mini breakdown?

So I'm having a little breakdown here.  I'll be 30 soon (end of October, that's soon enough) and I don't have a job.  But I don't want a damn job, I want a fucking career.  Sure, I'm certified to teach three and a half subjects, but I'm just not sure it's for me.  God knows the money isn't great (although any money would be great right now) and the hours are meh and the stress is AWFUL!  But I'd rather be doing that and gaining experience rather than job hunting and only finding things  like DSW Sales Associate, Whole Foods Cashier, or whatever office assistant job that comes up.  I hate the idea of all of this.  I want a career.  One that I don't' hate. One that pays decently so I can get Sallie Whoreface Mae of my back.

I thought that this was the whole point of going to school and taking out all those stupid loans, to have a successful career and not have to struggle like so many people who don't even go to any form of higher education.

Guess I was wrong.

To buy or to rent...

So as I’ve posted before, I am moving to Vicksburg, MS and am looking for a place to live.  I had it all sort of worked out where I would live with a friend in Clinton, MS and commute with her husband.  Save on rent, commute time, and money.  However, that took a strange turn and it may or may not work out.  I’m giving it time to see what happens with that situation and then maybe we’ll reevaluate in about a month if all seems well.

I spent a few weeks looking for a place to rent and the options are slim, and expensive.  I could live in a shack, that might blow over in a strong wind and I might get robbed every day, for somewhere in the price range of 650-750$.  OR I could live in a crappy old house or a one bedroom/one bath apartment, for 850-1,500$ a month.  And in this economy, I just don’t see either happening.

I’ve settled, for now (see previous post), on living with my parents in Natchez, MS.  A good one and a half hour commute, one way…door to door.  But with the commute, planning, grading, and my own grad classes, I see this sucking.  A lot.  However, it will save us a lot of money and will allow us to pay off our credit cards much sooner than if I were to rent or buy something.

Now to the buying part.

We are already realizing, remember that previous post, how much this arrangement is going to suck.  So, just for fun, not knowing what my credit looks like or if I can even get a loan for a house, I decided to start looking on zillow.com again.  Just because it’s fun and I like to dream.

We had found this house before, when we first started thinking about buying.

It’s in a great neighborhood, not on a main street, and did I mention it is in a great neighborhood.  After seeing this house, twice, I decided that if and when we buy in Vicksburg, it will have to be in or around this neighborhood.  I mean, people were out walking their dogs, strolling their kids, riding their bikes, and there was even a community Frisbee game on a grassy area in the middle of the neighborhood.  Just made me want to move in and never move again.

The house itself needs a lot of work.  The owner wants 118,000$ for it, but everyone we have talked to says he won’t get it.  It’s a 3/2.  So we could have an office/guestroom and a future kids room, no problem. It’s definitely not move in ready.  It doesn’t even have a washer and dryer hookup.  All of that however could be fixed with the proper loan.  But, it’s an as is sale, meaning, you can’t really get a loan on it. Peeling paint, codes etc.  Sigh.

The nice real estate lady told us about this other house.

It’s 112,000$ and totally move in ready.  It is only a 2/1, but it has a few more square feet than the other house (I haven’t even seen this one in person, but I fell in love with it on zillow).  It’s near the other house, just right up the street really, making it 2-3 blocks closer to the school.  Not that it makes that much of a difference.  But for some reason, I’m in love with this house.  Must. Go. See. It. In. Person.

This is the house that I was thinking about renting for 850$. 

It’s a 2/1 and the lady actually has it on the market to sell for 87,000$  The neighborhood was, meh.  Or what the people in the bizz like to call, transitional.  Meaning it could go either way, up or down.  And in my opinion, that neighborhood was on it’s way doooooown. And according to zillow’s estimate on the mortgage payment, it would be under 400$ a month.  Total ripoff.  I’m sure the hell not going to pay 850$ AND utilities AND mow the grass, when it’s selling for 87,000$.  Fuck that.  It’s falling apart anyway.

So now down to the dirty.

Before we even thought about buying, my credit was really good.  Then our credit cards people’s got mad at us because we were not using our credit cards as much as they would have liked us to.  We were paying them off and using them very sparingly.  So these lovely credit card people decided to cut three of our credit cards off.  Lowering our debt to available credit ratio, putting my credit back in the toilet.  Thanks Assholes!

