around the world in 180 days

I’ve been nearly two weeks in the new job and I’m settling in nicely. I don’t know everything yet, but I know a few things and I get to work on them on my own. I hate the part of starting a new job where you have to sit with somebody and watch them work and it’s been mercifully short and sporadic here at the new place.

I have my own office, with a door, real walls and everything. I haven’t decorated it, but I’ll get to put whatever I want on the walls and whatnot. It’s intimidating to have an office, though, because if there were, say, any strange or foul smells in the room and someone came in with a question or to help me with something, I wouldn’t be able to blame said smells on anyone else. Not that there would be any smells, of course, I’m just speaking hypothetically here.

Anna is way busy. On Wednesdays, she leaves at 6:30 and doesn’t get home until after 10. It’s going to be a hard 2 years for her. Probably me, too.

We’ve found an apartment and have been accepted. It’s in Highland Park, just off 35E on Randolph and Lexington. It’s close to Grand Ave. and all the shops and restaurants there, which is nice. It’s also a lot closer to my job. I certainly won’t miss the 45 minute commute. Anna will be close enough to walk to school and work, if she wants to. We’ve got 2 bedrooms, a little covered parking spot and off-street parking. It’s nice. We move in Oct. 1, or probably sometime shortly after that, as the first is a Monday.

Other than that, life is slipping into an insidious routine all too quickly. I almost feel like I could close my eyes, turn on autopilot and come back to find 20 years gone in the blink of an eye. The long, dark tunnel to oblivion, right?

I don’t think so.

I’ve been away for a while. You see, when we’re not traveling, my life is very boring. Take today, for instance. I woke up early, 7:30, to say goodbye to Anna, fired off a few resumes and sat around talking with my grandma. Nothing much to write about.
There’s a reason, though, that I’m posting here again, and it’s because I’m no longer unemployed. As of Monday, 9/17, I’ll be back amongst the working class, putting in my 40 hours a week with the Sportsmans Guide, a catalog company based in South St. Paul. I’ll be an editor, editing ad copy. I’m starting at $5000 more than I made at Questex and I couldn’t be happier. Ask me how I feel about it after a few weeks. Maybe I won’t be so cheerful then.

Hopefully I will, though. The work is interesting, sort of a combination of what I went to school for and what I did at Questex. I’ve already met the staff I’ll be working with and they’re mostly young and all seem very nice. I’m excited to be joining such a good team and look forward to a great career there.

There. News. Finally. I’ve been feeling pretty frustrated the last few days, because I feel like I look and look and nobody wants me. Not anymore. The Sportsman’s Guide wants me. On to the next step . . .

We're back in the city where we fell in love. Ah, how sweet. Our good friend Jen lives out on Park Point now and was kind enough to offer up her living room floor as a place to sleep. She has ... [Continue reading this entry]

They've been a bit slow in coming, and I suspect there aren't many checking back regularly, but I thought it was time to make good on my word. Minnesota has been good to us, as usual. The weather's been nice, if ... [Continue reading this entry]

details to follow . . .

It looks like we'll be home a couple of days early. After emailing Steve about a dozen times, it looks like our best shot at getting home this weekend is flying from AMS to BDL (Hartford, CT) tomorrow, 7/13 and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Marrakesh is hot. It's not in the Sahara proper (I don't think), amidst the oceans of sand dunes that the name Sahara evokes, but it is definitely an oasis in the midst of a desert. During the hottest part of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yesterday, I couldn't switch to an English keyboard layout and today Anna can't. Lucky me, I guess. Anyway, Morocco and Marrakesh are a great place to end our trip. We are staying in the Medina, a huge, walled area of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Please forgive me, but this post will be short and error strewn. The keyboard on this computer is significantly different, yet similar enough to really mess with me. In most places, you can change it to an English keyboard and ... [Continue reading this entry]

There are so many things that happen to you or around you when you're traveling that just would not happen in the US. Some things are pretty prosaic, like in NZ, there were trampolines in public campgounds, which, because of ... [Continue reading this entry]