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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 ( 10:46 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum Work Alhumdulillah, I met with some of my co-workers for lunch, and had a good time. Three are employed, and one is still looking. But we exchanged ideas and compared notes. There are a couple of ideas that I need to follow up with tomorrow moring. Mmmm, we went to Thai Kitchen, and I had cashew tofu. It was so delicious! I keep trying to get sayang to go, but she doesn't like to eat out much. Home My elder son's b'day was yesterday. I let him pick a movie, and he rented Inspector Gadget II. It was cute, and they enjoyed it. Today he brought home his class b'day card. He had to sit in front of the room on a stool and pose while the class drew him. Everyone wrote Happy Birthday on their portrait, and signed it. Today, after lunch, I went to my parents and helped them move a desk to the basement computer room. It was heavy! Lucky I have been moving wood and in better shape :). After it was cleaned, and in place, I hooked up their old computer on it. My poor dad hooked all the cables back up last time, and put the speaker jack in the wrong hole. (Something I have done many times also.) Unfortunately, it wasn't caught, and my mom spent a long time on the support line trying to get sound to work. Alas, it still comes up in discussions. Eek, it's been almost 2 hours, and the Inspector Gadget song is still going though my head :(. I need to listen to some nice relaxing nasheeds while writing... I have a lot on my mind right now... I am anxious to get a new job, but at the same time, I don't really want to go back to IT again. Frankly, I wish I could retire, and enjoy watching my kids grow up, especially with summer vacation coming up! My fondest memories are of summer vacations. Both of my parents were teachers. We were never "rich" but we always had everything we needed, and some extra. But in June, they would pack the car, pretty much choose a direction, and we would go somewhere. Always camping, to a national forest. To the beach, mountains, desert...they just enjoyed traveling, seeing new places and meeting different people. # Monday, March 24, 2003 ( 11:00 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum home Wow, Sayang got a gift certificate from my parents. We went shopping today for her to get clothes. Then grocery shopping and back home again. Hey, I think we got a dirty look, but alhumdulillah, no one wants to pick on us :-). Everyone we've met has been friendly. This is great since about 100km from us the Masjid got a threating letter. It was depressing to read about the attacks to Muslim americans. Job Search I sent my resume off to four people today, and have a list of e-mail addresses that I need to follow up with still. This Wednesday, I am having Thai food with some other people who were laid off from my company. Maybe catch up, exchange notes and look after each other. One of them stood us up. He has found a new job, and needs to prove himself before taking a long lunch to meet us. It was encouraging to hear success stories, and that there are jobs out there to be taken! I am teasing my wife (sayang). The masjid needs a math teacher, english teacher, and arabic teacher for next year. Alhumdulillah, they are building a high school as an addition to the current 1st to 8th grade classes. I told her we could both work there, attend all the prayers, and get the blessings of working for an Islamic school (and maybe a tuition waiver for our kids???). She's getting more interested. (they can't pay enough for just me to work there unless she got a job also) It is something for us to think about together. Alhumdulillah, right now I feel reassured that Allah is looking over us, and I have peace of mind. # Sunday, March 23, 2003 ( 6:52 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum home YEA a water fight at my house :-) It is warm enough this week! (Have to refer to comments if they don't get archived off too soon). Last summer we got into a big fight with many water balloons, hoses, super soakers. There are three houses lined up in a row, and all three families were participated, along with the neighbor across the street. It was a lot of fun, and all of us got cooled off. Hey, I'm still alive, just quiet recently. My dad's friend had 3 old trees in his back yard that were going to die. A land scape service cut them down, but I got to haul the wood home, cut it to smaller pieces, split the larger logs, and stack it. It is green now, but will be wonderful for next winter. I have about 2 cords of wood in the back yard, and only half of it is split and stacked as of yet. Alhumdulillah, it will help us avoid paying rising gas prices to heat our house next winter! MashaAllah, my kids were so cute Saturday. The Masjid has a "parents night out" each year where we get to sit back and relax while our kids preform skits they learned in Sunday Madressa. My elder son's class demonstrated how to pray, and not to pray and it was so darling! He ran up onto the stage with a classmate, said "lets pray quickly so we can get back to our video game" and they started bobbing up and down like a chicken pecking corn. Their "mom" walked into the room during this, fussed at them, and reminded them of the hadiths to pray properly. My younger son recited Quran with his class, and reminded everyone of the importance to pray to Allah, and not to pray for show. It was a wonderful afternoon, and I really enjoyed watching all of the classes (especially my kids). Today is Sayang's birthday so my parents stopped by and visited us. I spent part of the day cleaning house and helping her, part of the day splitting wood, and part of the day "working" on my computer. While waiting for interviews, I am learning Visual Interdev, a Web development tool by Microsoft. Alhumdulillah, my resume passed human resources and now is in a committee in the Math department at the community college. Human resourses screens the resumes to verify we have the basic requirements, then a department committee sorts through them. Three or four resumes will make it throught the committee, and they will conduct the interview, and have the candidate give a sample lecture. This is still the job I would most enjoy, and am still keeping it in my dua. Alhumdulillah, we haven't had any trouble yet. My wife's friend was buying groceries and mentioned that she had fasted today. An american lady behind her heard it, and asked why she was fasting, Ramadan is over. She said she was fasting for peace. The lady behind her turned out to be a military wife, who was anxious for war, and they got into a heated discussion. She said she was so mad, and yet relieved that this happened after she broke her fast. # Sunday, March 16, 2003 ( 4:08 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum, Sorry for my long silence. I have tried twice to blog, but keep getting errors. Flustrated... # Saturday, March 08, 2003 ( 11:33 AM ) iggry Job Search Alhumdulillah, I submitted my