I’ve gotten extremely tired of my apartment. It’s a one bedroom with a living room that doesn’t allow me to rearrange my furniture (I’ve tried a couple time … just not possible with how it is laid out). Plus my rent went up in August. This apartment isn’t worth what they’re charging me for it. As of the end of this month, I’ll have been living in this apartment for 6 years. It’s time to move on.

I’ve been putting money into 2 savings accounts for quite a while now. I actually started this process back in 2008, but I got laid off in October of that year, so the dream got put on indefinite hold.

I think that I’m at the right point in my life right now to own my own home. I’m 36 years old … I’m not getting any younger. Sure … I’m not making as much money as I was back in 2008 before I got laid off (by quite a bit actually … even after almost 2 years), but I have gotten raises every time I’ve had a review at work. And I have my annual review coming up soon. I’ll have been at my current job for 2 years once November hits. I’m hoping I’ll get another raise … I mean, I did build a custom CMS (both standalone and network) … that’s got to count for something, right?

I’ve looked at 7 houses (before today). I really liked one of them, but it was in extreme NW West Fargo. It was priced right and was the right size, but the location just didn’t work for me. 5 of the houses were in the same neighborhood, but they just didn’t work. One came close, but the seller wasn’t including the washer, dryer, fridge, OR stove … and no dishwasher. I could live without a dishwasher, but having to buy the other 4 appliances over the top of the price of the house … not possible.

Last Friday I found this house. It’s a little outside my price range, but not by much. And it’s in the same neighborhood that 5 of the first 7 houses were (which just so happens to be a street over from a friend of mine).

I met my realtor at the house this morning to take a peek at it. I really liked it. I’m not sure what I’d do with the basement, but I’m sure I could grow into it. I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with it. It was in good condition, and the layout was pretty similar to Robin’s (which I like). In fact, the upstairs layout is identical to Robin’s house. It’s got a nice little yard too … even areas where I could plant some veggies in the spring (I’d have to dig out the plants that are in there now tho).

I need to do some number crunching this weekend (I was gonna do it tonite, but I’ve gotten distracted). My realtor asked my banker to send me some estimates on a loan for the house. At full asking price, and with the sellers paying closing costs, the monthly payments would be right around my sweet spot … a little higher than I’d hoped, but still manageable.

If the numbers come out in my favor … and if the bank agrees to lend me up to the full purchase price … I’ll probably make an offer on it (yeah … I liked it that much). Obviously there’s no guarantee that the sellers will like my offer or any subsequent offer, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.

So … keep your fingers crossed. I’d like to move in before the snow flies (or at least before the holidays).

The main reason I was waiting was because getting the phone would require me to get a data plan of at least $30/month. I wasn’t sure I could afford it since I was planning on buying a car, and I was close to being eligible for health insurance (so that would be taken out of my paycheck).

I bought my car toward the end of April and made my first car payment this month. We switched to a new insurance company at work with a cheaper premium. After working the numbers, it’s clear that I’ll easily be able to cover the data plan.

My intention was to order the Droid today. I usually get my phones online with Verizon because it ends up being cheaper than getting one in the store. I get a $50 discount for the New Every Two program, and there is a $100 online discount. The discounts brought the price of the Droid down to $149.99. That is until today. I was on the site looking at phones one last time before buying one, and the site was running ungodly slow. I couldn’t even load up the pages for the Droid or the Droid Incredible. Needless to say, I was getting pissed. I tried again about 10-15 minutes later and things were running like normal. So I pulled up the phones and looked at things. Then I took a look at the price for the Droid. It was down to $99.99. I was confused for a bit until Twitter and a Google search confirmed that Verizon dropped the price on the Droid today. I’m sure glad I didn’t order it earlier today or last nite.

Then @stevedrees told me the Droid 2 is rumored to come out next month. I had seen a couple articles earlier today about the Droid 2, but none mentioned a release date. The pictures in those articles showed a keyboard that caught my eye. It looks a lot nicer that the Droid’s keyboard (which I don’t really like). The articles didn’t really have a whole lot of additional info other than pretty much saying the Droid 2 is just the next generation Droid.

Now I’m torn. I want a new phone now, and I’ve decided on the Droid. But I’ve already waited a little over 2 months since I became eligible for an upgrade … what’s another month. But when the Droid 2 comes out, it’s gonna cost more than what the Droid dropped to today. But how much more? I don’t know what to do.

