Hi all! Ok, I have an hour to spare before I head in back to school. So...vacation, it was awesome as always! We got some rain thursday and friday, but we found a really cool beach store in Calabash, NC and did some outlet shopping on thursday, friday cleared up nicely by late afternoon. We went to Blake's house saturday-monday. He's finishing his paper for his Master's, I SOO wish I was done, but sadly no, he has to turn it in by friday and has been running getting it printed on thesis paper at Kinko's. While it's 34 pages EACH, Little irked that the school doesn't do that for you and he had 6 copies made that have to be bound which is an additional $20 per copy to be bound and he won't tell me how much he spent....I understand it's for school, but still, we don't have that kind of money to "waste" right now..OTTV!
So sunday we went to look at a townhouse that I had been eyeing at 1pm, the rent is $10 cheaper than we're paying now. Currently we're in a 970 sq ft 1 bed, 1 bath and this is a 1200 sq ft 2 bed, 1.5 bath, plus it's 2 floors. It still has the clubhouse aspect, so gym, HUGE pool, very dog friendly/dog park and maintenance guy. They wanted us to sign the application to get us in, but there's no way right now especially since my job interview was at 3pm that day and I had a bad feeling the pay would be bad. I talked to dad about it and visited the firehouse to check out the crime in the area/lack there of. So then I go to this interview. The deal is this guy started this aquarist/fish/tank maintenance company 12 years ago. He has his Master's and all his employees have their bachelors. We chatted for a while. He pays 50% toward benefits, gives you your own truck to visit the clients and do maintenance/set up so your not spending gas money. He says he pays $12/hour for a probational period, so I'm looking at $22,000 to start, but increasing to $24,000 with the ability to jump up to $34,000 within the next 2 years. SO...he's looking to start a coral business now and wants to hire me as his main Reef Biologist. They do the tanks at the Bass Pro Shops in VA, MD and TN, the large tanks in Hotel lobbys in VA Beach, some tanks at the North Carolina Aquarium, The VA Zoo and VA Aquarium and only do businesses like for doctor's offices, etc so I wouldn't have to worry about going to some strange po-dunk house by myself. He said if I'm able to get the coral business going I could seriously make lots more money. He has 3 kids and said he's so flexible with schedules, I can make my own hours and take off here and there for doctor's appointments or dog stuff and not have to fill out paperwork and stuff. PLUS, I found another same type business in the area that already wants to hire me for part time that I could compensate for the lower salary in the beginning. He wants me to keep in contact for the next month-month and a half and see where I'm at. It just seems like something I can make lots of contacts through bigger aquariums and rise in the pay chain a lot quicker than working in a public aquarium. I just haven't actually signed any contract, things like that make me nervous.
Here's where I'm going nuts right now. We have about 2 weeks to decide what we're doing. We'd have to give our 30 days notice here, we'd be looking to move in to the other place around 1st week of October, but have to put up $450 for application stuff/processing (some of that you get back your 1st month), cancelling cable, switching bills out of my name here and into down there, getting a moving truck, packing cleaning the carpets here professionally (pet agreement with our apartment), etc etc...and the big thing...finishing my lab work for my thesis!!!! I have a meeting with my advisors on friday to figure out where I am. Wherever I am, I'd have about a month to finish everything at school and be at the point where I'm comfortable writing my paper while not at school anymore. So, that's lots of expenses and I'm only doing part time work now. I'm looking into seeing how much money we have left in the account and trying to save like mad. I know things will work out, I'm just trying not to get ovewhelmed, thank you so much for the encouragement already girls, you all are the absolute best!!
Julez-CONGRATS on the house!!! SO incredibly excited for you.
JJ-Sounds like you had a great first day, can't wait to hear about the rest of your week.
Katie-Still thinking about you on the interview!
LL-So glad most of your tests are done, thinking good thoughts for you, it'll all be over quickly!
MM-How is the dog doing? I may have missed it!
P-We will definitely have to get together if you're going to be in VA Beach next year!
C-How're you doing girl?
Stace-Job not stressing you out too much?
But knowing what is going to happen is also important. You know your gnomies will be there for you! One week!! WOW.
There's so much going on with you guys I don't know where to start!!!
