My days are numbered...in Atlanta

Without further adieu, here it is: I'm moving to California.

I decided to take their offer and will begin working for the Desert Dispatch on Dec. 1. It took a lot of thinking and weighing to come to this decision and all I can say for now is that I'm determined to make it the right decision. Am I happy with the choice? Well let's just say I'm cautiously allowing my excitement to grow...

There's a lot to do now. I need to find an apartment in Barstow, figure out the logistics of moving, and then execute another cross country roadtrip with my dad (this one will be No. 3). I'm not sure when I'm leaving Atlanta yet, but I'll update once it's figured out.

We're having a 1413 roommate dinner tonight. It feels like goodbyes are already starting to creep in...a last this and a last that. A sobering thought that tempers the excitement.

I've been blizzarded

I had my interview today. It was very formal. I think it was a good two-way conversation, where they got to know me more and vice versa. It was three vs. me again. They said they'd call me by early next week.

It started lightly snowing in Jamestown around 3 p.m. The local forecast has predicted a blizzard to hit around midnight tonight. Needless to say, my 7 a.m. flight out of here tomorrow got cancelled. Now, I get to play in the snow and make snowmen until my rescheduled afternoon flight. I wish I brought my mittens...and had friends to enjoy the snow with...

I feel so tired and bloated right now. All that happens on interview trips is eating and talking. Going to restaurants and eating and talking. Then sitting in conference rooms and talking some more. Then going on driving tours of the town and listening to someone else talking. Talking is tiresome.

I'm ready to go home. For the first time in my life I'm wishing, "please don't snow too much."

Uh-oh

I think I have a problem on my hands.

I arrived in Jamestown, North Dakota, this afternoon. The publisher met me at the airport and took me straight to the Jamestown Sun offices where I got the standard building tour and drive-by staff intros. They gave me some copies of the newspaper and ushered me to my motel until dinner (they say "supper"). I was very impressed with the site visit, though it was brief. I also sensed a very high standard of professionalism here (which - now in retrospect - was lacking at the Desert Dispatch). So far, this seems like a pretty good place.

And that's a problem.

I was actually banking on it not being great. Or at least not better than the Desert Dispatch. Because that way, I would have seen enough to have soundly made up my mind by Thursday night that I wasn't missing out on anything here. Then, I could call the editor in Barstow on Friday and tell him to expect me in two weeks. And then I would not be in this very problematic position of an offer that very well may expire if I don't answer in two days while I'm just barely starting to seriously interview with the editor in Jamestown, who may or may not offer me anything in the next week or so.

Basically, I'm (very inconveniently) growing attached to something I had no intention of liking, and was only suppose to serve as reaffirmation to take the California offer.

Problem-o.

In the worst case scenario, I'd turn down California, wait on ND, not get an offer from ND, and then just move in with my brother. Which, like I said before, isn't the end of the world. But, ugh, the thought is just gut wrenching. I'd like to see some fruit from my now four month running job search.

My first in-person interview with the Jamestown Sun is tomorrow. It should be fine. Fun, even. It's the weighing and wondering what'll happen afterwards that'll be more difficult to navigate.

To Barstow and back...

Welcome, Mr. President

Yesterday in (brief) review

Gonna make this quick...here are some initial thoughts after visiting the Desert Dispatch:

1. The newspaper is smaller than I'd like, but it has a lot of potential.
2. Barstow is more of a community than I imagined - I was thinking it'd be a glorified truck stop.
3. The desert is sort of cool. Sort of.
4. I broke my red meat fast. They have In-N-Out in Barstow (I'm not about to be a prisoner of my own rules).
5. There's awesome shopping in Barstow, since it's a mid-desert tourist stop and all.
6. I have lots to think about now. They want an answer by Friday latest.
7. Get out and vote today!

'Tripping to Barstow tomorrow

Hello from the West coast! I'm here in L.A. now and getting ready to settle in for the night since tomorrow will be a pretty big day. I'm driving out to the Desert Dispatch in Barstow, Calif. tomorrow morning which is about a two hour drive north east.

I'm planning on staying there for most of the day and will have lunch with a reporter and probably get a driving tour of the city (we could probably afford to walk it, but for the heat...). I'm excited, nervous and hopeful. It may (or may not) be where I end up. For those who I haven't updated, I'm going to be in one of three places as of the first week of December. Either:

1. Barstow, CA
2. Jamestown, ND
3. Dallas, TX

I'm hoping either the first two, because that'll mean I've gotten a job. If Dallas - well - that'll be okay, too. My brother lives there = free room + board + infinite mooching. And that'll mean that the adventures of The Search will continue as well.

On a different note, I had a long talk on the phone with my brother yesterday and he challenged me to look at my career choice more critically. He mainly wanted me to consider things like job security, location, and future lifestyle choices. I guess it doesn't really put my family at ease to see that the direction I'm heading is a low salaried shrinking industry, largely located in obscure places and an unconventional (for my family's standards) career track.

I take what my family thinks into consideration a lot. Often the line gets blurred between what they want for me and what I think I want for me. Getting my first real job is the first really independent thing I would do - it would make a statement to my family. It separates and distinguishes you from your family, which used to be your primary identity. It's a responsibility that starts to carve out who you want yourself to become, and all the consequences - good, bad, purposeful and unintentional - that come along with that choice.

I feel like college spat me out as a shapeless blob - full of ideas but unformed by the authentic clash of real world variables like time, money, conflicting values, bosses, and problems that demand solutions rather than just debate, to name a few. I'm ready for that molding, that chipping process to begin.