Michigan Unemployment - An Unorganized Nightmare

Whew - As I write this I am exhausted. Exhausted from phone calls; I leave messages that are never returned, I wait on hold for up to 15 minutes only to be hung up on by the overloaded automated system, I race my speed dial against busy signals.

You see, I am registered for classes at the local college. Its probably my only chance of getting a decent job in this town. Yet the system seems to be working against me. If I don't get an appointment with Michigan Works to get a training waiver, as I understand it, I could lose my benefits. I got this information from forums, blogs and news articles as the Unemployment agency doesn't state anything about the procedures or consequences anywhere. It only states that I must get the waiver.

When I first filed for unemployment I was registered for classes. They Unemployment system told me I needed documentation from the school stating I could drop my classes to accept work. I promptly obtained that and took it to the unemployment office....waited 40 minutes to be told I have to go to a Michigan Works office. I waited in line there to get a piece of paper telling me to get my proof of registration and class schedule then call the number provided to obtain an appointment.

After leaving messages for a week without one return phone call, I finally hit every extension available to get a hold of a human being. I cant get an appointment until two weeks after my classes start. "How will this effect my benefits?" I ask. They don't know, call the unemployment agency. After trying to get through for an hour I give up. I will be up early in the morning to drive to the office.

I have little hope that they will be able to help me. I've been to the office. I've heard how they respond to people. Sometimes there are no answers, sometimes I am given numbers to call...always leading to a dead end.

Bye Bye

Well, the day has finally come....effective immediately we are all out of a job..SWELL!

The worst part is there isn't a job to be had right now. I thought about going back to school but in order to survive I need to work. I hate my career but need to grab what ever I can right now.

Have you ever had to pretend you're motivated when your interviewing for a job in a career field that makes you want to slit your wrists? UGH!

I guess part of life is we don't get more time. Each day is 24 hours, each week is 7 days...you can't go back so you better make the best of it and move forward.

I just feel so paralized. I don't think I can work in accounting for another day. How the heck did I end up here? 20 years experience in a hellish career, but not a single idea as to what I really want to do. I know I'm not dumb, lazy or unmotivated...honestly, I try to picture my perfect career, what would make me happy? It just won't come to me.

Not to mention the pressure my husband is putting on me to get a job...like...YESTERDAY. He's been with the same company 20 years, has never had to look for a job. I can't even explain to him what it feels like. Not to mention they are just not out there right now.

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Blue's

I've noticed a new trend of mine. While I should be enjoying my weekends and days off; I find that every Sunday I get the blues. All day I have "heading back to work" in the back of my head. Instead of relaxing or enjoying my day I sit and dread Monday (and the rest of the work week for that matter).

I hate the fact that I'm wasting my life at this company/career. It really takes some purpose away from my life. Its hard for me to find a work/life balance when the work aspect is so miserable. I spend too much time erasing and trying to get thoughts of work out of my head on my time off.

The whole staff is feeling especially unappreciated right now. A while back we thought morale couldn't get an lower, while guess what....it did. Our bosses continue to treat us like we are expendable and take advantage of as at every opportunity. The way we feel about our job is directly related to the way they treat us. I'm so burned out and tired. I hate the fact that going in to work everyday is a miserable task instead of an opportunity to shine and exercise my brain and accomplish something meaningful.

Every time I read an article about office morale I always hope my bosses read it and recognize it as it relates to our situation, of course that never happens. In fact they continue to work in the opposite direction. As the company's financial position becomes more dire, instead of working towards making the staff happier and more productive, they make cutbacks and "nickle and dime" us, which has the opposite effect they are going for. While they save a couple of dollars a month, which isn't enough to help anything, we become less productive and to be blunt...we don't give a crap.

Foot Pads Update

Still wearing the foot pads nightly, with the exception of a few nights that I was out late. I notice that I feel better on the mornings that I have the pads on and my skin is most definitely better on those mornings too.

