My last post was posted on January 6 reporting on a trip from early December.
Not much has gone on since then.
Oh, well… except for the fact that we’re moving to Iowa.
What’s Happened?
Following our trip to the Western Slopes of Colorado, Brandy and I took a trip to Iowa for Christmas. We were out there for about a week before returning home on December 30 (and what an absolute nightmare that leg of the journey was.)
Two weeks later, we returned for a funeral. Brandy’s best friend’s mom passed away rather unexpectedly. Brandy and I had to go to support her friend and help make funeral arrangements. I gotta say, the aftermath of that funeral would make a HELL of a movie. Seriously, you couldn’t make up half of the stuff I’m hearing about.
But that’s a story for a different time.
Wait… You’re Moving?!
Oh, yeah. I get sidetracked sometimes.
All throughout the time between our last trip to Colorado and now, we’ve discussed the idea of moving to Iowa. The cost of housing is much, much lower than it is here in New Mexico, and it’s just a more laid back way of living, from what I can tell.
I managed to wrangle a couple of phone conversations with organizations that are in search of Epic support, interviewing with two of them and getting an offer from one (with another expected offer at some point in the coming weeks.)
Upon receiving the first offer, I submitted my notice of resignation with Presbyterian (which turns out was extremely poor timing, coming just a month and a half after losing our department secretary.) Shortly after I gave notice, our newest nurse coordinator suddenly quit (with little to no notice) so my boss now has three open positions out of 20 to fill.
So, What’s Next?
My last day at Presbyterian is fast approaching, coming this Thursday, the 24th. I already had Friday off for Brandy’s birthday so that will be a PTO day for me. It will likely be an emotional day for me, as I have been here for nine years. I appreciate the opportunities I’ve been afforded here at Pres.
This sudden decision to move pushed me to finally clear out my storage unit. Ninety percent of the stuff in there wound up at the dump. I kept my baseball cards and some tools, and Jarrod took the Christmas and Halloween decorations, and I sold my grill. The rest got tossed. It’s fine though, there were a lot of bad memories in that storage unit.
In the meantime, Brandy and I have been frantically packing and I’ve been taking everything we’re packing to her storage unit, which, conveniently enough, is at the complete opposite end of town. I’ve been sprinkling in trips to Savers as well, getting rid of our coffee table, my drawing table, a small computer desk, and a bookshelf.
My hope is that on the night of the 27th, the only thing remaining in the apartment will be our bed and our go bags, that everything else will be in the storage unit. We will be meeting hired movers at the storage unit at 8:30 the morning of the 28th and will let them load our 26 foot U-Haul truck then will have them come to the apartment to load the bed. In the unlikely event that the 26 foot truck is not big enough, we have a 10 foot truck on standby. I’m confident that we won’t need that though.
Once the 26 footer is loaded and we’re ready to go, we’ll return to U-Haul, have them hook up a vehicle dolly, put my car on it, back to the apartment to get Brandy’s car, drop the keys at the office of the apartment complex, and we’re off.
As we don’t expect to hit the road until mid-to-late afternoon on the 28th, we’re only going to drive about 4 hours or so to Dalhart, Texas. We’ll stay the night there, then drive to Bethany, Missouri, on March 1 before making the last of the drive on the 2nd where movers will be waiting for us at the rental we signed a short-term lease on, sight unseen.
We have crammed a LOT of activity into a very short amount of time, and we still have a LOT to do, but I’m looking forward to a couple days off until I start my new job, whichever job that may be (in the event I do get a second offer, I will ask to start on March 14, otherwise I start March 7 at the job for which I’ve already accepted an offer, so I’ll have at least four days off, or as many as 11.)
Are You Still The Wandering New Mexican?
I’ve been in New Mexico for just over 15 years now. There are so many things about New Mexico that I love and, for all intents and purposes, New Mexico is my home.
That said, I will always be The Wandering New Mexican. Let’s just think of this move to Iowa as a really, really, REALLY long trip.
Two of the big reasons we’re moving to Iowa, as mentioned above, is the cost of housing. Houses are much cheaper out there than they are here in New Mexico.
Additionally, I’m being afforded an opportunity to take my career to the next level. I’ve already accepted an offer that will provide a 22% increase in pay and am expecting a second offer that would provide a MINIMUM of a 33% raise (will likely be more than that though.) A higher income and lower cost of living equals more opportunities to travel.
And I’ve also been promised trips back to New Mexico quarterly to see Alan and Jarrod, and if nothing else, will expect at least one car trip per year.
In September.
To get green chile.
Yup, I’m a New Mexican at heart…
What to Expect
We’re expecting to arrive in Iowa on March 2. I’m hoping to be able to take that following week off after getting that second offer so I can help unpack. I will make an effort to get my computer, printer and scanner set up promptly and, given sufficient time, will try to set aside some time to put up posts on the goings on between our December Colorado trip and our move.
Until then, don’t lose hope in me. I will be back.
I promise.
-Phil