Day 46 5:02PM

I've gathered from various sources that this Blog reads as exceedingly negative at times. This is not my intent; it is simply that my New York sarcasm and jackassedness doesn't translate to the written word as well. Trust me, I am only this bitter like 31% of the time. So, in order to change the tone of the blog I am going to take a moment to list some of the pluses of being Termed Into Oblivion:

• Hitting the gym mid-day means I get to work out with the Manhattan's resident "dancers"
• Lazy River Sundays with no fear for Monday remorse
• I can finally go to Spy On Vegas happy hours
• I figured out how to do bullet points on Blogger
• I get to hit Callaway before the post-work rush
• No more Monday IT meetings and the inevitable uncomfortableness when their team gets belittled yet again
• Nobody is on the XBox when I go to Target
• I've embraced the comedy potential of Twitter (350Park)
• Nobody is telling me to "own the program" despite their inability to tell me what that means
• I get sunlight on a daily basis
• I was able to follow the Michael Jackson saga as it unfolded re-time
• No more Team Member Dining means no more 700 calorie cookies and arbitrary French Fry consumption
• They weren't able to lay me off during yesterday's round

Day 41 6:01PM

Employed Dave vs. Let Go Dave: This happened a few nights ago but I couldn't resist discussing it. Cooking Pasta-Roni ($1.01 a box!! 34% of your daily recommended sodium per serving!!) on my gas stove and apparently the flame went out. It took me several trips to the stove wondering why the pasta wasn't cooking before I realized what had happened. Employed Dave probably would have decided that the condo full of gas wasn't worth it and would have gone out to eat for several hours while the place aired out. Let Go Dave decided "what the hell," sat on the patio for 30 minutes, and finished cooking the pasta. I did squat down on the floor while relighting the stove though.

Day 38 1:38PM

This is more a function of having time on my hands than the true nature of the blog but... I really hate the Smirnoff Ice commercial when they make it seem like a group of people sneaking onto a hill, laying down some plastic, and slip-n-sliding when the sprinklers come on is absolutely nutty and cool. "It was crazy and we were there." That seems like a 60 year-old marketing exec's idea of crazy since he grew up in Queens and used to open up hydrants in the summer to stay cool so this is reminiscent of that. Shouldn't "it was crazy and we were there" be reserved for things like the NYC blackout and bachelor parties in Thailand? If they got drunk on the Ice and beat the security guard who found them to death and then used the plastic to bury him in the greenhouse from the beginning of the commercial maybe I'd feel better about the message, but otherwise I'm just not buying it.

One the other hand, the new Bacardi mojito commercial with the guy walking through the party totally kills it (forced racial harmony and all).

Day 32 5:20PM

This blogging thing is tough; much harder than working. Most weekends I don't do it because that is the time I forget for a few brief, wonderful days that I am unemployed and I interact with my friends as if nothing has changed and I just happen to be saving my money for something important like a condor or calf implants (not the farm animal, the muscle). During the week I find myself occupied with searching for jobs and forcing my resume to fit the position (Luxury retail database experience? Sure! Experience generating promotional ideas to meet marketing objectives across multi-media channels? Why not!), slowly winding down my life here (anyone want a Nissan Rogue with two years left on the lease? How about a one-ton Sony Wega flat-screen TV?), surviving panic attacks, and re-watching Burn Notice on USA. I mean, where's the time?

Employed Dave vs. Let Go Dave: This one is a bit embarassing... I ate leftover sushi from dinner last night for lunch today. Employed Dave would've thrown it out and gotten the lunch special today.

Day 25 2:30PM

I know they are trying to be supportive but people who respond to my situation with "Everything happens for a reason" need to be slapped. What could possibly be the reason for me to lose my job in the middle of the worst economy since the 30's? I mean, if somebody from my old job calls me tomorrow and says "You're so lucky you got laid off; they were transferring an elephant on the third floor and he crashed through the ceiling and crushed your desk at 10AM, right when you are always there" maybe I could believe it but otherwise I just don't see the logic in the statement. I know this was a huge issue on Scrubs as well but didn't it wind up with Nurse Roberts getting into a car accident and dying? Can someone remind me what the message was there?

Day 24 12:32AM

I'm not sure which is a greater sign of my desperation: that this job search has warped my brain into thinking it has created a great new web concept regarding this job search or the fact that I don't want to write about it in case it is a great new web concept about this job search that will help me escape this job search. I think I've officially gone to plaid.

Spent a wonderful weekend alternating between relaxing with friends by the pool and suffocating crushing panic attacks over the state of my life. Thankfully I was with good people who were kind enough to offer job advice to me like we were on Family Feud with control of the board but two strikes and Richard Dawson just finished kissing me on the lips. Nothing like having contradicting advice shouted at you by completely intelligent and logical people to make a decision much easier.

Day 19 6:24PM

Should I stay or should I go? It is the one question that now haunts me every waking hour of the day (and most un-awake hours - I worry over it my dreams except that then it competes with not studying for tests and frightening plane rides for my mental anxiety). I came to Vegas for the job, made some great friends and discovered a solid little life, but what do I do now that the job is gone? Do I leave a bleak job market for a bleak job market? Do I leave a city of sin for a city of sin? Do I leave Tao for Tao? Points and counterpoints are being made constantly in my head, to the point where I'd give anything for a moderator to control them. I picture him to be like Larry King - older, wise, and always sporting suspenders. He'd be a Peabody Award winner but wouldn't flaunt it, the knowledge of it sitting on the mantle in his foyer comfort enough for him. Plus he'd date younger women... What was I talking about?

Employed Dave vs. Let Go Dave: I used a coupon for El Pollo Loco last week and I intend to use another this week. 'Nuff said.