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Ex Austin Dispatches                              No. 2                     January 1999


 Happy New Year. Or rather, it will be once I'm working again.

Yes, the job search continues. The struggle continues. And that's the theme of this zine, trying to turn your life around for the better amid the indifference of nearly everyone you need to make it happen. Those of you who've been out of work before know about this frustrating time, when you dreams and aspirations go into hibernation, and even basic survival seems like a faraway prospect.

Now try that feeling when you're parceling out your savings and living back at home with your folks. I'm too good to be enduring the George Costanza scenario.1 And it's small consolation to realize that billionaires like Michael Dell or Bill Gates2 couldn't get hired at their own companies.

And yet, the last few weeks have shown some (admittedly) small signs of progress. I've interviewed with Microsoft Sidewalk in Seattle and with Computing Resources Inc. in Portland, Ore. Not that these outfits have hired me, mind you, but it is an encouraging change from this same time last year.

Oh, and I've set up a Web site. (If you're reading this, you don't really need to be told that.) I think it's kinda neat, for a debut effort.

Anyway, here's to the next job....
 

1 See the synopses of "Seinfeld" for Season Five. Flaherty, Mike, et al. "The Seinfeld Chronicles: An Obsessive-Compulsive Viewer's Guide to All 148 Episodes." EW 30 May 1997: 24-30+.
2 "Who's Who in the Computing World." Kobler, 23-24.