Job Hunting?

When you’re job hunting, you find yourself considering all kinds of work you’d never have considered before. Some might call it desperation. I like to think of it as open-mindedness.

Driving back from the lake the other morning I saw a truck with “Manny’s Piano Movers” on the side. Piano movers? I guess I’ve always known that piano movers exist. But when I saw this truck, it made me wonder. Is there really enough demand for piano moving services to keep someone in business full time? Obviously there is. And I’m guessing Manny has competition from other piano movers. There’s a whole industry out there I’ve never really given a fair chance to purchase my services.

This piano moving seems like a really niche business. And are they really strictly piano movers? If the customer says “hey, while you’re at it, can you move this table for me?” does Manny say “No! Pianos only!”?

With that business model, do they have to go chasing after the business, or is the phone just ringing off the hook with people wanting to move their pianos? How do they do it?  Maybe there is a ton of money in moving pianos. People are getting rich doing it. But nobody is talking about it on LinkedIn…

One must be realistic. I’m approaching 60. I don’t see myself hauling pianos up and down stairs, loading them into trucks, packing them for the ride and then doing the whole process in reverse once we get to the piano’s new home. And doing it all in a mask, with some nervous piano owner watching and critiquing my every move. Jesus!

Maybe these piano movers are getting rich. Or maybe they really just love moving pianos. Doesn’t matter how much they make. They just love moving pianos. That’s what gets them up in the morning.

I need a job, but I don’t think piano moving is for me. It seems like a young person’s game.

When you’re almost 60, you have to consider all the possibilities. I’m going to keep looking.

Father’s Day 2020

I visited my father for Father’s Day. Most of the immediate family was there.

Dad is dying of cancer. Melanoma. According to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, he’s got about four months to live. Assuming they are right, this will have been his last Father’s Day.

He was in good spirits. We had ribs in a park near his condo. He got to see his granddaughters. The weather was nice, until a storm blew in and we had to scatter. Then we returned to the condo and he, his wife, and my sisters all talked about racism for awhile. At about four I jumped in my car and headed home.

He’s always been so energetic. It’s hard watching the life force seep out of his driven psyche.

Just another old person about to die in our youth-obsessed culture in the age of coronavirus.

I wanted to go to the gym last week. I haven’t been since early March. Gyms only re-opened in my state of Minnesota a couple weeks ago. I’ve had some hip pain lately and would like to be able to go to the gym for a Spin Cycling class. I can get a good cardio workout without the pain of walking. But I realized I couldn’t, in good conscience, go to the gym and risk infecting him with coronavirus. I decided then that I’m not working out in the gym anytime soon.

The prospect of his death makes me think what life will be like without him. It calls to mind all he’s done for me. I want him to live for as long as possible.

Staying out of the gym and finding a different way to get my exercise is the least I can do now.

Don’t Spit On Me

Whenever I’m reading about some odd crime, I like to see how old the offender is. They always put the person’s age in the story. I love that. If they are in my age cohort I wonder, is this going to happen to me sometime soon?

Newly famous lawyer Stephanie Rapkin is 64, according to news reports. Five years older and crazier than me. She spat on a black kid at a Black Lives Matter protest in Madison. Got charged with a hate crime. The next day, to keep the party going, she kneed a police officer in the groin. Her mug shot is fucking priceless.

What prompted this attorney to behave like a street punk?

My guess is the “attorney” slice of Stephanie Rapkin’s personality has been fading for some time now. Other aspects, like race hatred, seem to have bubbled up to the top. This rearrangement in her priorities doesn’t seem to have led to the kind of actions likely to boost her career.

Or maybe this was a planned act, part of a larger strategy. It’s possible she’s a Fox News-obsessed culture warrior attempting to attract like-minded individuals in need of legal services. Such a target audience might think more favorably about Stephanie Rapkin after watching her take on the Black Lives Matter movement and the police. But I doubt the spitting or the kneeing were strategic acts. I think they were rage spasms.

So what happened to Stephanie? Did some aspect of her personality disintegrate, leaving her unable or unwilling to control herself? She did not present a lawerly appearance in any of the photos I’ve seen. Every lawyer I’ve ever known takes great care with their dress and grooming. It’s part of the image required. Her disheveled appearance is a red flag.

Reading and thinking about the whole sad spectacle raises an interesting question: Do people get better or worse as they age?

One Man, One City, One Virus

John Prine tested positive for coronavirus. The navy ship Comfort pulled into New York Harbor. People were building field hospitals in Central Park. Two painful weeks are ahead, says the president.

John had part of a lung removed several years ago. He is a gifted storyteller with an ear for the heartbreaking. From his song Donald and Lydia:

But dreaming just comes natural
Like the first breath from a baby,
Like sunshine feeding daisies,
Like the love hidden deep in your heart.

Nice writing, isn’t it? Say strong, John Prine.

The scenes out of New York are awful. We have failed our medical providers. According to their governor, the worst is yet to come. When you see a great America city on the verge of mass suffering, it’s hard to comprehend.

The only bright spot in the news: some lunatic pastor in Florida got arrested for ignoring the social distancing rules when he went ahead and held his church service.

 

Late Career Move

In mid-October of 2019, about ten days short of my 59^th birthday, I quit my job. The job was a poor fit for me. And I was miserable every day at work. So, I resigned, with no other job offer in hand.  

It’s unsettling and exciting at the same time. I feel a desire to pivot away from the corporate world. But where should I pivot? I don’t know.

I do know that time is a limited resource. Especially at this stage in life. Get it wrong and perhaps consign myself to losing a precious year or two walking down the wrong path.

What’s the most important need right now, and into the foreseeable future?

• Money
• Job satisfaction
• Professional relationships
• Contribution to the community
• Job security

These are the things I’m thinking about. The coronavirus unemployment surge is just starting to take off. More than 3 million new claims filed last week, a record.

I only need one job. That’s the best way for me to think about it.

Big Questions

Like a lot of people in my age cohort (I’m now 59) I’m facing some big questions.

• What do I want to do with the rest my life?
• What are my goals?
• Where shall I live?
• How can I maximize my health and wellness?
• What does it mean to be an older person in a youth culture?
• Will I have enough money?
• What changes to my lifestyle do I need to make?
• What happens upon our death? Is that the end?

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul was diagnosed with the virus and Angela Merkel went into self-quarantine.

All the big questions, at least for the next year, are going to be filtered through the lens of coronavirus.