Yesterday when I woke up there was white goo on my right pad. Usually they are just wet and brown. I'm curious to know what that was.

Detox Foot Pads - Night 2

So last night was my second night with the foot pads. Again, they were super squishy in the morning. My feet sure sweat a lot with these things on. Here's what I noticed:

I sleep much better and fall asleep almost instantly after putting them on (as I said before, it usually takes me an our or so to fall asleep). I am more sensitive to sounds and movements and "jolt" awake every time my husband moves or makes a noise....but immediately drift back off to sleep. Its a nice sleep too. I don't feel sleepy like if I took a sleeping pill. Its more of an extreme relaxed feeling.

My skin is even clearer yet. I don't want to get too excited about it because I have had my skin temporarily clear up after trying a new product or sometimes for no reason at all, only to go back to the same old oily, dry ugly mess it was before after a few days. So I'm going to wait until I put the verdict in on this on.

I wake up a little easier in the morning and again, didn't have my crappy usual morning feeling.

My sinuses are runnier in the morning. But clear up after a couple of blows. I also have a little post nasal drip in in the morning. I usually have bad allergies and sneezing attacks in the morning and writing this just made me realize I haven't had them for two days. Again, I'd like to give it more time before I start claiming that my allergies have been cured or calmed. I did read that bamboo vinegar (One of the main ingredients in the pads) can active your sinuses.

Still no tremendous amounts of energy like some people say they feel, but I think feeling good in the morning is enough to make me happy.

Detox Foot Pads - First Night

Well, I got my foot pads and wore them for the first time last night. I put them on with an open mind, promising myself that I wouldn't get caught up in the hype or exaggerate any feelings I had about them. So what did I experience.

Let me start out by giving a little background about how I normally sleep and how I feel in the morning. While my husband usually falls asleep 10 minuted after hitting the pillow, on average it takes me over an hour. I don't toss and turn, its just normal for my to take an hour or so to wind down and fall to sleep.

My nighttime routine consists of filling a vaporizer in our room and having a glass of water, a tube of lip balm and a tissue next to the bed as sleeping wreaks havoc on me. I normally wake up several times a night to apply lip balm as my lips get so dry and cracked they hurt and to have a drink of water because my mouth is dried out. If I don't hear the vaporizer running I will get up and refill it because my facial skin will tighten up and start to hurt if the air is dry.

When I wake up the first thing I notice is that my face and eyes are puffy and covered with pillow marks and my skin is dried out, scaly and sore. I don't like to get up right away because I have a general feeling of being unwell. If I do have to get up, I mope around, have a little juice to rehydrate, sip my coffee waiting to feel well enough to start my day.

I should note that since the fifth grade I've had an undiagnosed skin condition that causes blackheads, tiny bumps filled with sticky white stuff, scales and overall dry tight, discolored skin on my face. I've been to more doctors than I can count and none of them can give me a name or a treatment.

Anyway, so last night I put my pads on with some old socks over them. I can't sleep with anything on my feet but I heard the pads help you sleep better so I was hoping the socks wouldn't be and issue. The first thing I noticed was that the soles of my feet felt really warm, ok I have pads on the bottom and socks on. Then, a couple of muscle twitches in my legs, but it didn't bother me that much because I actually was super relaxed and felt like I was being lulled to sleep. Then my husband made a noise and it nearly caused me to have a stroke, about ten minutes in bed and I was actually on the verge of falling asleep. Ok, back to sleep, my husband rolls over and the bed shakes, I feel like I've just been violently woken up as I was just on the verge of sleeping again. Lets give this another try, One more time, my husband coughs this time and I go nuts because it rocked me awake. (It seemed to me that he was disturbing the most peaceful feeling I had ever felt and I also felt like I was more sensitive to every noise he made. Probably because I was falling asleep so quick and peacefully) I finally fell into my sleep for the night. Besides being in tuned to every movement my husband made, it was a great nights sleep.

