Almost a Done Deal

It was another hectic day. We were in the lobby and ready for our interview with the Regional Manager, Randy Perras, at about 7:30 AM. While having a cup of coffee and waiting for our 8 AM meeting, we strolled around the facility - Valencia Commons - and took a few pictures. These first 2 are of the back, just off the lobby:

The next one is in the lobby area where the "main" Christmas tree (out of three that we saw in the complex) was located:

We then took a picture of the dining room which was just beginning to fill up with the residences:

We sat in the lobby until 8:15 and we heard that Randy would be there for the interview at around 9 AM. That gave us a chance to have some breakfast with one of the co-management teams and we had a very good conversation about the responsibilities of the managers before going into our interview.

Randy showed up at 9:15, which meant we had to have the interview and then rush to the airport to catch our 12:02 flight out to Houston. The interview went very well, and at the end, we discussed start dates and other details of the start up process. It was determined by Randy following the interview that our skills would be better utilized at one of their problem communities where the occupancy has dropped off to a level below 90%. That is the lowest acceptable occupancy at any of their Communities. It is located in Vista, CA, which is just as good for us as the Escondido and El Cajon Communities we previously requested. The name is Arcadia Place, and is another very nice community. There are lots of details to be worked out but, essentially, he indicated we would be hired and would hear from the recruiter - Gabrielle, whom we last interviewed with that had the Skype problem.We departed the complex at 11:05, for our 12:02 flight.

It was a mad dash to get to the airport, return our rental car, go through security and make our flight on time. We made it to the Continental counter at 11:40, and were informed that our flight was delayed over 2 hours as a result of mechanical problems. To make a long story short, that resulted in our missing the connecting flight in Houston (the last flight to Louisville) and would have to stay overnight in Houston and leave today for Louisville. The airline gave us food vouchers and a voucher for a hotel and we proceeded to the gate for a 2 hour wait.

We received a call from Gabrielle while waiting informing us of the next step. She spoke with Randy who was excited to get us on board. We talked about start dates - it looks like January 9th to begin training in either Denver or Dallas for 2 weeks. She also indicated that the company would provide us with $3,000 to be used toward relocation costs from Kentucky to CA - WOW!

We will revise all our scheduled plans - cancelling the Puerto Rico trip, Florida and a planned visit with Josie's sister during the Christmas holiday. The good news is that we were able to get a commitment from Randy to allow us to go to Naperville for a week at the end of February to take care of the boys while Patty and Mark go to Mexico. That was very important to us, and we know it is a relief for Patty.

So, here we are in Houston at the Marriott Hotel getting ready to leave for the airport and our flight to Louisville at 10:55 AM. We had to call Amazon and leave a message that we would be absent from work today as a result of not being able to make the proper travel connections.

We are very excited and happy about starting this new chapter in our life adventure and have shifted gears to make it happen. More details are forthcoming as they develop...