If you were in my situation, what would you do? Would you wait for the Droid 2, which has an unknown release date but is rumored to be released next month, or would you get the Droid right now?

I decided early this year that I was going to get a new car. I currently have a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. I’ve had it for almost 9 years (I’d hit 9 in July). I can’t roll down the driver’s side window … the motor is pretty much dead (would cost $300 to fix). The wiper switch is screwed up (has been since last summer). If I hit a bump, it sets off the wipers. And if I do need to turn the wipers on, I have to fiddle with the damn switch to get them to turn back off (and it would be another $300 to fix).

Since I first decided I wanted a new car, I was sure I wanted a Chevy Impala. I think part of it had to do w/ NASCAR (yes, I’m a silly girl). My uncle has 2 Impalas (one personal and one work), and another aunt and uncle have one as well. Both said they loved theirs and that they were good cars. I was also considering a Dodge Stratus. Robin has one, and it’s a nice car (I’ve ridden in it a time or 2 or 3 or 50). The only problem with that choice is that there really aren’t any around the area (and I’ve been looking in Fargo/Moorhead, Grand Forks, Detroit Lakes, and Wahpeton). I recently started to consider the Honda Accord. You just can’t overlook the Honda’s reliability.

I got a subscription for Consumer Reports online for a month to research things. As I said, my search was focused on the Impala, Stratus, and Accord. It was when I looked at the reports that I started to no be sure sure about the Impala anymore and starting considering the Accord a little more. But then again … I had my heart set on an Impala. I was seeing them all over town.

I talked to my bank to see what kind of rate I could get. It turns out they’ve got a special going on right now of 4.49%. I thought that was pretty damn good and didn’t think I could find a better rate at any dealership. The only bad thing about that is that they only financed 80% of the car. The other 20% would have to be a down payment and my trade in. I was planning on doing some sort of down payment, but I didn’t want to take that much out of savings.

I’ve been slowing researching things since the beginning of the month. I finally got down to business (last nite and this morning) with figuring my limit and my down payment limit and searching for a dealership that had the car I wanted on their lot. I was figuring things based on financing through my bank, and I didn’t even take into account any trade in (since I wasn’t sure what I’d get for my car). I put together a spreadsheet to figure out what I could afford. After figuring all that out, I was shopping online. I had already found some cars that I was interested in … mostly Impalas but a couple Accords.

The more that I looked at a 2007 Accord at Muscatell Kia, the more I wanted to at least check it out. I decided at about 4:15pm this afternoon that I would go over and check it out. I was just going to take a peek at it. I didn’t really plan to do much else. I wasn’t even sure I was going to do a test drive today, but I was at least considering doing so. As soon as I drove on the lot and got out of my car by the Accord, a salesman made a beeline for me (not surprising). He went and got the key and I sat down and checked things out … the fit of the driver’s seat, the trunk, the backseat (which folds down).

He then suggested a test drive, so we took it out. I went out on I-94 and then a little around the area of the dealership. The only thing I noticed was that there was a slight vibration at highway speeds. He said they’d check it out. Hopefully it’s just that a tire is out of balance or something simple like that. Otherwise it drove nice. I barely touched the accelerator and the thing took off … not used to that. Just as responsive with the brakes. Of course I had to check out the radio. Good sound. I’m not an audio geek, but it sounded good to me. It doesn’t have an auxiliary jack for my iPod, but it does have a 6 disc changer. I’ll look into some sort of FM transmitter thingy so I can use my iPod, but I having the ability to load 6 CDs should be good enough. The only other thing it’s missing is an auto start, but he said they could put that in and include it in the financed price. Of course he mentioned the ‘top of the line’ one … one that reports back if the car starts or not. I’m not sure I really need that. I might just go with the standard one that doesn’t report back. Either way, adding an auto start will add less than $10 to the monthly payments.

Speaking of the monthly payments … My intention was to go through my bank, but I agreed to let the dealer check things out so I could see what they could offer. It turns out they were actually able to beat my bank. If I went through my bank, the financing would have been for 48 months since it was a 2007. Through the dealer, I could get 60 months. With my bank, it would have been 4.49%, but through the dealer (and since my credit is so good) it was 4.25%. That really surprised me. I didn’t think a dealer would go so low. And they’re gonna give me $1000 for my car. I thought I’d be lucky to get $500 for it, so I was very please to hear them say $1000. The car went from being at the top of my price range, almost out of my comfort zone to being right in the middle of my comfort zone.

