The Pros and Cons

I've been offered the job in Dallas. They called an hour (ish) after I left from my interview. I don't even know if they called my references. I think she already knew I was the one she wanted but just needed to meet me in person to finalize. I just emailed my potential new boss with a few questions about vacation, retirement and holidays. The holidays thing because the casino bragged about how they gave you 9 personal holidays but only 1 week of vacation. It sounds good (because that is more than 2 weeks vacay) until you realize that they do not give you time off for ANY holiday. Had I stayed I would have been expected to work Christmas and Thanksgiving, day after Thanksgiving etc. That would have sucked balls.

So the pros of moving to Dallas:
1 - It is on the approved list (although in all honesty Michelle had to convince me of Texas to begin with and then Dallas was not approved until desperation set in)
2 - It is much less expensive to live there than it is here. I can rent a 2 bedroom apt near my work for less than I pay in rent for my barely 1 bedroom now.
3 - I think it would be a really interesting and challenging job. I would be the sole benefits person eventually teaching the HR asst benefits as well.
4 - I'll get to work on implementation of a completely new software for benefits & hr. That's exciting.
5 - PM is interested in Texas and hopefully would be moving there too in a couple years.
6 - My sister is really excited to have me move nearer to where she is. And it would be nice to live near her.
7 - I could eventually buy a kickass house for pennies. (Seriously, on move.com today and there are some really nice houses (to my eyes at least) for 100k or less. The one I saw for 280 was like a palace. Appeared as nice as the one PM just moved out of, and I'm pretty sure she didn't pay only 280.

Cons:
1 - I will have to move! I know I've wanted to, but it has always been such an abstract thought. Not something that ACTUALLY will happen.
2 - I'll miss my girls.
3 - I'll miss my friends.
4 - I'll have to make new ones. (I'm not so good at that. At All.)
5 - Maybe I wouldn't be good enough for my job.
6 - I'll miss the people I work with now.
7 - There are benefits I will be giving up. I'm pretty sure they don't do a 10% contribution to retirement. They don't have dental. I'm checking on a couple things before I decide.

I don't want to say no just because I'm terrified, but I also don't want to say yes just because I'm desperate.

Terrified

I'm heading out on a plane in a few hours to Phoenix and then to Dallas for a job interview. Hopefully I'll also hit Houston while there, but I haven't confirmed that one yet.

Currently terrifying me:

What if I hate Texas? I mean really HATE Texas? TX is high on the list. What if it is God-awful? The last time I went into TX I was like 11ish and we were driving to Disney on vacation. (Maybe 13ish). All I remember about Texas is that the states were just starting to pass seat belt laws and TX was a seat belt state. It was a hugeass state that took us like 2 days to get through and we had to be in our seats the entire time.

Awkward

This whole job hunting thing feels very awkward to me. There is A LOT of deception around it. While I am not above lying and I firmly believe everyone does so and that in some situations there's nothing wrong with it (honestly future husband, find a tactful way to say that dress makes my ass look huge or say nothing at all but never be "brutally honest"), if your current boss doesn't know you are looking it is all about the deception. My boss thinks I'm going to PM's house to help her move this weekend. Next week when I have to go to Pitt... well luckily I sneezed several times in my meeting this morning so... But I kind of hate the whole thing. Half my coworkers know what's going on. My boss, notboss and one coworker don't. And, as I've said before, 1/2 my coworkers are looking themselves.

If I think about it too hard, this makes me sad. My boss has no idea that 4/8 members of a department are planning on leaving sometime in the nearish future. I know I know he has done some toolish things, but he is still a person.

I'll Believe it When I See it

I tend to not believe things are happening until they are actually happening. I think that's why I've had such a hard time believing a - the job bs IS actually happening and b - I might actually have to move. I haven't been offered a job yet. I've got 2 face to face interviews sometime in the next 2ish weeks. Well... I definitely have one. I have been called on to go to the other one, but I can't decide if I should go. I'm hoping to hear from the oen in Houston this week. I thought that phone screen went really well.

Now, given that I have known about this possibility since April of 2009, you'd think I'd be almost totally ready to move, right? I'm not. I'm not even close. I know what big furniture/stuff I want to get rid of. Beyond that, I'm still out of control. :)

High Hopes

I had a phone interview with a bank in TX today. So far of all the jobs I've interviewed for this is one I'm pretty excited about. I think I would be the only benefits person there which I LOVE. It seems like a small department which I also love. There's growth happening and change happening which is all very exciting. I'll be really disappointed if this one doesn't pan out.