However, after paying off some more credit cards, I’ve realized that my credit limit on one credit card has been raised from 500 to 2750.  Which gives me much more credit than debt.  So me thinks my credit score may have gone up with that.  So I’ve got to find out exactly what my credit score is and if it’s high enough, see if I can get a loan for a house.

Our idea is that we would take our permanent situation from FL to MS.  Since that is where we won’t to move.  So Ed would rent a room from a co-worker and we could possibly buy a house.  That way we are only rally paying one large amount out and it will be more of an investment than throwing it away to some rich Indian real estate lady and her doctor husband. 

We shall see about all this.  We shall seeeeee…. Stay tuned for updates on my housing woes.

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Update:

Well that was a bust...let's see what I can figure out now...

Job Interview...

So I had a job interview yesterday for a German position at Vicksburg High School in Vicksburg, MS.  I was rally nervous because this is ultimately me dream job.  To be in control of a German program at a high school where I can help it grow and realize the potential of the German language.

The interview wasn’t until four p.m., but we headed home to “get ready” at about 3:15.  The principal at Vicksburg High School, Mr. Derek Reed, very so kindly let me do the interview over the phone because of the current situation: living in Florida, just flew to Iowa, and the seriousness of the situation with Ed’s dad.

I was told that there old be 4-5 other people on the other end of the phone (Mr. Reed, two assistant principles, head of the Modern Language Department, and possibly one other person), so I was really nervous.  I thought back to the phone calls on skype when there were more than one person on the other end and you start to talk over one another.  The idea of that happening made me even more nervous.

It was 4 p.m. and I was sitting on the bed waiting.  Only Ed and I were home, so the house was nice and quiet.  At 4:05 I thought, well maybe it was at 4:30. 

At 4:10 my phone rings.  It’s Mr. Reed.  He asks me if I was waiting on his call for the interview….welll duh!  And so he said, “Let’s get this thing started.”  I expected then for the others to join in.  But it was just him.  He asked me the normal interview questions, which took about 15 minutes.  And mostly because I talked A LOT.  He did the normal, “Do you have any questions?” question, to which I asked a couple questions. 

He then said that at this point he would normally tell the applicant that they would have to discuss all the applicants with the other principles and decision makers and get back to me in about a week, but he had already made his decision and asked me if I wanted the job!

Of course I immediately said yes, in hopes that we can work everything out.  A lot has to happen before we can actually accept the job and move to MS, but there was no way I was telling him no!

So we’ve got a lot to discuss, plan, and research in the next few weeks.

We decided later in the evening to send Mr. Reed an email and ask for help finding Ed a job.  We attached Ed’s resume and other important information and hoped he could direct us to something.  Early this morning (7:30), Mr. McDonald, one of the assistant principles, called me to ask what Ed wanted to do and the types of jobs he is interested in.  He then said that he would forward Ed’s information to a couple of the jobs that had already closed that he thought Ed would do well.

So it’s looking possible that Ed and I both might have jobs in Vicksburg soon!

So much going on...

There has been a lot going on in the Burton household lately and I haven't been updating as much as I should (or at all), so I'm going to do a little back tracking to get caught up.

April 26th and 27th, I attended the Collier County Teacher Recruitment Fair.  I had never been to one of these before, so I had no clue what to expect.  I knew from the e-mails sent to us and from registration that there would be an orientation at the beginning, then I would have five interviews throughout the day and at the end there would be a contracts meeting.  I wasn't completely sure what all that meant.

So I go...and like I always do, I got there early, parked, and went in.  There were already a few people there so I signed in, got my schedule (which was the one I had created per instruction), and waited for orientation.  It wasn't long before orientation started and they herded us down to an outside area to bake in the sun while they talked to us about the future of education in Florida and what it meant for us:  no job protection, 50% of our evaluations as teachers would be based on student performance, no job security, no tenure, fewer benefits, no pay for higher degrees, and a slue of other things that made teachings sound completely undesirable.  So I call this the slaughter part of the day...you know...after they herded us down here.

