Going To the Big D and I Definitely Mean Dallas

I’ve had a bit of an extended absence.  Why?  Because I’ve been crazy busy/stressed the eff out.  I ended up getting three job offers in one day, which happened to be the day my department had to excess a position for next fiscal year.  Luckily, I turned in my resignation which will end before then so nobody else in my department gets cut.  However, my current job in the tundra also ended up cutting 159 other positions that same day, which is pretty garbage.

Anyway, I ended up with 3 job offers all in Texas.  One in Waco, one in San Antonio, and one in Dallas.  Other places I thought I was going to end up included: Denver, Houston, Portland (Oregon), and St. Louis.  Luckily, those were all a false start and I ended up where I originally wanted.

Financially, Waco made the most sense, but since I own a map and have watched Lifetime’s David Koresh documentary a few too many times, I went ahead and passed on that…

Imma go ahead and pass thx

The job in San Antonio seemed super great, I really got along well with the staff, and I love San Antonio.  However, it took them forever to make me an offer (I had been going through multiple weekly interviews for over two months) and then their offer was significantly lower than the other two that I got.  It made me sad, but I just couldn’t take the cut.

So I’m ending up in Dallas, which I’m super stoked about and where I wanted to go from the start.  It’s within a 5 hour drive of pretty much everyone I’ve known my entire life from birth until age 25, including the majority of my family.  They should be excited right?  They are…except my grandmother thinks all of Texas is Juarez (which is funny because the houses in her neighborhood take turns having SWAT raid their houses on a pretty regular basis) and my mom is so nervous about traffic in Dallas that she’s insisting she meet me in Tyler and I drive her the rest of the way.

My grandma wishes her neighbor's house was this nice.

So I have this week to pack up my entire apartment/life in Minneapolis and haul myself to Texas.  I’ve sold a good chunk of my furniture, am giving away so much to Goodwill I might finally get something back from Uncle Sam next tax season, and any moment not spent packing is being spent celebrating my bon voyage with friends and coworkers.  And I think I might be losing weight simply because I’m so nervous that I’m nauseous all the time! 

Wish me luck!

Oh, The Places You'll Go

Sorry for the prolonged absence.  I’ve mostly been working, shivering, recovering, and interviewing.  It’s been super cold with the highest temperature not getting out of the 20’s and today we’re literally having a blizzard.  And not the good kind.

source

 

My janky shoulder is recovering but still has days where I can barely lift my arm above my shoulder so I’m not starting PT for strengthening until I know for a fact there’s no tear.  I am doing some exercises just to reduce the chances of getting a frozen shoulder. 

I still gainfully employed in the tundra but have had some gains and setbacks in Operation Relocation.  I had one terrible interview with a recruiting intern in a city I was pretty meh about.  I had a fantastic interview with a city far, far away but still pretty chilly in its own right that I haven’t been officially notified about yet but I’m pretty sure they offered it to an internal candidate.  Then I just had a pretty awesome interview in a city that’s pretty primo but I have some concerns about the financials with that one.  They already have me setup for a second interview and it sounds like we’re both willing to be a little flexible.  I guess we’ll see.  I’m really trying not to get my hopes up or put all my eggs in one basket yet. 

Other than that, I’ve been trying not to gain a million pounds or spend a million dollars.

Relocation or Dislocation?

That, my friends, is the question.  Actually, there is no question.  I just dislocated my shoulder earlier this week and am still on the relocation bandwagon. 

How did I, with my  extreme sedentary lifestyle, dislocate my shoulder?  BY CLEANING MY SHOWER.  I slipped forward while bending over to clean the bottom of my stall shower and put pressure on it at a weird angle.  After passing out and not being able to move it for two days, I finally went to the doctor who told me that I essentially have weird shoulder joints that are more prone to dislocation (and rotator cuff tears!) because of the abnormality.  She also added that I need to be careful with angles and should avoid activities heavy lifting.  NO PROBLEM THERE, MA’AM.  So right now I’m taking pain medication as needed and working on gaining my range of motion back and will be heading to PT in 2 or 3 weeks.  If my range of motion doesn’t come back in a few weeks, then I’ll be heading to an ortho for an MRI to see if I tore anything. 

