Okay, I Get It Already...Geesh.

It's not the curveball that matters... it's how you swing at it. 

A curveball was thrown at me from the left field late last night. It was a job offer in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was offered a managerial interview with the boss-man himself. Not sure if I was being tested about my resolve or not, my gut told me to go check it out. In the beginning, pre-farm idea, I had prayed about getting a managerial job with a long overdue raise. That is what this offer would amount to...IF it was offered to me.

So I spent the ENTIRE day driving back and forth to Flagstaff (six hours roundtrip) and a good $110 in gas. After being home for an entire thirty minutes, my part-time job called and said they needed me to come to see ONE patient in the Emergency Room. I knew I was on-call tomorrow but had forgotten about tonight. Frustrating to say the least.

Since my family needs money right now, I cannot refuse. I intend to write up the rest of this story tonight and share with you how the interview in Flagstaff went AND the lovely curveball the Director threw at me in the last two minutes of the interview. UNBELIEVABLE.

I'll also share a little sign from above that we are headed on the right path which occurred on my drive home. Almost teared me up. Shared it with Wifey and when she told the teenagers, they squealed with joy (except for Sis, of course, who is in her room balling her eyes out). I tried to speak with Sis but she wasn't in the mood for RATIONAL THOUGHT. Ugh...

So, I'll be back in a bit after I go peek inside someone's abdomen. Lord help me if it's a crack head looking for pain medication. It might turn into a rectal exam.  Oops, did I say that out loud?

Anywho....

 Next: The Rest of the Story

Schedule Change - Heading out in One Week

Wifey practiced her bread-from-scratch skills last night.

Time seems to be speeding up. After sharing with Uncle R that my new job begins in two weeks, he informed me that I'd need to get there a few days early because the farm house has some plumbing issues. Since I'll be staying there for a  month or so in order to scout out the new job, town, schools, church, etc...I need to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible.

Looks like the old farm house is in need of a new water heater and some minor plumbing repairs. Instead of leaving on a Saturday and arriving Sunday (work starts Monday), I'll be leaving either Wednesday or Thursday of next week. It all depends on if Mr. Plumber can do everything on Friday.

Team Alpha + Wifey on recent trip to Disneyland

I'm going to pack up my 10x12' enclosed trailer and take some stuff with me. I figure it's one less load to pack up on the next trip and it will afford me some comforts from home. Not quite sure what I'll take yet. Most likely camping gear, normal travel gear (clothes, etc), and whatever else might come in handy on the farm. I'll get to see how well the Orange Jeep pulls a loaded trailer 1,000 miles. Her gas mileage is already pretty pathetic as it is. This should be a real gas guzzling trip.

Once I get there, I'll need to do a quick assessment of the living quarters. I'm sure I'll spend a few hours sweeping up cob webs and dead critters, wiping things down, and putting my stuff away. I'll have to get in the habit of leaving the farm gate the way I found it. First rule of the country: leave a gate the way you find it. If it's open, leave it open but for sure, if it is CLOSED...leave it closed. I have a cousin out there that may have a small herd free grazing. I DO NOT want to be responsible for letting those animals loose on my first week there.

I have to make sure everything at home is handled for Wifey so she doesn't have any unexpected surprises while I'm gone. Get the bills paid up, check the Suburban's oil and other fluids, discuss security and OPSEC for a manless house and establish an emergency call procedure.

Team Bravo about to Tea Party in style.

I'll document the road trip with lots of pictures and report in once I get there. Hopefully it won't take too long to get settled into the new job and find a rental home. We will need to stay in a rental until we figure out how we are going to homestead the farm. We've discussed putting a double-wide trailer there but the cost would eat up the funds we have for building a house. So, for now, I'll be looking for a nearby rental property. Problem is, all the houses in these types of small towns were built back in a time when 1200 square feet was a typical house size. With six kids, we feel pretty packed in our Arizona home and it is 2000 square feet. Either we're going to have to deal with a smaller home or I'll have to figure something else out (farm house + trailer?). Any suggestions from my Internet family and friends are welcome!

I'm hoping that once I get into town and start meeting folks, someone will have just what I need. Something under $1000/mo, big enough for our family, and near the farm/job. Indoor plumbing would be nice too ;-)

per Wifey's request: Yes dear, you beat me...once ;-)

~OJD

Next: Planning for the solo roadtrip

Telling the Teenagers - The End is Nigh

The Dude abides...