Next we waited for the meat market:  our interviews.  We went into huge room (like a ballroom), where tables were lined 6-7 rows deep and alll the way across, maybe the length of 20-25 tables.  At each table there were four representatives from each school.  Across from each one of them was a chair for an interviewee.

My first interview was mind boggling.  Not because of the actual interview, but because of the setup.  You couldn't hear yourself think in that room.  You sat down at the table, with three other interviewees and interviewed with one person, while the others interviewed with the other people.  The loudness of the room was deafening.  You only had about 20 minutes to interview, so no time to show portfolios or anything like that, which was fine for me, because I didn't bring one.  Before you knew it, your interview was over and then came the hoping part.

At the end of each interview, they either gave you nothing, meaning they weren't interested in you, or they gave you a yellow piece of paper meaning they were interested in you but didn't have a place in their school for you, or they gave you a green piece of paper that means they want you and you are to go to the "contract room" and sign a contract.  You had no time to think about the offer because once you stood up, the offer was rescinded.  Then they walked you, almost held your hand, to the interview room, where you signed a "contract," giving you no time to call your husband/wife/significant other and discuss the potential position.  Also, they've only interviewed the first person (with the earliest time slot for an interview) and offered them a job even though there could be potentially a better candidate in the crowd.

So at the end of day 1, I had one potential job offer (potential because it was a .8 position, and they couldn't "legally" offer me the position until they found the other .2 to make it a full 1).  But day 1 was elementary, so I had my hopes up for day 2.

Day 2:  I didn't think it could get worse than day one, but boy was I wrong.  Same process.  I also learned from day one that you could pick up more interviews, so I manages to up my five interviews to 11! Which meant i interviewed with all nine high schools in Collier county as well as two middle schools.  For my first interview, they told me they had a Science position open, but no German, English, or Art.  Another potential candidate who I met went in and interviewed with the same school, directly after me was told that they only had an English position open.  See a problem?  We were being lied to!  This happened over and over again all day long.  After about the third interview, it was just a little depressing.  I was tired of hearing, "Oh my goodness, you're such a wonderful candidate, with such a diverse background and great experiences.  We would LOVE to have you in our school...but we just don't have a position for you right now."

By interviews 4-7 it was laughable.  I knew exactly what to expect.  One interviewer asked me how my day was going and i asked if they REALLY wanted to know...and of course they said, why yes! So i laid it on them, haha.  Probably not the best thing to do, but, come on.  You can't advertise 400-550 jobs and then not hire ANYONE!  By interviews 8-11, I was just angry.  What was the point of me being there, why did all these people form Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, etc. waste their time and money to come down to Naples, FL to be insulted?  And that's exactly what it was...insulting.

At the end of day two I had three "we like you but don't have  place for you" yellow pieces of paper.  So, everyone with this "golden ticket" as we affectionately named it, got to go and meet with the principles one last time.  Not sure why, because we had already done this all day long.  But, after going around and shaking everyone's hand and telling them that I knew they didn't have a position for me, but it was nice to meet them and learn about their school, one school (that previously told me they had no positions open) called me over and offered me a high school English position.  I kind of smirked, accepted the position, and was taken to the contract room.

I guess it was a "good" experience and definitely eye-opening, but something I would prefer not to have to go through again.  And pending the June 1st outcome of the FL legislation, I will or will not have a job near-ish to where Ed works.

Oh and let's talk about this potential job offer...

The Ugly:
-  I've heard different views of the students.  A principle told me that they come from loving, caring families, are very nice and like to give hugs.  A teacher who once worked there told me that she had a few bones broken while trying to restrain students.
-  One of their students was shot and killed near the school the day of the recruitment fair.

The Bad:
-  To start, it's an HOUR away from FGCU where Ed works.

-  It's a migrant school, so workers who come to work the citrus fields, send their kids to this school.  Nothing wrong with that.

-  It's out in the middle of no where.
-  When we drove out there to see what the school looked like, the only word that came to mind was prison.

The Good:
-  Potentially nice students.
-  Loan forgiveness.
-  They pay you a little more because of the location (maybe a gas/travel supplement) and because the school is in session longer than normal schools because of its migrant status.

Needless to say, we have both started job searches in other states, closer to home and family.