I’m still on the hunt for a new job elsewhere as well.  Right now, my department at my current job has to make a 20% cut in budget next fiscal year and, while it doesn’t look that downsizing is immediately necessary, there’s always the risk.  However, other departments at my organization are getting slashed like prices on Black Friday.  And since I was the last hired two years ago in my department, my job search anxiety is getting a little more fevered.   Not to mention that dislocating my shoulder at home alone was a quick reminder that all of my family a few thousand miles away.

So far I have been contacted by a ton of recruiters but the only realistic jobs I’ve been contacted about are in Tampa and St. Louis.  The Tampa recruiter just asked for some more detailed information about a week ago and has been cagey about the positions I’ve been referred to but the St. Louis recruiter already has me set up for an interview.  After looking into the St. Louis position and the company at length, I really, really want it.  I don’t think I’ve ever prepared for an initial interview so hard in my life. 

And even though St. Louis is a little further than what I was originally thinking, it’s still a doable drive to where my family is in one day.  And it has some of the coolest housing choices I’ve seen (even though I’m probably just moving deep in the suburbs with an attached garage, full size washer and dryer, and garden tub).  It’s also not nearly as crowded as Houston, Dallas, or Atlanta and the traffic, while still bad, is less heavy than those metropolises or even MSP.  It’s also under a 4 hour’s drive to quite a few places that would really make a nice weekend trip (Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, Branson (I’m old…)). 

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on.  That and Minnesota remembered it’s supposed to be cold and the high today is -2.  I can wait to move.

Paper or Plastic?

I was doing pretty well on the cash envelope system for 2 or so months so I decided to take a month and see if I could budget just using the debit card.  The main reason for this is that I feel slightly uncomfortable carrying a giant wad of cash around and also feel slightly uncomfortable leaving it at home too.  But it’s also because I use a credit union that’s nearest branch is a pretty decent drive away.  I mean, there are ATMs everywhere, but ATMs can’t give the change I need to separate everything into envelopes.  So I thought I’d experiment for a few weeks and see.

The first two weeks were an experience for sure.  What I discovered is that, no,  debit card money is easier to spend than paper money and infinitely more difficult (for me) to track in real time.  It’s way easier to glance into my wallet before entering Trader Joe’s than to sit in my car looking on my phone to see my bank account and adding/subtracting the scattered deductions from my bank account.  So I went a little over the first two weeks.  The last two weeks I decided to try a hybrid where half of my money was paper and the other was plastic.  This might have worked but since I got sick and had to dip into additional funds for doctor bills, prescriptions, over the counter stuff, Gatorade, etc, I couldn’t really test it out fully.

Basically, I learned that I need to just pull out the cash.  I’ll likely be adding a bank (I plan on keeping my current credit union right now simply because I like them and it’s super simple in the age of direct deposit to manage a savings account online) once I move and I’ll make sure that this time I pick somewhere with a ton of branches.  

Speaking of moving, I’m still job searching.  I have a lot, like, upwards of 300, inquiries out there and I’m basically planning to take the first serious offer that comes my way.  I’ve been glancing at apartments, mostly in the DFW area, and it’s amazing what I can get for my money out there.  For what I’m paying for a basement studio without a bathtub or dishwasher in a nice but older neighborhood in Minneapolis, I can get a 800+ square luxury apartment in a super fancy area with up to two bedrooms, two full baths, in unit full size washer and dryer, and a dishwasher.  They also throw in things like stainless steel appliances and granite counter-tops but I don’t really care about those so much.  I just want a light, bright, spacious place in a nice area.  And a vent hood over the stove.  And windows that open.  You don’t realize how much it matters until it’s gone.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

It’s amazing how much and often I make major changes to my life.  I recently posted about changing my financial goal from buying a house as soon as possible to putting myself on a fast track to paying off all my debt, which are mostly student loans.  Well, now that script is being flipped again!

