So the jig is this, just in case my vague otter-postings weren’t information enough. I was offered three different jobs while in Oregon including the jobs I was reasonably excited about at Oregon State and the University of Oregon. For one reason or another I had to pass on these offers and I ended up driving forty hours back to the hotbed of awesomeness that is West Michigan. So, whatever.
The drive back went fine other than than absolute worst 5-6 driving hours of my life across an ice field pretending to be a highway in central Wyoming. I’ve never seen so many jackknifed semi-trucks in one stretch in my life. It was white-knuckle, no-other-option stress driving that just wouldn’t end. Somewhere between 100 and 200 miles of inch thick ice layered over black ice next to trucks mindlessly hurtling by at 65 mph all while a gale wind yanked at the surfboard (now functioning as a sail) on the top of my car. Every overpass I crossed, and I mean every single one, just felt like a crapshoot whether or not I was going to spin out or not. I’m having a mini heart attack right now just thinking about it again.
You know what it’s like on those truly awful winter storm days, maybe driving home from work, when it’s a whiteout and your car just feels completely disconnected from the road and that fifteen minute drives turns into a forty-five minute drive and all you want to do is get home to your warm house and relax and maybe laugh about how bad the weather is with somewhere you care about?
Now do that for half of a day with morons driving death machines careening past you, showering your already obscurred vision with salt and chunks of ice, and with absolutely no stress relief to look forward to other than eight hours of driving across Nebraska. I will drive 500 miles out of my way to go around that God-forsaken state the next time I need to drive to the Pacific Northwest during winter conditions.
But, I lived and actually cheered for Nebraska as I cruised across the border. Slept a couple of nights shivering at rest areas (one in Utah and one in Iowa) and rolled back into Michigan under rainy skies.
So, what’s next?
I don’t really know.
Phoenix
Maybe. I don’t know about 5 consecutive months of 90+ degree heat though.
Hey,
I just finished up your reference check interview for wedgeforest. Sounds like a good position. Bourgouise and I both got messages yesterday and then he called me at night and was like “Do you have any contact information for Josh” and I was like “No” and we both didn’t have any clue of where you might be taking up residence except for maybe at your Mom’s crib, if Mary was in Michigan or still in Oregon, etc. Feel free to give me a call if you get a chance or stop by if you’re living on the street and need food.
Kelly and I are thinking of going someplace (BW3 or Uccello’s) to watch Michigan beat up on Ball State tomorrow since it’s on ESPNU. We went to the Northwestern game last week and stayed the whole game in the rain and wind while half of U-M’s pansy students never came or left at halftime.
Oh yeah… I forgot about giving them you guys’ info. Applied for that one while still out West. Had a couple of interviews with them since I’ve been back and for some reason it never registered that they might actually follow up with the references I listed. Sorry about the lack of a heads-up.
Yeah, it probably would be a good position. One of those professional-sounding jobs. Didn’t realize how much responsibilty it involved until about half-way through the second interview when they started talking about how I would deal with people who chose not to follow through with guidelines I’d presumambly lay down. Weird.
I’d be up for watching Michigan somewhere tomorrow. Hopefully it’s not a let-down game, you know… with them looking ahead to Indiana and all.
Oh, and to explain, we’re all back. Mary drove back at the end of September with the dogs. I stayed another month, went to interviews and played in the ocean. Currently renting a house month-to-month on SE side.