From Connecticut to Florida by Way of Missouri

Leading Off - I have returned to Tallahassee! I arrived yesterday afternoon after making the long trip from St. Louis. The trip wasn’t all that bad. Here’s how it went down.

Nate Griffin’s Revenge - So before I left on my trip I had to go the the Connecticut DMV. I needed to get a registration for my car in my name for the trip down, even though I’m almost immediately going to turn around and need one in Florida. This was a tricky operation. Connecticut is really anal about getting vehicles inspected and normally won’t give you a registration without first checking your car out. But I found out that there’s such thing as a transit registration, which is what I thought I needed to get. They’re good for 30 days. So I went down there, asked for the proper paperwork, filled it out, and went up to the counter. They gave me a registration that was good for 10 days. Sadly I didn’t notice this until I was already halfway out the door, so I had to get back in line to ask what the deal was. It turns out that a transit registration is only good if I was going to buy a car in another state and bring it back to Connecticut. But since I wasn’t going to do that the state figures they’ll stick it to you as you’re leaving. It’s not that big a deal. It just means that registering my car in Florida is now higher on my priority list.

Job Situation - Later on Thursday I received a call from the Department of Elder Affairs asking for an interview. It’ll be tomorrow at 9 AM. This morning I received an email from them that read:

See you Tuesday AM. Bring an extra copy of your background material. Your good reputation precedes you.

If that’s not a good sign I don’t know what is! I’m trying not to get my hopes up; I just don’t want to be too crushed if things don’t work out. But I can’t help it. I’m really excited about this. Things are finally starting to fall into place.

Living Situation - If you read my last post you’ll know that I’m also looking for a place to live. On Saturday I got a call from my campus minister saying that one of our mutual friends is looking for tenants for a house she recently bought. All right! I haven’t been able to get in touch with her myself yet, but from what I’ve been told it sounds like a great deal. Interestingly enough, this is the house that used to belong to the Larkin family. Andy and I spent many a night my freshman year (his red shirt year) playing NCAA football in that house before we lived together in Salley Hall the following year. Fond memories, especially the end-of-the-half touchdowns I would always score. But it’s funny. I helped the Larkins move out of that house last spring and figured I’d never set foot in it again but here I am, possibly living there. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Homeward Bound - The trip down to Florida was rather uneventful. I flew out of Hartford on Friday morning and was picked up in St. Louis by my grandmother and her best friend. We had lunch at IHOP (something my grandmother does every time she goes into St. Louis) and then headed for Louisiana, MO. I spent the night in my grandmother’s mansion (no kidding, ask me about it sometime) and left early the next morning in my new car. It’s a 2006 Chevy Malibu Maxx. V6, 200 horsepower, black. Oh yeah. I listened to two C.S. Lewis books on CD that day, both The Great Divorce and The Problem With Pain. I drove for about nine hours before calling it a day. I stopped just short of Birmingham. The next day I finished the job, all the while listening to The Screwtape Letters (which, by the way, had a great narrator; it really made the character of Screwtape come alive). I almost wish the trip had been longer; I didn’t get a chance to listen to Mere Christianity. I have to admit, it was a fun trip. I thought it would be agonizing, but it went by much faster than I expected. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my car drives like a dream.

The rest - Today has been a day of errands. Pulled my suit out of my storage locker, bought new black socks (left my others in Connecticut), picked up the Kellum family photos from Wal-mart. Now I’m on campus in the library. Feels like old times. Please be praying for me for tomorrow’s interview. Pray for wisdom on both ends of the table. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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