Morgan Family HoloZine

Halloween

2007-11-03T17:13:00.001-07:00

Theresa packed a pair of wings and antennae inside Kayla’s bag on Wednesday morning. She also dressed her seven-year-old daughter in two layers of pink clothing. This was all a part of the Halloween costume that Kayla would be wearing during the elementary school’s parade down Main Street. Josh was going to dress up as a cat for Halloween, but wouldn’t be celebrating the holiday until that night. Jon was already planning on attending the parade. This would be among the last times he would be able to take advantage of his unemployment before starting work with the Partnership for Learning on the following Wednesday. He had taken days off before to attend the Halloween parade, and could again, but of course a decision like that became far more difficult once someone had the responsibility of a job.
That night, Jon and Theresa took their kids trick-or-treating around the Village of Shepherd.

Just Another Tuesday

2007-11-03T17:12:00.002-07:00

The phone call that Jon had been looking forward to all summer finally arrived on the day before Halloween. Jon was outside with Josh and the neighbor’s son as they waited for the bus when the phone rang. Jon heard Theresa answer the phone but didn’t think much about it until she appeared at the door and waved him over. She whispered that it was Jan Mason.
Jon answered the phone and hurried into his bedroom where he could speak without being interrupted. He had been waiting for two weeks to hear back about the position that he had applied for with the Partnership, but still didn’t know what to expect to hear. Would it be good news, or was Jan calling to tell him that they had chosen someone else?
Four months before, Alma College had called Jon directly to tell him that he hadn’t been selected. It was nice to tell him personally, but Jon had gotten his hopes up as he dialed the number to call the hiring manager back. There had been other positions which he had followed-up on only to find out that they had, indeed, chosen someone else but just hadn’t informed him yet. The rejection letter arrived the next day.
But one of the first things Jan said was that they were interested in him. Next, she asked him if he had any questions about the organization. Her only question was about the commute. Jon assured her that he would be able to manage the hour-or-so long commute to Lansing and back. After all, he had managed it once before when he worked for Special Olympics Michigan, and driven a similar commute when he worked for Dow Chemical.
Finally, she offered him a position and he accepted. There were more details to hammer out, such as when he would start, but as he told Jan good-bye and thank you he could hardly believe that he was going back to work.

Dad’s Day

2007-11-03T17:12:00.001-07:00

Jon visited Josh’s preschool class on October 26th. He was able to learn how the kids learned their colors, the name of the months, and how to take turns. Jon also participated in the free play after lunch time.

Happy Birthday, Alex

2007-11-03T17:11:00.003-07:00

Kayla, Josh, Theresa, and Jon were in Marlette on the 20th to help celebrate Alex’s eighth birthday. Jon helped his niece, Allyson, prepare a pirate treasure hunt in the Volz’s backyard.

No more MARVIN

2007-11-03T17:11:00.001-07:00

Jon called MARVIN for the very last time around the middle of October. His last unemployment check arrived two days later. The Morgan family prepared themselves for their first month with just Theresa’s income from Wal-Mart.

The Interview

2007-11-03T17:10:00.002-07:00

Jon drove to Lansing for his second interview with the Partnership for Learning on October 12. This time he met with both Jan Mason and Bryan Taylor, President of the Partnership of Learning. They were looking for someone who could do things like respond to readers’ questions, help with the website, and write articles for publication. Jon assured them that he would be able to do everything they were asking for in a candidate. Jon left the interview feeling optimistic about his chances.

Zoning Commission

2007-11-03T17:10:00.001-07:00

Jon attended his first zoning commission meeting in October. The village secretary asked him if he was interested in getting involved with the zoning board after someone else recommended him.

Historical Society

2007-11-03T17:09:00.002-07:00

Jon presented the Shepherd Area Historical Society’s new website to society members during the monthly meeting in October. Both the website and the newsletter were received well. Now Jon just needed to follow through with what he promised.

