Summertime...the livin's easy

When I last updated this blog I was reveling in the excitement of my new job and there was still plenty of snow on the ground. Well I am back again and while the job still feels new I’ve been there over 7 months and, while I hate to say it, snow is right around the corner.

As you can imagine a lot has happened over the last 7 months. Everything from meeting my new nephew Parker to finishing our basement, it has been a busy summer and I’ll do my best to recap all that busyness.

My new job is at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in downtown St Paul. I work in the consumer affairs office where I do mediation between customers and their utilities. While it can be stressful at times I truly love my job. It is always interesting and is something that I am really good at.

It is quite a change from previous job, trading a forklift and Carhartts for a cubicle and dress pants, but I have not missed my old job one bit. My agency is fairly small and has roughly 50 employees in all. My department consists of a manager and 3 mediators so it’s also on the small side.

I am fortunate to work with some really good people. Everyone is nice and very sociable, as you would expect for a job that involves a lot of communication skills. The office atmosphere is really relaxed its comfortable working with each other. It has been a change in dynamic coming from the yard at Menards with a large department of all guys to a small department of all women. The transition has been just fine though.

With a new fancy indoor desk job I needed to replace my sudden loss of manual labor. I had already made plans to start finishing the basement but because I was always so tired after working all day I never started working on it. Well that changed because I sit at a desk all day so I was eager to come home and do some physical work.
I have almost no history, background, knowledge, experience etc. in construction but I decided that it was our basement and I wanted to be the one to build it. Also we saved a good chunk of change with me doing all the work.



So night after night I would spend hours working down in the basement. I started with nothing but concrete floors and walls and finished with a totally usable living space! It took me about 3 months from start to finish. I was really pushing to get it done before the weather got nice and I wouldn’t want to be inside. We did have the carpet installed but that was the only part I didn’t do myself. Katie helped with hanging drywall and painting and Katie’s dad was always very helpful if I had any questions or needed to borrow any tools.



With the finishing of the basement we finally got to buy a cool new TV and a sound system. We also bought a nice new couch and inherited a nice table which is great for games and stuff. The basement went from unfinished to entertainment central.



With the basement finished summer arrived and with it several weddings. Over my birthday/memorial day weekend there were 3 weddings we were invited to. My cousin Missy was getting married in Iowa and Conner was moving to Omaha to join the Sorry Jeff clan. While we really wanted to go to both of these weddings we took part in the wedding of my best friend Jake Vetter. Jake asked me to be the best man and his wedding was in Redwing which is closer and with gas prices it was really a no brainer which wedding to go to. Their wedding was pretty sweet and I sometimes still can’t believe Jake is actually married.


Wore my Spiderman shirt under the tux for good luck

Just two weeks later we got to see two of our really close friends Sam and Zeb tie the knot at an amazing outdoor ceremony. They really had one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to and it was even better since we knew both the bride and groom pretty well.

June brought Katie’s bday and since she was turning a quarter century I decided to go all out and give her a whole birthday week! I think I pulled it off pretty good and she was pretty happy with the whole week.

Also in June was the threat of a coming state government shutdown. In the past this may have not caught my attention much but now it was my job in limbo. As the shutdown date drew closer it seemed obvious we would be getting some time off.

The shutdown lasted a whopping 20 days. This was the longest time I had off from without school or work that I could remember since basically junior high! At first I just sat around relaxing and enjoying the time off….but I soon got bored and Katie got a list going of all the stuff I could do. So I did a lot of little fixes around the house and errands that needed to be done. It was a really good time to get stuff done. During that time it was also very hot and muggy…110+ which was not good. I did manage to get the front and back porch refinished which was nice.




We also got a nice grill from Max which has been great! We have been grilling out a lot and really enjoy cooking outside.

Speaking of Max a bunch of us went to the Weezer concert at the state fair. It was a perfect day in my mind for the fair because it was kind of cool so all the people and walking around didn’t feel too hot. The concert itself was awesome! We were right up front and center with Steve, his sister and a high school friend Justin. Motion City Soundtrack opened for them and it was really cool to finally see them live. Then Weezer played a great show that ended with a good fireworks show. It was a great end to a fun day at the fair. Oh and Steve got the superman underwear Rivers wore during part of the concert.



