A close woman friend and trainer at one of the Minnesota Workforce centers told me that, if she lost her job, she would do anything to help her family survive.

I am a family of one. I will do what I need to do to survive and reach my goals.

Hi again, Danya...I was using Dragonfly in reference to myself..I shave my head and have butterflies, a large dragonfly, and a bumblebee, along with a morning glory and various vines tattooed on my bald head...Sort of a walking garden..

smooches again dragonfly

butterflyjack (imported) wrote: Mon May 24, 2010 9:24 am Hi again, Danya...I was using Dragonfly in reference to myself..I shave my head and have butterflies, a large dragonfly, and a bumblebee, along with a morning glory and various vines tattooed on my bald head...Sort of a walking garden..

smooches again dragonfly

I love gardening!

Hugs,

Danya

I spent a very relaxing day with 'X' on Sunday.

My phone interview this morning went well. The recruiter should let me know by tomorrow if they want to proceed to next steps.

A long distance friend noted he has mixed feelings about my moving. I always appreciate comments, suggestions and advice.

He commented that this would be a large expense. For most people, this would be true. For me, with no furniture, no mortgage and no lease the cost of moving would come down to gas for the car, food and, perhaps, a night or two at motels along the way.

I spent hours this weekend further investigating metroplitan areas around the county that look to offer much better employment opportunities for technologists than the Chicago region. I am also including a somewhat intangible 'trans friendly' factor and investigating cost of living, average salaries and so on. I am figuring, as a lower priority consideration, in how much I would like living in a new spot. I take into account the current unemployment rate and the number of available openings per applicant. I include the total number of job openings in my field per capita.

Then I went to several business sites that rate metropolitan regions on desirability for both relatively high employment prospects and future prospects. It turns out these sites don't appear to have access to any information unavailable to me. Their conclusions generally confirm my own.

It turns out that there are several desirable regions that clearly offer much better prospects than the Chicago region. The clearest winners are

1. Washington, DC metro area

2. New York City metro area

3. Seattle

4. San Francisco

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul region is doing relatively well compared to most metro regions. I still find few jobs there that are good matches for my particular combination of skills. I have little desire to return there, although if a great permanent job were offered to me I would accept it.

Working on this type of analysis gives me confidence I can proceed with a move if I decide that is the way to go

Danya (imported) wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2010 5:25 pm . I still hope to remain in the Chicago

region.

I have run out of jobs to apply for today. Over the last several days, there have been fewer published openings. So I will take the rest of the day off and go downtown or to the Chicago Botanic Garden.

It is also time for another manicure.

The action on the employment front will probably drop off now until after the Memorial Day holiday. --FLO--

Hi Flo,

That's a very good point that I hadn't thought of. Still, it turned out that today I had three phone interviews. Two more than the one I had been expecting. Those were from recruiters contacting me after they spotted my online resume.

I spoke to the last two with my hands free cell phone as I drove to the Chicago Botanic Garden. A trusted friend pointed out that it would have been better if I had pulled off the Tollway so I could have concentrated entirely on the conversations. I agree and will do so for similar situations as they arise.

Hugs,

Danya

My day was very good. I continue to feel confident I will work things out to find a good job. This evening, I spoke with my 'local' therapist. The one who is only a 40 minute drive from home. I did not feel an absolute need to discuss anything with her, but it helps to have a sympathetic ear when so much in my life is changing.

I was surprised at how delighted my therapist was to learn that I am dating 'X.' Not that I do not think this is a good thing. She takes all of my activities, now including dating, as very good signs that I am handling everything in my life well during a difficult time. I showed her something I have not mentioned here. The friendship ring 'X' gave me a few days ago. She was really interested in this.

She and I spoke at some length about the possibility of my moving yet again. She was concerned about several potential problems. Like the stress of adjusting to another new locale and, specifically, my ability to continue to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. I put her mind at ease about these things. I did this, in part, by talking about something I very rarely discuss. That is, the time I was assaulted and how I later handled the fall-out of post traumatic stress.

As I learned from three progressively less severe bouts with PTSD, when something is bothering me or I am having a major life problem I need to take positive action. If I do not, I risk feeling like a victim instead of someone who takes charge and does what is needed. By laying out contingency plans for landing a job, I am taking this active role to best position myself for success.

After we finished talking, she was convinced I can handle another move relatively easily. She also knows I am thoroughly investigating all possibilities. Only one of these is moving.

She added that Chicago is wonderful in the summer and it would be a shame to miss this season in the city. I told her how badly I was sweating as I walked around the Chicago Botanic Garden earlier in the day. I still had a wonderful time.

I just learned that the drunk driver who ran into, and totalled, my car is being charged with a felony. I don't want to go into the details on this site.

In another hour, or less, the birds will start singing their morning songs. I got home quite late after a wonderful 9 hours spent with 'X.' We went downtown, parking at the north end of Grant Park in the Millenium Park area. Over the late afternoon and into the evening, we walked to Navy Pier and took in the sights there.

It reminded me of tourist areas along the shore (ocean) in New Jersey. Even though the waves and the smell of salt water of the east coast were missing, I had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, with pleasant temperatures resulting from easterly winds off Lake Michigan.

We have reached an accomodation, of a sort, that takes into account my love of photography and 'X's' desire to talk and be close as we learn more about each other. I always feel relaxed after spending time with 'X.'

I spoke with two recruiters on Tuesday. Both noted that job postings had slowed due to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. I found only one job to apply for today.

Tuesday morning, I spent more time investigating my selected cities should I decide to move. That led me to another one with an unemployment rate of only 5.6% - Honolulu. If only I could drive me car to Oahu.

I will probably start applying for 'contingency plan C' jobs soon. I want to give these a try before making a decision to leave Chicago.

I never would have picked 'X' as someone who would bring me such happiness. We have divergent views on a number of issues I consider critical factors for common ground. How could I ever relate to someone whose views on these important matters are so different from my own? Turns out it mostly doesn't matter.

At 8:30 Wednesday evening, I called him and asked if he wanted to go with me downtown. I wanted to surprise him by taking him to the SkyDeck of the Willis (nee Sears) Tower to see the city lights. We arrived 30 minutes too late. Another time, perhaps.

This is the second evening I handed him the keys to my car. I told him I wanted my boyfriend to drive. I trust him. I have not let anyone drive my car in years. Tonight, I said I would drive downtown because I was concerned that his more laid back driving style would delay our arrival. It's all related to how seriously we each take 'the speed limit is only a suggestion.' Once we were downtown, he got the keys.

It has been barely over a week since we met. Yet already I feel totally comfortable with him and safe. When we part, I am totally relaxed. I am experiencing some of the fun and exploration of teenage dating for the first time.

At least six weeks ago, I notified my college class agent about my transitioning from male to female. Today, the latest issue of the alumni magazine arrived. It has a section for news segregated by class years. There was no mention of my big change. Typically, births, marriages, career moves (especially up the corporate ladder ) and similar items are listed. I do not think I have ever seen an announcement of job loss, although I notified my class agent about this, too!

Maybe the agent will have the guts to mention my transition news in the newsletter for my class. That should arrive in a month or so.