San Antonio Bound!

Two mornings ago Philip's phone rang at 6:44am and I was about to grab it and throw it across the room (yes, I hate mornings that much) because I thought it was one of his dozen alarms he used to wake up to go to work.... only he's been unemployed for 3 weeks now. As it turns out, it was a phone call from GE Oil and Gas in San Antonio offering him the job he went to test/interview for last week! I'm very proud of him, 30 others had taken that exam before he did and he was the first to pass it, so that had to be good news from day 1.
He will be driving up to San Antonio tomorrow morning to do paperwork and take a drug test, and is set to start working this coming Monday. We haven't quite figured out when or how we are going to move yet... particularly because our apartment complex is kind of a jerk about breaking our lease. I was shooting to move out there before Christmas, but that is definitely not going to happen. Chances are we will welcome 2014 by traveling to and from from Brownsville to Corpus to San Antonio. (Brownsville is involved because I really want to celebrate New Years with my family).
No matter what happens, I'm super stoked about moving up there... and I'm also super nervous, especially since Wiki told me today that it's the 7th biggest city in the U.S., which I took to mean that I'll be living at the mercy of my GPS. Yay for big changes!

That little red dot is where Philip will be working... somewhere between San An and New Braunfels. Now we need to find an apartment close to that, and then I need to find a nearby job so that commuting won't give me a daily heart attack. 

I'm Lovin It

I am currently sitting at a McDonalds in San Antonio eating chicken nuggets and passing the time until Philip calls me to pick him up from a huge building down the road. He was unexpectedly laid off one week and one day ago, and today he is interviewing and taking a test for GE Oil and Gas. If all goes well, we will both be moving to northeast San Antonio in a matter of weeks... most likely before Christmas! The original plan was for him to come by himself, but we decided it would be prudent for me to come along in case he DOES get hired today so that we can look for an apartment (or house) and get to know this part of town better. I have no idea how long this interview and test will take, which is why I came prepared with a fully charged laptop, cellphone, and pocket Sudoku book.
I can't really say how I feel about suddenly moving out of Corpus Christi. I have been excited for January to come so that I can start on my GIS certificate at TAMUCC, but I have also been wanting more for us than just existing... and that's pretty much all there is to do in Corpus. We had always imagined settling down in San Antonio for good, but I just didn't imagine it would come so quickly.
Philip is extremely excited about this job. For starters, it means he actually has a chance at a career with an international company, instead of the usual hit and miss contracts with his previous company who hired and laid off people in a matter of minutes. Although I have been worried about money since he was laid off, I must admit I have loved this past week. The side of Phil that I fell in love with finally came back out after two days of getting enough sleep and not being away from home for 16 hours of the day. (Last night he walked the dog, swept the living room, made dinner, and did the dishes! Plus, today he has promised to fight the crowds at HEB and go grocery shopping with me! Who IS this man? hahaha)
Well, I have now finished eating my 10 chicken nuggets and now it's time to "help" Philip out with his English homework. He's decided his last paper of the semester is going to be about Wonder Woman and I am going to help him find sources to cite. Should take about 20 minutes, I'm good at this stuff.

Venom Joins Our Family

 

So everyone knows I've been wanting a dog for years now, right? And apartment living makes things a little trickier. I had sort of put the "I want a puppy" thing on the back burner until we got a house, but this huge little guy joined our family last night. Family friends (Bolsters) had a litter of black labs and he was the last one to find a new home. I first held him when he was about a month old, but since I also held all his siblings I have no idea which of them he was, and I had no idea I would be bringing him home so much later.
He's at Phil's parents for the moment... while we puppy proof our place. He is only 15 weeks old here and already much larger than Bandit and Ice Dog.
 Last night I was subject to the Wyeth Tradition of Pet Naming, which is an official 30-minute meeting where family members get to suggest and elect the right name. Here is a list of all the ones we came up with, the highlighted ones are my suggestions:

Duke

Diesel

Tzar

Vader

Galaxy

Trojan

Loki

Thor

Smash

Taber

Oakley

Ray Ban

Bane

Venom

Carnage

Black Jack

Bullet

Texas

Shadow

Thunder

Mosby

Black Pearl

Goofy

Wait-for-it

After two rounds of voting and eliminating our least favorites, we ended with the top contenders of Diesel, Vader, Loki, Oakley, Venom, and Mosby. I think I'm awesome at names, and as you can tell... the top 6 were all my suggestions. After another round of votes the top two were Vader and Venom. I didn't know which one to go with, but Venom won hands down in the end (5 out of 5 votes). 

He is just the cutest dog! He walks perfectly on the leash, naturally knows how to retrieve things I throw, is potty trained, and got the hang of the "Sit" command within 2 minutes. I plan to register him as a Comfort Dog, which gives him the same privileges as working dogs and can therefore be taken anywhere (stores, airplanes, etc.). Let's see what new adventures this huge puppy brings to our lives. 

Morning Commute

My hubby was transferred to work in a refinery a looong ways away, and today is Day One of him commuting almost 3 hours every day. He woke up at 4am and got ready to head out (work starts at 7am) and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. I'm very grateful for his sacrifice to drive out there and back every day in order to support us and feel blessed to have married such a dedicated, hard-working guy. I plan to take this opportunity to double the efforts on my side and improve my "wifey-homemaking" skills, starting with making a better effort at cooking dinner. Philip will probably arrive home around 7:30pm, work on homework for an hour-ish, and then be in bed by 9pm every day for the next 4 months.

Sigh.... it's gonna be a long fall. 

1.5 hours there, and 1.5 hours back home.
Maybe we should just move to San Antonio.