New Job in San Francisco

The big news is that I have a new job. I have been interviewing for about six months with no luck, then I was sitting in the Biltmore Hotel in LA having lunch after interviewing with E&Y, and my phone rang with a "415" number. I thought about all the firms I had interviewed with in SF and anxiously answered. Instead, it was Mary Powell, a good friend of mine that I studied law with at Georgetown. It was about 1:20pm and she had just had lunch with a friend who had mentioned that I had interviewed with their law firm. Mary told me that as soon as she was finished with lunch, she decided to call me because her firm was going to "hire me first." After six months of interviewing, I admit it did feel good to at least be wanted by someone.

So the following Wednesday, I flew out to SF and interviewed with Trucker Huss. Trucker Huss is a very excellent employee-benefits boutique firm in San Francisco. It turns out that a partner and an associate, who happen to specialize in the same area of law as me, left the firm a little over a week ago and the firm needed someone immediately to fill the gap. Which is good, because I really needed a job immediately too. Not only had my funds pretty much depleted, but school was starting and Shelley was becoming a little frantic about where our kids were going to start school.

I interviewed on Thursday, and on Friday Mary called to tell me that Trucker Huss was preparing an offer for me. I really do like the firm, I knew they would provide good terms and that I would accept the offer -- so I shaved my head! I had been wanting to shave my head for a while, but didn't think it would be the best interview look. But now I have no more interviews on the horizon, and I knew that even if it looked horrible, it would grow in enough to be presentable for my first day of work at Trucker Huss.

The next week Trucker Huss called me with the terms of their offer. It was only a little less than I was expecting, but it was a very reasonable offer and I am thrilled to accept it. In fact, we were on the phone around midnight, and I accepted the offer right then. Mary actually called me the next day to make sure I wasn't just loopy tired, and I confirmed that I really did want the job.

Because Trucker Huss needs someone immediately, I need a pay check immediately and school has started in California two days ago, I agreed to begin work on September 8th. That would give us about two weeks to pack up, find a new place to live, etc, etc. . . .

But just as my dream job has finally fallen into my lap like manna from heaven, our move seems to be coming together with the help of providence also. We reviewed all the homes for rent and made a list, in order of priority, of the homes we thought we wanted. At the top of the list was an older ranch home in Walnut Creek that was on an acre of land. Shelley's parents were kind enough to go visit all the homes. At the first home, which was also our first pick, Shelley's dad had actually known the owner for over 20 years.

We reviewed the pictures of the house from Shelley's parent's and decided that it was the house for us. You can see pics of the house at Shelley's Blog. Obviously, we were tired of items such as our gourmet kitchen, library, and oversized double shower, and were, instead, ready for a small cozy place where we can raise kids. (Of course, it was also the cheapest rent, and in the end, we are indeed cheap.)

Because the owner was a friend of Shelley's dad, he rented us the place on the spot with no credit check or references. We just sent him the deposit and "a la peanut butter sandwich" -- I have a job and a place to live.

The home is on one acre, and Jonathan was excited because he figured we would not have to go to a range anymore to play paintball. Because he is our little "fruit bat", I think he will actually be most excited about the fruit trees on the property and how much more fun it is to ride a BMX bike on an acre of land, instead of a cul-de-sac. Dang, I am excited for him already!

One of the best things about the rental is that the property is in trust and must to be sold soon, so we have the opportunity to negotiate a rent-to-own agreement. Even the thought that we might end up with an acre of land and a small ranch home in the middle of Walnut Creek makes me dizzy. It would be so unbelievably cool!

Next issue was the whole moving part. I woke up Saturday morning and went to JetBlue online. Amazingly, they had one-way tickets to SFO for $133.00! Wahoo!

Unfortunately, JetBlue will only allow pets that fit under your seat on the plane. That left us in a quandary for what to do with Riley, pictured to the left. Riley can drag Jonathan by the the pant leg through the snow -- he does not fit under my plane seat. Instead, the cheapest flight for Riley and I was on United for $700.00. Boohoo!

On to setting up our move. This will be our first "full pack" move. I am so excited, but I almost can't imagine the move without the elder's quorum coming over to carry everything into the truck and without Shelley and her friends spending endless hours wrapping items in newspaper.

Kate and Maddy are the biggest beneficiaries of the full pack move though. All they have done for the past week is visit their friends and shop for school clothes. With Shelley in full "guilt" mode over moving again, she is pretty much saying "yes" to everything the kids ask. With the full pack, Maddie and Katie do not have much to do other than clean their rooms. Pretty rough, right?

So that's it. On September 4th, we fly to SFO and on September 8th, I start my new job.