This last month was a difficult one.

Nadia left for Afghanistan at the beginning of the month. While I’m thankful that I’ve been able to talk to her on a regular basis via email and over the phone, I still miss her very much. This place is too quiet without her. There are so many things, big and little, that I miss.

(If you are interested in sending anything her way, please let me know and I’ll give you her contact info).

Three days after she left I got laid off. I didn’t see it coming (I’m not sure anyone does). I’ve been on the job hunt since. Colorado Springs isn’t very friendly to PHP web developers, so the pickings are pretty slim. I’ve considered moving to the Denver/Boulder area (about 90 miles from the Springs) in hopes of landing a job there.

Unfortunately, the combination of these two events is causing me to throw a series of pity parties for myself. This jobless thing would be easier to deal with if Nadia were here. Having a job would help with being so lonely. The few friends I’ve made here have either moved away, deployed, or were at the old job. For lack of a better term: this situation sucks.

Luckily, all of June wasn’t bad.

My neighbors have been pretty awesome. They fed me the first few days after Nadia left (I think they think that I don’t know how to cook). I’ve also met with the Family Readiness Group (Army spouses) a couple of times. This little bit of face-to-face human contact is helpful.

I play on Xbox LIVE more than I used to. There I game with some of Nadia’s family and some friends. Doing something that I enjoy is certainly stress-relieving.

I built my first computer the day she left. A home theater PC, to be exact. I planned it this way thinking that keeping myself busy that day would absorb the blow of her departure (that plan didn’t work). However, in the month since I built it, it has kept me busy with the troubleshooting and new functionality and all. At least it keeps me occupied.

Of course, I’m looking for a job. I put together willdiaz.com as a single-page site to host my resume and offer ways for potential employers to contact me. I’ve redone my resume twice, gone on one interview, I have another one scheduled for next week and have spoken to many recruiters and potential clients for my fledgling freelance career.

I would like to take a moment and say something to all recruiters and hiring managers out there: if someone is not a good fit for your organization’s needs, please have the courtesy to tell that once-potential employee. It is incredibly unprofessional to suddenly cut off communication with them. Sadly, this has happened to me a few times, and it is crushing to my morale (and to anyone else’s, I’m sure).

I wrote my first amateur video game review! That was a neat experience, playing a game solely to critique it. The lucky game was Terminator Salvation, and you can read it over at buttonmashing.com.

Following Danny’s death, there was a gigantic legal mess surrounding his car, which I cosigned with him on a few years ago. It was an eight-month ordeal to sort out, but it is now done! Thanks to my dad for spending many long hours at the DMV on a few occasions to make this happen.

I think that’s about it.

In short, my month started off really rough, and I’m trying to fight all of those naturally-occurring negative feelings.

My father ordered this purse for Nadia for Christmas. Pontiac Mall screwed up and sent Nadia this hat instead. After my father called them and straightened it out, Pontiac Mall agreed to send the correct item and was gracious enough to let Nadia keep the hat. That was pretty generous of them.

The purse came in the mail today, and I am convinced that the United States Postal Service employs chimps to handle and deliver the mail. Explain to me how the package ended up getting coated in motor oil:

This is not the first time the USPS has completely ruined a package of ours in transit. Each time, an apologetic letter is enclosed without mention of reimbursement.

Despite the USPS’ best efforts to ruin Nadia’s gift, Pontiac Mall’s excellent packing job kept the oil off of the purse. However, the smell is sticking to it. I may need to just buy Nadia a replacement one.

I look forward to January because The Container Store has their annual 30% off elfa shelving sale. Well, they  started their sale early this year! Unfortunately, the nearest store is over an hour away in Denver. It was worth the drive because now our home office looks like this:

It was a cluttered mess before and thankfully I cannot find pictures of our former space. As I erase that from my memory, I am thinking of all the ways to use our new found space. If you have a Container Store in your area, you should definitely check out what they have to offer.