I left the dealership without buying it, but I told them that I would be back on Monday during my lunch hour with my decision. I said I was 90% certain I would be buying it. In actuality, I think I made the decision before I left, but I wasn’t gonna buy it today. I need to make sure it’s the right choice. I did a little more looking around tonite and wasn’t able to find another Accord that I liked that was any cheaper. And after taking a peek inside an Impala while I was there, I no longer wanted one of those. It just didn’t look like it fit me. I think I fell in lust with the Accord just by looking at the listing online. Oops.

Tomorrow after the race I’ll clean all my crap out of my Grand Am and get all my papers together. Monday morning I’m going to call my insurance agent to see how much it would cost to insure the Accord. Then on lunch, I’ll go to the dealership (luckily it’s just down the street from work) and finalize everything. I wanna take it out on another test drive if they’ll let me, especially since I wasn’t really ready for the one I took (I didn’t have my notes or checklist from Consumer Reports). I’m hoping that by the end of the day, I’ll have a new car. I’m not sure how long it will take for them to address the vibration, but hopefully it won’t be too long. And I’m sure I can schedule the auto start installation at a later date. I set a goal of having a new car by the end of this month … it looks like I will actually meet that goal.

This is what it looks like. I hope it’s the right one for me.

I’ve actually been looking around since shortly after I started that 2nd contract job. Based on things that I heard around the office, I wasn’t convinced that the situation was all that stable (and I guess I was right). Unfortunately, the Fargo area just doesn’t have anything in the area that I am looking. I have a background in php and sql (both MSSQL and MySQL). The job listings that I am finding are for things like .NET or Java or other areas of web development that I don’t have experience in. I guess the Fargo area just isn’t big on php development … or at least no companies are looking for those types of developers.

So I am at a crossroad. If I want to keep working as a web developer (and I do), I need to look elsewhere for a job … I need to relocate. My preference has always been to stay right here in the Fargo area (despite the bitching I do in the winter about the cold and the snow). I was at this point before, but those contract jobs popped up and allowed me to put that off. But I really don’t think that is going to happen this time around.

This is where I need your help. Where the hell do I focus my job search? I could stay in the tri-state area (ND, SD, MN), but I don’t know if there are very many opportunities for me around here. If I’m going to move, I might as well pick up and go to some other part of the country. But I really don’t know where to look. I did ask on Twitter, and got a suggestion from Jennifer (a.k.a. @theworkingmom). She said that she’s seen quite a few opportunities for php developers in Utah. My thoughts were to either go south to Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas (Tornado Alley I’m still a weather gal at heart) or to North Carolina (NASCAR country). I know … my reasoning is silly. But honestly, I have NO CLUE where to even start.

I know that I need to start doing research as to areas of the country with good opportunities and that are good places to live, but I’ve been putting it off. I can’t do that for much longer. My savings will only last so long, and I need to give 2 months notice to move out of my apartment. So the clock is ticking.

I’m hoping someone out there reading this might be able to suggest some area of the country that I could add to my list, and maybe give me a “review” of sorts on the area. As I said, I have no idea where to start. It doesn’t help that my heart isn’t in it either. But my head needs to prevail. I can’t wait around here forever hoping that some position magically appears.

What have I been doing for the past couple months? I was working and looking for a job. Huh? Well, I was working a contract job. It was supposed to be a 3 month contract with the option to make it permanent. It ended up being a 4 month contract. They just didn’t have enough work to keep me on permanently. They wanted to keep me on (or at least that’s what I was told), but they just couldn’t.

I am still looking for a job. I do have an opportunity I’m waiting to hear back on. I’m hoping I hear back soon. I don’t know how long I can handle sitting around my apartment. I think I’m going to need to find a coffee shop to hang around in. But that could get expensive.

As I found out before I got the contract position, there aren’t all that many web developer/programmer job openings here in the Fargo/Moorhead area … at least not ones that don’t require .NET experience. But as long as I can find at least one opportunity here, I’m going to wait it out. I have money in my checking and (2) savings accounts that will last me a few months (at least). I just hope I don’t end up depleting those accounts. The savings accounts were for a house hunt I was hoping to start. But that is obviously on hold for the foreseeable future.

