Today was payday! I checked my bank online today and see the deposit. Yeah! The only thing I'm not happy about is that my new job pays me every two weeks. I much prefer to get paid only once a month.

I don't understand why companies pay every two weeks. Isn't it more expensive for them to have to run payroll 26 times per year rather than 12 times?

Okay, so I have not posted in a while. But worse, I haven't been reading at all! After almost seven months of unemployment I landed a job and I started a couple weeks ago. In the run up to that I hadn't been visiting the site because I had a 100 things that needed to get done before starting the new job. Now that I am at the job, I am tired at night.

I was never a frequent poster but I loved to read about all of you. Even though my financial situation has improved because I am once again employed, I am still very interested in reading the blogs and forums. I'm just into it!

The only bad thing about my new job is that I'm not able to contribute to the 401k for 6 months. This means I have little to no tax sheltering available to me for 2007. I have made a resolution however, that when I can start it up in 2008 I am going to make the max contribution (15500? or maybe it will increase for 2008).

On the six month anniversary of leaving my old job, I received a job offer. Recall, I was part of a corporate merger which moved my job to another state.

I have to call back today or tomorrow to formally accept the offer. I like the company and had hoped that I would find something there. The salary difference is almost negligible so I’m definitely happy about that.

I celebrated over the weekend by buying annuals for my containers. Without a job, it was one of the things that I was going to give up this year. I have a few other little splurges that I’m going to indulge myself with now that I’ll have a paycheck again.

I can’t contribute to my new 401k for the first six months. That means I won’t be able to start until January 2008. In the meantime, I’m going to have to figure out what I can do to get a tax break on my income for the rest of 2007.

Yeah! I have a job again!

I'm now at 5.5 months of being unemployed. Up to now I've mostly had phone interviews and they've come in about once every other week. This week and next are a completely different story!

I have one phone interview scheduled for next Monday.

I have one phone interview that is actually a second interview that will either be scheduled for tomorrow or Monday.

I had an in-person interview on Tuesday. They called me back today and want to fly me to another city next week for a second interview.

Lastly, I have another hot job contact that I am pretty sure is going to lead to an interview.

Wow... months of a dry spell and now this.

This is week 11 of being unemployed. Is that possible? The time has gone quickly. No serious financial strains yet.

I had a job interview today for a job that I am interested in. The company is only a 10-minute drive from home! That would be nice. I have a phone interview tomorrow with a different company.

I received a tuition reimbursement check today from my former employer for a course I took prior to the merger/acquisition. I am happy to get this money back.

It’s official. After waiting for almost a year I am finally unemployed. On Friday I had to get up early and take DH to the hospital for an appointment. On Saturday, I proctored an exam in the morning and early afternoon. It was great to sleep in this morning on a Monday.

It was sad to leave work. There are a few people there that don’t have email either at work or at home so it is unlikely that I’ll be able to talk to them again. I am happy to be out of there though. It is time for something new.

I have to get my paperwork started at the unemployment office and also have to get things rolling with the severance package. I’ll fill out the paperwork tomorrow.

On Saturday we are heading to Europe for three weeks. It will be a nice distraction and hopefully I’ll forget all about ever having had a job! I have no idea how long it is going to take me to find something new. I have a decent severance package so I can last for quite a while before I have to dip into my savings. Even though I’m pretty relaxed about it now, I wonder if I’ll start to worry in January and February. I’ve got an emergency fund which is about a year’s worth of net pay. I like having that cushion and don’t want to have to dig into it.

Stay tuned… more to come on my job search.