The Skinny in Virginny Part Deux

Yes, I know what time it is but I cant sleep. I'm just too excited about the big move coming up in 2 days. (By the way, please bear with me as my keyboard is currently under the weather and several of my punctuation keys don't work. I got no commas, colons, apostrophes, or parentheses so I have to go copy and paste them in later. It's been doing this for a couple months now but, interestingly enough, all the keys worked while I was down in Virginia. Both times! Even my laptop likes it better down there.) Anyway, as I was saying, I ended up having to rent a car in VA. I did that online using my mom's Mastercard. (No, I didn't steal it! She kindly let me use it since I didn't have enough left on either of my working credit cards to cover the cost of the car rental.)  So the plan was to arrive at Reagan Airport around ten-ish that night and take the shuttle over to the car rental place where I could pick up my cute little Kia Rio and drive seamlessly to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Simple, right? Well, I've since learned that there's no such thing as simple where travel is concerned. At least not for me. Is there some sort of travel jinx on me? Case in point: the last time I went to DC, I arrived 45 minutes before scheduled take off and tried to check in at one of those e-Ckeck in touch screen things. But the touch-sensitive screen wasn't being very sensitive so I had to pound on it multiple times to get it to accept my entry. (Kinda like my keyboard right now!)  That took up some precious time. Then I ran to the customs check point and presented my boarding pass but couldn't find my drivers license. I had to haul ass all the way back to check in and look all over the counter to see if I had left it there (which I had) then run allllll the way back to customs and try to remember where I had just put my boarding pass. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking away and my heart is beating so hard from all the running, I'm worried its going to give out on me. Then I have to run clear to the end of the terminal to the very last gate where I find out the plane hadn't even arrived yet! We were supposed to be boarding by then. I was scared I'd missed it so I asked the people around me if they were all going to DC, too. They said yes and the plane had been delayed. Nice, huh? Well anyway, things like that appear to be my lot in life for travel. This time around, I arrived in plenty of time and made sure I had all my identification where I could see it. The plane even arrived and boarded on time. But...there was some bad weather and fog in the area which had severely reduced visibility so badly that all the landing strips had been closed except for one. That meant all traffic was congested into the same area so we were an hour late taking off. OK, so we arrive a little late, no problem. I had no trouble getting off the plane and finding my luggage and hauling the suitcases over to the shuttle stop where the miracle bus took me to the rental pickup place. Cut to me standing at the counter with my bags, all winded and drenched in sweat and nearly having a panic attack because they refused to take my mom's credit card unless she was there to sign the rental agreement. They refused to fax anything to her to sign or get a verbal OK on the phone and I had no other working credit cards except for my debit card, but there wasn't enough in my checking to cover the charge. It was damn near midnight and I was tired and run down and literally stranded there at the desk trying to communicate with a guy who spoke very broken English and practically needed semaphore to understand what I was trying to say. Well, that scene right there I decided was my Scarlet O'Hara moment. At the end of the first act of "Gone with the Wind" where she's starving and eating dirty radishes and she could very well give in to all the hopelessness that surrounds her. But instead, her true character is revealed when she makes up her mind that she's going to get through this and, as God as her witness, "Never go hungry again!"  (Cue dramatic music, fade to black.)  Like Miss Scarlet,  I'm resourceful. I decided to pay with my debit card and make an emergency transfer of funds first thing the next morning to cover the charge plus the overdraft fees they were bound to hit me with. Hurdle #1 conquered. Next hurdle: I find out they actually don't have any Kia Rios. So they "upgraded" me to the next size car and gave me a PT Cruiser. I hate those wannabe retro station wagons in disguise! HATE them. But I had little choice in the matter. So I took the dang key and followed the signs to the parking lot and to the space where it awaited me. Now I had to figure out how to shut the parking break off, turn on the headlights, and get out of there. I was a disaster trying to navigate my way to the exit. The guy in the booth had to have been shaking his head at me thinking: "Damn women drivers!"  I even told him I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going. He tried giving me directions but I was only half listening because as soon as I pulled out of there, I turned to Bailey, my trusty GPS navigator. I downloaded her onto my cell phone after getting the service as a Christmas present but I hadn't had to use her until now. This was the time where she would show me what she was made of. Well, she guided me off the airport property and down the streets of Arlington, VA, all the way to the Best Western Pentagon. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't that bad at that time of night. Also thankfully, I had a room on the first floor so I didn't have to lug my shit up the stairs this time. It was late, I was tired, it had been a helluva long day, and I was so glad to get to sleep so I could get up for my first job interview the next morning. Will Bailey be able to get me there on time despite the notorious Metro DC traffic? Find out in Part Trois coming soon...or never. Or whenever I feel like it.

