faulker009

For those of you that have read my blog since Day 1 (or even Day 11), you know that I am Jewish. And other than perhaps some of my rebellious brethren from the good book, this just in, Jews don’t hunt. Or fish. Or camp. Ok, maybe some do, but I don’t. Don’t blame me, it was the way I was raised. I was also raised that there is nothing more important than family and now as the parent of three, there is nothing more important than the kids. I guess that explains why I just went on a three-day camping retreat with my daughter’s school. To some of you diehards, it may not have been camping by definition, but the combination of mountains, cabins, sleeping bags and 56 seventh graders, qualifies for me. In plain and simple english, it was a GREAT time. Great father/daughter bonding time. Great getaway from the real world time. Great time. This is the second straight year that I’ve been a chaperone on this school trip.   Last year we went to one part of our state.  This time we went t...

I’ve played a lot of ball in my day and one thing I learned at a very young age was not to be cocky. I kinda learned it the hard way. I was at a baseball camp when I was about 11 years old, the same age as my son, when we were doing a drill catching fly balls. To this day, I can remember shooting my mouth off about how boring that drill was.  Somewhere in the infield, a coach was loading the machine, launching balls our way. When it got to my turn, I heard the sound, but I never saw the ball.   The next thing I knew, it was a Batman episode. Pow!!!... Bam!!!... Zonk!!! The ball smashed directly into that soft spot between my eyes, right above my nose. For whatever reason, it didn’t hurt me at all, but it sure destroyed my pride. And definitely woke me up. From that point forward, I have always made it a priority to shut my mouth.  I certainly have it in me to jab at people, but I always remind myself that what comes around goes around. At last check, I am still human...

When I was working, I lived by a very structured schedule. Wake up, buy an overpriced cup of caffeine, work from 9a to 9p (on a good day), go home, watch TV, rinse and repeat. Pretty much all of those activities have been eliminated, except for the structure. Now it goes a little something like this -- wake up, work out, make a cheap cup of coffee at home, check my email, do stuff until the kids come home from school, check my email, do more stuff with the kids, check my email, go to bed. To be honest, I’m not sure how much I miss about my former life, except for the two times a month where I actually believed that my commitment was appreciated.   Insert joke here. For many people, losing their job means losing their identity and about six months into the 18 months I’ve been out of work, I definitely felt that way. But not anymore. I know there is a lot more to me than that itty bitty font on my business card. It took me a LONG time to figure that out, but then again, Jim Rome...

First and foremost, I want to send out my condolences to the families of the Coal Miners who lost their loved ones in the recent tragedy in West Virginia. To be perfectly honest, I am not someone who can truly relate to what those brave men did for a living to provide food and shelter for their families. That being said, I have nothing but respect for the way they approached their lives and I pray that their families can find peace during this most difficult of times. The reason that I bring this up now is because of an email I received following my appearance last week on CNN. It comes from Jeffrey: I wish you the best of luck and hope you find a job soon! Hey can you pass along a message on your blog today.   There is a son, Zac Harrah about 6yrs old who is about to have is 7th birthday without his father.  His father was one of the miners in the coal mine disaster last week.  The local news paper is asking for people to send his son birthday cards for support....

Allergy season has officially arrived. That means, keep the kleenex close by and let the sneezing begin. Fortunately for me, a couple of years ago I found a $5 over-the-counter medication that has eliminated pretty much all of my wheezing. By the way, that’s $5 for 100 pills. Unfortunately I was never able to find a pill to cure my allergic reaction to the Library. Coming within 100 feet of the building in college gave me goose bumps.  I’ve tried to stay away since. I think it was the silence in the building that wore me down.  Couldn’t they pump just a little muzak into that place?   It would really liven it up. Don’t get me wrong, I love learning.   I love getting smarterer and I definitely love reading, especially sports or music magazines. I read several internet newspapers everyday.  I keep up on current events like I’m Dan Rather, but sitting in a library puts me to sleep. Now part of my new job description as a stay-at-home dad, is helping the kids with s...

It was the great 21st century poet, Destiny Hope Cyrus who once spoke of The Climb.   You may know her better as Miley, but it’s very clear that she has really connected with the plight of the unemployed: My faith is shaking but I got to keep trying, got to keep my head held high... the struggles I’m facing, the chances I’m taking, sometimes might knock me down, but no, I’m not breaking. Like many of the millions out of work these days, I have lived and died and lived through this most miserable rotation of highs and lows. Just when you think your destiny is out of hope, some small sign comes your way giving you another lead to chase. Today it was an email from my good friend Jon. Attached to the note was a new job posting. Being that Jon is happily employed, his only goal was to help me and help me he did. His note gave me more of an energy boost than the Americano at Starbucks. Within minutes, I applied online... emailed somebody I know, not very well, at that company... fo...

I’ve never claimed to be a journalist. Yes, I’ve worked in the “media” for the last quarter century, but the more you learn about the media, the more you learn that there are very few journalists left. The new goal of the new media is plain and simple, promote and make money. If you happen to break some significant story along the way, good for you, as long as you get ratings or sell papers. My training, to not-be-a-journalist, began all the way back in high school, when I worked for the school newspaper... ... at the same time I played on the school baseball team... ... while writing the articles for the school newspaper... ... on the school baseball team. If that’s not journalism, then I don’t know what is. I was the guy who wrote the article when the third baseman made seven errors in one game. Of course that third baseman was me. Shockingly, there was no mention of any of those errors in the article. Not journalism.  Check. The reason I bring this up, is that I’m about to not b...

I’m very happy to report that I’ve received many compliments about my appearance on CNN last week, but the words that really make me blush are when somebody says I looked skinny. I’ve been called a lot of things in my day, most of which I can’t print in this here blog, but skinny is not one of them. I’ve spent most of my life on the the north side of the scale, but thanks to unemployment, that has all changed. My morning schedule is very structured -- Wake Up... Mumble... Drive the kids to school... Workout. I see a lot of the same people at the gym every morning, but rarely do we exchange more than a smile.   This working out is a tough business and there’s no time for chatter. The routine is pretty simple -- show up, pick a machine and hand my card to Dana. She’s the one who works the counter, organizes the room and welcomes me with a warm greeting EVERY day. (She’s also the one who lets me do 60 minutes on the elliptical machine even though the sign says its a 30-minute max....

Hi and Thanks. Those three words were on the subject line of a recent email I received from a loyal reader. On the surface, it looked a whole lot like so many of the other incredible emails of support I have received since I started writing this blog nearly four months ago. But there was something inside that was not so ordinary. The note, from a wonderful 26-year old with her entire life in front of her, spoke about how she recently moved back in with mom and dad because her paid internship had ended and she couldn’t get a full-time job. She was working two jobs and was still not able to pay the rent to live on her own.   She said that many of her friends are going through similar troubles and that it's hard not to get bogged down in the negative. I hear you sister. She said that my blog inspired her to restart her own blog in “an attempt to express some of my feelings about this new world I’m entering.” That’s where many notes I have received just like it, ended. But not hers. Sh...