Hi people Joel M Arrington here and I’m updating people on where I am. I got fussed at this week for not making sure everyone knew where I was. To make a long story short my contract in Baltimore at the SSA for Lockheed Martin was not renewed for fiscal year 2009 so after I took a brief rest I put my name back out there in the mix for employment opportunities. I wanted to stay near the family in the MD, DC, VA or DE areas especially after the passing of John H Jr. but the only employment offers I was receiving were either in the great northwest, the central northern part of the US or here in Nashville. Well my body just couldn’t do WI or MN right now as they were far too cold still, and the offer in WA was actually lower paying than this one so I more or less had to take the assignment here in Nashville, TN as I needed to get back to doing something. This job may not be what I’m used to especially in terms of skills needed or money paid but it is a job. I took a hit pay wise that could have paid some people’s salaries for a year but still I’m not doing too badly and I am blessed to be working at all.

Unlike so many times in the past when I have not had to wait very long for job offers to pop up, this time it took almost 5 months for a position to become available that I could work. Normally I sit an average of maybe 3 – 5 weeks when I’m willing to travel but this time I spent 3 months just looking for work specifically in the DC, MD, VA, DE area but it was not to be. After I finally decided in late December that nothing was going to happen for me in the area, it only took 6 weeks to get a real job offer on the table. The economic downturn/recession and the collapse of the financial markets really seemed to make a lot of jobs dry up and positions get put on hold. I am grateful though as I have been blessed with certain skills and I was able to find this position at least. In this day and age when many, no, SO many are loosing their jobs my blessings are doubly appreciated as I can still find employment even if it was not where I wanted it to be.

Anyway after the long layoff and wait I just really needed to get back to work. Unemployment was paying the bare necessities but is a far cry from what I am used to and my health even was beginning to suffer. I put back on all the weight I lost since coming back to MD and in general the sitting was not doing me any good. Besides my lease was up on my apartment in Baltimore and without a more concrete employment picture I couldn’t just afford to sit any longer. With no definitive employment prospects at all anywhere else I could not afford to let this position slip by me so I took it.  I’ve been in Nashville now since the 2nd of March and on the job since the 3rd. Talk about irony, I’m working for the State of Tennessee’s Unemployment Compensation Insurance Agency! (TDLWD – Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development) LOL! Just goes to show you know!

The people I work with at the TDLWD are very nice people and the work is manageable. The job is located in a relatively new section of town not far from the Tennessee Titan’s practice facility and the Tennessee State Lottery Commission. Things are going well at the moment. I have tried to be helpful at work and my technical skills and abilities have helped me endear myself to many of the workers and managers there. The environment here is a little out of the ordinary in that it is a Bull Honeywell System so my time with Bull Honeywell in Phoenix and another contract I had a few years ago has been extremely helpful as I had some experience in this rather uncommon environment. My understanding of government, payment, and subscriber based systems has also been a great help.

No matter, I’m in Nashville for however long I last or the job is funded. I want everyone to know that the cast of “Deliverance” is alive and well in Nashville! LMAO! Nashville has a lot of things going on almost daily and weekly at times. It may not be the “BIG” city but it is far past a small town. We had the Country Music Marathon this weekend and the Country Music Hall of fame had a big thing last weekend. The area I’m staying in is pretty nice but at the far southern edge of Nashville city proper. I’m staying in a studio suite at one of my favorite extended stay places near Brentwood TN, and there is a cow farm not two miles away! Nashville, what I’ve seen of it so far, is all in all not a really bad place just some of the attitudes are at best laughable and others a little out of touch I think with reality but I’m here to work and nothing more. The worst thing I’ve had to dal with so far have been the storms. The tornadoes that hit a place called Murfreesboro, TN is less than 15 miles from me and in fact we were not far from a touchdown at work a couple of Fridays ago. Well I have to get back to my reading as I start school again in a week.

One last thing I have to thank my siblings, Marvell, Zita, Mony, John and my adopted sister Dawn for helping me get out of Baltimore. They closed up my apartment for me and put my things in storage as I had to leave rather quickly and did not have a chance to do anywhere near the number of things I wanted to. Without my sisters and brothers, close friends and other family members I would not have had the chance to come to Nashville and get back to work. To them all I say thank you.

Oh and by the way we are all connecting on Facebook and Twitter for more daily updates for those that haven’t opened accounts yet come and join us.

My professional profile can be found on LinkedIn at:

·         http://www.linkedin.com/in/joelarrington

and my personal and company web sites are currently being updated http://joel-arrington.aaccmjb.com and http://www.aaccmjb.com/.