Better! (and worse..)

Maybe it was the suit... :)

A far better day yesterday. Better company, better fit for me, better people to work for, better advancement opportunity, better location, and... better traffic on the way there and back this time. There were two possible positions, with one head and shoulders above the other, as is the manager, I think. The head of the whole department is also a really great lady, fun, positive, and... very family oriented. It comes through in the attitude of the entire department. You work hard while you're there, and then leave when you're supposed to. Good, good...

The immediate area for housing around Schaumburg (pronounced shahmberg, not shauoomburrg) :) is expensive, but according to the realty mags at the supermarket there do seem to be less expensive neighborhoods nearby, too. Not everything is upscale. It appears that the position is senior enough to keep me whole financially, and the relo program should make a transition easy.

The office is about 1/4 mile from Woodfield Mall. I had some time to kill afterwards and went into Marshall Field's. Entered in the men's department and wandered past the fragrance counter. Got a couple of sample cards I liked and then wandered around taking a survey of women shoppers... roughly 6... they unanimously voted for Angel's "B Men". Happy birthday to me... maybe. I want to get a little sample bottle first and try it in person. Um, not the survey part, that's not what I mean. ;)

Had a chance to have dinner with Jonny at school in Elgin. He says, "Dad if you move here it would be way too weird. First Jenny in Chicago, now you guys..." I agree - too weird. About a half hour from each kid. That might be too close. Two hours is better, I think. Anyway, he's doing well, knows half the school already. Everywhere we walked it was "Jonny! Hey!" "It's Jonny!". "Yo, Jon!", etc.

And notes from girls on the grease board on his dorm door. Hmm... this is supposed to be a Christian college... some of the stuff they wrote makes you wonder. Sounds like they're pretty typical college girls to me, with very typical, um... you know... urges. Watch your step, boy!

Ate in the cafeteria, Jonny, me, and a table full of girls. Very friendly girls. Even very friendly when Jonny was off talking to another table... hmm. Maybe it was the leftovers from the fragrance counter. ;) Makes me nervous. Flattered, but nervous. I think I should give up on this idea of being a college professor someday...

So, a fun day all around, and a good night's sleep, too. Much better attitude today. Which is good, because I got some bad news, too. The severance benefit I thought was going to be 35 weeks of salary is only going to be 11. :( They are not going to count the 12 years of service I had with a subsidiary company because I got severance from them when my job there ended 6 years ago. So in their minds I would be getting paid for that experience twice. Bah! There goes the means of paying for college...

And, still no hard date yet on when my last day is here, although it's sounding more like end of October than middle. So much the better, I think. There's too many people I love around here to be in a sweat to leave town. And, still no word on the last remaining internal job opportunity. Slow, slow, slow. I can use the longer timeframe for that reason, too.

Oh, more news on the interviews in New England. They had narrowed it down to 2 jobs for which I was being considered, one of which would be out there and one which could be in St. Paul. Turns out that the one in New England would not pay enough to keep me whole. So, we are down to the St. Paul location anyway, which is the job I liked better anyhow. And St. Paul seems to pose no problem for them, so hopefully there will be a second interview set up soon there.