I woke up in Chicago, which is someplace I really hadn't planned on being this day, but - oh, well. At least I got a nice early morning shot of the Chicago skyline out of my hotel window.

I got back to Phoenix by about 10:30 AM. My friend Bev picked me up at the airport, then loaned me her car so I could make my 1:20 appointment at the AZ DES office. Once I got there, all I had to do was fill out some forms about job contacts that I had made in the past few weeks (even sending your resume across the internet counts), sit with some guy while he typed some information into his computer, and then we were done. The whole thing took less than half an hour.

I got the distinct impression from these people that they weren't all that concerned whether or not I was actually looking for work, they just needed the forms filled out, and I guess the rules dictated that I had to make a personal appearance once in a while. When they asked me how much I was making before I got laid off, they just seemed to mutter sympathetically about how jobs like that weren't likely to be found through their office.

So, I invested $258 to continue getting my $205 per week benefits. I also spent the days here going through my mail, contacting my lawyer, paying a few bills, and letting the desert heat dry me out from all of the humidity that I had soaked up in the previous weeks.