The Trip Which Never Was

I had been looking towards taking this trip of mine since I last booked it in May 2005. What better way to spend the beginning of autumn than biking you way across the state of Rhode Island, crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and beautiful scenery just about everywhere you go. A storm named Rita changed all this, so instead of being up in Rhode Island now I am remain in Texas.

I was tracking the progress of Rita since I first heard that it was going to enter The Gulf of Mexico, knowing that it could potentially affect my plans. I was going to be taking this biking trip with my sister who lives in the greater Houston area. As Rita made its way across the Florida Keys, there was wide speculation as to where it would hit. Would it hit the ravished city of New Orleans again, or head to land whose last major storm caused billions of dollars worth of damage?

The worst case scenario started to form, and my sister decided to evacuate her house Thursday morning doing her best to preserve the possibility of still making the trip. She moved her reservation from a Saturday departure to a Friday departure, however the airport became over run with people trying their best to get out of Houston before Rita hit causing huge wait times and severe parking problems at George Bush Intercontinental airport. Rita in the meantime mutated in to a gargantuan category five hurricane spinning its way towards the Texas coast line. The projected path at the time was a direct hit on Galveston, making its way towards Houston.

I received a message on Thursday evening from my sister informing me she was not going to be able to make the trip. I had to make a decision as to what I was going to do, go on the trip or forfeit the money I invested. There are a lot of things I don’t mind doing on my own, but the trip was to spend time with my sister, not specifically to bike across Rhode Island. So I decided to stay in Texas in preparation to help her out in any way possible, be it a place to stay or going to help her clean up her house.

Friday came, and I started making phone calls to find out if I could get a refund on my airline ticket. I now have a ticket with US Airways until May 2006 for a small rescheduling charge, which doesn’t bother me because I am sure I will be able to use it before that time comes. I also received a call / email combination from a shady sounding recruiter. Her email does not state her affiliation, and it was sent from a Yahoo account, which made we weary of even talking to this woman. I spoke with her none the less, and informed her that I was not an individual with eight years professional experience; I would have been in high school that long ago. I hang up with her, and continue to read about the congestion and evacuation problems of people fleeing the Houston area.

I ran out to return an item which I had purchased for the trip, and to make a copy of my offer letter for the new apartment complex I was going to be moving into. Once I was threw with the errands, and was back home I started to read the information packet about my new position. After reading through the “Intellectual Property Agreement” I sat the papers down and my phone rang.

It was an HR representative from a company which I had hoped to go to work for. I had a friend pass along my resume in the company about a month ago, but found that I did not meet their GPA requirements. I figured at that point the issue was dead, and I wrote them off, however here I was talking with them on the phone. They said they saw my profile on their webpage and wanted to set up an interview sometime next week. What freaking luck, a light was clicked off, and another one clicked on.

I was so confused and excited about this I called my friend who had originally passed along my resume to see if he slid it under some one else’s door there. Apparently he was as surprised as I was, and on Monday September 26 I am going to arrange travel plans to go speak with them about a possible position. This is coming on the heels of me signing an acceptance letter from another company who extended an offer to me, which I am scheduled to start on October 10.

Although I managed to lose my trip, I landed a new job, and have an interview with another company, and Rita did not make a direct hit on Houston. I will speak to these people about the position, while continuing my preparation for the position which I already have in the bag.

What a wild and crazy couple of weeks it has been.