Random things this morning

1. When you forget to take the trash bins to the kerb the night before, and the city is starting early due to the heat, it behoves you to get up at 5:00 AM to take the trash out and roll all three (trash, recycling, and yard waste, when in Lexington, have names, in order: Herbie, Rosiek and Lenny (for Lend a Hand). This is a somewhat perilous process in the dark, without anyone's knowledge, as you are also a klutz and liable to fall. But all went well. Still, at that point, you might as well stay up.
2. I have very short hair, but I have kept all my hair ties because they are extremely useful. I mainly use them to wrangle charging cords.  However, just now, I dealt with a sagging lumbar pillow that I have to adjust every single time I sit in the chair because the strap is stretched out by pulling it back and securing it with a hair tie. We'll see how it goes, but for now, it's at the perfect height for my back.
3. So far, I have used my extra time filing papers, mainly all the information the government sends me regarding my benefits. I know they're mostly duplicates of the notices they put on the portal, but still, some part of me thinks I should keep them. I also just had to change an asthma preventative inhaler that I've taken nightly for at least a decade (Breo Ellipta) because it's not covered by Medicaid. They cover Advair Diskus. Hopefully it will work as well. The pharmacist who works with my doctor helpfully advised me that the dosing is twice a day, though, so that was nice.  I spent 29 years with the same commercial medical insurance (UnitedHealthcare) when I was at Shriners. I knew my benefits intimately, and it was extremely good insurance: $150 deductible/$1500 out-of-pocket. Even though it was an HMO, it didn't require referrals as long as someone was in-network, and I never had issues with anyone being out-of-network in all that time. Since I've left, I've been covered by two Medicaid managed care organisations (Aetna Better Health of Kentucky and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky), both of which use MedImpact for medications (all of them do, at least for our state) and then for two months I was on a assisted qualified health plan from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield where the state paid about $900 and I paid $500 for a $400-$500 deductible plan (medicine did not count like it did for my commercial plan, so I never hit it like I thought I would, or I would have gone for something cheaper, although medications were probably cheaper, and the first month of the doctors' visits were cheaper; the second month everything went up, including the premium, due to me pulling some retirement income out--to pay for the premiums and medical bills. It's been very hard to navigate all the changes. I'm highly literate, great with technology, and having been to university, an expert at red tape and bureaucracy (I always said I majored in red tape and minored in line waiting at the University of Kentucky); I  can't imagine how difficult it would be for someone without those advantages.
4. Today's agenda is fairly simple:
1. Work on as many chapters as I can, proofreading a talking book for the Kentucky Talking Book Library. I am woefully behind. I got chapter 3 done yesterday, which I was sent in April.  I got the whole book yesterday...fifteen chapters to go.  Life just has gotten in the way, and I should just buckle down now and get as much as I can get done while I'm off.
2. We need to put a large shop fan together to get some air moving in the house. It's a little oppressive out there, where the central heating went out last year. I am the only one with air conditioning in my room, and there have been other barriers to putting it in the rest of the house, so we've been relying on different types of fans and using my room as a cooling area for everyone occasionally.
3. I need to pick up some medicine at the UK pharmacy today.
4. My roommate's going over to friends' tonight, so it'll give me some chance to work on the book more. It's a true-crime murder mystery from the 1890s in northern Kentucky, so it's been pretty interesting, both from an historical and story point of view. 

Those are about all I can think of for now. That's a little rambling, I know. I'm just waking up, with no caffeine (I only drink soda on weekends, and I'm not a fan of coffee or tea; what can I say? It's terrible, I'm such an Anglophile and I hate tea.)

Wonderful birthday present

I finally got unemployment in the middle of the night on the night of my birthday [hey, I happened to be up at 3 AM looking at my bank account, expecting a whopping 94¢, and instead two payments for both missed payments in March were there.], which was a complete surprise, as I was still watiting a month after my appeal for a scheduled date for the hearing.  In fact, I'm still getting correspondence about how that will be scheduled soon. (?) But no, I received the paperwork today. [I called yesterday to make sure before I touched any money]. That's the good news. The bad news is it's going to throw me off Medicaid, just that amount, never mind that I'll get paid twice more this month--or I'd just taken a distribution I haven't gotten yet out of my retirement because I didn't have any money coming in while I appealed and had bills and, well, had 94¢. I have Medicaid until the end of the month, anyway. If I have a job by then, it shouldn't matter. Otherwise I'll either have to get another insurance at 1000 dollars or so a month that won't cover hardly anything or do COBRA (and I checked, I have till May 4th to do it) and pay about $1300 for medical + dental a month--but I'd met all my deductible AND my out-of-pocket expenses so would literally only pay premiums, no copays, medication co-insurances, or any other medical costs. Any ER, surgery, or MRI at an in-network facility (and most are) would be $0.00. Hopefully, it would be for a short time. And unemployment only runs partway through June. In other words, I need to find a job pronto, anyway.

