There and Back Again

In case you missed it on Twitter or Facebook, B and I are heading back to Ohio this week.  It wasn't a simple decision - a lot of things were taken into consideration.  But it all boils down to finding work, and unfortunately we're not finding it here.  It's easiest to explain it this way:

1. Yes, we have a free place to stay here, which is awesome.  However...
2. ... it's over an hour outside the city, so getting a temporary job is impossible.
3. And no, we don't want to get a rental while we work temp jobs, that'd be pretty pointless.
4. Between the two of us, we've applied for over 40 jobs out here...  
5. ...and between the two of us, we've had THREE interviews, two for jobs that we didn't take for our own reasons, and the third, well, B got hosed.  It's been more than just frustrating, let me tell you.
6. My unemployment benefits run out at the end of January, so it's sh*t-or-get-off-the-pot time.
7. On top of all this, our free place to stay is COLD.  I don't mind the snow, but when it's below zero outside and we can't keep it warmer than 50 degrees inside... something's gotta give.

Now, back in Ohio:

1. We also have a free place to stay, which is also awesome.
2. This free place to stay is actually WARM, with a gas fireplace even!
3. It's also located right in the heart of the suburbs, surrounded on all sides by places to get temp jobs.
4. B already has a temp job lined up out there, at the ski resort he used to work at.
5. All of our stuff is still out there, so we'd actually be able to use our winter coats and snow boots, among other things.

But the kicker is this: the government is currently handing out millions of dollars in grants toward the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which means there are more watershed-type projects being started there, which means more jobs in B's field.  He's put in applications for a few already, including one with the group he did his internship with.  So the chances of B starting his career are pretty darn good out there.  And we've gotten the impression that the Northwest won't be hiring any transplanted Midwesterners anytime soon.

So we're loading back up, cats and dog and suitcases (plus a few more things that my aunt was storing for me), and heading back east.  I never would have thought it was possible to feel disappointed and excited all at the same time.

On and on

Not much new to report.  Mom headed to Arizona a couple weeks ago so we've moved into her little house, much to the joy of the pets.  Jake has the couch, the cats can play race-cars up and down the long hallway, and we have a real bed to share with all three of them.  It's staying warm enough inside (surprising, since we're relying solely on portable electric heaters) and there's snow on the mountains across the river today.

We're both still applying for jobs like crazy - the job interview in Bend went well, but afterwards I realized that I really wouldn't fit in at the company (six people, all hard-core liberal hippies, and me, an only slightly left-leaning Republican... kinda hard to hide your differences in an office so small), and that B would have to take a job completely outside his realm.  It would have been miserable for me and unfair to him, so we decided to keep looking.  So, here we are, still looking.  I have a handful of applications out that I'm really hopeful about, and B has a couple to apply for this week that would be awesome too.  We have days where we just ignore the fact that we're unemployed and essentially homeless and just sit with a book and a crochet project and veg out.  Then we have days where we just want to scream and give up.  Mix in a couple completely productive get-shit-done days and that's where we are.  It's draining.

But we've been spending time with my long-lost friends and family, getting reacquainted with my hometown, and enjoying the scenery, if not the inconveniences of living in the sticks.  We drove past the house I grew up in a few days ago, which I was incredibly nervous about.  Mom had to sell the house a few years ago when she realized she couldn't take care of it by herself anymore, and the impression I'd gotten was that the people that bought it we're taking very good care of it.  In reality, it was just a matter of different taste - they painted it a dark pine-green-gray color with white trim, as opposed to the light gray with blue trim that Mom and Dad had liked, and they fenced a portion of the side yard for their dog and to keep the deer out of their sizeable vegetable garden.  I was surprised to find how much I liked what they'd done to it.  

I drove though my college campus too, which has grown tremendously since I was a student nine years ago.  I haven't visited my old high school yet, and I kind of want to catch a football game there to try and catch up with the coaches and teachers that are still there that I knew and loved.  It's been quite a trip down memory lane, and exciting to see how much the city has changed.  To think, all those years ago I couldn't wait to leave, and now I'm actually glad to be here.

Randomness is all I got

You'd think an RV filled with two cats, a large dog, and two adult humans would be horribly uncomfortable and crowded, but you'd be wrong.  Of course now the weather is starting to turn cold, so that might prove to be an issue...

***
I have an interview next Monday down in Bend, and I'm excited and nervous and mostly excited but still pretty nervous.  It's with a solar panel company, and it's a sales support/marketing job, so it's totally up my alley.  Now I just have to convince them of that.  Eek!

***
Satellite reception out here in the boonies is hit-or-miss, so I was heartbroken when it crapped out in the middle of 'Castle' last night.  But thank the digital gods, it was posted on Hulu already today.  I need my Nathan Fillion hit for the week.

So. Cute.

***
Something somewhere linked to Tumblr, so I bounced over there to see what the deal was.  I think I like it better than blogging.  I place lower expectations on myself for content length and quality.  So you can find me over there now too.

***
Yep.  The whole content length and quality thing is in evidence today.

Gimme a minute to catch my breath...

