ODDREE.COM

4:58PM

I crawled out of bed yesterday in a complete daze. The Niquil I had gulped down the night before must have kicked in. The first dose wore off around 4:30AM and when I woke up sneezing, I chugged down another dose to put me down. So at around 9:00AM I opened my eyes and realized it was really quiet in the house. I was a little confused. My house is never that quiet. But then I noticed the time and realized my kids had gone off to school and my wife had too as she was helping at the book fair all day. I felt pretty good. Almost like this head cold had subsided. But then about ten minutes later I was sneezing uncontrollably and choking down more pills. It's definitely a sinus infection. What great fucking timing.

I went downstairs and checked my email. Just spam. No blinking voicemail light. I checked it anyway. No voicemail. *sigh* It would be a long day of waiting.

Sometime between Thursday and Friday I was to hear about this job. And the longer the day got, the more I began to think that I didn't get the job and they just didn't have the heart to tell me. They knew I wanted the job really bad (especially after bringing them brownies). Perhaps they just didn't have the heart to tell me. No, maybe I was jumping the gun. After all, it's a tough decision. They probably want to hold off until Friday to give their answer. I waited, and waited, and waited.

It was just about five o' clock now, and I was getting ready to go to the grocery and pick up dinner items. Another day gone. My wife had just started up the laundry. Something she had been putting off because of the noise. No sooner did she start it up that the phone rang. It was them. Here they had waited until the end of the day. Expecting bad news at this point I happily answered.

"So you tried to buy me with brownies, eh?". The owner seemed a little wierded out by the brownies, but appreciative none the less. He went on to tell me that they were hours away from making their decision, and he wanted to ask me a few questions if I had a moment. I did. And so he asked something to the effect of "why would you want to take a job as different as this one?". I had a good answer for this. I had a LONG answer for this and so I addressed it. In my explanation I detailed: (a) why I feel like my students don't learn anything valuable from me (b) that the training industry is a crooked self propelling product pusher (c) that I hate traveling (d) that I don't like getting stiffed. He agreed that these were all good reasons to leave my field and so, he paused. He looked through his schedule. "Can we meet tomorrow, say 3:30PM?", he asked. "Absolutely!", I replied.

So did I have the job? Was I interviewing a third time? What the hell was next? Thankfully before ending the call he let me know what's going on. "Just so that there is no suspense here, you probably know what's coming ... we're going to offer you a job tomorrow". Hooray! I got it! I got the job! Thank God. Now I could take a deep breath. And if I didn't feel like such utter shit on behalf of this infection I would jump up and down.

Today is a new day. I have a lot I need to get done. As I approach noon, I haven't accomplished much of anything. I need to talk to two different companies that I am contracted to and try to let myself off the hook on behalf of my new career. One project I never signed a contract for. In fact, I haven't billed them and may never get paid anyway. So no real loss there. The other, has always treated me very well, paid on time, etc. I regret telling them that I will not be working for them any more. I also need to call my mortgage company, and my auto finance company to let them know that I will indeed pay them sometime in the near future.

But I did get something done today. I published the first issue of my magazine! It's live, along with a new website that kept me busy for practically a full week. Check it out @ http://www.oddree.com.

On a final note, as I was blogging my phone rang from a strange 800 number. She asks "is this the owner of Beavers IT Training?".

"Why, yes it is".
"I'm --- from Yahoo. Would you have a few minutes to discuss advertising for your business?"
"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary"
"Do you feel that your site doesn't need to be advertised?"
"No, it's just that as of today I'm kind of ... out of business. I'm closing".
"Ah, that's too bad, why is that?"
"Because I have a job! Thanks anyway though!"

*click*

It's a little depressing closing this thing down. My wife and I worked hard to build this business and now it's 'done'. I won't miss the work (at all!). But it's a bittersweet victory in our lives. Something I will always look back on. The highlight being our family trip to Pittsburgh. We will always have that. Perhaps I will keep the website around. In memory of our exciting 14 month venture.

Historic Comments
Thats flippin' awesome man. Hope you enjoy your new job/career.

I hope a good, stable job won't have an impact on your entertaining and eventful blog posts.
Michael | 05.31.06 - 9:38 am | #

Congrats on the job. I've often wondered why I sat through technology classes that seemed too simple to be doing any good. At least now you have a chance to become a BOFH.
Poe | 06.01.06 - 10:08 pm | #

YES! Great news Ray!

I just got similar news today, but I don't start until July 10th because I am taking time off to spend with my newborn daughter.

Rich
EvilRich | 06.02.06 - 3:31 pm | #

Glad to hear it Ray. I always wondered why you were training instead of being in the trenches. I am sure you will enjoy your new career. Congrats!
tdo | 06.05.06 - 7:09 pm | #