I have decided to accept the new job offer. My start date at the new job will be May 21. the relocation package they offered is really good, as it turns out...they pay for all moving costs, including packing, shipping, and storage of household goods, they pay for all closing costs in selling the house here and when we buy a house there, they will pay for two house hunting trips, they'll pay for trips back here every other weekend if Beth has to stay behind to tend to our affairs for a while, they'll set us up in temporary housing for two months (longer if needed) free, they assist us in finding a new house, and I could go on. (my current job gave me exactly $2000 for all relocation expenses to spend however I wanted, the end.) It was not an easy decision, but in a nutshell it's a job like what I originally wanted, the pay is better, the location is better, and they gave us everything we thought we might need to make it possible.

Zimmer (the company in Indiana) made me an offer today. Now comes the hard part. Deciding what to do. There was a part of me hoping I didn't get the offer so I wouldn't have to deal with the decision but now it's time to do some serious thinking, talking, and praying. Beth and I don't really care for living in Arkansas that much, and Indiana is a lot closer to her family. But we still have the condo in Virginia, and what if we can't sell this place. Even the money at the new job won't pay three mortgages. We've also made some really good friends here, even though it took a while. And I do like my job, and I have a great boss. The guy who would be my boss seemed pretty cool in the interview, but I don't really know how he is to work for. My boss here is great to work for. The job is located in Warsaw, Indiana, which is a lot like Mountain Home, Arkansas, but it is a lot closer to a real city than MH is (Warsaw: 40 mi to Fort Wayne, 50 to South Bend, 120 to Chicago, 120 to Indianapolis. MH: 120 mi to Springfield, 150 to Little Rock.). I think it may all come down to what kind of relocation assistance package they can give us.

I'm back home now, after taking the opportunity to go see Stephanie and her baby while I was nearby. Beth and her mom came to pick me up in Fort Wayne (even though Beth is now also sick as a dog) and we spent the weekend visiting. Julia is a cute little kid. We drove back home together with our friend Mikey from Detroit, who was going to come visit us this weekend anyway. We just caravaned. I always tell myself I'm never going to drive 13 hours the day before having to go back to work again, but I always do.

Now it can be told...I've been keeping a lid on this story for a while. A few months ago I got a call from a headhunter (who knows where he got my name) telling me about a job opening he had with a company in Indiana and asking for my resume. I assume there was no interest at the company, but he called back a few weeks ago telling me about another job with another company and would I like to be considered. Sure, I said. So he gave the company my resume and they wanted to interview me. So I did a phone interview with the guy who will be the boss of the new job, and a few days later I hear from the headhunter they want to bring me up for plant interviews. I flew up to Indiana (see below) and overcame 1) not getting into town until after midnight the night before, and b) them expecting me at 8:00 even though my letter said 9:00, and had a really good set of interviews. I even ran into an old classmate from Rose-Hulman, ChE class of '91. I was told at the end of the day that they expected to give me an offer next week by Friday. So, I'm feeling pretty confident about getting an offer. We'll see how it goes.

I had a most interesting flight out of St. Louis today. The plane I was on had some sort of problem with the cabin pressure regulator so as soon as we took off, everyone's ears started popping big time. One girl got a nosebleed. It was pretty uncomfortable, so we did a big circle and landed in St. Louis again. When the plane landed, the cabin actually fogged up. It looked a lot like smoke, and it was also windy enough that the landing was pretty hard, so it was easy to imagine that it was something really wrong and they were just feeding us a "pressure regulator" line to keep everyone calm. I was about 3 hours late getting to Fort Wayne. Why was I flying to Fort Wayne, you ask? I'll tell you later.

Stephanie had her baby today. Little miss Julia Renaye. Beth's hitting the road early tomorrow to go see them as a surprise. Steph doesn't know she's coming.

As it turns out, it was strep throat. Strep throat sucks. I went home from work kind of ill last Tuesday morning, and by evening it was awful. My throat was literally bloody raw. I went to the doctor Wednesday, and he actually stopped talking in mid-sentence when he looked in my throat and said "oh, geez." But I got some of that super duper antibiotic and Claritin for the congestion. I liked the antibiotic because my throat was more or less normal in a day and a half. Claritin, however, makes me dizzy. Anyway, I missed three days of work, plus Good Friday, but I felt well enough for the sunrise Easter service this morning. It was supposed to be out at Lake Norfork but we had a huge storm last night. Trees down, signs blown out, power going off, lots of lightning...so instead of at the lake it was at the church. Just as well.

Must...update...website...aaaaaaaaggh. Sick today. Mucus everywhere, skin, joints, eyeballs hurt...head stuffed... can't think...need...more...tea....

Lots going on lately, no time to update. Anyway, Beth went home about a week ago for her mom's 75th birthday. We got her on the train a lot less eventfully than last time (see 7-23-2000) because we actually found a motel near the station. But I dodn't feel like paying the money for a room that I was only going to use for a couple hours when she came back so I just slept in the car for a few hours until the train showed up. No bugs in the car this time. While she was gone I ate a lot of pizza. Now she's back. This weekend, we started putting a drainage hose in our lawn to keep the backyard from puddling so much. It's HARD to dig around here. The soil is all clay and there are a LOT of rocks. Today and yesterday we got about a quarter of the hose buried, and we're worn out. Anyway, eventually the downspouts on three corners of the house will all drain into the buried hose and empty into the ditch by the road, instead of soaking into the ground right by our foundation. In other news, Stephanie is due any day now, my NCAA tournament bracket finished at 36-28 (including the play-in game), and the X-Files is back with new episodes!