I did apply for a cataloguing position in my hometown (Danville), and I have one near there to apply for at the Garrard County Library, a children's librarian position as well. There's a librarian position here at UK, but I want the career coach at the Alumni Career Centre to look at my curriculum vitae and give me some feedback, since you don't normally see much written about format or what to put in those, and it's required.

I also just applied tonight for two UK research positions that are primarily training, and they're in the same department, making a lot more money than I ever have, and they sound very intriguing. The job descriptions were very vague. I'd like to interview just to learn more.

So far I've had four interviews, and I've been shot down on two of them, but two are still pending, so fingers crossed, both with the state. So, we'll see...

Navigating the job hunting world

I have another interview set up for Tuesday. It's a state job with the Department of Natural Resources tracking abandoned oil wells and gas tanks. Not a library job, but it has state benefits and pays well. It's a virtual interview. Wish me luck!

That's:

34 job applications
4 interviews completed or set up
8 rejections (1 post-interview)
2 webinars attended
1 job fair attended
1 job fair planning to attend

Also:
UI applied for the very day I lost my job, but was denied.
UI appealed, awaiting hearing to be scheduled (20 days past acknowledgement of receipt of appeal letter--I sent an email yesterday because I couldn't get anyone one the phone and they won't let you stay on hold, it just ends the call if no one is available, and they got back to me this morning say it was with the schedulers still) [not an issue with my employer, but rather an issue with the explanation of the 'waiting week' requirement'.]
Medicaid was applied for, too and approved.
SNAP was applied for, too and approved (finally--it took exactly 30 days)
Moved every bill I could to May.
Took a small distribution from retirement to pay bills; I couldn't move; I can't draw on my pension until May without penalty for the rest of my life because I'm turning another year older, 24 hours into next month.

It has been a very busy 38 days. Whew!

The job fair was a bust. I got there a little late because I had to go to the library to print some résumés after my 15-year-old printer died, and they had a lot of trouble with their printers. A lot. But we got it all worked out. I got there about the time you'd expect a lot of people to get there after work, but most of the prospective employers had packed up and left. The only ones left were construction and a temp agency (I have tried temp work before, and it was not a great experience, would not recommend at all. I got two one-day replacements in food service, even with clerical experience (back in the day, mind you, but still, I was very annoyed). I remember it was with the Snelling agency. They were absolutely useless. We had an excellent temp who covered me while I was out on medical leave. They really wanted to hire her for an open position, but couldn't because they'd have to pay over 30% more to her and them as part of a finder's fee in the contract, and it was just untenable, so they lost her to another employer.) Anyway, it turns out I could just upload my résumé to the website, so I grabbed a card to prove I'd gone, scanned the QR code, uploaded what I needed, and just went home. I'd already had a webinar and interview that day.

The interview that day was for a patient access position and went so well I was invited to come in Monday for several hours to shadow the people I'd work with to see how we'd get along, sort of a long second interview, I guess. The next day, I got an email saying they'd decided to take the position in a different direction, but that I had good qualities and would be considered for other positions within their practice. So I don't know if that meant they retooled the position, went with another candidate, or what. It was a little confusing. But I'm okay with it. It would have been a good job, and I think I would have liked working there, but I would rather work in a library, of course.

I am trying not to be constantly on the phone or computer doing this sort of stuff. I am volunteering for the Kentucky Talking Book Library as a proofreader. I picked up my first book and have my first two chapters to listen to. Essentially, I listen to the recording and see if there are errors, mark any issues with a timestamp, and turn in the paperwork so it can be cleaned up before final production. These audiobooks are loaned to patrons with low vision, ADHD, dyslexia, inability to hold traditional books, and other issues that keep them from enjoying standard books. It is a division of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

This week

I have put in 15 applications, 6 today alone. I'm doing what I can to find a job as quickly as I can.

My unemployment benefit claim has been denied because I did not understand the waiting week--I thought it was the first full week after you apply, when actually they backdate your week to the beginning of the week in which you apply. So, for me, I lost my job on a Wednesday and applied that day, so my waiting week started February 15th, even though I was let go on the 18th. While I was reeling from that and applying for unemployment, Medicaid, SNAP, and everything else I could think of, calling about my retirement and how to pay off my line of credit and the dryer I'd bought through my paycheque, I'd put in a couple of applications, but in fact I'd needed to put in five. When I had to put in the claim, it became obvious that I'd been wrong about the week (the first week following I did have five, and was fine on the requirement, because I thought that was my waiting week, and I already had enough lined up for the next week--this week to make everything work.

I went ahead and appealed it immediately, throwing myself on their mercy. I really didn't understand the wording of their FAQs, the phone just referred me back to those FAQs, and the Internet just let me down completely, because it seemed to say it was the week after, too. I explained that I often have trouble understanding certain concepts that may seem cut and dry to most people, due to my autism, which is often the case. They did say at the time to keep claiming it in case they decide to grant it later.

In the meantime, I do have Medicaid, which was a big one to me, as my healthcare is a priority.