Lifestyles of the Bored and Unemployed.

So, today Murphy and I went for a drive. We checked out the housing options for a job on the far side of town - the one I interviewed for last week. To put it most clearly, there is no F-ing way I will live out there and drive 30 minutes on toll roads to reach a goddamn Target or any other hint of remote civilization. The housing alternatives involve neighborhoods where the online crime map lights up like a Christmas tree - and not with breaking into cars crap, but with real crimes. Ain't gonna happen. So, even if they did offer me the job, between the pay cut and the commute and the prospect of gas hitting $5 a gallon this summer, no. No. No. That's just stupid.

So I have contract work thanks to the lawyer formerly known as boss, at least one case and with another at the doorstep, and at least one agency wants to talk to me. So I'm not fretting, it's all good, but I'm narrowing my local targets to a reasonable geographic area and minimum target salary.

The most disgusting thing in this experience is the cheapskate local employment market. I am NOT asking for anything out of range, I have access to many industry salary surveys in my industry and area, and I am aiming at the middle of the pack for my experience level, even though I can produce a lineup of references who will swear I am worth the moon and stars. I am NOT asking for more than I am worth, by any objective standard. I am not going to burn gallons of gas and two hours at least of my day, at $5 per gallon and who knows what to put on the time, to take a pay cut, not when I can move back to the DC area and park my happy ass on the Metro and listen to my iPod and knit and make more money. So the playing field has been narrowed, and I have an alternative source of income, and we shall see what happens.