The Oregon Trail, Back in the Desert
Sunday, June 6th, 2010Holy scorching inferno of Arizona, it’s toasty back in Phoenix for the weekend. After almost six hard weeks on the road, I’m suffering a few classic symptoms of exhaustion, but there’s no time to be tired right now, more work to do. In fact, I’m not even at the half-way point of these current adventures. Maybe then I’ll take a breather…
So here’s the latest… after nearly a month in the San Fran Bay area and despite several nice offers, the dogs and I decided Berkeley wasn’t for us. Couple cool things working but really, California sucks, way too many campfire blockers…
So despite me, and most often the mutts, exploring most every other interesting option over the past 18 months that might possibly take care of at least most of our needs — including Santa Fe / Hawaii / Ft Collins / Lincoln / Minneapolis / Iowa City / Berkeley, plus a few others, we’re still headed to Oregon, to post up for the next few years.
Me and the mutts took a 6-day scouting trip to the Beaver State over a long Memorial Day weekend, scoped out rental options and aced several job interviews. Not bad for a Friday, considering the evening before, I’d driven 500+ miles from San Fran, so I hadn’t slept or showered since Wednesday night, just kept pushing straight through, in part thanks to all the craziness the week started off with, both of my dogs nearly dying…. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of vets out there are quite incompetent, overpriced, and over-medicating. Be careful at the vet. And try to be sensible and look past the emotional aspects of it. It sucks but when you’re upset that your much loved pet is sick and suffering, you can be vulnerable.
Long story short, thankfully, despite the vet, it all worked out. The mutts are back to the usual maniacs, but I’d been a little nervous about both of them. Close call… At least they got their vaccines and I now have a few backup pain meds for serious emergency only, so it wasn’t a total loss, but $600 in mostly useless vet bills later…. Lucky it wasn’t more. The good doctor kindly waived some of his fees, not the whole bill, not exactly not surprisingly, despite his multiple instances of malpractice, of course that’s all a much longer story for another time.
The sick maniacs got to seriously sleep it all off on the long car-ride north while I thought about likely interview questions I’d be facing. I rehearsed various scenarios and make mental lists of points to address, experience to highlight, yadda yadda. The interviews weren’t bad, I was offered 3 out of 4 of the jobs I interviewed for. In the end, not too tough a decision. I accepted a position with a multimedia marketing firm as a project coordinator, overseeing business and branding solutions for a large group of clients, mostly in green construction technology, solar/wind/hydro energy, and related business-to-business market niches. I’m excited, as it seems a very progressive company with great benefits, nice salary, profit sharing, friendly funny folks working there, etc. Timing is indeed everything. It helps to be good.
While in Oregon, visited some old surfer friends homesteading just outside of Lincoln City. They bought a nice semi-custom cedar-shake cottage with a few outbuildings on an acre. They got it good, and we enjoyed a amazing dinner, a couple racks of ribs and chicken on the smoker all day. I ate a huge meal. No surfing, but we played in the rain on quiet beaches, explored rainforests, and strolled along, sometimes in, several wild scenic rivers. I’m also looking forward to living just only an hour’s cruise to the coast, and being able to get my longboard on.
So drove back to San Fran Wednesday, and then headed back to Phoenix on Thursday. The bus paint isn’t done, but it’s a great start. I’m still not yet sure if I’m driving it or hauling it to Oregon. Sucks that the summer roadtrip got canned, and these rental cars are a killer, but hey, can’t take a bus roadtrip without the bus!
Meanwhile, I’ve already farmed out most of the other work, and decided on some of the companies I’m dropping, but I’m still maintaining many of my current clients. That should be some nice extra money to really start making some moves. I’ll certainly be busy. Later this summer, I’m taking a couple more practical medicine courses, then this fall start in on dual mfa/mba program, and of course, need to squeeze in a little prep time for law school next fall. Lots of overlaps to make it all work but hey you only get one shot at some things…
Still no place, but I’ve got a U-Haul reserved this week, loading up, and hopefully be driving out of Phoenix by Wednesday night. Before I know it, I’ll be quickly jumping into my new job and getting settled into Eugene. I’ve found a few house rentals closer to town that will allow two bigger dogs, but nothing’s popped quite yet. I’m thinking about just moving to the country, find something cheaper with a few acres, and then commuting 10-20 miles a day. I’m likely just going to buy a house before the market rebounds too much more. I’ve got a few ideas cooking. We’ll see.