Coming back to work was crazy hectic with projects that needed to be done and were now behind on the timeline. I recently finished up with m big yearly project and we were in the process of getting a new brochure that we made printed. It had been a massive headache the entire time and I’ll be happy when it’s done.

About a month ago my little sister Holly had her second baby. A little boy named Parker. He brings the baby total to 6 or 7 if you count Sydney but she is 4 so she is not quite in the baby stage. On top of all that Holly is getting married in two weeks!!



We have a busy October this year. We are starting out with a bang with Katie and I taking a nice relaxing weekend away to Lutsen the first weekend in October. The following Friday is Holly’s wedding. The next Saturday we have a wedding for a friend of mine in Rochester. That morning Katie is running the Nerstrand Big Woods half marathon and then we will race right from there to the wedding.

To help Katie train for the marathon I have been biking next to her while she runs. I have ran with her in the past but her pace is quicker than mine so biking was the best option to get me to come along but still have her train at a good pace.

On a side note I had not been biking in years and I really missed it. I am really glad that we started doing this training as I have really enjoyed getting out and biking.

So back to the hectic October…

The day after the marathon/wedding I will be flying out to Portland, OR for training for my job. I am really excited about the trip since I have never been to Oregon before. Then from there I will be flying from there to Albuquerque, NM for a week of some more training!

I have never traveled for work and I am very excited but at the same time I’m going to be gone for HALF of October. We are still looking into having Katie come out to Portland for a part of my time there so that we won’t be apart for 2 full weeks. After that the holidays will be coming up fast and before you know it, it’s January.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I just spent this whole week doing jury duty. It was a pretty interesting experience. I was called for a case right away but I did not end up getting selected as a juror. I spend the other days sitting at the court house waiting all day to be called for another case but it never happened.

All in all it has been a pretty good summer. I wish the weather had been a bit more cooperative but you never can know with Minnesota weather.

If you actually managed to make your way through this rather long post thanks for sticking it out and I hope that I report back sooner with another post before 7 more months pass by….but with as busy as it looks to be I wouldn’t rule it out.

I got a job!

Well it finally happened. I got a new job! That’s right, after 5 years slaving away at Menards I have moved on to bigger and better things. It happened rather fast but everything seemed to go smoothly, for me at least.

So as many of you know I have spent countless hours looking for jobs and then applying for said jobs, mostly with no results. Not even a sniff of interest or an interview. Sure from time to time I’d get some sort of bite but nothing really promising.
One of the main places I had been looking for jobs was through the state of Minnesota. Their application system is pretty clunky and it was not yielding much in the way of results. Fed up I decided to contact the recruiter for a job posting that I really thought I had a shot at. He gave me some helpful insight but offered no guarantees.

Well I applied and much time went by. I figured I had not gotten the job and was really feeling defeated. Even with “help” I couldn’t get an interview. Then one day as I was job searching, with no luck, I got an email asking to select a time to interview for the position! I was blown away! I selected a time I felt would be the least interfering with my current work schedule and began preparing.

I had only had one “real” job interview before and while it had went well I obviously didn’t get the job. So I wanted to be sure I would not in any way squander the opportunity I had before me. I thoroughly studied the job requirements and duties and put together some extra documents that had been requested. I even compiled a list of references even though none had been asked for.

The interview. I had told myself during the long dreary drought of job searching that if I could just get a face to face interview I could land a job. Believing this I did not have nearly the anxiety or nervousness typically associated with situations like this. I went in and to my surprise I was met by three interviewers! Still I remained calm and confident and told them why I was the right fit. I left the interview feeling really good and now anxious for the results.

I was told that a candidate would be recommended to the commission board and that I should hear back the following week sometime. Also that the job would start the Monday after that! So not really any in between time.

As the week went on I tried not to think about the job and instead focus on other things. It was insanely hard and I found myself almost constantly worrying about it. I wanted the job so bad I was beginning to believe I would be crushed if I didn’t get it. When Wednesday rolled around I hadn’t heard anything, same for Thursday. I began to lose hope.

Friends and family who had been excited about my interview were now steadily asking me if I had heard any news. I told them “no” but was not expecting anything until late in the week…so Friday was not out of the question.

