I did not take it that day at all. I think he is saying he is still scrambling. Based on his article, I don’t get the impression he wasn’t trying earlier.
That said, he should have considered finding another field.
Here is the problem. Sure he scrambled but he was looking for a job where he netted more than his unemployment check. There is no SS tax, no transportation costs, no clothing expense, no crappy bosses and you can still get an occasional under the table job. So, he works on a book or other project sends a few emails for a job each week to keep the unemployment office happy and relaxes for a year.
Now he rights an article about how bad it all was and gets paid for that too.