So after a very long wait for the shuttle to training, Nick finally made it there. He has his very own room, which even has a TV! He only has computer access from labs that are setup, and he hasn't found one yet. So if you've emailed him, it might take him a bit to return it.
On his bus ride, he met a girl from New Orleans who had apparently had the same whirlwind experience that Nick had. She was also notified on Thursday of her appointment and had to rush to DC. She will be working in the DC office as well, at the same position that he is.
His first meal as a government employee was what he called "military sweet and sour chicken". I'm not sure what that means, but you can take from it what you may. After speaking with him today, he also experienced "eggs that tasted like grits, and grits that tasted like grits", and "what they called salisbury steak, but was actually meat pucks in gravy". I'm sure more witty food descriptions are to come.
I'm suspicious that they have done something spectacular to Nick, because he has a group of friends already! (I won't mention that all but one are female...) Today they started attending "classes" which apparently consisted of their showing up to a classroom at 7:45 in order to fill out a LOT of paperwork. When he called me today, he needed to ask questions about what health insurance and life insurance plans he should go with. This is when I know he misses me :)
In the meantime, I'm getting help from friends, and friends of friends, trying to figure out where to live. There are so many communities, towns, and suburbs in the DC area, it's a bit overwhelming. I think that I have decided that we need to live in Maryland, though. It seems to be more cost effective. And I'm really excited about the opportunities to ride a much better public transit system than we have here in Atlanta.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Stay tuned for the next installment...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Can you tell I'm already bored since he's left? Just wanted to share some photos from the past few days.
Finally at the train station heading to the airport!
I wanted to take a picture at the airport before he had to go through security, but I was a little too upset at the time. These will probably be the only pictures I have of him until he comes home.
Here's the cake I got Nick. His Publix didn't have a cake decorator on duty, so the guy who did it totally screwed it up! I scraped it off when I got home, and decorated it myself, hehe.
Mishka (the cat) is very attached to Nick. Here he is helping him print out the paperwork he needed to take with him.
Here's Mishka again. "Please don't leave Dad!"
Here's Mishka again. "Please don't leave Dad!"
Finally at the train station heading to the airport!
I wanted to take a picture at the airport before he had to go through security, but I was a little too upset at the time. These will probably be the only pictures I have of him until he comes home.
The story behind the madness...
First off, just want to welcome anyone that's reading. I'm hoping that this will save Nick from having to answer a billion questions about everything he's up to, and keep family connected to us long after we make our move. So feel free to leave questions or comments or words of encouragement. Nick won't be blogging, but I'll be relaying info from our conversations over the next month. Anyone who's not immediate family may not know the story of Nick's long hiring process with the government, so I'll recap up to where we are now:
My timeline may be slightly off, so don't quote me, hehe. Back in March Georgia Tech sent out an email to some of their graduates about a new position with the Department of Justice. Of course Nick wanted to apply, so he sent in his lengthy application and was selected for an interview. After a very cold and calculated interview and a few weeks of waiting, they called him to let him know that he had been selected as an alternate. There were four open positions in the Atlanta area, and he was number 11 in line for them. He got pretty discouraged, so we started thinking evil thoughts with all our might at the people who were in front of him. Ok just kidding! Kind of.
The government doesn't really tell you much. So there was A LOT of waiting. Ask anyone around Nick. "So Nick, heard anything about the job?" "Nope, still waiting." After maybe a month or two of waiting (and after filling out a ton more paper work documenting everything that's ever happened to him in his life), he was called in for his polygraph examination. Since he was a stock clerk at Publix, he has a lot of late nights. He ended up not getting home until two in the morning the night before the test. Needless to say, he wasn't of clear mind the next day. So after a couple hours of interrogation, the test was "inconclusive". It was sent away for analyzation. Then they called him in for a second polygraph. He passed with flying colors!
More waiting...then one day he started getting phone calls from people in his past about how they had met with someone about him. This went in phases. Then it pretty much stopped. Everyone was asking when he would find out about the job, but he had no idea. More waiting...then one day, grocery shopping, he gets a call. It was from Boston. "Can we consider you for a position here in Boston?" We thought about it for a while, then he said yes. He never heard back from them.
About a month later, he gets another phone call. Atlanta was calling to notify him of a vacancy at the Tampa office. In their words "the position is yours if you want it". After waiting a few days and doing a lot of research on relocating to Tampa, we found out they gave the position to someone who already worked there. This was pretty much devastating.
