I just finished eating my lunch, possibly the worst pasta ever. Cooking on a hot plate in the basement is not working for me very well lately. I don't know if the hot plate doesn't get hot enough or if this particular pasta was just overdone since Clara and I ran upstairs to clean the bathroom while it was cooking. Either way, I'm ready for the kitchen to be done. Thankfully, the cabinets arrived yesterday. They were delayed originally because no one at Lowe's told me I needed to go online and activate the order for production. A week later someone finally called me to let me know. They were delayed again while being shipped, but now they are finally here. The drywall is pretty much all repaired and the walls are ready for paint. The guy who did the drywall has got it all fixed up and will be painting. The other big project that has occurred is that the floors on the main level are all refinished. They look really nice. We hired someone to do the sanding and Brian applied the finish. Brian helped so he could learn the tricks so he can sand the upstairs himself. I'll have to post some pictures, but that will have to be another day since I am writing from my work computer.

Earlier this week we did have one mishap that was a bit costly. Brian decided that he wanted to move the screen door from the front door to the back. We were already planning to replace the screen door on the back and then we could have a full view glass door on the front. All we needed to do was cut a couple of inches off each long side of the door. Between the flex of the door and my unfamiliarity with using a table saw, there was too little cut off at the top and too much cut off at the bottom. And, the door was ruined. Brian decided he should have used a different tool and a different approach. Ahh, the things you learn.

I've interviewed at two schools. The first interview was at Aims Community College in Greeley, Colorado where I would teach anatomy and physiology and general intro to bio courses. The second interview was in Lincoln, Nebraska at Southeast Community College where I would teach microbiology and a little bit of physiology. Going to Colorado was far more of an adventure than our trip to Nebraska. Since I will only be reimbursed a limited amount of money for my travel to Colorado, I flew out of Chicago. I was supposed to leave early in the morning and then fly back in the evening of the same day. Brian and Clara were spending the day in Chicagoland waiting for me and then the following day, Friday, we were supposed to see Chicago before going home. By the time my flight arrived in Denver it had started snowing. When I went to pick up my rental car they tried to get me to upgrade to 4-wheel drive or a bigger car than my anticipated Ford Focus or similar. I said no thanks because I did not want to have to pay more and thought I should be fine since Ford Focus or similar is pretty much what I am used to driving. When I got outside to my car, my heart literally sunk when I saw that I had been given a sports car. On a nice sunny day, a sports car would be fun, but not when the forecast says 18 inches of snow. I immediately called Brian to ask if this car was even front wheel drive and to see if he would advise me getting a different car. He said it should be front wheel drive and that I should be fine. He said to ask to make sure it was front wheel drive, which I did and I then proceeded on my way. Here is a picture of the car I drove. Hindsight tells me I should have insisted the rental car company give me a different car.The snow got progressively worse and once I slid a little on the top of a very tall embankment, I decided to take a break. I called Brian again and he encouraged me to keep going so that I would make it to my interview. He also mentioned that the car was actually rear wheel drive. I still had 40 miles to go and was not that excited about driving further, but I decided to give it another try. But as I was about to get on the interstate, I got stuck. Luckily, a guy driving a snow plow came along. He could tell that I was not having a good day. He told me how to get to the closest hotel and then plowed around me so I could drive again. I found the hotel, confirmed that my flight had been cancelled, and checked in. Once I called to rebook my flight I found out that I wouldn't be able to leave until Sunday. Brian has family in Colorado and I contacted them. They were very helpful. His great aunt and uncle followed me back to the airport the next day to return the rental car. The roads were still pretty nasty, but I made it without damaging the car. Then they took me to Greeley for my interview. Brian's uncle lives in Greeley during the week so he picked me up to take me back to Denver to stay with the rest of his family for the weekend. This was the first time that I had left Clara for more than just while I went to work. We all survived, but Brian said that she repeated "Mommy come home" several hundred times. Brian and Clara went home Friday morning and to save Brian six hours of driving on Sunday, I arranged to take Amtrak from Chicago to only an hour away from home. Clara is still talking about how Mommy rode the train.

My interview in Colorado seemed to go well, although I am still waiting to hear the outcome. My interview in Lincoln was only a little bit of an adventure in that I barely had a voice. I lost my voice almost completely on Wednesday and my interview was on Friday. My Wednesday class had a debate about whether or not cell phones cause cancer. Thursday I have labs where I had to talk, but for lecture they watched a movie. By the time of the interview, I had enough of a voice to give my presentation and answer questions. I must have been convincing enough because the department chair called a half an hour later to unofficially offer me the job. The offer is still unofficial until Human Resources gets their business taken care of and the president of the college says it's ok to hire me. Needless to say, we had good news to share with Brian's family when we got to the farm after the interview. Although we have been thinking that we would end up farther west, Lincoln is a nice town and we wouldn't be far from the farm. Clara loves the farm and helping Grandpa drive the tractor and feed the cows. My parents are happy with Lincoln, too, especially since I would have a job. We're still awaiting news from Colorado before we make our final decision. What do you think...Lincoln or Colorado?