Randman's World

I realized today at lunch that today is the last day of my seperation from my family. I fly home tomorrow morning, and then we fly back to Orlando together on Tuesday. No more missing my wife and son.

It's been a bit stressful, as you can imagine. I've been trying to find good daycare for Charlie. I think I found a nice place that will do until we get a spot at Disney's daycare center. It's a bit pricey, but what is more important to spend our money on.

Then, we got the inspectors report on the house. They nitpicked some things, but overall, it was good. Probably cost a couple hundred dollars to fix stuff. That's a relief. And, no termites. You just never know about those creepy crawlies.

It seems weird thinking about shutting off the cable, the gas, and all that in our house. It really makes this a move, and not just me being on a very long business trip (as it's felt most days).

Now, if we can only find a nice, affordable house in Orlando. There are plenty to chose from, so affordable is the big obstacle right now.

Yay! I'm so happy!

I reported last week that our house has had an offer. We countered, they accepted, and now we are in the inspection/appraisal phase. Good news, there.

Then, Kim came down to Florida this week for a job interview. She piggybacked the flight, paid for by one of the companies, with some extra time to spend together, and another job interview.

The first interview was with a small company that does benefits for other companies. They liked her and offered her a job. However, they understood that she was interviewing with the other company, so they left it open that if she doesn't like the other company, call them back. The job would have been "ok", but nothing that she was in love with. It was also located in a somewhat bad part of town (Pine Hills, which the locals call Crime Hills), but they were moving in about a month.

So, then Kim went to her second company, Campus Crusade for Christ. They are very big down here, and have a beautiful location near Lake Nona, a very nice and upcoming area of southeast Orlando. Kim interviewed all day, and really liked the people. They called back the next day with an offer. A very bad offer. Roughly a 33% pay cut from what she was making in KC. She was so upset, having flown down and really liking the people. But, she had to decline the offer, as we just couldn't make ends meet with that amount.

So, she called the first company and left a message. Then, on Friday morning, Kim gets a call from Campus Crusade. They told her that they really like her, and that they have a new position that they haven't even advertised. Would she be interested? The money sounded fantastic, too. So, she said she was very interested. Then, the offer came back and it was lower than originally discussed. Seems that there was a misunderstanding in the amount quoted. They had said $X0,600, but said it like X,6. So, another disappointment. It was ok, but not great. Kim asked for more, and actually got it. They must have really liked her. So, she accepted.

So, in that past 1 1/2 weeks, we have sold our timeshare, sold our house, and gotten Kim a job. Amazing. Kim's mother said all along everything would happen at once. She must be pychoti - - -psychic.

So, now we have to get the family down here in two weeks, and wait for the house to sell, then it's off to the races, looking for a home down here.

Not to jinx anything, but we got an offer on our house, we countered, and they accepted. So, our house may actually be sold. Of course, we have to go through all the inspections, appraisals, etc., but were very hopeful.

We also sold our Disney Vacation Club membership, and that is scheduled to close the at the same time as the house.

Then, Kim had an interview yesterday with a company, which seemed to go very well. Today she has an in-person interview with another company (the one that flew her down), so we're hopeful something will come of this trip.

So, keep up the prayers and good wishes. We're hoping we can be done with all this long distance marriage stuff, and get moving ahead on our new Florida life!

So, yesterday wasn't too bad a day. I started it off by teaching a two hour class to my co-workers on interview skills. It seemed to go good.

Then, we changed out of our business casual, and into comfortable clothes, for the finance department summer bash. 500 finance people at Mickey's Retreat at Little Lake Bryan. It was a good time, with food, carnival games, and prizes. I won 4 mini golf tickets (which I ended up giving to my co-worker, Todd, for his son who turns 8 this weekend. Charlie is a bit too young for mini-golf yet).

Finally, I got tired and hot, so I headed back to the condo. I did a little laundry, talked with the complex manager about getting some repairs done, and then decided that I was not going to sit in the condo all night on my birthday. So, I decided to get in the car and start driving.

Just as I was leaving, I got a call from my new friend, Anthony. We started at Disney on the same day, and he is in the same boat I am, being away from his family, trying to sell a house and move his family up here. We usually get together once every couple of weeks to blow off some steam and have fun. It's nice to have someone who knows what you are going through. Anyway, Anthony was at the Magic Kingdom for work, and wondered if I wanted to join him that evening for dinner, and then maybe watch the parade and fireworks. It sounded good, so I drove over to the Magic Kingdom.

