Received the Fickle Finger of Fate Friday.
On the positive side,
a. Coffee is made the way I like it.
b. I can log on to IDO during the day.
c. $50+ bucks in gas per week not being spent – no rush hour
d. 20 fewer corporate passwords to remember.
e. Time to catch the muskie I missed on Tonka Saturday.
f. Wearing jeans on a Monday (and Tues, Wed, Thurs)
g. Time to sneak out for early morning fishing trips.
h. Catch up on home projects,,,,,right.
i. Better days ahead.
Pete
Sounds like you are practicing for retirement. Good luck when you start looking for work.
Good luck on fishing.
When you get to searching for a new job, check out http://www.jobtransition.net at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie.
They’ve been helping people find new jobs for 20+ years, currently 50-80 people every Monday morning. 1st week they welcome all newbies (15-20 every week) to a class on “How to find a job in the 21st century” 7:15am – noon. Once you’ve been thru the class, you attend the networking sessions finding and sharing contacts to find your new job.
Best advice is get on and use LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com (Facebook for Business), best of luck and wish you much success. 
Believe me, the search has been underway for several months and ramped up another 150%. Just trying to maintain my sanity…..
Throw your resume on here or at the very least let us know what you do. You never know who does what for a living! A member here may be able to hook you up with a interview.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasjpeterson
Not sure how to, or if resumes are welcome on this site, but the link above will give you a good idea of my background.
Thanks
Pete
Pete-I’ve been off since mid July, first time since I was 14 years old. Scary as hell. I does work out, accepted a better job last Friday. It’s all about who you know and timing, hang in there and try not to go crazy! 
Hey Pete,
Sorry to hear that. I was laid off last November. Jobs in IT are out there but a lot pay less than unemployment and I can’t afford to take any less money. I started full time college in January and will finish my degree in May of 2012. I’ve been working my tail off on school as well as applying for work.
Best advice is to find something to keep you busy. It is a great time to think about your career and see if you want to go back to school or not. I wasn’t really happy where I was for 10 years but it was a job. I’m hoping to find something better when school is over or even before that.
Best of luck to ya.
For any others out there interested, if you are on LinkedIn and want to connect, send me an invite and note IDOFishing. I have 500+ connections 
and will use them to help you if I can.
Carroll Aasen Jr. http://www.linkedin.com/in/carrollaasenjr
If it was retirement, he would have added:
1. apply for medicaid
2. learn to live on SS…
Pete,
Network, network, network. When I got laid off last year it seemed devastating at the time but networking got my name in front of people and eventually (four months) led to a job. I am much happier where I am now then where I was before.
Think back to old contacts from other jobs, volunteer work, youth coaching, church, whatever and contact them to see if they have any leads for people that they could put in touch with to that may have positions. It is amazing how many jobs are not posted anywhere and just by getting your name out there you mat get a hit. Here are a few tips from a company that helped with my job search.
DON”T ask if they’ve heard of any openings or say let me know if you hear of something. This put pressure on your contacts. just get names you can try to network with.
1) Do prepare and use a 30 second commercial (let people know you are looking)
2) Do proactively share past accomplishments with networking contacts. Don’t sound like you are bragging, try introducing your accomplishments with words like Something that was fun / challenging about my job was ….. Use LinkedIn to show select accomplishments.
3) Do identify and proactively mention select companies. you never know who may know someone there.
4) Don’t force feed your resume or ask anyone to distribute it. If they ask by all means give it to them.
5) Personalize your LinkedIn URL. include a URL as part of you signature
6)Get out of the house and engage with others face to face.
7) Don’t say please call me when you leave voicemail. Take ball back in your court and say Since I am missing you. I’ll try again later this week. if you want to reach me earlier, feel free to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
8) Set specific networking goals. I will keep making calls today until i set up three face to face network meetings for next week.
I also joined a support group like the one mentioned here, lots of good ideas come out of that and you never know when they may hear of a job in your specialty.
Hope some of this is helpful and best of luck in your job search.
Tim
Sorry to hear of your job lose…..sent you email
Muskie Tim… GREAT advice!!!
While I haven’t been laid off recently and hope not to, I’ve read enough of these threads on various forums over the last few years.
Couple things jump out to me:
– Don’t let a lay off be a time to reconnect with old friends. Stay in touch with these people whether its family, friends, former co-workers, college classmates, high school classmates or whoever! Build your relationships before you need them.
– Searching for a new job IS a job, and treat it like that. I like game plans like Muskie Tim mentioned… for example… keep calling until you set up 3 new face to faces for the next week. Some guys set up a binder of all companies that they’ve sent resumes to and documented all follow up calls and contacts to those companies. Its just like you are a business and these future employers are your customers. Follow up, follow up, follow up!
– There ARE jobs out there. Contrary to popular belief and what the media says, people are hiring! Go find them, they may not be advertising!
that when i start(new hobby) fishing 2.5yrs a go and still do 
man fishing is HARD and expensive.
good luck finding new jobs.
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