Through information from different sources, Nick found out that all of the positions for this hiring phases were filled, and that training was starting in late September. So he applied to some other positions and just decided to wait. He had really written off being hired anytime soon.
At the same time all of this is happening, I'm informed that my boss will be closing our business soon. So here we are, both looking for jobs, both getting more bummed about it.
Flash forward to this past Thursday. I had taken a half day at work, because I was to meet my cousin in South Carolina and we were heading to Charleston for a weekend getaway. On my way home to pack (which I luckily had not done yet) Nick calls me to ask if I'm driving yet. Because he has something to tell me. So he proceeds to explain that the Department of Justicce had just called and offered him a job in Washington, DC. And that he had to report on Sunday. This Sunday. I don't think either of us will ever be able to describe the mix of emotions we felt. SO happy, SO scared!
Anyway, that pretty much brings us up to speed. I took him to the airport this morning. It was bittersweet. I'm so proud of him and all of the work that he's done to be able to be where he is. He got on the plane at 11:40 after a 20 minute delay. He should be there in a couple of hours, then he'll take a shuttle to the training site.
Stay tuned for (hopefully) daily updates of how he's doing at training. Thanks to both families for all the love and support that you've given both of us while we've trudged through the last (nearly) 5 years together. We love you guys!
My timeline may be slightly off, so don't quote me, hehe. Back in March Georgia Tech sent out an email to some of their graduates about a new position with the Department of Justice. Of course Nick wanted to apply, so he sent in his lengthy application and was selected for an interview. After a very cold and calculated interview and a few weeks of waiting, they called him to let him know that he had been selected as an alternate. There were four open positions in the Atlanta area, and he was number 11 in line for them. He got pretty discouraged, so we started thinking evil thoughts with all our might at the people who were in front of him. Ok just kidding! Kind of.
The government doesn't really tell you much. So there was A LOT of waiting. Ask anyone around Nick. "So Nick, heard anything about the job?" "Nope, still waiting." After maybe a month or two of waiting (and after filling out a ton more paper work documenting everything that's ever happened to him in his life), he was called in for his polygraph examination. Since he was a stock clerk at Publix, he has a lot of late nights. He ended up not getting home until two in the morning the night before the test. Needless to say, he wasn't of clear mind the next day. So after a couple hours of interrogation, the test was "inconclusive". It was sent away for analyzation. Then they called him in for a second polygraph. He passed with flying colors!
More waiting...then one day he started getting phone calls from people in his past about how they had met with someone about him. This went in phases. Then it pretty much stopped. Everyone was asking when he would find out about the job, but he had no idea. More waiting...then one day, grocery shopping, he gets a call. It was from Boston. "Can we consider you for a position here in Boston?" We thought about it for a while, then he said yes. He never heard back from them.
About a month later, he gets another phone call. Atlanta was calling to notify him of a vacancy at the Tampa office. In their words "the position is yours if you want it". After waiting a few days and doing a lot of research on relocating to Tampa, we found out they gave the position to someone who already worked there. This was pretty much devastating.
Through information from different sources, Nick found out that all of the positions for this hiring phases were filled, and that training was starting in late September. So he applied to some other positions and just decided to wait. He had really written off being hired anytime soon.
At the same time all of this is happening, I'm informed that my boss will be closing our business soon. So here we are, both looking for jobs, both getting more bummed about it.
Flash forward to this past Thursday. I had taken a half day at work, because I was to meet my cousin in South Carolina and we were heading to Charleston for a weekend getaway. On my way home to pack (which I luckily had not done yet) Nick calls me to ask if I'm driving yet. Because he has something to tell me. So he proceeds to explain that the Department of Justicce had just called and offered him a job in Washington, DC. And that he had to report on Sunday. This Sunday. I don't think either of us will ever be able to describe the mix of emotions we felt. SO happy, SO scared!
Anyway, that pretty much brings us up to speed. I took him to the airport this morning. It was bittersweet. I'm so proud of him and all of the work that he's done to be able to be where he is. He got on the plane at 11:40 after a 20 minute delay. He should be there in a couple of hours, then he'll take a shuttle to the training site.
Stay tuned for (hopefully) daily updates of how he's doing at training. Thanks to both families for all the love and support that you've given both of us while we've trudged through the last (nearly) 5 years together. We love you guys!
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