April 28, 1997 (Day 40 – milepoint 424.3 – Iron Mountain Shelter)

40 days and 40 nights completed…seeing god regularly…

Bleach seems to be doing the trick for my drinking water so far, but it doesn’t taste very good.

A privy poem:

I sit here and wonder
In this privy, making thunder,
Impatient, will there be any more?
I have to hit the Trail
Into town to get my mail,
And Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at the store.

We’re 26 miles from the town of Damascus. Easy Chair has talked me into doing the marathon trek into town tomorrow. I keep hearing this voice, something about being a moron…

Aquaholic

April 28, 2009

Hey Aquaholic,

Ugh. In January after I lost my job, I reluctantly applied for unemployment benefits. I was initially approved and received one week’s payment (minus taxes), about $410, which I used to pay a portion of my family’s health insurance for the month. Soon after, I received a letter in the mail stating that I had been disqualified from receiving benefits for being “at fault” for my job loss. I appealed thinking they would see the reality of the challenges our company was facing (as was much of the business world), and that it was simply a reduction in workforce. I was surprised when my appeal was denied and am still grappling with confusion over it.

But the worst of it came in a letter today from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment – a “Notice of Overpayment of Benefits” – requesting that I return the initial week’s benefit payment immediately. Interestingly, though I only received the post tax amount of about $410, I am required to pay back the total amount before taxes were removed, $475, resulting in a net loss.

It’s ironic, unemployment insurance benefits are supposed to put you at ease and support you as you transition into your next job. But the truth is, I’d be financially (and emotionally) better off right now if I had never applied for unemployment.

Need to find a way to make tomorrow a better day.

O’