Aaron Crowe

I feel like I’ve won a Bingo game, but not the prize.

The one-year anniversary (birthday?) of my blog, Tales of an Unemployed Dad, came and went on Sept. 11 without any fanfare. I forgot about it until a former Contra Costa Times colleague reminded me of it, sparking my memory that Sept. 11 had some other significance.

It has been a long and adventurous year of writing. The best thing about starting this blog, where I planned to write about my job search while raising a daughter, is that two months after starting it, it helped me land a job at WalletPop, a personal finance Web site that I write and edit at. The part-time work is my Bingo win.

The search for full-time work continues, but the part-time work through AOL is keeping everything afloat. I’m also writing for AOL sites Rented Spaces about rental and real estate issues, and writing Search Engine Optimization for AOL Shopping.

Emma turned 5 last month. She was 4 when I started writing all of this, and I had some apprehension about being home with her most of the time and being a stay-at-home dad. Things have worked out well with all of that, and now that she’s in kindergarten things are improving.

One thing I haven’t figured out yet on this blog is how to eliminate spam. So until I do, I’m turning off comments on any future posts. You can find me via e-mail or at WalletPop.

Let’ s hope the next year of writing and editing gets me to a full-time job. That’s the Bingo prize I want.