When I first started this blog I mentioned how a family member I was close to had recently passed away.  It happened unexpectedly and I had to scramble to get back to my hometown at the last minute during a holiday weekend.  I couldn’t get a flight for less than a couple thousand dollars and ended up having to drive for two days each way there and back.  Not to mention the scary motel I had to stay at the first night because the holiday weekend I was traveling over caused a spike in hotel prices and I couldn’t afford anything nicer.  (Although, because of this experience I learned how to bid online for a nice hotel room that was still cheaper than the gross motel room for the return trip.)  Well, during that trip pretty much every family member, including the parent of the deceased, stressed the importance of family and being nearby.  

Just say no...to Hepatitis

 Well, I’ve been stewing on that guilt trip (I’m a super sensitive only child, I take everything to heart!) for about 6 months now.  Then, late last month and early this month, my grandmother started having some health scares.  She has a few medical conditions that are pretty common in elderly people but she doesn’t always take care of herself as well as she should and it ended up with her hospitalized a few times for a possible stroke.  She’s started to have some memory problems that we’re not sure whether or not they are related to her recent exacerbations, just part of aging, or are some warning signs for dementia.  She’s made it clear that she wants to stay in her home as long as possible.  I mentioned that maybe she should move in with me up in the tundra and she has refused.  Actually, she’s refused to even visit to see if she likes it. 

There is family nearby to take care of her but, to be honest, they don’t really have the means.  And I’m not necessarily talking money.  The benefits of my career field typically include very generous PTO with options for longer leaves if needed without putting my position in jeopardy whereas my other family members work in fields where they just don’t get paid if they have to take off work.  However, if I can’t to where she lives quickly in an emergency, those benefits aren’t going to end up doing me a ton of good. 

So after a lot of soul searching, I’ve decided to open myself up to the idea of relocation.  I’ve already had the conversation with my boss that I’m looking and I’m working on training my coworkers to take over bits and pieces of my job after I leave so they can train my replacement.  (Please note:  I don’t necessarily recommend this in all situations.  My boss is super supportive and currently in a similar family situation that we’ve personally discussed before so I knew he wouldn’t walk me out of the building when I broke it to him.)  

I don’t have a definitive date of when I’ll be leaving but my goal date is to have something by March.  I’m pretty torn about it to be honest.  I love my current position.  However, while Minnesota has been very good to me professionally, it hasn’t been great for my personal life.  Not to mention this has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I still won’t miss being frozen for 6 months of the year though.

Actually something I could see here

So, where am I moving?  I’ve basically narrowed my options to mostly the Gulf Coast and a few of its neighboring states.  Basically, I plan on living somewhere that gets hurricanes.  I have a lot of resumes out right now and where I get a position similar in salary and benefits to the one I have now will determine where I end up.  If I was a betting woman I’d say I’ll probably end up at one of the major Texan cities.  While any of places I’m looking at will still put me at under an 8 hour drive to get to my hometown, I’m really hoping for Dallas.  Mostly so I can say that I live in the Big D, visit Southfork Ranch on the regular, and have custom car horn that plays Deep in the Heart of Texas installed.

All I need are shoulder pads

What changes am I making to my financials right now?  Well, I’m back to paying minimums on all my recurrent debt.  Everything else is going into a savings account for moving expenses and any short period that I’m out of a job.  Fortunately, the rental markets in the places I’m looking at are significantly more affordable and less competitive than Minneapolis so I’ll probably actually save some money.  Also, living expenses will be lower as well so that should help ease some of my growing pains and help me re-establish my debt payoff plan fairly quickly. 

Have you ever made a major decision in a relatively quick amount of time?  If so, how did it make you feel?  Until I find a job and get some concrete plans, I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Do you have any suggestions where I should look/not look to live and/or work?  A friend really wants me to move to Austin and it’s just not happening.  Minneapolis has more bicycling hippies than I can handle and Austin is their motherland.