Why do I want to stay in the Fargo/Moorhead area? For starters, it’s something I’m familiar with. I’ve lived here since Oct. 1998, and I grew up about an hour south of here. But it’s not just that. My family is in this part of the state. Yeah, I don’t visit them as often as I probably should, but at least I have the option of going to see them and not having to plan a vacation to do so. My friends are here. I don’t have all that many friends, I’ll admit that. But the friends that I do have are true friends. I don’t know what I’d do without them. I don’t make friends very easily … being a shy introvert doesn’t help that fact.

I also want to stay here because of the people here. I mean come on … when you have volunteers make 3.5 million sandbags in around a week’s time (during a snow storm) to help save the community from flood waters (and WIN), whether they were directly affected by it or not … that’s a place I want to live. And that’s just one example.

I may bitch and moan about the cold weather during the winter, but that just gives me something to talk about. LOL When it comes down to what’s important, this place isn’t such a bad place to live. So I’m going to wait to hear back about my current opportunity and keep looking for others that may pop up. As long as I have the resources to wait, I’m going to. Family … friends … community. Those are things that make me want to stay here. It’s gonna take a pretty damn good opportunity to lure me away. I just hope the lack of opportunity here doesn’t force my hand.

I lucked out that my stretch of unemployment was only 2 months and that I didn’t have to withdraw anything from savings to pay bills. I did take $100 out of one and $75 out of the other to cover my iPod when I got it. I probably wouldn’t have had to, but I did.

As for what the future holds … I’m not exactly sure. I had a chat with one of my managers this morning. I’m getting close to half way through my contract. He told me that he doesn’t know anything more now than when I interviewed as to if the position will become permanent. He asked me if I would be willing to work on a month to month basis after my contract ends. While I don’t like the uncertainty that brings, I do like where I’m at right now. So I told him that I was willing to do so. He said that he would try to give me as much notice as possible if they determine that they don’t have enough work to keep me on.

That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to look for another position. I’m just not going to look with a sense of urgency … yet. I’ll look to see what’s out there and keep in touch with my contacts at the placement agencies I’ve worked with in the past. But I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying to find something and then freak out because I can’t find anything around town and stress myself out thinking I’m going to have to move. But I’m not going to be naive and expect this position to become permanent. Yes, he said that they’d like to keep me on, but with the economy the way it is, there’s no certainty that they’ll have the work to keep me there.

Where does this leave me? I guess the same place as when I first heard about this job … hope for the best but plan for the worst. I’ll keep saving as much money as I can. I’ll keep looking around for another job. But I’ll also keep in mind that it’s possible that I won’t have to find another job. I can’t let myself get stressed out. I can’t let myself freak out. I just need to take things day by day … month by month. Whatever the future holds, I’ll just have to deal with. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”, right?

What do I need to change? Well, here’s my list (thus far), in no particular order.

I think that’s a pretty good start at a list. And everything on that list is doable as well. I just need to get motivated. To start, I need to have people riding my ass about things so that I actually do them. Once I’m in a routine, it will be easier to keep going. And once I see results, I’ll want to keep going. I’ll post updates on my progress every now and then. I’m sure I’ll tweet about it a lot more than I’ll blog about it. If you don’t see anything here or on Twitter about me making progress, PLEASE ride my ass about it.

If I want to keep working as a web programmer (and I DO), then I am going to need to move out of the Fargo area.

I don’t like this one bit, but there really isn’t anything I can do. I’ve exhausted almost all of the opportunities out there. There is one left, but they aren’t interviewing until December. And there’s no guarantee I’ll get an interview (I DO think I have a good chance of getting one, but who really knows). There are a couple other places I submitted my resume, but I don’t know if I’ll hear from them. There are opportunities around town, but they are for .NET programmers.

This realization breaks my heart and scares the shit out of me. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to move to a larger city in order to find something. I’m targeting the Minneapolis, MN area (the Cities as it’s called around here) first. That’s only about 5 or 6 hours from here (depending on how fast you drive … LOL). I do have a former co-worker who lives down there. I emailed him this afternoon to see if he knows of any companies that are hiring. Then there is Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com that I can search. I’m also going to email my contact at a local agency to see if they have an office in the Cities (I believe they do, but I don’t know for sure). I need all the help I can get since I don’t know the area.

