chuck's blog

Lose Your Job, Loser!

chuck — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:30:20 +0000

This is not just a blog post. It's the title of a future classic, and I'm claiming it right now.

Lose Your Job, Loser™ now belongs to me. MwahahahaHAAA! Stay tuned to see where it heads. Got a feelin' it's gonna be a good 'un.

Maybe it starts something like this...

Once upon a time, I was a just another piece of cubed meat selling my soul bit by bit. Ahhh, those were the days.

Busy, busy, busy...

chuck — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:15:05 +0000

One of my big goals for this year is to be able to state definitively that I have survived unemployment. To that end, I am hustling hard to try to build a business. This has not left much time for blogging. If you're one of the 14 people who wait with bated breath for my every blogged word, I apologize for not producing much lately. Hate to disappoint my "fans," but I need to eat.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Money

chuck — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:56:44 +0000

I'm busy with a bunch of projects these days, and that's a really good thing. Looks like I'm going to skooch in under the wire again this month and make my bills. Next month might be even a bit better if it ever stops snowing. You gotta get out there. The snow can make that tough, though if I weren't busy and needed money, it would provide a ready opportunity to pick up some cash. I'd be trudging around with a shovel looking for un-shoveled walks, banging on doors. You can't afford to be shy or proud when the name of the game is survival.

Why the IRS Plane Bomber in Austin Was a Moron

chuck — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:05:26 +0000

Last night, my travels through the blogosphere somehow led me to the "manifesto" (really just a suicide note which I am not providing with the dignity of a link) written by Joe Stack, the guy who crashed his plane into an IRS building in Austin, TX. Mr. Stack was not unemployed, but he was driven to a level of financial desperation that is tragically becoming more and more common.

Here is what I think about Mr. Stack: The guy was a selfish jerk and a big friggin' baby. I hope he spends a long time burning in the very flames he created on his way out.

What do you want them to say?

chuck — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:36:03 +0000

Yo, Thursday afternoon I rolled up to the crib an' the whole block was silly with 5-0 ... oh, sorry -- wrong persona.

Thursday afternoon when I got home, there were cops all over the place. My neighbor had died. Nobody had seen him for a while so my landlady called the cops. They had to bust his door down to confirm his passage.

Back in the Game

chuck — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:28:31 +0000

OK, the little interlude of self-pity is over. Everyone's entitled to a little self-pity once in a while, even if they have a steady government job not subject to the merciless axe of the Grim HR Reaper. Buddha was right: to live is to suffer. Why not gripe a bit when the pain flares up?

Been a little down lately

chuck — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:20:14 +0000

Just a note for regulars (all special 27 of you):

The point of this site is to help other people (and myself) survive unemployment. I try to make people laugh a little, give them a little hope, let them know about good deals like K-Mart's special card and the free phone thing, maybe proffer a little advice here and there.

Lately I'm just not feeling like I can make anybody laugh or give anybody any hope, and I certainly don't feel qualified to offer any advice on anything.

Treat Unemployment as a Job

chuck — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:46:13 +0000

To regular long-time readers, it might seem like I'm repeating myself, but as I've said before, some things deserve to be said more than once, especially in the blogging world where old posts sometimes sink deep into the abyss.

This is important.

My Favorite Italian Restaurant

chuck — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:51:02 +0000

I made this video about my favorite Italian restaurant in Bayside, NY. Primo Amore does not serve fru-fru food like you get in Manhattan. (One should never leave an Italian restaurant hungry, and that used to happen to me in the City, back when I had a few coins in my pocket.) It's also not the spaghetti-and-meatballs goombah (no offense to our Italian-American brothers and sisters -- I'm hopelessly in love with that word) fare of Staten Island. It's just right, like Queens.

Taxes and unemployment

chuck — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:03:34 +0000

A couple of people have asked if unemployment benefits are taxable. Yes, if you live in the U.S. I don't know about other countries. Cruel and unusual as that might seem, your income from UI is subject to taxes.

Are taxes taken out of your unemployment insurance payments?