It's been a helluva time these past few days - we made it from Ohio to Washington unscathed, and have been spending the last three days down in Oregon.  B had a final interview in Coquille and we took some time to drive around the area - from Coos Bay to Coquille to Myrtle Point to Bandon - and, well... I don't want to offend anyone who lives down there, but there were times when I was saying to B, "Paddle faster, I hear banjos!"  I grew up in the country, don't get me wrong, but the vibe I got in SW Oregon was a bit... erm... uncomfortable.  It's hard to explain.  (Then we learned that Deliverance was actually filmed down there, and it made a lot of sense.)  The funny thing is, we struck up a conversation with some guys we met in Bend yesterday and mentioned we'd been down in Coos Bay, and they immediately were like, "Oooooh, yeah those coasties are CRAZY" so we felt a bit validated.  Anyway, we had a good long talk about it in the car on the way to Bend and decided that B is going to pass on this job.  Not just because of the area, but the job itself would only pay $14/hour and would be so fricking stressful for him, dealing with  close-minded, set-in-their-ways locals.  Plus, I wouldn't be able to find a job for myself either unless I want to work at the corner Gas & Go or something.  So, it's back to the drawing board... but at least we're out west now.

We did, however, absolutely fall in love with a couple of areas.  First, Missoula.  We stopped there to visit B's brother on our way to Spokane, and we both immediately felt at home there.  Young, hipsterish/hippieish, outdoorsy, comfortable, just a great town.  Unfortunately a great town with limited possibilities for jobs, but still might work out.  Then yesterday we drove to Bend via Eugene/Springfield along the McKenzie River, and Oh.My.Gawd. is that river valley AWESOME.  It's on our list now too, along with Bend.  B would probably be able to get a job up at Mt. Bachelor pretty easily too - or at any ski resort, really.

So, yeah.  We got all sorts of worked up about something that was so hugely disappointing.  But we've had some fun along the way!

My traveling companions - The cats were somewhat easy to deal with, except when they got tired of each other.  Of course it took me until the last day to figure out the best way for them to travel - Gyro drugged and in his small crate, Lily not drugged and in the big crate.  If they both were in the big crate, Gyro always drugged and Lily either drugged or not, it inevitably led to flying fur and yowling.  I had a nervous breakdown somewhere in South Dakota and nearly threw them both into oncoming traffic, but it all turned out okay in the end.

Wind farm in Minnesota

Sunrise in South Dakota

The storm we drove through in Montana (rainbow!)

The Rockies

The scenery - flat, then hilly, then flat, then MOUNTAINS.  Some ugly bits in South Dakota and some nasty rain in Montana, but otherwise pretty interesting.

Then. finally, my brother's place north of Spokane.  Which is EXACTLY what we needed after that crazy trip.  That's the Pend Oreille River.  Yeah.  My brother just built a new house on his property there, so my mom lives in the little mobile home they were in during the build, and we're in the RV right now.  It's surprisingly comfortable.

Oh, did I mention we stopped in Missoula on the way?

SHOT SKI!

It's starting! (eeeek!)

I sent out a mass-email to my fam & friends yesterday, outlining our plan (as much as we have one) & I've been talking about it in Facebook & Twitter, so I figured I'd make it all official and shit by writing about it here too.  (Since we all know I'm so good about writing...)

We're leaving Ohio on Friday!

The stuff that we had out here at the in-law's has been crammed into our now over-stuffed storage unit, awaiting further instruction.  We'll stuff our clothes into suitcases, fill up a cooler with caffeinated beverages and beef jerky, drug the bejeezus out of the pets, and down the road we'll go, across I-90 through such joyous places as Mitchell, South Dakota, until we land in Spokane.  We'll crash there for a couple of days, then dump the pets on my mom and drive down to the booming metropolis of Coquille, Oregon to meet with some folks that might actually want to hire B, and pay him to do watershed-type-stuff.  The job seems to be in the bag, so when we get a confirmed "welcome to the company" we'll drive around down there to find a place to rent.  Thankfully there are a couple of good-sized towns nearby where we should be able to find a place - otherwise we'd probably be shit out of luck in that tiny little town.

Now, obviously there are a plethora of ways this could all go south of cheese.  I started listing all the possible things that could go wrong, then I started getting the shakes.  Traveling across the country is one thing, but traveling with two cats and a dog is another.  Then there's the whole, what if B doesn't get this job bit, which... while the idea of living and trying to find a job myself in such a smalltown-rural-middle-of-nowhere area kind of makes me a bit OMG, I'd much rather face that challenge than face starting all over again on the job hunt for B.  Me, well, there are dream careers and then there are jobs, and I can find a job doing whatever.  B needs this job to kick-start his career, and I'm willing to wait a couple of years for him to catch up before taking the next step with mine.  Besides, I grew up in hickville, and the area down there looks awesome from what we've been able to see.  I think I can make it work.

I'm still left thinking about what I'm going to do though.  I'm getting the federal unemployment extension and have about 5 more months on it.  It's possible I might get a second extension too, since I last worked in Michigan.  So I could keep leeching off the government for a while.  Or I could find a retail job and have flashbacks to those despairing years right out of college, which wouldn't be too bad but might wind up paying less than I'm getting from UIA.  There are a couple other complete-leap-of-faith ideas, in other words absolutely insane and not entirely realistic, that are floating around in my head.  But both require either a good amount of capital or a good amount of experience, neither of which I have at the moment, so I think they will continue to sit on the back burner.

A couple of things I know I'm going to do though, are the farmer's markets and volunteering with the watershed association that B will (hopefully) be working for.  I don't want my marketing & PR skills to get rusty, so I figure I'll loan them to the CWA.  And I've always wanted to have a booth at a market to sell not only our garden veggies, but my crafty bits & bobs too.  Smalltown Oregon seems to be the perfect place to start, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Also, this:

"Neah da beech, boyeee!"