Dangit! Argh! Uck! Yippee?
Just when Tom and I had formulated a New Plan for Life, it looks like it the Old Plan for Life heard its death knell and stirred from its stupor. Here is the New Plan for Life. I originally didn't want to talk about it too much because sometimes if you talk about things you jinx them. But here's what the New Plan is. It was simple: pick a place that met our criteria for a perfect environment and move there. Here is the list of criteria:
1. Warm. Very little (or no) snowfall.
2. Cost of living comparable to Oklahoma or Louisiana.
3. At least two big colleges within an hour's drive, so that Tom can, if not immediately, eventually get on there doing something and I can pursue another degree if I choose to.
4. Evidence of pride of ownership, civic pride.
5. A state that is rarely featured on the national nightly news (in other words, not Florida or Texas).
6. A city big enough for me to get a real techwriting job if I decide to.
7. A state with a standardized pay scale for secondary school teachers that starts at a beginning salary of at least $28,000. Both of us are curious to try teaching high school, but not for less than that.
Sounds impossible, huh? We found the city (and I mean THE ONLY city) that meets that criteria. It'll sound funny at first, but here goes: Birmingham, Alabama. Has two big universities in it. And the "Tuscaloosa Corridor." Tuscaloosa is 45 minutes away and has a major state university in it. Tom has a friend working in the English Dept at one of the universities, and the other one is hiring two instructors right now so there's that. Birmingham-Tuscaloosa has three colleges in it as well, and four community colleges. Warm, civic pride, cost of living. The Birmingham Metro is 3/4 of a mil population so I should be able to get a techwriting job if I want. But the most unbelieveable part is the teacher pay: in Alabama, teachers start at 29k for BA, 33K for MA, and 38K for PhD. UNBELIEVEABLE.
So I was getting pumped about it. I'se really glad to have a New Plan coz it looked like the Old Plan was dead. But this morning it kicked its foot pretty hard.
Seems Tom's last interview, which we thought was dead because they never contacted us for a long time, is not dead. "If you're still interested in the job, give us a call." Whathafuh? Hm. I told Tom I would move to Podunck, USA with him for that job if the pay was at least as good as what some dude with a BA would make teaching at the public school in Alabama. I suspect that's a tall order from a VAPship. OOOOOh it's all so nervewracking! OOOOOh!
I'll keep ya posted.
Just when Tom and I had formulated a New Plan for Life, it looks like it the Old Plan for Life heard its death knell and stirred from its stupor. Here is the New Plan for Life. I originally didn't want to talk about it too much because sometimes if you talk about things you jinx them. But here's what the New Plan is. It was simple: pick a place that met our criteria for a perfect environment and move there. Here is the list of criteria:
1. Warm. Very little (or no) snowfall.
2. Cost of living comparable to Oklahoma or Louisiana.
3. At least two big colleges within an hour's drive, so that Tom can, if not immediately, eventually get on there doing something and I can pursue another degree if I choose to.
4. Evidence of pride of ownership, civic pride.
5. A state that is rarely featured on the national nightly news (in other words, not Florida or Texas).
6. A city big enough for me to get a real techwriting job if I decide to.
7. A state with a standardized pay scale for secondary school teachers that starts at a beginning salary of at least $28,000. Both of us are curious to try teaching high school, but not for less than that.
Sounds impossible, huh? We found the city (and I mean THE ONLY city) that meets that criteria. It'll sound funny at first, but here goes: Birmingham, Alabama. Has two big universities in it. And the "Tuscaloosa Corridor." Tuscaloosa is 45 minutes away and has a major state university in it. Tom has a friend working in the English Dept at one of the universities, and the other one is hiring two instructors right now so there's that. Birmingham-Tuscaloosa has three colleges in it as well, and four community colleges. Warm, civic pride, cost of living. The Birmingham Metro is 3/4 of a mil population so I should be able to get a techwriting job if I want. But the most unbelieveable part is the teacher pay: in Alabama, teachers start at 29k for BA, 33K for MA, and 38K for PhD. UNBELIEVEABLE.
So I was getting pumped about it. I'se really glad to have a New Plan coz it looked like the Old Plan was dead. But this morning it kicked its foot pretty hard.
Seems Tom's last interview, which we thought was dead because they never contacted us for a long time, is not dead. "If you're still interested in the job, give us a call." Whathafuh? Hm. I told Tom I would move to Podunck, USA with him for that job if the pay was at least as good as what some dude with a BA would make teaching at the public school in Alabama. I suspect that's a tall order from a VAPship. OOOOOh it's all so nervewracking! OOOOOh!
I'll keep ya posted.
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