December 14, 2011
Its been a few days since I've written on here, sorry about that. Haven't been able to update everyone about whats going on. Not really much - just plugging away with sending resume's and apps out for jobs. Its definitely a slow go out there. Definitely a "cold, crowded" world out there. I personally think the holidays, the postings slow down alittle bit.
I never got a phone call for the intake assistant position at the medical insurance company (Independent Health). Its probably because I don't have enough medical billing experience (if I showed a teeny tiny knowledge of medical billing, I might have had a chance. But because I worked in nursing education - that just wasn't so - thats ok). I am thinking about getting additional training through a school that does medical billing. Not sure, I'd have to get more $$ from Sallie Mae but I am pretty sure I probably can do that. Training is in March!! The only reason I am saying this is because I had another Phone interview for a customer service rep job at the same company and this looks promising. The only drawback on that one is that the training isn't until Feb 16. I go to the medical insurance agency to take a computer test and have a short chat with the HR people. They said it would take about an hour to do everything. This is for Monday at 10:30. Thats ok, I should be able to run home afterwards to change and get to powerpoint 2007 class (starts on monday). I am just happy to finally get a bigger bite on this job search quest. Im in my 8th week of unemployment benefits. If I can get this customer service job, its a foot in the door for other things. In the meantime, I might do this medical billing training at a school (I heard its a short course, like about 6 weeks). The only drawback is that It might not be free for me if I was employed and would have to front the extra cash through student loans (it wouldn't be alot - probably about 1500). We'll see what happens. The reason why I am thinking all this is because back in 1998 when I was hired at Visiting Nurses, I started as a data entry clerk for 6 months and then bid on a job as a unit secretary. Who knows, there might be some admin assistant jobs opened there and I would be privey to it first because I am in the inside. Pay is 13.85 an hour. Yes! Its a huge pay cut but at least I would be employed with benefits. Benefits is what is despirately needed right now. I was actually worried that the customer service rep pay rate was about $9/hr. At this point, I am accepting jobs that pay 13-14 an hr anyways so its right on the mark. Which is good news. I also have an old, old friend who works at Independent Health. Actually, I dated her brother probably 15 years ago back when I was working at Visiting Nurses. I hope Carol remembers me. I'd call her but its been soooo long. It will be nice to connect with her when I get there. I will definitely look her up. I certainly hope she remembers me. Love to reconnect with old friends. She is an admin assistant.
Anyways, tomorrow is that last day of Excel 2007 class. Its been relatively easy - I've learned new things. Showed the teacher I can do excel. I am signing up for the next microsoft office - Powerpoint 2007. I would like to take Access 2007 but its not offered until next month (different teacher). Kinda looking forward to Powerpoint class. I don't know it that well (I probably know about 25% of it coming in where I knew Excel 2003 but needing to know Excel 2007 with the function keys - so I was probably at 55% there, now I am about 75-80%). So coming into powerpoint, I will be like the class and not alittle more advanced than everyone else. Which is a good thing. I remember back in college, we did go over powerpoint in keyboarding class but it was very brief. It was on our midterm but the teacher told us how to do it. For Word 2007, that will be a breeze. with that it will be mostly function key driven. If I do end up with a customer service rep job at Independent health, I would have to wait another 6 weeks or so. Which I can fill up taking the microsoft office 2007 classes.
I worked out with a personal trainer yesterday (it was free). Nice Kid, his name was Mike. Very knowledgeable. I told him that I need help with my upper body strength. Showed me 3 exercises I can do. Today - I am so sore!! I feel like someone pulled my inner thighs about 50 times. my shoulder blades feel horrible too. I will return tomorrow for another fun filled workout. I only walked 15 minutes on the treadmill - no running. I told Mike that I would hold off on having him as my personal trainer until I get a job. I could use the help! He said he would want me at 140 lbs. Thats 42 lbs lost. We shall see what happens there.....I have to do a food journal for 3 days. Today, tomorrow and friday.