The one I interviewed with Pitt isn't going to happen I don't think. I'm not disappointed about that one predominantly because it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It is a new role but strictly operational in nature - improving processes, mapping processes, blah blah blah. Not a lot of employee interaction.

The other role was for a medical provider also in Texas. I'd be okay with that one too. It is interesting in that there is a person in the role, but the position is getting upgraded and that is what I would be doing. Could be fun and interesting, but the thought of physicians after faculty members doesn't necessarily thrill me.

I do believe... :)

So my horoscope for today:

Congratulations. What you are about to enjoy is better than Ed McMahon showing up at your door with a giant check. The heavens have arranged an absolutely heavenly - if you'll pardon the pun - array of callers, all of whom will be intent on making you happy. Fortunately, the right one will indeed be among the crowd that is amassing. All you have to do is show up and interview applicants. Tough job.



Seems pretty nice right? I can hope this means job possibility is night. Maybe. :)



I had a bad phone interview with Pittsburgh. That's okay. Once she started talking about the job I realized I didn't think I wanted it. Plus I don't think I wanted to work for that lady.



I had what I think was a good phone screen with a medical group in TX. I should hear from that later this week.



I have another one tomorrow with a bank in TX. And hopefully I'll hear from a place in New England tomorrow. This could finally work out for me. :)

Adjustment

I wonder if Peruvian food is good? That annoying guy from Diners Drive-ins and Dives was at a Peruvian restaurant tonight and it looked good. Sort of related - the Peruvian delegation just went by on the Opening Games. The flag guy lives here. I find it kind of fascinating how many people in the less than winter countries have delegations to the winter Olympics because they lived and trained someplace cold. It is also fascinating how many NHL players are able to play for their various countries. I know in the summer games the basketball players are the same way. Somehow it seems unfair a little bit. (thank heavens for auto-save. I almost lost this entire post. That may not be a bad thing. ;) ) How awful this must be for Georgia. They want to be happy and proud and yet there's such sorrow and tragedy for them. (Am I really blogging about the Olympics? What's wrong with me? I don't like the Olympics and never really watch them.)



This use cash only thing is working out pretty good so far. I slipped last week and used my debit card to buy pizza. I took out my $100 today and I'm down to $25ish for the rest of the week. I know... that's bad, right? That's the whole point of this exercise though. To force me to rein this all in. I did buy $45 worth of groceries so that's a big part of it. Spent 10 on a movie and 16ish on dinner. I'll get better at it. If I don't get a new job before the new boss starts I'm going to have to figure out how to live on less.

I did use it also to order tickets for 2 different events. Next weekend I'm going bowling to support the Human Rights Campaign. Big R wanted to go and I'm down with it. In March I'll go to Gay Bingo again. It should be fun. With any luck it'll be one of the last things I do here for fun.

I have received 4 calls on possible jobs in this past week. After months of hearing nothing, I'm really stoked about that. My coworker told me about indeed.com. It is a crawler of some sort so it pulls jobs from all sorts of sites that you may not think of. (If you're interested in the search part put in title:(job title you want) ) Three out of 4 jobs I've gotten calls from I found using indeed. One of those jobs... (KATE in VT pay attention!) is for a large college hospital in New Hampshire. I know New Hampshire isn't on Michelle's list, but I really liked the VT, NH area. (Nelly Furtado is from Canada?) (Also this song's lyrics are rather cheesy aren't they?) I like that I could live a small town life like I think I want to. Plus, New Hampshire doesn't have state income tax. :) We'll see how it all pans out. I may not get any of them. (Actually Murphy's Law says I'll get offered the worst most lowest paying choice that I would only take out of desperation even though I know that's a bad idea). (NO Positivity! I will get offered the best one and it will pay handsomely and I will live happily ever after!)

At the moment it is a good time to be me. (That's subject to change at any moment so I shouldn't get too cocky about it.) :)

Hmm... not what I had in mind.

So this new money thing I'm trying... I took out my $100 on Sunday. I have $15 in my pocket until next Sunday. Now, I did use $35 on my water aerobics class for the next 8 weeks and that's a one time charge. But still... oh and I owe $8 to Lyndsy. I may not make it this week on only $100. :) (But, luckily, I'll be paid for some focus group study on Wednesday so I'll have a random $200. :P )