When Friday came I told myself that I would call during my lunch break to see if there was any update on the job. By now I was convinced the chosen candidate had been notified and that those who had not been selected, me, were simply not yet notified. Ten o clock came and I could wait no longer.

My thoughts were consumed and I had to know something. One way or the other, good or bad, I must know! It was driving me crazy. I was manic over the possibility of landing the job one minute and depressed over being none the closer to a new job the next. It was a shaky state that I wanted no more of. So instead of waiting till lunch I took a break and called the job to find out the verdict.

When I spoke with the lady she informed me that a candidate had been recommended but that they had no decision yet from the higher ups. She assured me that I would be notified of the outcome as soon as they knew. This comforted me for now and eased the nerves. I at the very least knew I was still in the running and that gave me renewed hope, hope that would explode into unadulterated joy in just a short time.

I returned from my break moments later and as I swiped my card to punch back in I felt my phone vibrate. I checked and saw an incoming call. It was a number, one that looked familiar to the one I had just called. I had just come back to work and therefore I could not answer the phone or immediately take another break. So I let the call go to voicemail. The next few minutes were a mix of feelings so quickly changing and diverse I could hardly stand it. I had to know what the message said.

I snuck off to some remote location in the yard and stealthy retrieved the message. It was short, but oh so sweet. I had not been offered the job, yet. The message from the department manager stated that she had apparently missed my earlier call and would love to talk to me and aked me to give a call back. Love?! Typically not a feeling you convey to a person whom you will be giving unpleasant news. That is unless you are cold and heartless. But did I have the job? I didn’t know for certain but I felt very good about my odds.

Not wanting to keep her waiting I asked to take another break not 10 minutes after my last 10 minute break. The walk to the car was the most anxious and butterflies in the stomach I got during the entire process. i was sure I had the job but still, this was it, D-Day.

Sure enough I made the call and got the news I had so desperately wanted to hear. I was being offered the position, and though I’m sure clumsily, I accepted. I was told they wanted me to start the next Monday if it was possible and I told them I would do the best I could to make that happen. I told her I would call back that afternoon with my start date and to get any other information I would need.

I hung up and just sat amazed. I had what I had coveted, dreamed of and so desperately wanted. What do I do now? Spread the word of course! I instantly called Katie and even before she picked up I was shouting “I got the job!” repeatedly. She was so happy and proud and I could not have gotten to that point without her support and encouragement.

Next I called my dad who just yelled YAY!!! and told me to tell my mom. When I called her I played it less joyously, trying to have some fun with it. I called and said hi and said in a solemn voice that I heard back about the job. She replied in an inquisitive yet uncertain “oh…and?” To which I calmly replied matter-of-factly “I got the job.” She didn’t believe it and was so happy when I assured her of its truth.

By now I had been on more break than work in the last hour and while I knew it no longer mattered what I did that day at work I felt I should go back and tell my boss. What would he think when I tell him I’m done? It’s my last day? Right now? Five years of working coming to an end on such short notice. Not to mention the several fired, quitting, transferring employees already occurring. Just how would he react to one more thing?

I went back punched in and went outside. By now my pocket was vibrating constantly, so many calls and texts from friends and family congratulating me on the good news. All the while I broke the news to my fellow yard guys. They were all very excited for me and knew I had paid my dues. Still it was weird to think this was my last day. Just like that, I was done with something I had spent so much time doing. Some people I would not even get to say bye to, others I would in near disbelief. Telling my manager still on my mind.

I went back inside and approached my boss. I said “can we talk?” “Sure” he said and I replied, “Let’s take a walk.” He knew then something was up and said straight up, “are you quitting?” I wasn’t going to dance around it so I said flatly, “Yes. I’ve been offered a job.” To my surprise he was not mad. He said “You know you’re screwing me over right? But congrats!”
The rest of the day seemed odd. I couldn’t wait to be done but at the same time, done. That was it, over and in an instant. I said goodbye to those I could and walked out wondering what life was like on the other side of the weekend. Would I be good? Would I fit in? Was it a mistake?

Those thoughts were mostly squashed by feelings of freedom and accomplishment. Excitement and joy. I got a job. A new, real, office type job. I had joined the workforce I had so eagerly wanted to be part of.

I got a job.