Getting my car worked on today. New Shocks/struts. Should be ready tomorrow. My friend Tom is fronting me the $ for it - he gave me $400.00 towards it but it should be about 75 more dollars at the end (which I can do). He gave me a check to deposit into my checking account (go through the drive thru tomorrow before I got to the BETC for class) and I will write a check to cover that tomorrow afternoon. Its a small garage near Tom but he gave me his car to use for tomorrow. I'll be getting a front end alignment done tomorrow as well at Sears. He will be able to put the back shocks/struts on this summer (said they are easier to do - the fronts are hard - there is a spring that is in front and he doesn't want to know about it, impossible to put on without the right equipment and machinery). I need to keep my saturn ION 6 (2006) candy apple red for at least 3 more years. Its got 73,000 miles on it and in relatively good shape. So if you ever out and about see a darker red, candy apple red saturn on the road you can say "Jen has that car". New tires earlier this week that Dad got me. I wish I can get another saturn but they don't make them anymore. The guy even said that parts are hard to come by because they don't make them anymore. Thats something I didn't want to hear about. Maybe in 3 years they will bring back the saturn. I can only wish.....ok...I won't hold my breath on that one. LOL!
I never got a phone call for the intake assistant position at the medical insurance company (Independent Health). Its probably because I don't have enough medical billing experience (if I showed a teeny tiny knowledge of medical billing, I might have had a chance. But because I worked in nursing education - that just wasn't so - thats ok). I am thinking about getting additional training through a school that does medical billing. Not sure, I'd have to get more $$ from Sallie Mae but I am pretty sure I probably can do that. Training is in March!! The only reason I am saying this is because I had another Phone interview for a customer service rep job at the same company and this looks promising. The only drawback on that one is that the training isn't until Feb 16. I go to the medical insurance agency to take a computer test and have a short chat with the HR people. They said it would take about an hour to do everything. This is for Monday at 10:30. Thats ok, I should be able to run home afterwards to change and get to powerpoint 2007 class (starts on monday). I am just happy to finally get a bigger bite on this job search quest. Im in my 8th week of unemployment benefits. If I can get this customer service job, its a foot in the door for other things. In the meantime, I might do this medical billing training at a school (I heard its a short course, like about 6 weeks). The only drawback is that It might not be free for me if I was employed and would have to front the extra cash through student loans (it wouldn't be alot - probably about 1500). We'll see what happens. The reason why I am thinking all this is because back in 1998 when I was hired at Visiting Nurses, I started as a data entry clerk for 6 months and then bid on a job as a unit secretary. Who knows, there might be some admin assistant jobs opened there and I would be privey to it first because I am in the inside. Pay is 13.85 an hour. Yes! Its a huge pay cut but at least I would be employed with benefits. Benefits is what is despirately needed right now. I was actually worried that the customer service rep pay rate was about $9/hr. At this point, I am accepting jobs that pay 13-14 an hr anyways so its right on the mark. Which is good news. I also have an old, old friend who works at Independent Health. Actually, I dated her brother probably 15 years ago back when I was working at Visiting Nurses. I hope Carol remembers me. I'd call her but its been soooo long. It will be nice to connect with her when I get there. I will definitely look her up. I certainly hope she remembers me. Love to reconnect with old friends. She is an admin assistant.
Anyways, tomorrow is that last day of Excel 2007 class. Its been relatively easy - I've learned new things. Showed the teacher I can do excel. I am signing up for the next microsoft office - Powerpoint 2007. I would like to take Access 2007 but its not offered until next month (different teacher). Kinda looking forward to Powerpoint class. I don't know it that well (I probably know about 25% of it coming in where I knew Excel 2003 but needing to know Excel 2007 with the function keys - so I was probably at 55% there, now I am about 75-80%). So coming into powerpoint, I will be like the class and not alittle more advanced than everyone else. Which is a good thing. I remember back in college, we did go over powerpoint in keyboarding class but it was very brief. It was on our midterm but the teacher told us how to do it. For Word 2007, that will be a breeze. with that it will be mostly function key driven. If I do end up with a customer service rep job at Independent health, I would have to wait another 6 weeks or so. Which I can fill up taking the microsoft office 2007 classes.
I worked out with a personal trainer yesterday (it was free). Nice Kid, his name was Mike. Very knowledgeable. I told him that I need help with my upper body strength. Showed me 3 exercises I can do. Today - I am so sore!! I feel like someone pulled my inner thighs about 50 times. my shoulder blades feel horrible too. I will return tomorrow for another fun filled workout. I only walked 15 minutes on the treadmill - no running. I told Mike that I would hold off on having him as my personal trainer until I get a job. I could use the help! He said he would want me at 140 lbs. Thats 42 lbs lost. We shall see what happens there.....I have to do a food journal for 3 days. Today, tomorrow and friday.
