27 June 2008 @ 02:42 pm
That housing slump has been hitting, pardon the pun, home  
My brother is moving in with us on Sunday.

In the past year he lost his job in the mortgage industry, finalized his divorce (giving nearly everything he owned to the ex-, incl. the furniture, household, & kitchen stuff we bought him before they got married), apparently worked some deal for Volkswagen to sell off his car that hadn't worked in over a year but for which he couldn't afford repairs & insurance anyway to satisfy the last few months on his car note, worked in a laptop repair facility that was a modern day sweatshop before his ride to the building disappeared when his coworker got a new job, and has generally hit bottom.

He has had a rough year. Our first task after moving the paltry worldly goods he has left is to get him a job. One I can drive him to and pick him up from as Houston is NOT known for its mass transit system. *sigh*

Tonight and this Saturday I'll be cleaning out all the junk I have in the guest room. I have no idea where it will go; it's in there because I don't have anywhere else to put it. I suspect I'll miss tomorrow's Pride Parade for which I bought two expensive bleacher seats, damnit, because I'll still be working on it all. (I still have my bone collection in there from my days as a faunal analyst. I'm guessing at this point I could throw it away. I don't know anyone in need of a type collection who can come to get it before I move the brother in on Sunday morning. Good thing it's heavy trash on Tuesday.)

Our house is *small* and it already houses the two of us, the dog, Joe's business, Joe's recording studio, and the Flying Fish Sailors merchandise. I suspect everyone's stress levels will be running high for the next several months.
Tags:
 
 
Current Mood: worried
 
 
( Post a new comment )
tejas[identity profile] tejas.livejournal.com on June 27th, 2008 11:36 pm (UTC)
Actually, he could probably use Metro from your area to the Medical Center if he could find something there. Or downtown. Might want to focus there to start with. If nothing else, you could drive him to the train near Reliant, which would be better than some alternatives. ;-)

Good luck to him.
Mish[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on June 28th, 2008 01:41 am (UTC)
Yeah, the Med Center would be ideal. Medicine is a growth industry for the foreseeable future. He doesn't have the education or experience to get the better jobs, I don't think, so I was thinking that getting a job at Rice might be a good interim step. He would be paid okay, have good benefits, and best of all, be allowed to take a class a semester at no charge. He needs to get on an education track so that he can respond to market shifts in the future. Rice has a relationship with the Med Center and that could be a good foot in the door, I thought, perhaps.

However, there were some other good ideas posted in several comments and I think casting the widest possible net is the smartest course.

He could use some good luck; the poor guy has had nothing but bad luck of late.
tejas[identity profile] tejas.livejournal.com on June 28th, 2008 01:50 am (UTC)
Rice is an excellent employer. I know a few folks who've worked there.

Keep in mind that the Med Center is the largest employer in the city. They hire *everything* from janitors to IT people to lab grunts with high school diplomas (assuming here he's not a medical type ;-).

Good luck to him.