Loving Quasi-Unemployment

I have some exciting news!

No, nobody is pregnant. Come on, guys.

If you read the last paragraph of Hannah's post a couple weeks ago, then you already know this, but I'll share it again. My job search has come to an end: Lockheed Martin offered me a position as a Mechanical Engineer in their Materials Technology Lab in Littleton! The gist of the job is that I'll be helping develop and test new materials and mechanisms for various space system projects, from satellites to manned spacecraft. Needless to say, the job sounds cool, and it's with a great company - so I accepted the offer! They're in the process of completing a background check, so I expect to start around the end of the month.

It was remarkable how quickly it all happened. I'd had 3 months of pretty much no interest in my resume; not a single interview request since April. But one day in early July I cold-called the hiring manager for this position, and he immediately offered to bring me in for an interview! It was nothing like what I'd experienced before. He just brought in all the team members to a conference room, pulled up my resume and project portfolio on the screen, and had me talk about my experience while fielding questions as they came up. I guess it went well, because two days later I got the offer!

One of the biggest challenges of searching for a job was remaining patient and keeping a balanced perspective. It's so easy to let a job/income become the "end-all-be-all" of your unemployment, to the point that your happiness and self-worth are completely intertwined with the success of your job search. I struggled to combat those feelings with the knowledge that my worth comes from God's love for me, and that He'll guide me in accordance with His will. I don't think I completely vanquished those destructive instincts, but the whole experience taught me so much about faith amidst struggles and developing a deep, personal relationship with Jesus. It's also helped me understand that walking with God doesn't mean life will be easy - rather, I should expect and even embrace difficult times, because those are the experiences that teach us most about ourselves, challenge/grow our faith, and give us a powerful opportunity to minister to others.

On a lighter note, now that I'm still unemployed but have secured a job (I'll call it quasi-unemployment), I can enjoy my freedom without the burden of a job search looming over me! Hannah and I have been making the most of it over the last month.

In July we visited upstate NY for Hannah's cousin's wedding, which was beautiful and a lot of fun. It was our first wedding since our own, so it was nice to just kick back and enjoy someone else's celebration, having garnered an appreciation for all the hard work it takes to pull it off. We especially enjoyed all the dancing at the reception (though I'm sure nobody was having as much fun as our nieces and nephew) and posing for goofy pictures inside a photo booth. Our time in Rochester also included trips to Sea Breeze, Lake Ontario, and of course, restaurants like Bill Gray's, Abbott's, and Carmine's.

After the wedding, Hannah and I went back to Philadelphia with Heather and George for a few days. Their apartment in Collegeville is really neat, and it was fun to spend some extra time with them since we see them the least out of Hannah's siblings. Heather took us on day trips to Lancaster (Amish country), NYC, and downtown Philadelphia. They were all great, but our favorite was definitely NYC. We saw Ground Zero, Little Italy, Grand Central Station, Chelsea Market, the New York Public Library, Time Square, and Central Park. And it wouldn't be a trip to NYC without awesome food! We had pizza in Little Italy, amazing halal food from a food cart, and an insane milkshake from the Black Tap. Heather and George's love of the city definitely rubbed off on us - we can't wait to go back!! Unfortunately it may be awhile before we do.

This milkshake was topped with an ice cream cookie sandwich plus a whole second cookie and a lot of whipped cream. Not to mention the rim was coated in icing, then dusted with cookie crumbs. Pretty sure the Black Tap has a deal with the diabetes clinic down the street.

In Philadelphia we saw and heard the world's largest pipe organ, located in what's now a Macy's store. The organist was happy to let people watch him play up close! We also saw the Liberty Bell and took a really interesting tour of Independence Hall. Those desks you see in the last picture are original! No joke!

Since then, we've done a lot more exploring around Colorado. We drove up to Boulder to hike and walk around Pearl Street (an awesome outdoor mall); we took a tour of the original Hammond's Candies factory; we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with my cousin who volunteers there; we visited my cousins in CO Springs for a weekend, which included a trip to our family cabin, BBQ at Rudy's, and fishing; and we walked around 16th Street Mall and Grand Central Station in Downtown Denver. The 16th Street Mall even has a temporary outdoor mini golf course set up, completely free to the public! (You know how we love free stuff!)

Hiking Saddle Rock trail, we climbed 2000 feet while traversing just 1.3 miles. It was a workout!

Great view of Downtown from the top of the Museum of Nature and Science.

BBQ at Rudy's followed by fishing the next morning. I got a trout about 8 inches long - not bad for my first time!

This past weekend, we welcomed our first guests to our apartment: Hannah's parents. On Friday we drove out to Frisco and Breckenridge to watch a professional bike race, which I have to admit was much more exciting than I expected! It was a circuit of 10 laps that passed right down Main Street, so we just wandered through shops and ate good food while we waited for the cyclists to come through town again. Saturday we hiked and visited Pearl Street in Boulder, where I had possibly the greatest gyro I've ever eaten. Sunday we went to 16th Street Mall and stopped by Voodoo Doughnut on our way home. Their donuts are crazy but delicious!

We hiked the Green Mountain West Ridge trail, where we got a great view of the Rockies that included a brass diorama of 24 different peaks.

These donuts are huge! The smallest was probably about 5 inches in diameter.

Now it's just two weeks till Hannah starts class, and probably about the same time till I start working. We're both excited to begin these new experiences, but in the mean time, we're loving quasi-unemployment!