Getting my car worked on today. New Shocks/struts. Should be ready tomorrow. My friend Tom is fronting me the $ for it - he gave me $400.00 towards it but it should be about 75 more dollars at the end (which I can do). He gave me a check to deposit into my checking account (go through the drive thru tomorrow before I got to the BETC for class) and I will write a check to cover that tomorrow afternoon. Its a small garage near Tom but he gave me his car to use for tomorrow. I'll be getting a front end alignment done tomorrow as well at Sears. He will be able to put the back shocks/struts on this summer (said they are easier to do - the fronts are hard - there is a spring that is in front and he doesn't want to know about it, impossible to put on without the right equipment and machinery). I need to keep my saturn ION 6 (2006) candy apple red for at least 3 more years. Its got 73,000 miles on it and in relatively good shape. So if you ever out and about see a darker red, candy apple red saturn on the road you can say "Jen has that car". New tires earlier this week that Dad got me. I wish I can get another saturn but they don't make them anymore. The guy even said that parts are hard to come by because they don't make them anymore. Thats something I didn't want to hear about. Maybe in 3 years they will bring back the saturn. I can only wish.....ok...I won't hold my breath on that one. LOL!
Replies
I\'m glad you\'re keeping busy. The job market is tough out there, but I know you will come out okay. Don\'t become discouraged or desperate. You\'re probably not going to get anything overnight and it\'ll probably take a little while for something to materialize. You\'re getting interviews and that\'s promising, very promising. It means you\'re doing something right.
Take it easy with working out. You shouldn\'t be super sore after a workout. A little sore maybe; a lot sore means you overdid it. A lot sore makes people stop working out and leads to injuries.
Something tells me you are hard on your cars. Shocks and struts at 73,000 miles! Yikes! I won\'t let you anywhere near my car. LOL!!! I had to replace the original brakes on my car at 140,000 miles. Don\'t let the gas gauge get too low either. The fuel pump doesn\'t like that. It\'s cheaper to fill up someplace at 3 cents more per gallon than to replace a fuel pump that got burned out trying to make it to a different gas station where the prices are cheaper. I will see a dark red Saturn and think, \"Jen beat the shit out of a car just like that.\" LOL!!!
I have to give you a hard time. You addressed me as \"Chris\" in a hug, so that gives me free license to give you a hard time.
Anyways, keep on keeping on and I know things will turn out well for you.
Whow Jen, I agree with briman about your car, you must be hard on them or it\'s the Saturn, whatever. They didn\'t go over very well, I can\'t remember why, but they didn\'t so make sure you keep that car updated all the time. Isn\'t it the truth about everything going south at the same time, thats whats gonig on with us too honey, so I know what your talking about. Jim is just home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and I have my work cut out for me, big time! Take good care, keep the faith and keep talking, thats what we are all here for, to help each other and your going to be fine.
lots of love,
Norma...
Not to worry about my car. The shocks/struts weren\'t so bad that I was leaking oil, thank god. With the Buffalo Roads, especially the city roads - its no wonder It wasn\'t worse for wear. I will be avoiding the main street portion of the city roads as much as possible. I am good to go now. Wow bri - you changed your original breaks at 140,000 miles. You must have done a lot of thruway driving because that kind of driving would allow you to keep your original breaks. I don\'t wear out my breaks all that much. I did have the break pads replaced at 60,000 miles. Even then it wasn\'t too bad. I never play around with breaks on cars. My 1st 2 cars I lost breaks totally - past the rotors. Not a pretty sight and it cost a fortune. Good for you to keep the breaks on for 140,000 - but I wouldn\'t do it for myself. Call me paranoid.
No, I wasn\'t doing too much but the trainer had me doing a few exercises to help my upper body and thigh area - which is needed. He told me that I would be sore for a day or two. I went back earlier today and I feel much better. I understand the reasoning about doing too much too soon. Bri - thought you understood that I knew that?
Ugh you guys are talking about gym and I\'m like \"Oh boy! Dusty needs to go back to the gym too and get rid of the baby he\'s carrying.\" haha. I\'m glad you\'re keeping busy and remember to keep your head held up high and get those positive thoughts rolling. It will help you in the long run. Oh and is this personal trainer of yours cute? Haha! How old is he? lol okay I\'ll stop haha