We met up, and rode several rides and saw some shows. We ate a quick meal, and then enjoyed the fireworks and parade. We also grabbed a Dole Whip (the perfect combination of ice cream and pineapple juice). It was nice talking to him. He agreed with me that right now, with both our wives at home, his wife soon quitting her job and Kim having already done so, and facing a long stretch to sell the house, that things just weren't in our control. We're both just tired, and realize that it could be 6 months or more before we feel our lives are back to normal.

After leaving the park (and sitting next to a girl on the cast member bus who portrayed "Chip" in the parade), I started driving home and called Kim. Then, my sister Donna called and wished me a happy birthday. It was nice talking with her.

Finally, I got back to the condo, and sacked out.

Sure, it wasn't the best birthday I've had, as my wife and son weren't there. I really could have used a birthday kiss from my wife, and a big hug and kiss from Charlie. But, it didn't suck quite as bad as I anticipated it would.

As I look toward tomorrow, the 2nd anniversary of my 40th birthday, I am filled with thoughts:

1. Yippee. We sold our Disney Time Share. For quite the profit, as well. So, not only will we clear money, we no longer make the payment.

2. I have a very cool job in a very cool place.

3. My wife is the most fantastic person I know, and I'm truly lucky to have her in my life.

4. My son gets cuter every time I see him.

5. I have some really great friends, who I miss quite a bit.

6. Next time I look at relocating for a job, I will check the housing market closer.

7. I have some very cool co-workers. It truly is a diverse workplace.

8. Elvis died at 42. Man, I used to think that was old. Now. . .

9. Disney's professional improv club "Comedy Warehouse" is no better than countless groups I've been in / watched in Kansas City.

10. I know Pete feels like I'm dodging him on the weekends, but the true term is avoiding.

11. Pete knows that I'm kidding.

12. High Def tv looks great, now that I have free cable.

13. I paid $183.00 for a pair of shoes.

14. I have almost taught Charlie the art of the spit take. He has the prat fall down pat.

15. Florida roads are smoother than Missouri, and I get better gas mileage here.

16. I miss my family.

17. Living alone sucks.

I can't wait to get my family down here, so we can get our life back to normal. And of course, then we can have our friends down.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've been home and seen the wife and kid. I swear, Charlie has grown in the last two weeks. He's definitley talking a lot more. I hate missing this time with him.

The job is going great. They are happy to have me there, and think I'm doing a great job. Nice to hear. I've now been backstage at every park, and it's really fun, from a Disney geek vantage point.

The house still hasn't sold. So, any prayers/well wishes for a sale of the house would be greatly appreciated. Catholic friends: we have St. Joseph buried in the front yard, so please, talk to him for us!

Kim just got notified that Campus Crusade for Christ wants to fly her down for an interview. Awesome. Hopefully she'll have a job soon.

Maybe things will finally start happening. Two months apart is a long time.

Ok, I'm about 6 months late with this post, but having a two year old means you don't see a lot of movies. Tonight, I watched Dreamgirls, while eating Oreos and doing laundry (yes, I'm just about 2 steps from being a woman).

I had heard so much about Jennifer Hudson's performance, plus Beyonce and Eddie Murphy, so I was looking forward to seeing it. After about 2/3 of the movie was over, I truly became sick and tired of having every song screamed in pitch.

When did screaming replace singing? Sure, when appropriate, a mournful loud scream/sing can be effective. But, when did it become necessary for every single lyric to be sung at the top of your lungs, and the end of each note trilled for about 5 minutes. Truthfully, what happened to the days when a quiet voice, full of emotion, could convey so much.

It seems everytime some girl is on American Idol, they decide that to show off their abilities, they have to sing louder, higher, and add more pitches to a single note than the person before.

I guess it really started getting bad with Whitney Houston. But honestly, by the end of Dreamgirls, I had a headache. I went to my MP3 player, and put on sone Frank Sinatra, just to listen to someone who could sing with emotion no matter how loud or soft he was.

While I was home last weekend, I came across the DVD's from the Monkeys with Handgrenades shows. I thought it would be a great opportunity to pull some of the musical bits off and put them on my IPOD-like device.

So, I watched some of the DVD's, and was really surprized just how good we were. With over a year since some of these shows were in my brain, I really enjoyed seeing some of them again. Sure, we all thought that we did a good show, but I was truly pleased with the overall quality of the sketches, the musical numbers, and the wonderful performances. I can truly say that I think our stuff holds up against most anything else out there.

So, here's to you, my fellow current and former Monkeys. I miss you guys. We did some good stuff.