Two women seeking equality in a state where some couples are more equal than others.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Job Search Update: What's Next?

Some of you have been following my semi-cryptic posts about a job I'd been applying for and was excited about it. I made it to the second round interview and felt it went okay but maybe not perfectly.

I got the news yesterday:

they picked someone else.

What was the job? Yelp was hiring a Community Ambassador for Detroit. It was 15 hours a week for a year, applicants had to live in the city, and I felt I was a strong candidate for the position. I was excited to reach out to new businesses, bring people to events in the city I love, and have an excuse to try out new places.

I had also applied to teach SAT prep at Phillips Andover in Massachusetts and was offered a five week contract for this summer. I turned that down in the hopes the Yelp job would come through. Both were jobs I would have been able to do along with my current test prep instruction, which I'm fortunate to love doing most days.

I thought I would be really sad if the Yelp job didn't come through, and I was for the first few minutes. And I thought I'd be especially sad that I had turned down Andover if the Yelp job didn't work out.

The next feeling surprised me though. I ended up feeling relieved. Relieved that I wouldn't be spending half the summer away from #fixerupperdetroit just as it's being finished. Relieved I wouldn't be spending the summer teaching SAT at an elite private school. Relieved that I wouldn't be working for a tech company whose labor practices I don't completely agree with, and that is financially struggling. Relieved that I have the next few months to find a job in the public or nonprofit sector instead of remaining in the for-profit one.

And then I felt a little lost. A little afraid. Because I haven't been scheduled for anything for the summer yet, which means I could consider going through an alternative teaching certification program. I don't have plans for the fall, which means I could pick a public school to work at. I've been seriously considering trying to find a position as an ESL classroom aide or building substitute teacher, or possibly as a long-term sub. Those are jobs I could do while doing test prep in the evenings or on weekends, or that I could do while figuring out what teaching certification would be the most effective. You know I've said that I can't handle teaching full-time in a public school. I don't want to jump in head first.

Rebecca and I sifted through some job listings when I got home last night. The areas it would be easiest for me to be certified (Spanish and ESL) are now critical shortage areas in metro Detroit, unlike when I graduated college into the Recession and no one was leaving a teaching job while pensions were in jeopardy, universities were producing too many certified teachers, and the majority of jobs available were paid hourly at charter schools or in such desperately low-income schools that I couldn't bear the working conditions. Turns out vilifying teachers, cutting pay and benefits, increasing standardized testing, and withdrawing public support from public schools has had a devastating effect on availability of teachers. Who knew?

So I'm pretty sure I must be addled to even think about going back, but I love teaching. I love languages. I love my colleagues who have stayed and bravely stuck it out for the sake of the children. I love children. And #fixerupperdetroit didn't really make sense either, from a purely logical perspective.

But can we really say that choosing love is logical?

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Progress at #fixerupperdetroit: A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words

This is what our living room looks like currently: a staging area to get the plumbing done, and possibly storage for items that have arrived ahead of their associated appliance.

More living room things: I don't actually know what this is, but it's new and looks important.

This is where the toilet will go in our entry-level lavatory. So excited to see it peeking out.

Our kitchen has had all the plumbing removed for months now, so seeing new plumbing run through it is definitely a plus!

This was an effort at a panoramic of the kitchen. Note the new floor joists (in real life they're straight and tidy - the curvature is a product of the photo setting) and plumbing.


More plumbing and vent lines. It's like there really is going to be a bathroom there someday :)

Another panoramic, this time from the hallway that runs along the living room, past the new lavatory, into the kitchen. Once the lavatory is done, pictures like this won't be possible, as the framing will be filled in. That beautiful lady is my wife in her Easter Sunday best.

I know it doesn't look like much, but our upstairs bathroom needed new plumbing work, so there has been a hole in the floor where that white cylinder is. Now we're getting it set up to put the toilet back.

More new stuff - in the attic, under the eaves. I don't know what this does, but I'm glad it's here!

A bucket with plumbing supplies. I know it's not exciting, but I promise the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is what's going on for us.

This room is being cleared out gradually. It will eventually (in a few years, once we save up more money) be turned into part of a master suite. For now, it will be set up as a temporary walk-in closet and dressing area so that we don't wake each other when one of us gets in late or has to leave early. (That seems to be the story of our lives lately.)

Another panoramic - standing in the living room. This includes the dining room (center front), Rebecca's study (center back), and a peek into the kitchen (right).

Yeah, I know this looks really gross. It's our basement bathroom, which wasn't in great shape. We're moving the laundry hookups out of here and had to add a support for the kitchen floor. I'm not sure that we'll end up with working plumbing to this for now, which is fine, since who really likes using a basement bathroom anyway? It can be redone in a few years if we need it.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

#fixerupperdetroit: The Beginning is Near

Our contractor ordered appliances today! Here is my reaction:


After a year of searching, paperwork, negotiations, mold infestation, and writing check after check after check, there is finally a time in the foreseeable future when we will live in #fixerupperdetroit.


We picked a kitchen pendant fixture that we hope will bring some 1920s class back to our old girl. Odd Fellows in Berkley gave us a discount because this 1920s Detroit Art Deco fixture needs a good cleaning and rewiring. Thank goodness Rebecca's parents have dealt antiques for years, Rebecca scoped antique shops when we moved to Royal Oak, and that Rebecca took electrical engineering in college.

This is a sneak peak of the newly vaulted ceiling in the sunroom that will become my office. It still needs insulation and drywall, and there will be more details to take care of in the second phase of renovation (when we get some more money together and aesthetic details are manageable). It had a low drop ceiling before, so this change makes the room feel more spacious and inviting.


We've filed our move-out paperwork, so we will be leaving our apartment when the lease ends at the end of April - and we'll need help packing and moving boxes (though many items are still packed from the previous mold infestation move). I'm hoping it will be a gradual process this time instead of a whirlwind weekend. I'm starting to get overwhelmed at the prospect of cleaning and painting, but my work load should lighten in mid-April, and we can do it in pieces instead of all at once.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

#fixerupperdetroit goes on a field trip!

Today Rufino Labra, our contractor, and I went on a field trip to Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit. (I still need to write a post about how we know Fino and why Labra Design+Build is the perfect group to do this project.) $127 and a crash course in water versus steam radiators later, we have a new-to-us radiator for the  game of musical radiators our heating person will be playing. We also got a pocket door so that when guests exit our new lavatory, they don't knock anybody down the basement stairs.

New lavatory is framed:

No luck on the 1920s tiny corner sink for the lavatory, alas. We will have to order one.

While I'm at it, here is a pile of more things that have been removed from the kitchen:
And the pretty new work that will keep our second floor from collapsing:
Still no huge transformation, but things are starting to come together.