job hunt = not so great.

well, i have been unemployed for over a month now. again, this is the first time i've had a lapse in employment since i was 16 (when i moved to minnesota from alaska).

i found that i had a decent network of friends who work in the graphic design industry, or at least close to it; so that was positive. i've been trying my hardest to stay in the duluth/superior area, as we have a mortgage on a place and a lot of family around here, but the positions just don't exist.

i have 2 meetings coming up, one with nelson & co. they usually farm out their graphic needs, so that would be a freelance gig at best for now. the other with ht klatzky. they're not currently hiring, but they were interested enough to sit down with me and go over my portfolio, so that is incredibly cool on their part. especially if i end up with a bad gig somewhere to get the bills paid, that'd be a nice callback in the future. i'm also trying to get my foot in the door at westmoreland flint. i missed an opportunity for a gig in their fargo offices, and i have a few names to drop currently in their employ at their duluth offices, so fingers crossed all around.

i have also sprinkled my résumé and references all over town periodically throughout the weeks, becoming less and less surprised by this conversation:
"hello, company x."
"hello, i was wondering if you are currently hiring for any graphic or interactive designer positions?"
"no."
"that's too bad. i was wondering if there was anyone i might be able to leave my résumé and references with in case you may hire in the future?"
"we're not hiring." *click*

at least i'm fully aware that it's a dead end, but it took a few calls to get used to that dialog. thy must be getting a lot of requests right around now.

i begin my big expansive search next week. i was trying to avoid moving, but if no can employ me here, i have to move to where they are hiring i guess.

i'm not a big fan of uncertainty.

crashes, beer & graphic design.

it's been a hectic 2 weeks.

6 days after being laid off, an suv tried to force a subaru outback into the trunk of our car.

the outback didn't fit.

all in all, we were car 3 in a 5 car pileup. everyone is safe with minor aches and pain. the car was totaled and we were 3 months or so away from owning it outright.



the day after this debacle, we took a roadtrip to montana for a family reunion slash job hunt. and despite beer being the secondary promise in the blog title, my family was a little more conservative this year (and i don't drink, so i was the perfect man to document)

here is the trip in a musical format:


and, in the ever widening pantheon of online design contests, i was invited to another t-shirt design community the other day. itself has a very similar set up to threadless, in that it's an ongoing competition (new shirts every 2 weeks to threadless' every week), a voting period (60 days to threadless' 7 days), and there are a lot of the threadess alumni (including me) there.

i have two designs up for voting there right now. both can be found here.

i was glad to get to update "aquanet lincoln" who has seen a lot of design competitions, but this is an updated version, now titled "awesome abe."

i also entered "multinational." for the first time in a t-shirt competition.

well, i'm off to litter the town of duluth with my résumé.