When you're furloughed in Frisco you apply for new jobs

because the Unemployment Office says you have to. They aren't exactly clear about how often you have to apply for jobs, so I've been doing it once a week. Now, I still haven't heard for sure whether I'll receive unemployment benefits, so all of this paperwork that I've been filling out and sending in could be worthless... but they haven't denied me yet. I'm hoping for the best.

So far I've applied to be some sort of instructor at the University of Phoenix (you only need a Masters degree to teach courses there, so I'm covered) and an Associate Dean at ITT Tech somewhere in the bay area. Neither of these positions are jobs that I'd really be interested in...unless they wanted to pay me mucho dinero. And in that case, I might be persuaded.


At any rate, if all goes as planned my first unemployment check will come next week. Score! Then Lots of Groceries and I will be able to buy new songs for Rock Band! In case you've been wondering, Hunticle made it into the Rolling Stones Hall of Fame last night. I think we were playing an arena in Tokyo. Yeah, it was pretty sweet.

When you're furloughed in Frisco you disappear for a bit...

only to reappear in La La Land. Living with your in-laws is much, much cheaper than trying to go it alone in SF. Besides, with so many friends to visit down here and hours upon hours of Rock Band tourneys to compete in, being furloughed has become down-right fun!

So far Lots of Groceries and I have:
- gone ice-skating to celebrate my birthday.
- eaten about twenty tons of cookies, candies, and cupcakes that his mom and sister baked.
- toured the US and Europe with Hunticle (our Rock Band group which features Lots of Groceries on Guitar, his sister on drums, and me singing).

- slept in until at least 11:00 am everyday.
- probably gained 10 pounds eating all the deliciously free food around here.

Anyway, it's been great. We anticipate being down here through New Year's, and will reappear in the City sometime after that.

Happy Birthday to Ms. Felicitously Furloughed!

Hope you have a great (and cheap) celebration!

When you're furloughed in Frisco, you decide to spend a good deal of time at your parents' house in order to save money

However, you get stuck in Seattle on the way to Montana, wait in an airport line for 2.5 hours (no exaggeration) only to find out that they've put you on a flight the next day, have canceled the evening flight you were thinking about trying to go stand-by on, and will not provide you with a hotel accommodation, much less a meal voucher. Also, they may have misplaced your bag. You survive all of this without being mean to a single person, despite having eaten nothing more than a cookie. yay.

When you're furloughed in Frisco, you go to free museum days

I'm not one to shun corporate handouts, especially when it means that I get something for free. So when a fellow-furloughed (furloughian?) called me to attend Wachovia Wednesday at the California Academy of Science, I went. Wachovia Wednesday is exactly what it sounds like: a day of free admission to the museum, sponsored by Wachovia.

As far as I can tell, Wachovia probably gave a bunch of money to the Academy of Science in exchange for the museum offering free admission one day each month, thus luring huge crowds of people who, while waiting in the endless line to enter the museum, are forced to gaze at Wachovia branding images. Normally, I would take a bit of offense to this fairly obvious ploy, but for our purposes at Furloughed in Frisco, we must put aside such luxuries as vegetarianism and conscious consumerism and avoiding any association with corporations. We must get down to the basics: we need free stuff. And Wachovia provides this. Please excuse this liberal tangent (it is Furloughed in FRISCO, after all, what did you expect?).

The California Academy of Science, first of all, is located in one of the most beautiful (among many!) spots in San Francisco. It's in Golden Gate Park, located across from the DeYoung, in this little alcove that appear vaguely tropical. So, I didn't mind too much when I arrived at the museum and had to stand in line for 30 minutes to get in. It was free, after all, and I had a beautiful view from my spot in line (that is, if I could look around the Wachovia signs).



The museum was crowded. Too crowded. The planetarium (not included in the free admission) was sold out. We spent a few minutes looking at the animal exhibits in the main room, then got into another line to see the rainforest, which was the highlight of the trip. Lots of plants, humidity, and butterflies. This was worth the trip. There's also a small aquarium, but the crowds were almost too much to enjoy any of it: too many people clustered around the glass, too many kids pushing each other, too many strollers. Ugh.

When you're furloughed in Frisco, free haircuts rock

I've been going to Kendra at The Wak Shack Salon for a couple of years now and she's great. She's the one who gave me my new bangs that I love so much. Anyway, I've been starting to feel a little shaggy, so I made an appointment with her to have them trimmed -- which is kinda scary when you're broke because a good haircut in this city isn't cheap.

Well, I just got home from having my bangs trimmed, and she didn't charge me a dime! This was obviously a thrilling experience because a $0 haircut is right within my budget. Kendra says that many stylists offer free fringe trims to regular clients.