In an attempt to soften the blow, we treated the family to a bowling night on the town. Good times were had by all for a good three hours.  In the spirit of The Big Lebowski, I (of course) chose the screen name "The Dude".

Bumper rails in place, Team Bravo had a terrific time. Balls were lobbed into the air with giant thuds. Between the legs, two-handed granny throws were attempted with some success.  There was even two occassions (TWO!) where the bowling ball was released towards the crowd (TAKE COVER...INCOMING!!!).

But there were no injuries and I did surprisingly well in the first game.  So, feeling obligated to share, I have included a picture of my talents. Be it known, Wifey came back in game three and slaughtered me. THAT was the picture she chose to capture AND put on facebook (sigh...).

Afterwards we visited the local IHOP for a light snack, free soda refills, and some family roundtable discussion about the events that were unfolding.  I informed the girls that the only jobs that I had been offered were not local...meaning (I made sure to explain clearly) we were going to be moving soon. There was a moment of silence...

Macky calmly says: "well, it'll suck at first...but then we'll get used to it." She's our realist. Team Bravo equates the move to "we're going to live at that place that has horses?! Sweet!" Enough said there. That's four out of six  happy so far.

Sis is one unhappy camper

I look over at The Queen and she's beaming from ear to ear. She not only loves animals and WANTS to be a cowgirl, she discovered a new best friend in her same-age cousin during our Christmas trip to Oklahoma. Her only words: "When are we moving!?"

Then, slowly and with one eye squinted as if about to get clobbered, I look over at Sis. She is utterly devastated. Words weren't even needed to describe her thoughts. Best friends, potential boyfriend, everyone she has spent thousands of text messages (and that was just today) chatting with will be gone. I captured a picture of the moment, like any caring parent would do...right?

I could tell she was immediately formulating a list of everyone she could ask to move in with to stay in Arizona. Truth be told, I think she needs a new home, a new town to start over in. She had a rough time finding friends and has developed a bad habit of putting a strangle hold on anyone that befriends her. Against our advice, she rushes in to relationships with boys and within days is texting 24/7 and molding her life around them. This is only on her third "boyfriend" so far but good grief this kid is making me gray.

Under-table texting "The end is nigh"

I use the term "boyfriend" for ease of explanation but the rules in our house dictate that there will be no dating until age 16 and even then it is to be only "group dating" so that there are witnesses, for lack of a better term. Sis had no interest in boys at all until about a year ago. Now it is a constant battle. Such is the life of a father with six daughters. I'll save the "boyfriend" topic for another day. This entry is about our move to Oklahoma and my pictures of her say everything.

All in all, everyone now knows and is onboard...pending Sis. The next hurdle to tackle will be telling my mom who is my only (close) family member who lives in Arizona. I am her only child and she will NOT be happy. One battle at a time...

~OJD

Next: The dates change. I find out I have one week to move.

Will You Take LESS Than We Originally Offered?

Two of the four jobs I was waiting to hear from chimed in late yesterday. Both show clear evidence that I am headed down the correct path to Oklahoma.

First, I sent a thank you email to the position three hours south of me in southern Arizona. I thanked them for allowing me to interview and they replied

"Sir,

Thanks you for your visit. At this point we will be offering the position to another candidate. I will keep your resume for future openings.

Take Care,

X"

Good thing I contacted them. Who knows when they would have gotten around to notifying me. We'll see  how long it takes to reimburse my gas expense for driving down there. I won't hold my breath.  Anywho...

Second, Mrs. Headhunter (my affectionate term for Temporary Staffing Agent),  emailed me requesting a phone chat. So, I complied. Long story short, the Indians up in northern Arizona officially offered three dollars LESS per hour than originally offered. I had unofficially been offered a set amount by my potential boss, to which, I countered offered two dollars per hour higher. My dad taught me to never accept any first offer when it comes to money.

Their response? Less than the original offer! Ha! How does THAT work? Considering they were not willing to let my family stay with me on the reservation during my contract, it is pretty obvious where I'll be filing this job offer.

Wanna work swing (evening) shifts?

That boils it all down to one last offer...who still hasn't called for an in-person interview. I passed the phone interview but then declined the crummy hours. I had originally applied to the location for one of two possible night shifts (overnight). After passing the phone interview, I was told the two night shifts were filled. There was one swing shift remaining from 11:30am to 8pm, Monday through Friday. I politely declined citing that those hours were optimal family time: school pickup, homework, dinner and bed time. I will sacrifice some things for work...but not those.

