Good-bye Planet Utah

Now that I'm no longer living in Utah, I thought I'd take some time to list a few things that I will miss. So here they are (in no apparent order, of course).

I miss...

1. the University of Utah. I have made many friends there, and I am sad I won't see them every day. Believe it or not, I'm even missing having to track down Chuck. It makes me sad to think that I've heard him say "I'm only here for a minute, but you wanted to see me..." for the last time.

2. the traffic humor. I was curious about this 'traffic congested area', so I checked it out one night. Just my luck, it was a slow night.

3. the freak of the week. How am I going to live if I don't get to hear about all the wannabe Darwin Award recipients out there? My favorite one happened in Utah. A kid tried to steal a car. He missed the fact that there was a cop was sitting in it. Here's my favorite part. When the cop made his presence known, the kid crapped his pants, putting quite the damper on his get-a-way.

4. the marque signs. Yes, Nebraska has them, but they just are not the same. I really miss the sign that said "Bobby told me to put something up here, but I can't remember what."

5. being close enough to family that we could visit regularly. What was a 4 to 6 hour drive is now a 15 to 20 hour drive. Some may say that's still too close, but I really love the red sands of St. George. I also love the sign on I-15 that says "Idaho is too great to litter." Silly me...I thought Idaho didn't litter because it wasn't sentient.

6. fighting with the TGA. I'm going to miss Steve. If you have a problem with a TGA, call Steve. He'll know how to fix it. Never mind that he's the sales rep. That must be why he can tell when I'm joking! Surprisingly enough, I'm even going to miss the techs that don't know a joke when they hear one (I know that super glue out gasses in a vacuum. Seriously, I was joking when I asked if I could super glue it back together.)

7. public transportation. UTA has opened my eyes to a whole new world, and it's completely full of crazy people. Let's see....there was the guy who wanted to put nitro glycerin in his diesel fuel, a 50/50 mixture of course....the guy who dared me to give him my phone number....the guy who asked me to marry him....after that, I stoped taking TRAX after dark.

8. the protesters at temple square. Not necessarily the protesters themselves, more their signs. One time someone was picketing with an Oreo cookie advertisement.

9. the weather. If you don't like it, just wait five minutes. It'll change! Of course, if it changes to something you don't like, you only have to endure it for five minutes.

Were moving!

The rumors are true, we are officially moving to Kearney, Nebraska next month. You are reading the blog of the new Instrumentation Technician at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (assuming the background check goes well).

I applied for this job while Nick was still in Nebraska. At first we did a telephone interview, and I seriously thought that I blew it. (I have never really caught on to the whole self promotion thing that is so essential for job interview success.) A week later they decided that they wanted to fly me out there.

I went, and all five of the questions that I prepared to ask were answered in the first ten minutes of the first interview. And wouldn't you know it, I couldn't think of a single new question to ask! What a time to develop stage fright. I felt like such a heel, not asking any questions.

I was wined and dined in fine style. I stayed at a nice hotel, ate cheesecake at Old Chicago, and went in the very first Cabela's. I got a tour of the campus and the town. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The faculty was enthusiastic, full of new ideas and eager to teach. They displayed many of the qualities that are common to my favorite professors. I was impressed from the onset by the variety of instrumentation available for student use. And I love their vision of teaching through hands on research. Needless to say, I was impressed and excited for the opportunity to work with them.

The flight back was quite a bit bumpier, and I almost didn't make it without being sick. Can you imagine getting sick on the plane, while the airports are blaring the latest breaking news of the 'swine flu'?! I would have been horrified. Luckily my flight was late, and I missed the connecting flight out of Denver. That gave me some time to get my rebellious stomach under control. It was still noon the next day before I could walk without the fear of showing everyone what I ate for breakfast, and well into the evening before I felt back to 100%.

They called to offer me the job before my stomach even settled. I asked for a couple of days to decide. I had to make sure that Nick was really ok with moving out there, and that we were ok (if not optimistic) about his job prospects there. I also had to wrap my head around the idea that we really were going to move twice in as many months! That's what I get for staying in the same place for three years. Thank goodness I insisted that we keep most of our moving boxes!