Friday (yesterday) was another one of those "even steven" kind of days. Which means there were some really good things and some not so good things, but at the end of the day it turned out that all was well in the world.
On the good side of the ledger, I accepted an offer to begin work for Advocate Health Care on August 31 as an operations/process improvement consultant. I'm excited about the job, and it really came as a surprise that things worked out as well as they have. When I made the decision to move back to Chicago I knew I was taking on some risk, especially with the economy, but I was pleasantly surprised that I found a job that really appealed to me after only six weeks of working at it. I guess it once again proves to me that I really have no ability to predict the future and spending time worrying about what could go right or wrong is just a waste of time. As I wrote about last week, if I obsess or analyze every decision in life I'll probably go nowhere. So a heartfelt thanks to everyone for the encouragement the past few months, all of you helped in some way, even if it was just a person to listen to me ramble about how to go about finding work.
On the not so good side of the ledger, my little sister had a bit of a health scare and spent last night in the hospital. She's up in Minneapolis and has already been sent home, but it definitely took us all a bit off guard. I'll see her later today, which brings me to what's shaking between now and the time I start work.
My parents, two sisters, and nephew and niece (and myself) are heading to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for a few days of rest and relaxation. Those close to the family know this has been a tricky year for all of us and it'll be nice for us all to get away for some beach time. Santa Rosa Beach is up near Pensacola, and although I lived in Florida for a few years I've never been. Everything I've read about it leads me to believe it'll be a nice place for us to be, not too florida(ish) and much more like Hilton Head or other towns along the Atlantic further up the coast. Vacationing with the family is something we haven't done for a while, so I'm sure it'll have moments of disorganized chaos, but now that we're adults I'm sure we'll enjoy reading, relaxing, and just hanging out with each other. Speaking of reading, my next book is 100 Days of Solitude, per a friend's recommendation
The only drama about the trip is who is going to watch Annie, but several have offered to chip in while we're away to make sure she doesn't smoke in the house or drink all of my sister's booze.
In terms of travel, this has been a very busy year for me and mostly for fun things, but I got to thinking that after next week's trip I'll have spent time in 18 states in 2009, and we still have a few months to go this year...in chronological order I've been to:
Washington
Illinois
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Washington D.C (kinda counts)
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Indiana
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee
Granted, a few of those were layover stops, but I think there may be some way to quantify how much exploration I do by counting the number of unique places I go. I'll consider that as a measure for my 2010 strategic plan, but it reflects that its been a busy year in the world of Delta Whiskey.
I'll bring the laptop with but no guarantees I'll blog down there, but when I return I've lined up a few interviews that are sure to be page scrollers (the computer based version of page turners). And if the past few months are any indication, I'm sure there will be a funny story or two from the trip!
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