got a job !!!!

woooooooooooo  !

I have a job!

I will be doing returns processing (and customer service) for Team Estrogen !  In case you are not familiar, Team Estrogen is an online women's cycling (and triathlon, and swimming, running..) apparel retailer based in Hillsboro, OR.  You can go to their website and check it out.  

On Thursday I met with Susan and Jeff at their office, which is an incredibly comfortable "green" building with lots of windows and gorgeous natural light ahhhh...  Susan also moved by bike to Oregon and has done a million cool touring trips and cool bike things.  I enjoyed the interview and was really excited about the job.... and today got the call that I was hired.  I start October 27.  YAY !   So excited.  Oh, and no weekends.  And they really promote bike commuting.  And they have an espresso maker.  And no more business casual...whew!  (And important things like benefits, its not seasonal...)  So yeah, can't wait to start, and to meet the other employees, each of whom have their own individual bike thing going on (recumbents, 'cross, touring, super-commuter...you know, bike thing) and to get my hands on some returned bike clothes!  

Oh, and the commute can be as epic as I want !  It's only about 15 miles from our apartment......but 15 miles here is a lot different than 15 miles in Central Illinois.  To get to Hillsboro you have to go over the hill.  There are a few ways to go.  One way is to ride through downtown, go up (literally) to the zoo and Japanese Gardens, which are on the hill, and then go down to a bike path, which is next to but separate from a main highway, to the suburbs of Beaverton, and then Hillsboro.  This is a fairly easy way to go, but it still requires way more climbing than the Shire to Shop commute that I'm used to.  Another way to go is to climb like 6 miles up this steep windy hill, and then wind through some country roads---really pretty.  If I feel really hardcore, I can take a 15 mile offroad route through Forest Park, and then go down to Hillsboro.  And then there's always the MAX for when ice covers the road and it's below zero....what?  Oh yeah...it doesn't do that here!  Take that midwest suckas!  But yeah, a great commute.  

And now for the bad news.  Turns out that our bikes are en route to Champaign Cycle, in Champaign Illinois.  Yes, that's right!  Apparently, FEDEX  decided that we contacted them and said that we didn't want to receive the packages.  FEDEX then promptly sent our bikes back to the sender.  BOGUS.  We were home all day waiting for these packages, which we had been keeping track of all week.  Dan got a call this morning from FEDEX asking if we were home, and he called back and left a message saying that we would be home all day.  That's all.  And surely didn't try to deliver anything today, and apparently didn't even put the packages on the truck!  Ugh .. I'm FEDUP