I may eventually (have to) expand my area, depending on what’s available in the Cities. Where? I have no clue. If you know of any company looking to hire a web programmer with a focus in php and mssql or MySQL, let me know.

I’m going to start this course of action on Monday. Tomorrow I’m taking a day off from the job hunt. I’m going to treat it like a vacation day. Why? ‘Cuz it’s my birthday. I almost feel like I’ve been punishing myself for the past month even though it’s not my fault that I lost my job. It’s this damn economy. But I’m not gonna get into that now … that’s another post that I may or may not write. Tomorrow is a day for me. I owe it to myself to treat myself right tomorrow. I will be calling Job Service tomorrow to put my unemployment claim on hold (since I’m not getting my job contacts) and checking the job listings a couple times a day (but not as often as I have been). But otherwise I’m not doing anything related to my job search. I’m gonna get a paper in the morning, wait for my new laptop battery to be delivered (don’t ask … LOL), go get my sister, go out for a free supper (at Paradiso w/ Lisa, Robin, and Dannilynn), and go to the bar (the Hub with the same as supper minus Dannilynn … she’s a little too young … she’s not quite 2 yet. ). I’m not gonna worry about when I’ll get my next paycheck or where I’ll be living when I get it. It’s gonna be a day for me dammit.

So far, I’ve applied for 7 actual positions and sent my resume to 2 other companies that don’t currently have openings but are always accepting them. I have gone on 2 interviews, and I have another interview scheduled for tomorrow.

Of the 2 interviews I’ve already been on, I’m hopeful on one. I actually didn’t feel nervous during the interview. I am supposed to hear back by mid-week to see if I move on to the second round of interviews. As for the other interview, I don’t think the position is right for me, regardless of how the company feels about me. Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about things.

I have contacts at 2 recruiting agencies in town. That is how I found out about the position I’m hopeful on. The other agency is waiting to hear back about a company opening up a position. She said she’d let me know when she heard. And yesterday I was contacted by another local agency that had found my resume on Career Builder. Unfortunately the position they currently have needs ASP.NET experience, which I don’t have. But she sent me her contact info and said she would be in touch if anything relating to php/mssql/MySQL came up.

I’m hoping something that I’ve already found and applied for pans out … and soon. I’m not having much luck finding new positions to apply for. The one I applied for this morning was the first new one I’ve seen in the last week. I’m not sure how long I can wait before I expand my search area (to Grand Forks).

I need to have 2 job contacts a week in order to get unemployment benefits. And an interview with a company for a position I have applied to doesn’t count as a second job contact anymore (it did the last time I was in this position). I understand that they need to have these sort of requirements to keep people from abusing unemployment benefits. But I’m looking for quality positions that I actually want to work at rather than a large quantity of positions. I understand that the more positions I apply for, the better my odds of finding something. But there are only so many positions around here. And each position has a timeline. They don’t hire someone right after an interview. They have a period where they’re accepting resumes, then interviewing, then a possible second round of interviews. That takes time. And having to keep making 2 contacts a week is getting harder and harder to do. I almost have to put my unemployment claim on hold in order to wait for the process to complete to keep the stress level down. And I don’t want to start looking out of town before the in town opportunities are sorted out.

I’m trying to keep my chin up. They say “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. This experience should be making me stronger then … hopefully before it kills me. LOL

I got my final paycheck on Oct. 31. And I have money in 2 savings accounts that I was planning to use for closing costs on a house. With that last paycheck, I should be fine through the end of this year. I shouldn’t have to dig into savings to pay bills. And I should still have enough money left to buy food … I gotta eat. But after that, I really don’t know. I haven’t looked past the end of this year. And I REALLY don’t want to dig into my savings.

So, I’ve been waffling back and forth as to if I should even go out on my birthday. But dammit … why shouldn’t I? I can’t sit around in my apartment and punish myself. I mean, I didn’t do anything wrong. I lost my job because of the damn economy and not because of job performance. I’ll get another job. I just don’t know when or where.

I’m not being selfish planning a nite out for my birthday when I don’t even know if I’ll have a job by the, am I? Dammit … I don’t care. I need to get out of my apartment. It’s my birthday and I can do whatever the hell I want to.