Good News, Bad News

2007-11-03T17:09:00.001-07:00

It was the first Friday of October when Jon received two important emails in his Yahoo! Inbox. The first was from Kelly Services and explained that he had not gotten the position from Dow Chemical. The second email, however, was from Jan Mason with the Partnership for Learning. Mrs. Mason had written Jon to ask if he might be interested in a new position that the organization was creating. Jon called her back right away and arranged for an interview the following week.

Sunday School Days

2007-11-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

It was late September when Jon started teaching Sunday school for his church’s new “Living Out Loud” program. This program consists of a children’s service and then thirty minute of classroom instruction time. He initially volunteered to be a teacher’s aide, but soon found himself leading the class by himself. He has now taken full responsibility over the class and has even given the message during one of the children’s services. Jon’s only request was that he be given the elementary school aged kids.

School Days

2007-11-03T17:07:00.002-07:00

October marked the start of the second full month of school. Both Kayla and Josh had made smooth transitions into their new classes. Josh’s teachers had even described him as a boy who was “polite.”

Return to Dow Chemical

2007-11-03T17:07:00.001-07:00

New hope came in September after Kelly Services replied to Jon’s application for a web content technician position with Dow Chemical. After a phone screening, and some long waiting, Jon was invited to interview for the position inside Dow Chemical’s corporate headquarters. For the second time in his life Jon entered Dow’s facilities as a guest, but this time he felt more at ease. He left the interview feeling optimistic about his chances.

The Preschool Dilemma

2007-11-03T17:06:00.002-07:00

There was a lot of discussion throughout the summer about whether or not Josh should start Kindergarten in the Fall. Jon and Theresa were sure that Josh wasn’t socially ready for a full day of Kindergarten, but he had already been rejected by the only preschool program they could afford.
It was the middle of August when the Morgan’s friend and neighbor, Jenny Holliday, called them with some exciting news. The Head Start staff had decided to re-evaluate Josh for acceptance into their program after Jenny explained his situation.

Unemployed

2007-11-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

In May, Jon’s only remaining job was to call MARVIN every other week and then cash the unemployment check which would show up in the mail a couple of days later. At the same time, Jon was searching the Internet and newspapers for solid job opportunities. Jon interviewed for a technical writer position down in Auburn Hills shortly before his last day with Dow Chemical but was eventually turned down. His next interview took him down to the Partnership for Learning office in Lansing for a web marketing position. Although he was never hired for this position, he also wasn’t exactly rejected, either. The position just seemed to dematerialize.
Jon spent the rest of his time driving Kayla to school and preparing for Shepherd’s upcoming Sesquicentennial celebration in August. School ended but Jon plugged away on his job search. In June he interviewed for a web content writer position with Alma College but wasn’t hired for the job. Jon had actually found out about this position three weeks before it was posted thanks to a friend who attended church with the hiring manager, and a librarian at the local branch who had an “inside track.”
Job interviews came few and far in between as the summer went along, but Jon did receive several rejections from CMU, the Soaring Eagle Casino, and Channel 13 Action News. Even the Shepherd Sesquicentennial came and went without any sign of a strong job opportunity for Jon.