This morning...I woke up at 5:30 as my husband was getting ready for work. I was a little annoyed because I felt like he took away from the peaceful sleep I was supposed to get. I got over it pretty quick because I wasn't tired and felt pretty rested.

After he left the first thing I did was lay back and wait for a miraculous feeling to come over me...nothing. As some people wrote they felt, I didn't feel light on my feet, want to jump out of bed and say hello to the world. Hmmmmm, Maybe I need more than one night to feel the effects. Then I realized it's just after 6:00 in the morning and I'm awake. Not the crappy awake that I usually have first thing in the morning, when I lay there trying to get back to sleep because I feel like I hadn't slept at all....but a decent awake. I don't feel a huge spring in my step, but its a start. Te next thing I noticed is my face wasn't puffy, dry and tight (I'll have to get up and see because it usually looks like a war zone in the morning). My lips are not chapped and my mouth is not dry.

I got up to take the pads off and get some coffee. The pads felt squishy to walk on. I took them off and yes, they were all wet and squishy. I saved them in a ziplock bag so I can have them tested. I took a look at my face nothing to speak of except it didn't look like my normal ghastly morning face. It wasn't all red, scaly, puffy, wrinkled and greasy. I then got some coffee and got on the computer to log what I felt, which is a feat in itself because I usually take over an hour after I finally get up on a weekend before I feel ready to do anything.

What I have to report is a very subtle. Yes, I feel and look a little better than normal in the morning (coincidence?) but nothing miraculous or really outstanding. I can't complain that they did nothing and I really do feel slight differences, enough to make me want to try them again tonight, which I will, of course, post the results.

Kinoki Foot Pads

I'm about to try something new. I've been seeing the commercials and reading a lot about the Kinoki Detox foot pads.

There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding these pads and whether they work or not. I just ordered mine today. As soon as my husband and I try them I will post the results. I am keeping an open mind and am going to try to not get caught up in the placebo effect.

I try not to get caught up in hype but these have got my curiosity peaked. Most of the "Pro" posts I've read, people have used them and swear by them. As far as the "Con" posts, they were written by people that have not tried them and refuse to. So for the few dollars it costs. I'm going to check them out.

For those of you not familiar with the pads (or sap sheets, as they are also called) they are an ancient Japanese means of detoxification. They claim to help improve blood circulation, increase metabolism, enhance sleep quality and expel toxins. while you sleep. Sounds like snake oil but they are sold in Japan as widely as we here in the US sell over the counter painkillers.

I'll post the results once I try them.

When your job makes you sick

What do you do when your job makes you sick?

I compare my job to having the flu. I feel ill five days a week. When I get home from work, I'm stressed because I know when I wake up each morning I'm going to have the "flu" again. I spend my weekends resting from the weekly "flu" or cramming everything I can in because I know that come monday morning I'm going to be sick again...not a healthy or happy way to live.

I understand I need a career change not just a new employer in the same field, but I'm so tired, sick and burned out I'm not sure were to start, or if I even have the energy to do so.

To me looking through the want ads for the same type of job is like looking for a new type of illness. Everytime I see a job I am qualified for I get queezy or a headache or that same old tired burned out, sick feeling.

So where to go from here.

I spend the last two hours reading about mid-life career changes and can't understand why I don't "get it". It seems that none of the suggestions apply. I don't have a high powered career with enough money saved up to get me through the transition or business contacts to network with. I can't imagine having the "flu" all day then heading to school at night. Heck, I'm not even sure what I want to do.

What I do know is that I need some balance and happiness in my life and my current career or job choice is sucking the life right out of me. I feel like I can't make it through another day. I'm tired, lost and confused.

My health and quality of life is going down hill because of my job. I really feel like I'm at a point in my life where I need to start enjoying myself and be true to my feelings, instead I'm at the mercy of the "flu".