Letter Never Sent

I left for Oklahoma right after work last Wednesday. I made good time driving north and arrived around eleven; two hours before anyone expected me. When got out of the car, I stretched and sucked in the night air; crisp and fresh like a bite into a chilled apple. Looking overhead, you could see the Milky Way stretching in a band across the sky like a string of faraway Christmas lights. Closer to the horizon, the orange, gibbous moon hung like an ornament above the clouds.

I walked up to the house where I could see light spilling from the livingroom near the front. I had to knock a couple of times before anyone heard me because they were all watching the weather and I was unexpectedly early.

Once inside, I dropped off my bags and gifts near the dining room table. Jody gave me a big hug, and her mom heated up a bowl of chili for me as we all joked around with one another in the kitchen. I took a moment to bask in a warm sense of welcome, a sheepish smile glued to my face.

After Jody’s graduation ceremony and dinner Saturday night, her mom told us some horrible news. The night before, Jody’s 22 year old cousin had been killed in a car accident. I can’t imagine what her family must be going through. It is the worst possible thing that could happen to anyone. My heart goes out to them. Something like this puts everything else in its proper perspective, which is to say that nothing else matters more than the ones you love. Nothing. With that in mind, please take the time to tell the people you love that you love them. That is one small thing that we all have control of.

Several things to report for those of you interested in keeping up.

I’m moving to Dallas at the beginning of January. I procrastinated enough, but actually found a great job pretty quickly once I started looking. Sent off several applications and cover letters to various places from craigslist, et al. Got a few bites then met with a company for an interview a couple weeks ago up in Addison, which is one of Dallas’ many satellite burbs. As is the case with every other job I’ve ever gotten, the rapport with the interviewing group was strong and instant. A decision was made on the spot to offer me the job pending approval of the CEO.

I can tell you a few things that I think made a big difference. For one, I was completely calm and confident. I didn’t need the job. I had a commitment from my current employer to allow telecommuting from Dallas if that’s what I wanted to do. I also have my freelance work including clients on retainer, and I have zero debt unless you count my recent Christmas shopping. So, I was not even thinking about not getting the job. It was obvious I was qualified and experienced, and I interviewed very well. For another thing, I was a perfect fit for the position, and this makes a big difference. It’s better to be a perfect fit than to try to alter your self-description to fit a particular job you may not be ideally suited for. Another thing that helped is that I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable speaking to people since going to Toastmasters. It’s forced me to stay out of my comfort zone. It also helps that it’s a good economy. If you can’t find a job in this economy, you may need to tweak your strategy. For example here’s a job that’s open now… mine!

If you know a web designer / web developer my current employer now has an opening. Basically, technical skills will take precedence over design skills as we have an on-site person who actually comes up with all of our designs for both print and the web. Send your resume to my email address if you’re interested. I’ll be involved in making the selection, so the main things I look for are responsibility, competence, and evidence of skill. Send a resume and a few examples of some of the projects you have been involved in to my email address and I will set you up for an interview if you meet the requirements. It’s a great place to work with tons of freedom and responsibility. I’ll probably post the job to craigslist shortly, so I will send a link if that happens. Update: here you go.

Two of my favorite clients took me and the rest of their team out to a Christmas dinner Tuesday night at Houston’s. The company is run by a mother and daughter team, so even with the other freelancer in tow and the office help I was the only guy in attendance , which is fine with me since I seem to get along well with women, in general. It was very nice and we had a great time.

…altercation with restaurant lady wherein my attempt to give a .40 tip is met with a look of confusion… escorted outside by tall, thin dude with hipster hair. In anger, I jerk my arm away and he pulls a gun and says glancing around nervously at the crowd, “hey, this ain’t M*A*S*H”. Then I start yelling and swinging at him, gun and all.

In real life news, I’m coming down with something even though I’m never sick.

Don’t mistake my lack of updates for inactivity. Truth is, there are a lot of changes in store for me over the next month, which I will appraise you of in due course. You can count on that.

The photo here was taken on the road back from Dallas at 6:10am. When I stayed with Jody this weekend I ended up taking her little gate clicker with me and didn’t realize it until I got home late Sunday night when I was emptying out my pants pockets. It opens all the doors and gates in the complex, which is built like a fortress since it’s in the ghettofabulous part of downtown Dallas. When I called the apartment office about it, they said they didn’t have a temporary one she could borrow nor could they give her a temporary gate code, so I had to drive back up to Dallas after work yesterday to let her in after she got off her night job. Then we went to bed and I got up this morning at 5:00am so I could be back in Austin for work. So, that’s like two trips to Dallas and back since Thursday. It’s nothing but a thang anymore since I’ve gotten so used to driving long distances. Although I would have rather not made the trip, there’s no use getting bent out of shape by something you caused with your own stupidity. I just wish the coffee I got from Racetrac didn’t taste like a charred Incan mummy.