Moral of this story? Get a good stylist before getting furloughed. And then never, ever let her go.

When you're furloughed in Frisco you make GIANT cupcakes!

I love cupcakes!

One of the really fantastic things about being furloughed is having time to bake. On Monday night some of my furloughed friends and I got together for a holiday party, and considering that I didn't have to work all day, I decided to make the cupcake of all cupcakes.

This wasn't just any cupcake, this was a Queen Cupcake! One cupcake to rule them all!

You may be asking yourself, "what's so special about that? It looks like a regular, old chocolate cupcake."

Well, what you can't see from the photo above is that this cupcake is actually the size of my head!!! Here are Megann and I modeling the scale for you:

It was amazing. What more can you ask for?

When you're furloughed in Frisco, you go to Pop's for bacon night

Yes, that's right: bacon. Every Monday night, Pop's hosts bacon night, where Tuffy, the bartender (pictured below), slings not only drinks, but crispy, salty, little slabs of pork. Here's the lowdown on the pork: before coming to work every Monday, Tuffy purchases and prepares 3 pounds of bacon. It takes him 45 minutes to cook it (multiple batches, of course) and the bacon arrives at Pop's around 9 pm.

Although the bacon's hot at 9 pm (and Tuffy recommends arriving at the bar around then for optimal bacon consumption), we showed up just in time to eat the rest of that night's bacon, which was good even though it was cold. Mmmm....nitrates.


The other great thing about Pop's is that it's cheap. Here's a list of the daily specials. Note the Monday night special, of which Hallie took advantage.

We'll see you next week!

When you're furloughed in Frisco you still remember

your cousin's birthday.

Happy Birthday Oren!!!

For those of you who don't know him, Oren is a pretty cool cat who deserves to have the best of days today. Oren, I hope this gifty helps!
May all your birthday wishes come true! (You can check this one off the list). ;)

When you're furloughed in Frisco you have all kinds of extra time

to do things like order your wedding photos and put them in albums.

Finally.

I figure I'm actually ahead of schedule on this project. It's only taken me four months to seriously sit down and decide which ones I like best. I'm not quite finished, but I will be by the end of the weekend. Here's one of my favorite portraits so far:

I know brides are always supposed to love their wedding dresses, but I really, really loved mine. And Lots of Groceries looked so handsome! Here's one of his favorites:

This has been a fantastic post-furloaded in Frisco activity. I'm a little tired (i.e. over hung) from last night's escapades. You see, yesterday was officially Furlough Friday. My co-workers and I celebrated by applying for unemployment on our office computers and then going out on the town. We meant to take pictures for the blog, but got too furloaded and forgot. It's probably best that way actually...

In closing, I want to send a shout-out to the fabulous Krista Lucas who took my wedding photos. It's difficult choosing which ones I want to put in my album because she took so many beautiful ones. If you have some free time (whether due to being furloughed or not), check out her photo blog. Several more of our wedding photos are posted there. Thanks again Krista!

When you're furloughed in Frisco...

...and it's the last day of work before the furlough, coming up on 5 o'clock, and everyone's running around the office like the ship is going down and they need a lifeboat, the only thing to do is to put on your headphones, turn on the ipod, and blog.

When you're furloughed in Frisco, you file for unemployment

Or at least you try to. Filling for unemployment, it seems, is quite a challenge.

The state of California cannot take your application for unemployment online if you've worked in another state over the last 18 months. Instead, they ask that you call since your application requires extra attention. Fine. Not that I'm thrilled to have to interact with a government employee over the phone rather than enjoy the comforting anonymity of clicking my mouse and filling in text boxes online, but I can deal with that.

So, this afternoon, I called the number (please note, fellow furloughed: apply for unemployment by Friday on your last week of work. this way, you will be eligible for benefits one week sooner than if you wait until Saturday). I was greeted with an automated message: “We’re currently receiving more calls than we can handle. Please listen to this message.” Ok. I start listening.

I'm waiting for the part where they ask you to press 1 if you'd like to file a new claim. I wait.

I wait some more.

And then. THEN. Before I have had the opportunity to push 1 or 2 or any number that will indicate my needs, the automated messages chirps a pleasant "Thank you" and disconnects. Of course I proceeded to call back three or four times to relive this lovely display of customer service.

So what did I do? I lied about earning money outside the state so that the online system would allow me to fill out an application. This is probably a crime punishable by time in prison or some such ridiculous thing, but at this point, free meals and a place to stay sounds kind of nice.

When you're furloughed in Frisco you can get paid to fill out surveys!

The Today Show really is amazing. They just did a segment about making money over the holidays, and among other things, suggested signing up to take part in research studies.

Fear not my fellow furloughed friends! We'll get rich (or at least make bus fare) by telling people how often we use our cell phones and whether we're more likely to purchase organic vegetables.