Surprisingly, after politely declining that last shift, I was offered a chance to apply for management based on my "enjoyable" phone interview with the department Director (his words, not mine). I filled out the application but have yet to be called for an interview.

So, all signs are still clearly pointed to Oklahoma. Keep your arms and legs inside the Jeep at all times. This is going to be a bumpy ride.

~OJD

The Road to Going Galt

My Pops leading Monster & Flower around on horseback.

Writing is something I learned to enjoy after a wonderful college class at Arizona State University called ENG301 Writing for the Professions. It by no means made me a perfect writer but it showed me how to make ideas flow smoothly and encouraged me to explore the world of writing. Enter Blogspot stage left.

Now I had a platform with which to lay down my ideas. After a few awkward attempts to author my own blog under various themes, The Orange Jeep Dad was born and continues to provide a great venue for expressing ideas, logging family adventures and connecting with like-minded people around the world. I have every intention to share our new adventures with everyone as we start down this exciting (and extremely nerve-racking) road to increased self sufficiency by moving our large family from the busy hustle-n-bustle of a large metropolitan city (outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona) to a small town in Oklahoma.

Once Wifey and I reverse engineered our plan, we knew that our end goal was to live in a specific area of Oklahoma. The family farm was at the center of a concentric circle which would map out the jobs I would apply to based on a desired thirty minute or less commute time. That established a list of jobs, in my case hospitals, that I would begin soliciting.

Not knowing very many people in the healthcare industry in that region, I turned to the next best thing in my opinion: LinkedIn. LinkedIn, for those unfamiliar, is kind of like FaceBook in that it allows people to "friend" or, as they called it "Connect" to other individuals on the website. Where it is different from FaceBook, is that you create your profile which serves as an online resume. Potential employers can do a search on the website for people who have listed, in my example, Sonographer as their job title. It helps people looking for jobs to search postings for jobs, as well as help employers search for specific criteria on members' resumes.

Without getting too much deeper into the "how's and why's" of LinkedIn, there's just one more aspect I want to mention because it is pertinent to my story.  When you connect to a person on LinkedIn, it connects you on a 1st level connection with that person. There also exists a 2nd level and 3rd level of connection.  The best way I can explain it is to say that if I "directly" connect to Tom who works at Starbucks coffee shop, then Tom and I share a 1st level connection. If Tom is also connected to Jim "directly" because Jim gets his favorite latte every morning from Tom, I am now "indirectly" connected to Jim on a 2nd level connection. In other words, everyone you "connect" with...you also connect with their other connections on a 2nd or 3rd level of "indirect" connection. This comes in handy when you are applying for a job because, as an example, I can contact Jim and discuss employment opportunities while citing Tom as our common friend and casually mention that Tom can vouch for what a terrific / hard working / loyal etc person I am.

Well, as I searched the area in small town Oklahoma for a job, I zeroed in on the closest hospital to our family farm.  I searched LinkedIn using the keyword of that specific hospital by name. This brings up profiles on people who have listed themselves to be employed by the same hospital I was seeking.  A few dozen employees popped up but only a few were accessible without paying LinkedIn's premium fee to have full access.  Nonetheless, I found an ICU nurse and attempted to reach out and connect to her. I clicked the CONNECT button and hoped for the best.

Within 24 hours Mrs ICU Nurse accepted my request. I typed her a quick message thanking her for accepting my connection request and told her how I had just been in her little town a week ago for a family funeral. I shared with her that returning to see family had stirred my desire to move back to Oklahoma but I needed to find a job there before moving my entire family one thousand miles. She asked about the funeral and who was involved. Turns out SHE KNOWS MY FAMILY!

Within two hours, she returned a message saying she had just walked down the hall and had a talk with the Director of the department where I wanted to apply.  "He says send him your resume, he might have something for you." I was FLOORED! Before leaving Oklahoma during our funeral stay, I spent the entire last day calling every job ad on the internet for the hospitals in OKC and got nowhere. I left several messages that went without acknowledgement and had no idea how I was ever going to get a job there.

Visiting Grandma last Christmas in Oklahoma.

I sent the resume and three weeks went by.  I received a few emails from the Director with simple questions like "How many exams, on average, would you say you complete in a month?" That was the entire body of the first email. Another week went by. Second email said simply "What kind of salary are you looking for?" These emails were not giving me warm fuzzies. I didn't want to be pushy but I wasn't getting any younger either. I sent one more email the following week simply wishing him and his family to be well as this was the week of several horrible tornadoes in the area.