The Skinny in Virginny (Part Un)

I'm thinking of renaming my blog to the above title, or at least adding it as a subtitle. I just spent the last week in Nova (Northern Virginia) driving all over God's creation and interviewing for more jobs than I've held in my entire life total. Do you remember back in high school (and college *blush*) when I was too timid to drive anywhere outside of Bowling Green? I still get extremely tense and nervous in high traffic areas, but last Thursday, I actually drove in downtown Washington, D.C....during the noon rush hour!! Scary? You bet! Crazy? All kinds. Did my life flash before my eyes? Yeah, just a little (enough to make me feel like I was being judged for all my sins one final time before entering the Kingdom of Heaven). It took me an hour to go 10.8 miles, partly because I missed a U-turn, but seriously! I wasn't about to attempt one in all that oncoming traffic. I opted to make a few extra turns and negotiate some traffic circles that made me feel like I was headed down some abyss in the Twilight Zone. Ok, maybe I'm being overly dramatic there. Given the fact that I only moved 2 feet every 10 minutes, it wasn't that scary. But, it was quite an eye-opening experience, and one that made me still see flashes of it as I lay down trying to fall asleep that night. Why did I do this, you ask? Well, the story officially started back in October, when I was laid off from my job due to the current financial situation of the office. Uncontrollable rising costs of medical malpractice insurance for Obstetricians in Ohio led to the practice no longer being able to afford it, which forced Doc to drop OB from her list of services offered, which led to a sharp loss of business when all the pregnant people had to transfer their care elsewhere, which led to me no longer having any job security. (Get all that?) Unfortunately, the job market in this area isn't exactly thriving. I did get another job, but absolutely hated it there, so no more than 2 months or so passed when we both agreed it wasn't the right place for me. (And I can name several other former employees there who could say the same thing and all agree that leaving was the best decision they ever made.) So, after that, I was faced with very few options around here. I knew I wanted nothing to do with OB/GYN anymore, and any general office/administrative jobs are very hard to come by, and usually the competition for them is tough. I really wanted to be able to work with animals, and finally apply my learnings from that Veterinary Assistance course I took 5 years ago. But, if I had been able to land a job doing that here, I wouldn't have been dicking around with OB/GYN in the first place. So, I began to entertain the idea of looking for a job in the metro DC area, since I already know several people who live there. I looked at housing, registered with a few employment agencies, and finally decided to fly down to look at some of the places I'd seen advertised. The week of Jan. 18 I spent in Arlington, looking at a few places and getting a feel for the area. I did some serious shopping at the Pentagon mall (serious, as in no amateurs allowed!), saw some neat landmarks I'd only ever seen on TV before, and even went with John for some of those Thai lettuce wraps from Cheesecake Factory (damn! I missed those!). All in all, my impression of the area was favorable. And, while I was waiting at the Pentagon Fashion Centre metro stop, I saw a stack of little mini-catalogs called the Pet Lover's Companion, so I grabbed one and figured I'd start sending my resume to all the local vet listings. I figured at least one would get in touch with me. Well...the responses started coming in droves. It appeared everything I'd been told about DC being the hottest job market on the east coast was all true! I started lining up interviews for the week of Feb. 4. In BG, I'd had a total of 3 interviews in 2 months. In DC, I had 8 in 4 days (and more on the way!). I was starting to think I could probably sell my services to the highest bidder. The interviews ranged in areas from DC to Arlington to Alexandria to Herndon to Ashburn to Great Falls to Centreville...yeah, it soon became apparent I wasn't going to be able to rely on mass transit in order to get to all these places. I'd already purchased my plane ticket there and back (because I bought it back when I thought I'd have 3 interviews at the most and all in the same area) so I couldn't cancel it without a huge penalty. Plus, I really, really did not want to make the 8-hour drive down there and back. What to do, what to do? Well, it seemed that unless I wanted to entrust my life to non-Anglophone cab drivers who charged, like, a hundred dollars per mile, I would have to (dunt-dunt-DAH!!!)...rent a car, another thing I'd never done by myself before in my life. Just the thought of having to drive myself around to all these unfamiliar places was terribly intimidating. But, I decided to bite the damn bullet and give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe I was capable of more than I give myself credit for. And, with that, I leave you until Part Deux...