Jiggity-jig

I am, as the title implies, home again, home again.

The trip odometer on the rental is showing 2,320 miles since Saturday morning. I'm impressed by the Camry, truth be told - it ticked along at a solid 35-37mpg for the trip. It was relatively comfortable (NOTHING is comfortable after ten hours in one seat), had enough ass for highway miles, the sound system was good, and it had a USB port that let me put all my MP3s on a thumb drive and use those instead of repeatedly hitting "scan" to find a tolerable radio station. If/when I'm in the market for a midsize sedan, Toyota will get a closer look than it might have before.

The drive out was long. I had lunch with pediem and ThotPD, then stayed the night with TheJack. Out early the next day, stopped in St. Louis for coffee with an old friend, then on to the KC 'burb that was the final goal. Had dinner with my brother (in-law, but "brother" is fine) and collapsed.

Tested with Agency 1 late Monday morning. *Just* testing. "Here's the computer, give it the information it asks for, if you have any problems or need the restroom let me know, the test can take one to three hours." Took me about 90 minutes, doing ALL the practice problems. I'm quite confident of my test performance, but the oral boards will be based on both the test and a two-page essay that all applicants had to submit previously. So... We'll see.

I went back to my hotel and veg'd for an hour, then back into the suit and headed southeast to Agency 2. This was a relatively impromptu visit and far from a formal interview; I have an application in there as well and emailed the director before this trip to see if I could stop in for a tour and chat.

We ended up talking for nearly two hours. (!) *I* left feeling like we had a pretty good "click". I am hoping she does as well.

I don't know what will happen next; they're both going to require oral boards as part of the process which will mean another trip out. It's a five-day production and not cheap, but if it lands me a job it's worth it. Agency 1 pays more than Agency 2 by a significant amount, but #2 is a career step instead of a career slide. In other words, it's a promotion. An exciting one. #2 has some MAJOR projects in the works for the coming 12-24 months, and being in early on those would be both FUN and a hell of a resume pad further on.

Fingers crossed - for either.

I had dinner with my brother and his fiancee Monday night, crashed earlyish at the hotel, and got on the road whenever I woke up. That translated into turning wheels around 0800. I flew across MO, around STL just before noon with no trouble, and cruised through Indy around 4 - just before afternoon rush.

Shortly thereafter, I came over a hill on I70 and braked hard for a parking lot. Eventually things started rolling again, and ISP had I70E shut down at Exit 123. I took the scenic tour of US3 and US40 through Spiceland, Lewisville, Dublin, and Cambridge City before jumping back on the interstate - total diversion time about one hour.

That delay, fortunately, meant I missed rush hour in Columbus. I kept chugging along and made it to pediem's place around 10pm, where we chatted over a couple beers for a while and then I collapsed. Back on the road early this morning, some nasty weather between Cleveland and Jamestown, and I rolled in the driveway here right around 3pm.

Good trip, hopefully productive, the laundry is in the wash, and I'm decompressing.

And by the by, Ohio - you have HANDS-DOWN the worst drivers I have ever encountered.