Finally, the planets lined up and I received an email with yet another single sentence: "When are you available for an interview?" I replied "anytime" and waited probably a whole ten minutes before I called the Director and said "how about now?" LoL.

The interview couldn't have gone any better. We joked, we talked numbers and after 90 minutes went by I realized we were at an awkward junction. As he said "Well...." a few times, I finished his sentence and said "...it's hard to hire someone without seeing them in person, right?" He asked if I could come for an interview to which I replied "Unfortunately, no." I explained that I had been to Oklahoma twice with my entire family since Christmas and I simply couldn't afford the expense (flying and driving were the same cost). I felt I was starting to lose his enthusiasm so I mentioned using Skype as a way to interview me online with video conferencing. He liked the idea and said he'd get back to me after talking with his I.T. people about how to make it happen.

A few days later, on a Friday at 1pm, we connected on Skype. Our audio ended up not working so I called him on my cellphone and we chatted over our cell phones while we watched each other on the computers. It worked good enough with no lagging and within 20 minutes, he offered me the job. 

Woo hoo! He gave me the weekend to think over the offer and I turned off the electronic gadgets. There it was. Phase One of Going Galt complete. I had the job in the town right next to our family farm. It wasn't too long after the initial wave of adrenaline rush that another emotion engulfed me:

What am I going to do now?!?

• I have a family of eight to move 1000 miles and I begin working my new job in exactly TWO WEEKS...

• We have lived in this house since it was built in 2001 and have accumulated TONS of stuff.

• Big Sister (my 15 year old) is engulfed in summer school at the moment and THINKS she has a boyfriend. Oh boy.

• The Queen (my 12 year old Princess) gets her braces removed in two months.

• We're running low on funds (my last paycheck was last week).

and the list goes on and on...

Now I have to figure out how to make the transition. I have an idea but I need to work on it some more tonight.  I'll post more tomorrow.

How would YOU do it?

~OJD

Our American Ride Begins - We're Going Galt!

This BIG CITY family is GOING GALT! 

I was offered a job yesterday in a small town near our family farm in Oklahoma. The pay is slightly less than what I was making just a few short weeks ago here in Phoenix, Arizona...before I was unexpectedly LAID OFF (read The Axe Has Fallen). What a lovely Friday afternoon phone call that was...

Are these city girls ready for country living?

This family's fairy tale is unfolding at an unbelievable pace. For years, we've been learning new skills and inching towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle after our eyes began to open to what was going on all around us. Encroaching government, decline in societal values, currency becoming worthless, tangible goods prices skyrocketing, all leading to an unhappy, fragmented family unit working endless hours just to stay afloat.

Well, not us. We're done. We made a plan and said countless prayers. Now, by the Grace of God, we've had a door opened. It was disguised at first as tragedy after tragedy. I lost my job, my family health insurance, cars were breaking down, bills were coming due and phone call after phone call was going unanswered as I desperately looked for a new job.

As recently discussed (read I've Made My Case), Wifey and I had an idea of moving to our old family farm back in a little town in Oklahoma. It was only being used for occasional family gatherings but had, at one time, been farmed feverishly by my Grandfather many decades ago (before he came down with Alzheimers). Wifey and I were almost brought to tears when we received the welcoming response from my uncle (read The First Response).

How to make it work was our biggest obstacle. Like many folks out there today, we knew we wanted to move to the country for a better life but didn't know how to make it happen. Finally, one night, we decided to "reverse engineer" our plan. Sometimes, when I can't figure out how to get a problem solved from the beginning, I'll start at the end and work backwards.  In this case, we knew WHERE we wanted to live but didn't know HOW to get there. For us, the first hurdle was for me to get a job NEAR the farm. Once an income was established, it was possible to conceive moving there.  I just couldn't fathom moving my entire family out of state with no source of income waiting for me when we got there.

So this will be the first post, in a long series of posts, to share our journey. The past few years, I've shared on this blog what we have been doing to prepare for self sufficiency:

adding to our preps and sharpening our skills
catching rainwater in barrels
barter and trade skills 
herbal home remedies 
disconnecting from cable and meaningless liberal media 
physical fitness 
establishing a bugout location 
bugout SHTF mock runs
building Wifey's uber-cool craft room 
obtaining ammo when there is none
homemade beef jerky & dehydrating
and several posts on gardening, medicine and more.