Laid Off

2007-11-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

Jon hadn’t forgotten the day two weeks before Easter when his manager had called him in to explain that he was about to be laid off. There had been speculation off and on for the last year about what would happen to all of the people at the helpdesk if Dow Chemical didn’t renew the contract for the video conference rooms. His managers had assured them that a new project would be created and everybody would be safe, but as Jon listened to his manager tell him the bad news it was apparent now that no new project was going to materialize and save his job at the last minute.
Or, perhaps his job had already been saved once last October when he had been offered the EDC Technician position inside Dow Chemical’s Employee Development Center. This was an opportunity for Jon to get out from behind the desk and support conference rooms out in the field. This mean that he would be more hands-on with the technology and work face-to-face with the clients who used it. Jon accepted the position and began the day after Halloween.
Although Jon was successful with the clients and the conference rooms in the EDC, other elements of the position didn’t go so well. His managers eventually transferred him back to the video conference help desk. It wasn’t easy for Jon to give up the EDC and return to the help desk, but at this point he was ready to do anything that would help save his job. But even as he back into the help desk Jon couldn’t shake the feeling that his job was about to suffer a slow and meaningless end.
Jon left his manager’s office feeling a mixture of both dread and relief. Dread because he didn’t know how long it would take him to find another job, but relief because he was finally free of the rumors, misinformation, and scrutiny that had plagued him ever since the help desk’s new manager had started in December. It didn’t make sense for him to be treated like such a problem employee after three years of dedication and hard work, plus yearly performance reviews with consistently high remarks. As Jon contemplated his situation, he wondered if management had decided to lay him off a long time ago but just needed some ways to justify it.
Per the arrangements Jon had made with his manager, his last day with SPL and Dow Chemical came two weeks after Easter. His co-worker, Steve, had been notified shortly after Jon was, but chose a more immediate end date. Another co-worker, Lorna, was let go a month later. Jon tried to find solace in the fact that he wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t very comforting as he was registering with Michigan’s unemployment office.

October 2007 Issue

2007-10-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

This month's jam-packed issue solves the mystery of Kayla's missing front teeth, reports on the ongoing "Flea Wars," and delves into the secret world of September birthdays. Plus, there are photos from the Shepherd fire station open house, trees in Autumn, and Saturday's lunch.

Read more about it below, or click on the link along the right hand side of the page to download your own copy of this issue!

Autumn Colors

2007-10-13T19:56:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share some photos of Shepherd showing some Autumn scenes from around town.

Journeyman

2007-10-13T19:53:00.001-07:00

You know you’re getting older when a show features a time traveler who goes back in time each week to the mid-1980’s and early 1990’s. At first, 1987 doesn’t seem like it was such a long time ago, but then I realize that I was in the seventh grade back then. The show reminds me of the book “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and an old NBC time-traveling show called “Quantum Leap.” The main character isn’t aided by a holograph named Al, but he is able to bring along his handy iPhone. This is yet another clue that technology has come so long that the gadgets in real life are as cooler than anything the writers in Hollywood can come up with.

Bionic Woman

2007-10-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

I was probably too young to really appreciate the original “Bionic Woman” television show, so it’s really good for me that NBC has started airing an updated-for-the-new-millennium version on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. This newer version features a Jamie Summers who is raising a teenager on her own while learning to use her new bionic implants to fight evil.

Flea Wars

2007-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

We’re living far more comfortably now that we’ve been able to eliminate most of the fourteen gazillion fleas which were recently living in our house. At the peak of our flea problem, you couldn’t walk down the hallway, or sit on the couch without a dozen of those little buggers jumping onto your legs. The last straw came when we started to see some puzzling phone numbers listed on our long distance bill like 1-900-HOT-FLEA and 1-900-DOG-SCRATCHER.

We immediately hatched a plan where we would lay out these little flea pools all around the house which would be tainted with the flea’s most hated substance: dish soap. I’m not sure why fleas don’t like dish soap, but my guess would be that it is a reminder that there is a whole heap of dishes waiting for them in their little flea den and that they should be focusing on them instead of crawling up and down my leg. Operation “Soap Dish” was a success, and now we are seeing far less fleas than before.

Kayla the Chef

2007-10-13T19:48:00.003-07:00

It was five or six years ago when I first started letting Kayla help me with dinner. Usually, dinner meant Macaroni & Cheese, and “helping” meant mixing the cheese in with the noodles, butter, and milk. The photo shows three-year-old Kayla stirring the pot.

This summer Kayla has been getting more and more involved with making certain types of meals. She will occasionally make breakfast (consisting of bowls, spoons, and cereal) for herself and her brother. Today, I taught Kayla the important food preparation skill which I call “making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.” I was amazed by how quickly Kayla caught on to this complicated process. I myself took months to master the Peanut Butter to Jelly “equation.”

