I got laid off from my job. Twenty years of service, and I’m packing my office with someone watching and then walking me out of the building. And as I’ve previously written Conducting a Job Search During a Pandemic, this is not an ideal time to be looking for a job.

Networking

As I talked about in my previous article and have heard repeatedly, networking is the key. I’m not sure the exact statistics, but I’ve heard that over 60% of jobs never make it to LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, or any of the online job sites: they are filled with people…

I had what I thought was a safe, stable job;

Director of an IT department at a large state university in the middle of the country. Places like that never have layoffs — right? Right?

The university’s problems started before COVID hit.

The demographic that most universities have depended on for years is white, middle-upper class, decent grades, and good test scores. Unfortunately, the number of potential students has been decreasing.

Universities like mine that were dependent on their tried and true methods of recruiting, which had worked well for the previous two decades, slowly found themselves loosing enrollment numbers. …

A story of possible love

Alice was not a beautiful woman — not that she was unattractive — she was — just — there.

I had worked with Alice for a year, and during that time, even though our cubicles were across the aisle from each other, we had said, maybe, five words to each other.

Every day she sat down at her desk at 7:59, took off her coat and hung it on a hanger, put her purse in a drawer, checked her hair in a small mirror, then logged into her computer. …

Lately, I must be in a reading rut on Medium, but most of the stories that keep showing up on my home page have been about dating, relationships, and online dating. Not that I mind, I have learned a lot from these articles. The problem is that most of them have been written from a woman’s perspective. I’ve decided to weigh in and give a middle-aged man ‘s experiences with online dating.

Here are five things that have caught my attention.

#1 — I have had to learn how woman’s hairstyles have changed

I know, I know, most everyone fudges on their photos to make themselves look as good as possible, but…

Young Princess Aimee D’Aramirz has a history lesson.

Aimee yawned and closed her eyes momentarily and let her mind wander to the beautiful spring day outside. She and her sister, Noemi, had found a wonderful new trail in the mountains behind the Mason Royale (Royal House), and both were dying to explore where it went. Maybe there will be a small stream, or better yet a waterfall!

She jumped with the sound of the ruler slamming against her desk.

“I don’t care if you are an elven princess, you will pay attention in class!”

Aimee tried to hold back tears…

A Story of the effects of divorce

The small voice came from the back seat. “Daddy, I miss Mommy.”

The man, while maneuvering the vehicle up the curvy road, sighed heavily. ” I know, Punkin, you’ll see her next week. Why don’t you look at the pretty mountains?”

The girl sighed and looked out of the side window at the canyon walls. “Why did that sign have a rock on it?”

Her older brother half-turned from his front seat. “It said to watch out for falling rocks.”

“Daddy, why do we need to watch out for falling rocks?”

Her brother responded, “Don’t be so stupid, Amy. Look up the side of the…