Today begins the first day of our journey. Tonight we'll sit down with our six daughters and have "The Talk" about moving. I'm sure at least one teenager is going to flip out...and I don't mean in a good way ;-)

~OJD


If you wonder what I do for a living, I wrote about it (read What Does Daddy Do All Night?).

The Suspense is Killing Me!

Image courtesy of JerryStocking.com

Quick update since my last post about losing my job. Things are starting to look better. The first few weeks, there were a few major road blocks in my path which required me to just sit and wait for time to pass. The annual Girls Camp with church just happened to be scheduled about one week after I was laid off. That meant four days of me at home with three of my darling toddlers while Wifey enjoyed a campout with our three oldest girls up in the pines. Yup, made me a bit envious to say the least.

There also just happened to be a pre-planned, pre-paid weekend trip to Disneyland the very weekend prior to campout.  For who? You guessed it, Wifey and the three older girls. Daddy Daycare was in full effect. Talk about getting stressed out. Knowing that you lost your job and having your hands bound with childcare while your better half was off having a whirlwind tour of Disneyland is NOT good for moral. But we endured, after my minor...okay, slightly major meltdown in the church parking lot when picking up from campout.

FINALLY, I could start SERIOUSLY looking for a job. I had spent time emailing, calling, LinkedIn-ing, and FaceBooking everyone I knew in my field. I attempted one phone interview with watching Team Bravo (my younger set of three girls). That just made me a wreck trying to corral them while focusing on whatever the interviewer was saying on the other end of the line.

I had about a week and a half before another roadblock was quickly approaching. Before losing my job, I had sensed a need to fortify my resume. I scheduled two heavy duty Board Exams back to back on consecutive weeks. I am currently studying for one now. My Abdominal Ultrasound Board Exam is tomorrow (Friday). I've been studying at the local library all week in a solitary study room. Next week, on Thursday, is my Computed Tomography Board Exam and I plan on studying Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the same fashion (library). The two certifications were going to be crucial if I ever had to find a new job and sure enough, the timing was impeccable.

I couldn't re-schedule them to look for a job, I needed them to land a job. My prior employer didn't require them for employment. They were simply an extra credential to hang on the wall. Now, with the current healthcare situation (thanks Obama), everyone is requiring these certifications because as of 2014, imaging centers will not get reimbursed for examinations that were done by technologists unless the technologist is certified.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God (literally), I secured some good interviews. I currently have in the hopper:

1) an offer from an indian reservation for full time employment at a hourly rate HIGHER than I was making prior. However, this "group" is not family-friendly and expects me to work on their reservation while living in their government housing. They'll pay for the housing but I'll only see my family on the weekends. This is a 13 week temporary assignment. If both parties agree, it could go permanent. Not happy about the family situation but it was offered before I had any other options. I am still waiting for final approval as I counter offered at a higher rate of pay.

2) a beautiful little town three hours south of me has reported that I am one of two people they are considering for a management position. This would be a promotion! It also means moving the family but they would be with me, which is great. We would start over in a new town with new adventures. They said they will announce their selection in mid-June.

3) a smaller town three hours north of me has offered me an interview for management after I turned down an afternoon shift. After much deliberation, I decided working from 11:30am to 8pm Monday through Friday was miserable for family life. Regardless of what the indian reservation paragraph may have led you to believe, I am all about family. This position offered less pay, crummy hours but beautiful location for my family and me. Once I summoned the courage to politely decline the shift work based on the hours offered, the Director asked if I had ever considered management. Of course I have! So, sometime in the next few days, I should have an interview up north for a management position. That would be a promotion and move my family and me to a beautiful snowy town.

4) saving the best for last, if you have read my previous posts about our family farm in Oklahoma, you'll be excited to hear I am uber close to landing a job in a small town right next to my family farm. I passed a successful phone interview a few days ago with the boss. I can't afford to go back there for an interview because I've been there twice since December already (once to visit for Christmas, once for my Grandmother's funeral). Now, with limited funds, I simply can't drive or fly out there (same price). $450-500 either way I travel is not doable at this time. Potential boss is working on a Skype/Internet Video conference solution and waiting on his Human Resource department to approve his paperwork to hire me.

So, there's your update in a nutshell. I do not absolutely have a job yet but things are sure looking positive at the moment. Keep your fingers crossed. I know I am.

~OJD