resume, application, transcripts and cover letter to the community college, and visited the head of the Math Department. She was a little stand-offish, but she warmed up after a little while, and offered ideas on other places I could work in the community college. The Dean of Health, Math, and Science was in a meeting, so I will meet with her on Monday. InshaAllah, I make a good impression, and get the job. I found that the position will not start until August, so I will need to find temporary work nonetheless. I'm thinking about substitute teaching, to get myself back in front of people as soon as possible and to give me a paycheck until August. This weekend, I need to finish my industry resume, and send it to all my friends in IT who are asking for it. Family Yea, we are all getting ready to go to the art museum for my son's spelling bee. This is the regioal finals hosted by the local news paper. He said he was more nervous about this one than the district finals. InshaAllah he will do well! It is 68F today, so afterwards, we are going to play in a park, and eat (if it's not too late). Hope everyone has a happy Saturday. Friday prayer One of the benefits I have right now, is going to prayer with my Sayang. Alhumdulillah it is nice to go with her, and be able to talk about khutbah while going home. I saw a couple of friends who asked me to visit them and catch up also :-). # Thursday, March 06, 2003 ( 11:01 AM ) iggry I spent the yesterday evening working on my resume and didn't post anything. Alhumdulillah, I now have a teaching resume, and three cover letters to deliver to the local community college. This is my dream position, so I am putting extra effort into it. Today, I will type the application, and submit it either this afternoon, or tomorrow morning. I spoke with a teacher over there, and he was very impressed by the content of my resume, and said if they knew what was good for them, they would hire me :) Today, I have an appointment with my son's principal to ask him about teaching high school, and get the inside scoop on effectively applying to school districts. I also have this 6 page application to type. Have a good day everyone! # Tuesday, March 04, 2003 ( 10:03 PM ) iggry Work EEEEK!!! I get this knock on the door at about 8:30pm yesterday, and there was a police officer, and detective on my front porch. I make the mistake of turning on the light and both of the close their eyes, and shield their faces :-) So I apologize profusely, heart pounding, and step outside for them to introduce themselves. They are from the department serving my ex workplace and investigating all the employees who were laid off, ruling out suspects. After chatting for almost a minute, I warn Sayang to put her on her hijab, and invite them in. They said someone took some software from the office as they left their place of employment. I told them that I was 3rd on the list, and just knew the two people before me. One, a muslimah, is a wonderful revert who is slowly learning Islam from her husband. The other, we got along well enough, he was my cube neighbor. Then they asked about other people who I guessed had been terminated that day, and I answered to the best of my ability. Heh, I had an alibi, having attended Friday Prayer, and taking my son to Karate that night. And they told me I wasn't a suspect becuase I turned in all of my keys on Thursday. But since I brought up Friday Prayer, they asked where I went to pray, so I got to tell them a little about Islam :) but I was still nervous talking to them. I worked with most of the people, and couldn't imagine any one of them taking anything. I try to look for the good in anyone, and am horrible at judging motives and manipulation. Maybe I'm naive, I don't know. Anyway, that was my excitement for the night. I stopped and visited the office today, and found out officially who had been laid off (aside from me that is). Everyone was glad to see me, and wished me good luck finding a new position. I got several names to contact, so I need to update my IT resume to personalize it more. Since today is Mardi Gras, there was a cake and beads in the office. You could tell that Management was trying to raise moral back to what it was before last week. I did another quick once-over to my office to make sure I didn't leave anything behind, stopped to delete personal stuff out off of my hard drive under the watchful eye of my manager and turned in my signed severance agreement. It was nice that everyone was friendly, and we had fun talking a last time. I am on the list of potential rehires if the market improves. Today, I completed a cover letter, and finished a education resume. There are several potential teaching positions open, so please keep me in your dua. # Monday, March 03, 2003 ( 11:47 PM ) iggry Assalamu alaikum! Sorry for the extended silence and Thank you for all of the messages :-). I have so much to catch up with. I will do what I can now that I have more time on my hands. Work Alas, the ax has fallen. I have made a career of dodging cut backs, and keeping myself useful enough to justify my salary. This time, the economy has been too harsh though. Last Thurday (Feb 27) I am busy at my desk, working away, and my cube neighbor comes in the door, shakes my hand and says good-bye. We thought he was kidding, but he packed his bags shook our hand again and left. I was shocked, but having been through this before, knew that it was best to keep working even harder and keep your head down. So I walk back to the CD burner, and my dear friend was in tears and I over-heard her saying it wasn't fair. I sit at the workstation to burn a CD and the Vice President discretely asks me to come to his office. The first thing I see in his office is a packet with my name on it. He tells me that the company is working at a loss, and is having to re-organize the office. Forty-six consultants are going to lose their job across the company, and six are being taken from my branch. He proceeds to read my severance package to me and tells me that my employee agreement was the oldest that he had seen. (I started the company at least 18 months before him.) He told me that my last day is March 13, but I am not to go to the office unless necessary. My emotions have been all over the place for the past week swinging from depression and anger to relief and peace. As I talk to Christians that I know, including my parents, they tell me I should be outraged and get angry with me. Then all sorts of negative emotions start to bubble up. When I talk to Muslims, everyone I have talked to has said Alhumdulillah, Allah is most generous, and will take care of you. There is a better opportunity on the horizon and I feel at peace. I am starting to heal, and working on regaining my confidence in myself. Also, for the past year I have really been doubting that I should be in IT, and have been thinking more about finding other careers. Please keep me in your prayers, as I close the door to my old company, and begin a new journey looking for new employement. # |
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