest possible audience. After working at TMC for 23 years, touting my strengths does not come easily.

So far I have avoided Facebook and MySpace as being too juvenile, but I admit, I did get a bit of thrill the first time I "tweeted" on Twitter. And it was all about me—a link to a posting on my Web site.  Now I'm just wondering when will it be enough? When do you know that you're networked-out? I guess that answer will come when I start getting paid work out of it. Ahem. . . anybody out there need a photographer or writer?

"Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

My friend Yvette recently lost her job around the same time I volunteered to be terminated. She read my blog about my last day at The Morning Call being quiet and uneventful, with no retirement party, cake or gold watch to go out with. Last Sunday she showed up at my door with a fully cooked dinner of her Puerto Rican specialties, a beautiful chocolate retirement cake and a new gold watch in a gift bag. She said she wanted to make sure I had those things since I'd been forced into early retirement and had in effect given them up. That is a true friend. She forgot all about her own problems in wanting to help me with mine. I can never thank her enough.

Her visit reminded me of the importance of having friends.  It’s like the lesson Jimmy Stewart learns at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life: his guardian angel sends him a message in a book saying “no man is a failure who has friends.”  Friends keep me from falling into that black pit of despair, they share my happiest moments and hold my hand when I can’t get out of bed.  I don’t have a boatload of good friends, but the ones I do have are pearls of great price and I thank God for them.

People always say to me, when I get myself into a situation where I’m coddling a problem child, that someone saw me coming, didn’t they? Like Boo. They really saw me coming and they wheedled and cajoled me into taking him from the shelter (I was the only one who could do it, knowing his GI problem and all) and “giving him a loving forever home.” I do love Boo—he’s my first adopted cat after Tom and Jitney—and he really is quite an individualistic animal. I think he sniffed too much catnip when he was young and he's still having hallucinogenic episodes. Sometimes he will stare into the cosmos with that wide-eyed “deer in the headlights” look and you just know he’s picking spaceberries.

I do love him, but I don’t really understand him. He will whine for me to pet his belly, then he’ll turn on me and bite and scratch my hand. I don’t get it. Just be thankful, for crying out loud. Don’t attack me for trying to love you.

That is exactly what our mother did.

God is good.  And He don’t like ugly.

  Yes, Virginia, there is life after The Morning Call, and quite a good one, I must say.  According to my friend Ed, I have officially joined The Morning Call Alumni Association.  Membership includes the perk of no longer having to shoot Friday night football, fires, or fatal accidents, and I don't have to drive 80 miles a day looking for a feature of some kid playing on playground equipment--hallelujah!  I'm free!

(Hurricane Hannah is passing through, dropping buckets of rain, as you can see from the photo.)

This blog (what a horrid word that is) is my way of working through the trauma/elation of deciding to quit my job and take an early, early retirement.  I am not retired by any stretch of the imagination.  Feeding content to a website is a lot of work, but the difference is that now I am working for myself.  I no longer have the "evil mother" over my head telling me I'm not good enough and will never be good enough because...well, just because.