Today for lunch I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was prepared solely by Kayla’s hands. Now that I think of it, maybe our next lesson about cooking should cover personal hygiene.

Theresa mowed the Lawn

2007-10-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

I’m including proof here that Theresa has been learning how to mow the lawn. I might not have believed it without seeing it myself, but a few months ago she asked me to show her how. Then, a few days later she mowed the entire lawn without killing anybody or losing an appendage.

The Neverending Job Hunt

2007-10-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

The search for a new job continues. Recently I returned to the Partnership for Learning offices where I interviewed for another position that they’re creating. I am also waiting for word about a position I interviewed for on Thursday and news on another position that’s being filled through Adecco.

Fire Station Open House

2007-10-13T19:44:00.001-07:00

The kids and I attended the Shepherd Fire Station’s open house last Sunday where we were able to go up in a fire fighter’s crane and ride in an actual fire engine. Kayla correctly answered a lot of good questions about what someone to do when they are in a fire. The kids’ friends Nathan and Kristina Black accompanied us.

Josh’s Birthday

2007-10-13T19:43:00.002-07:00

It’s hard to believe that the baby of our family, Josh, will be turning five years old in November! In just the last year Josh has been potty trained, learned how to ride a bike, ridden a horse, attended day camp, and started preschool. He also braved eye surgery in July and continues to wear an eye patch for four hours each day.

Halloween

2007-10-13T19:43:00.001-07:00

There’s still two-and-a-half more weeks left before Halloween but we’ve already picked out pumpkins and the kids have already chosen costumes. The kids picked out their own pumpkins at a pumpkin farm over by Blanchard. I also picked up some good carving-sized pumpkins for two dollars each. The kids had a lot of fun carving their own pumpkins last year, so I’m looking forward to giving it another try.

As far as costumes go, Josh said he wanted to go as a cat, and Kayla is going to go dressed as a butterfly. We agreed to these simple but clever ideas. Theresa has already purchased cat ears, a tail, and makeup for Josh’s cat outfit, and a matching pink outfit for Kayla’s butterfly disguise.
Each year Kayla’s elementary school holds a Halloween parade going down the main street of Shepherd.

Kayla loses her first Teeth

2007-10-13T19:42:00.001-07:00

It seems like it was just yesterday that the first of Kayla’s baby teeth had pushed their way out. Now her adult teeth are coming in but the baby teeth have proven to be very stubborn about leaving. Kayla visited the dentist office on Tuesday to have her two of her lower front teeth pulled to make room for the adult ones to come in. The baby teeth had actually been quite loose for some time, but after a month of waiting for the old teeth to fall out it was time for some dental intervention.

Josh goes Bowling

2007-10-13T19:41:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Theresa and I accompanied Josh’s afternoon preschool class to a local alley for some bowling. Josh did a really good job of waiting for his turn and tried his best to knock down the pins with his ball.

When everybody was done with their bowling game we got the kids together for some group shots.

Kayla’s Birthday

2007-10-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone had a great time on Thursday and Sunday when we celebrated Kayla’s 7th birthday. Thursday, September 20 was a birthday party for four of Kayla’s friends from school. They painted statuettes, watched Kayla open her presents, and enjoyed yummy birthday cupcakes topped with little plastic horses. There were also horses on the table cloth, the wall, plates, cups, napkins, and even inside some of the gifts that her friends brought.

On Sunday, September 23 Kayla was recognized for her birthday during the kid’s worship service. Kayla opened up our birthday gift to her as soon as we got back from church. It was a new American Girl which we had helped pay for. Kayla paid for the first half with money that she had been saving, and we covered the last half.

That same day, all of the relatives started to arrive. We enjoyed pizza, salad, and nacho chips. Next we watched Kayla open up her gifts and then blow out the candles on her cake. That same night we went to La Seniorita’s with our friends the Hollidays and Theresa’s sister Susan to eat birthday dinners for Kayla and Jon.