Woo Hoo!

Check it out: http://www.findfocusgroups.com/

When you're furloughed in Frisco there aren't any answers...

because, according to the robotic voice answering the phones at the Unemployment Office, they "have too many callers waiting on the line and are unable to assist you at this time."

What?! Forgive my rant, but this is crazy.

There are so many people applying for unemployment benefits right now, at this very moment, that the Unemployment Office cannot help everyone.

Including me. Their automatic machine hung-up on me. TWICE!!! Here I am, trying to take care of business, trying to make sure that I can pay my rent, and instead, I get hung up on.

And if I have to see the sheepish, shit-eating grin of an auto executive asking for federal bailout money on television again...well honestly, I don't know what I might do.

Where's Obama? I mean, he's supposed to save us all, so let's have some saving. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing him. I'm just saying that it's time for a change. I can't wait for Bush to get out of the white house so Barack and the democrats can start doing some things to help the economy

Okay. Rant off. Back to work. At least for the next 3.5 days.

When you're furloughed in Frisco, you contemplate going on blind dates

More to come as this story develops.

When you're furloughed in Frisco you bust out the Christmas decorations

For those of you who don't know, Lots of Groceries and I live in a quaint little apartment that we've nicknamed "Disaster House." The origin of its name will be left for another time, but let's just say it's the kind of place that you laugh about later as you reminisce about how romantic it was to be broke.

Anyway, I spent yesterday getting Disaster House ready for the holidays. We put up our stockings (even the kitty gets one), set up the nativity scene that my husband's grandmother gave us, and decorated the Christmas tree. I have to admit that it's a little odd having a nativity scene in our house considering that we don't go to church and aren't particularly religious...but whatever. It's festive. Besides, this nativity set is particularly awesome. It has real straw on the roof and comes with a bendable palm tree. Want to see it? Here it is:

And here's our very first Christmas tree! (That's Lots of Groceries).

Yeah, so I guess we're actually blocking most of the tree, but you get the idea. And anyway, the two most important defining characteristics are still visible: 1) we vote for a star on the top versus and angel, and 2) we like white lights, not multi-colored ones. They're obviously classier. And we're classy folks, so there you go.

When you're furloughed in Frisco you start baking!

That's right, I did it. I baked cupcakes for hours last night! In fact, I stayed up until 1:00 am because I needed to frost four dozen of them. They're super cute, but truth be told, the cake itself wasn't my best work. I guess that's what happens when you spend the night with a spatula in one hand and a g & t in the other.

But don't worry, I didn't spend a dime on these suckers! My lovely place of employment footed the bill so I could bring these festive little guys to our art sale today. I love me a good bakesale, and I love me some cupcakes. And trust me, they are even more delicious when you can lick batter off the beaters knowing that those funfetti sprinkles aren't taking a toll on your pocketbook. Here's the final product:


YUM!

We were supposed to be selling them to defray the cost of the ingredients, but I gave several away for free. Why? Because it was cold outside, and attendance at the sale left something to be desired, and because $1 for a cupcake is kind of a lot for some of our students.

The best part of the day was when an older English guy (accent, bad teeth, and all) stumbled through the courtyard delighted to hear that we were playing Lou Reed. He took one look at my cupcakes, shot a photo of them while calling them "iconic", and then announced that he had always wanted to dance in a courtyard to Lou Reed with "a bit of cake in my hand." He looked ready to boogie down but got a little shy when no one else jumped up to dance with him. I feel kind of bad -we should have joined him.

In other news, one of my also furloughed friends will soon be contributing to the blog. Stay tuned!

When you're furloughed in Frisco you start blogging.

At least that's what I did. I mean, what else am I going to do? Bake copious amounts of cupcakes?

I shouldn't do that. It costs too much. (But I might do it anyway).

Let's get a few things straight. No, I'm not on furlough from prison or a branch of the armed forces. I'm on furlough from my regular, old, 9-5. Think of it as a temporary lay-off and a month without pay. During a recession. Just in time for the holidays. In one of the most expensive cities in the United States...

In other words, let the good times roll!

I'm trying to think positively about this whole experience. Someone recently suggested that I might consider the next month mandated rest and relaxation. I'd like to look at it that way. Really, I would. But just as I settle into the couch, gin and tonic in hand, my favorite junk show on tv, I remember that I have to figure out how to pay my rent and fill my refrigerator (no easy task when your fabulous hubby is nicknamed "Lots of Groceries"). And when the hubby and I aren't up to our elbows in possible dumpsters to dive, I'll need to fill my time.

That's where this blog comes in. It's the documentation of my quest to survive being furloughed in Frisco with style - and not have to move back in with my parents.