it's been a year?

I just realized that the end of this week will mark 1 year since being fired from the Apple Store. It seems like yesterday and it seems like forever ago. It was bitter-sweet because it was my dream job working for the Mothership, doing what I was meant to do, but the working conditions really sucked and I don't know how much longer I could have survived there.

What happened in the 12 months since then?
- I sank into a pretty deep depression for a while.
- My fiance delayed moving in with me
- I filed for unemployment
- I filed an unsuccessful appeal of the firing and asked for an investigation into working conditions... that went nowhere (THAT BITCH).
- My fiance moved in over Thanksgiving weekend
- I landed a very brief consulting gig in Ocala setting up an XServe
- The job search lasted forever
- I found a part time pee-on job at the Florida Coastal School of Law. Worked there for about a week. (HATED IT)
- I found full time work at Jacksonville University as a PC Tech that barely paid peanuts
- Wedding preparations were underway.
- 2 weeks before the wedding, I was contacted by a recruiter for a job in Knoxville
- Got married
- Honeymoon in DC
- didn't really have time to say goodbye to all my friends
- Moved to Knoxville and lived in a hotel for 2 months
- Bought and sold houses simultaneously
- Moved all our stuff up to Knoxville.
- Comforted my wife during her disheartening job search.

... and the sands of time continue to fall.

uncertainty

Married life itself is good, but the events that have transpired over the past few months have stressed us incredibly. When I took this job in Knoxville, both of us assumed that it would be a piece of cake for her to find a job up here. We were incredibly wrong. She's been looking for a couple months now and there have been no leads but a couple. Those leads went nowhere. She is depressed and feels like a loser and hates everything about this city and state. I keep trying to reassure her that she isn't a loser and things will get better. I don't have any regrets about taking the job up here, but if I had it to do all over again, it would go very differently. First off, I wouldn't have been rushed into it during wedding preparations and the honeymoon. The timing of it is what has stressed us beyond belief. Our lives have been filled with so much change that we don't know who we are any more. Throughout this, I keep remembering that she supported me during my time of need and I'll do the same for her. I'll show her the love and support she needs to get through this. It does suck that we don't have any friends up here yet to give us both some suport.
The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are starting to show the first hints that Fall is here. We're looking forward to seeing real colors on trees. We hope it will snow at least a little this winter, but all the locals tell us that is unlikely. If we can survive the winter, I think we will be OK. If winter comes and goes and things are still as they are, we may have to re-examine Knoxville.