I've packed up and moved

For all my fans (both of you), I've moved the blog to WordPress. Here's the site: http://zubeblog.wordpress.com/

See you there.

The other blog

I have a blog at azcentral.com where I post articles about people living out their faith. At least, I DID have a blog ...

I'm thinking seriously of abandoning it.

Whenever I post a story ... say about Obama doing devotionals on his BlackBerry, or Mormons being targeted in the wake of the Prop. 8 vote in California ... most of my comments are from haters. Anti-Mormon, anti-Islam, anti-Christian, whatever. Many comments devolve into the old "the Bible is full of contradictions" argument.

One atheist who comments there ... atheists seem to be my biggest fans, go figure ... keeps up with this line of commentary, even though I've tried to engage her and tell her of great resources for answering those objections. But she seems to enjoy the parry-and-thrust of the debate. Me, I'm tired of it.

I can understand not buying some position ... Christianity, for example, or UFOs ... but if you're not a fan, why are you spending so much time on a site devoted to something you don't believe in? I'm not spending all my time posting comments on some 9/11 Truther site ... why should I?

-Zube.

Job seeking and job seekers

A couple of things happened this week that shed a little light on my situation now.

I had an interview this week with a television station to be their Web producer. I
think it went well, I played up my strengths, I had a few ideas. But I'm only one of "a lot" of applicants for the job. So we'll see.

I also had lunch with a big group of people who all have been laid off by the newspaper. I heard quite a few tales about the difficulties of landing a job in this climate. One friend went through a couple of rounds of interviews for a job, only to be abandoned. Another friend sent out resumes, got a bite, then got stonewalled. One friend, who wasn't there, apparently is still shell-shocked over being laid off. Took him a month to leave the house.

I'm doing well, looking for opportunities, applying here and there. But it's going to be tough. The interview I got was my first. After a month and a half.

My wife asked me last night if I was OK. I guess I was being a little moody ... mainly I go silent when I'm moody. I told her I was OK. She said maybe she shouldn't have let me go to that lunch!

I'm keeping my spirits up. And I'm still trusting God. And I don't mean to say that God will give me a job, no questions asked. I'm saying I trust his plan, even if I don't land work anytime soon ... or at all. It'll turn out, one way or the other, just like it's supposed to.

-Zube.

Entropy setting in ...

I was supposed to go to a place where Web folks hang out and help each other launch projects. I will go soon, I promise.

I got busy re-reading my blog, remembering events from 5 years ago. Quite a memory trip.

The problem I have now is that I can very easily just hang out if I don't have anything on a hard deadline. I tend to just chill when I'm not at work.

I was good at what I did at the paper because I was good at deadline. When I was a copy editor, I had 2 or 3 hard deadlines a night. As a wire editor, I had those plus several more, making sure we got a certain number of pages done by a certain time. As an online producer, it was constant deadline ... get things up as soon as you can. Plus I had to populate automatic newsletters 4 times a day. And I loved it!

I'm the kind of person who is best under pressure. Take the pressure away, and I tend to relax - a little too much sometimes.

I need to impose my own deadlines for this job interim. Or else, I'll sit and surf the Internet all day.

-Zube.

A rainy day in Phoenix

Yesterday and today, it rained.

For Phoenix, that's a Godsend. For me, a little less so. I have a leak in the roof.

Whenever we get a soaking rain, a little wet spot, no more than 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, appears on the ceiling next to the outside wall near the fireplace. It's not dripping, it's not tearing. It's just damp.

I've had a roofing guy come out several times, and each time he does something, he swears up and down that he got it.

Then it rains.

I called him 2 weeks ago to come take care of it, after the last time it rained. He still hasn't shown.

Frustrating, but not the worst thing that's happened to me lately.

But still, frustrating.

-Zube.

Battle of the TV set

We as a family have only 1 television (if you don't count the old one in our bedroom on which we can't get cable because we lost the remote that would turn on the cable feed).

The upside is that we can have a say in what the kids watch. The downside is that the kids have a say in what we watch.

My daughter's watching the Teen Choice Awards right now, groaning about any result that doesn't meet with her approval and getting angry at anybody talking too long. Fun times for me, to be sure.

So I steal off to blog. Guess it could be worse. But ... is the dang show over yet?

-Zube.

Thinking about church

Today was church, as is every Sunday.

I feel very much at home at this church. I volunteer there and have grown close to many people there, from staff to regular attenders.

Church has become a big part of my life now, and gives me comfort and meaning. And, what's more, truth is spoken there. Biblical truth. Check out evbc.org to see.

One big passion at my church lately is church planting - providing the expertise and money to start churches elsewhere. Today, we sent off a group to east Mesa to start ChristChurch.

My prayers go out with them, including the prayer that the truth will be spoken there, too. Biblical truth.

-Zube.

Alone again, naturally

My wife reported for duty at her school today. Me, I'm alone with the dog and a sleeping college-age daughter.

At least I'm getting to watch old college football games on TV.

I'm going to have to adjust to this. I'm glad my wife got a job, but I'm going to miss her around the house. Makes me think of the promos I've been seeing for a new reality show, Hollywood House Husbands, or something like that. I still have to be trained on the dishwasher and various other appliances.

Once, when my daughter was little and my wife took off for work, I made her cinnamon toast. But I did it wrong. My daughter said, "It tastes kinda dumb."

That's what I'm up against!

Bitter? Me, bitter?

No, not me. I'm good.

I have seen former colleagues lately, very bitter about the layoffs at The Republic. I just don't get why one would waste all that time and energy and emotion being bitter.

That's not to say I haven't had strong feelings about this. But there's nothing for me to do except get on with my life. As a sage philosopher once said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Of course, soon after he sang that, John Lennon was dead ...

-Zube.

Our story until now

I got laid off at The Arizona Republic after 20 years.

I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. I'm more at peace now than I was waiting for the ax to fall. I was always in fear for my job, what with the faltering economy and the faltering newspaper industry. Now, I don't have to worry about losing the job ... I already did!

It surprised me how much my job loss has touched my colleagues ... I guess they're more friends than colleagues ... moreso than I knew. I told them not to be mad for me, because I'm not mad. I'm good with this, and I'm trusting God.

Now, my wife is going back to work and I'm developing an idea or two, volunteering for my church, and looking for full-time work. Matter of fact, I found 3 jobs to apply for today. I think things will be good.

And losing my job has freed me to explore my interests and passions ... and my biggest passion is my faith in Christ. And I'm pretty passionate about Disneyland and Christmas music, too, but no jobs there!

I'm looking forward to what God has in store. And I'm letting myself rest for awhile.

-Zube.

... And we're back.

OK I'm going to reclaim my blog. It's been too long. Plus, I'm too unemployed NOT to write a bit.

Hope anybody sees this ... :P