No, not the blog - I have not done enough on here to warrant it being a "mistake". Despite my best intentions I just never can seem to free up the time to write on here as much as it might be to my benefit.
And no, not the Ph.D. Despite the time and energy commitment I have really learned a lot and I am having fun using that knowledge.
I mean, of course, the move to Tennessee. I posted to Facebook a couple of nights ago that some storms had knocked out the power for a few minutes a friend asked if i was second guessing the move...and I could not immediately say no to him. Because I had been.
I guess I should explain what has happened since the last posting - almost a year ago according to the Blog calendar (sorry about that).
Birmingham
As far back as last May I had misgivings about this whole situation - I had never had time to think and plan a move, had never really had a choice in any of my moves..and now I had a wife and son to think about, but we pushed through. I was supposed to start at Tennessee Tech in August of last year so I would be in place for the start of Fall Semester. That, unfortunately, was delayed. Dr. Soni was not able to secure my position right away and so while I knew the job was there and I would be moving, it delayed the move up until January. I spent the remaining time putting the finishing touches on my doctoral committee and finishing up my second to last semester of course work.
We cleaned and worked around the house and ended up putting it on the market around Labor Day. It is still on the market.
Paula quit her job right after Thanksgiving and my last day of work was the 15th of December. We spent the last two weeks in Birmingham packing and getting everything ready for the movers to show up and take us to...
Tennessee
After our trip up to Tennessee looking for places to live I thought we had decided that Mount Juliet was the winner. Shows what I know. To my surprise Paula thought the best place to move was to Cookeville. She argued that the ability to hopefully get by with only one car, less driving and other savings in the college town meant we could have more money on smaller paychecks which would be nice until our house sold in Birmingham. We worked with a realtor and found a house that was only about 2 miles from campus and an added bonus would rent to us until our house sold.
I started to work at Tech and discovered that nothing had been done to prepare the lab for my arrival...and the amount of red tape involved in getting started was going to be staggering. Add to that I was teaching a class for the first time, on a computer language I only had a passing familiarity with, I was taking 6 hours of coursework remote with U.A.B. AND trying to get my proposal together so I could proceed with my doctoral research.
The last 6 months I have worked to get things squared away. Most of the equipment for my lab has been purchased - with a few glaring omissions. My proposal was very well received by my dissertation committee who informed me that I had answered all of their questions and had one of the more complete proposals they have seen and turns out I am a pretty good teacher. I just cherry picked those traits my favorite teachers portrayed and the students did wonderful work. So I guess you can honestly say that despite some minor setbacks THAT portion of my life is really looking up.
So what's wrong? Everything else.
To tide us over until Paula found work she applied for Unemployment. Figured she had left her company in good terms but had to leave because her husband was relocating to a place more than 150 miles away should be a no brainer...except it was. Turns out Alabama only recognizes relocation as a rationale when the military is involved. No military, so no unemployment.
Add to that the simple fact that we live in a small town with a local university suppling lots of cheap labor and it is, perhaps, easy to understand why Paula has not had any luck finding work. She has tried hard and has been on a handful of interviews but she always loses out to someone with previous experience (or better knowledge of the hiring director). Some of the jobs she has done in the past will not even consider her because of her lack of degree. Call my silly but i would rather have someone with 4 years experience in the job than someone with a degree.
And remember what I said earlier about the state of the Birmingham house? Yep. Still unsold. We have changed realtors, we have lowered the price (more than we could afford) and have been down a few times to repaint a room the realtor did not like, clean, mow the grass etc. None of it works. People just do not like the house and I am having to keep paying for it.
So here we are - a little over 7 months in the state and we still have 1 paycheck coming in, 2 mortgage checks going out...and all the utilities/fees/etc. Needless to say my bank account is running on fumes and we have had to put more than I am comfortable with on credit. The amount we had to lower the asking price in Birmingham was basically our downpayment on the house here in Cookeville so I am not sure how we are going to come up with THAT.
As I repeatedly tell Paula IF she had qualified for unemployment or IF she had found work or IF we had sold the house in Birmingham we could get by. Not comfortably but at least enough to go out every once in a while. All three of those things being "no" however means I am just about at the breaking point and I do not see what I can do to fix it.
The problems have caused some issues, or the issues have caused some problems I am not sure which. I am stressed of course, which leads me to being frustrated and short. Xander, who is used to being a little spoiled, is getting upset that he can not get everything he wants. He says the right things at times, then turns around and asks for something.
Don't get me wrong, I love my work, I think the University has great potential and I think once we catch a break or two we will probably love it...but until those breaks happen I can not help but wonder if we would have been better off in Birmingham, with a little less opportunity for me, but work for Paula and only one mortgage check hanging over our head.
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