ANA Y4 D320

Scream.

I wasn't feeling good last night. I fell asleep at like 7:30pm. Got back up at 9 to brush my teeth and went right back to bed. My stomach is all crampy. Plus I was feeling exhausted. I think the rush of the last few days finally caught up with me. 

I did my drug test yesterday. As of 1pm the online portal showed everything as complete for background. I am going to email this morning and make sure we are green light for me to start on the 28th. If I get a positive response, then I can relax for 10 days. No more job hunting, no more stressing. I just need a final confirmation. I will still apply to two more jobs so I can claim one last round of unemployment. That $1000 buffer will hold me until I can get my first paycheck at Dart. 

Made tuna for dinner. Doing lamb shwarma tonight.  

ANA Y4 D319

Scream, which doesn't make sense. Or at least it continues to rule out mental? Why because I really have nothing to be stressed about. At 9:40am yesterday I got an email from HR asking if they could call me. Um duh? Now the fact they wanted to call was positive. If they couldn't meet my number at all, they would have just sent an email. Either they met my number OR they got close and were going to sell me on the company. Well guess what? They met my number baby!

They re-tiered the position to make it "Staff Engineer" which according to my internal contact is the highest non-reporting level one can get before moving to a manager with reports role. He is very excited because it also means he gets the max referral bonus of $2k. Good for him!! I spent the day doing paperwork. Took care of all my onboarding. Submitted the background check. All that's left is the drug test this morning at 8am. I am leaving soon for that. Once that is done and both the background and drug come back clean, I am officially a new hire! My start date will be 4/28. Which means that I get about 11 days where I have no stress or worries. I am going to still apply for jobs so I can claim unemployment for these last two weeks off. That will be some bridge money in case I don't get a full paycheck for a while. Plus I will still have about $3000 in savings. 

I am not worried about the drug but who knows what will come up in the background. Nothing I hope, but again, who knows? I just want a green light. I do have a second round interview with The Hartford next week but if everything looks good, I may cancel it. While they will pay more money, we talked about it last night and the truth is, I would probably be bored. I have spent the last six years stuck in this house. Do I really want to keep that up? Do I really want to deal with insurance reporting for the next 10 years? Over time I will get where I want with salary because now I will be at a company that does actual merit increases. It will take 1-2 years to beat my past salary and 5 to beat Hartford, but so what? At least along the way I will be having fun. Plus we need to move. This is the path to us moving. We get out of this house and into something smaller that's ours not mine. 

Please send all the good vibes, prayers, magic, and voodoo that nothing disrupts this. 

ANA Y4 D318

Silence.

Yesterday was insane. We dealt with an ant invasion in the kitchen. I got all the paperwork from Dart but then an email saying they are working on the number so I am still in limbo. We took the dog for a walk and almost melted. Honestly I guess that's it? It just seemed way more intense when it was all going on. I really need to hear back today to know what the situation is. I am a ball of anxiety. I did go through all the paperwork and my benefits will be good. I will be on BCBS instead of UHC. But I can keep the same prescription service. More importantly, my monthly contribution towards insurance will go down $300 a month. The advantage of working for a big company. I was paying $400 out of pocket before and my new plan will be $122 a month. That makes up for some of the potential salary deficit. 80 hours of vacation in the first year, possibly more if they change the job tier to accomodate my salary. Same dental and vision plans, just cheaper. Tentative start date of 3/28 based on drug test and background check. I don't expect to have any issue with either of those. I just need to hear back today. I am going crazy.

ANA Y4 D317

Scream.

Well, I have good news and I have bad news. Good news, I got an offer. Bad news, it was WAY too low. Like 2009 numbers low. So I am technically in the negotiation phase. I am hoping to hear a revised number today. Even with the revised number I am not stopping my interviews with other companies. They are still offering more. We shall see what happens over the next 24-48 hours. 

ANA Y4 D316

Still screaming.

On the positive side, the weather is nice. We went on a three mile walk yesterday. Went out for fro-yo. Pulled out the blackstone for dinner. Something to be happy about. Did laundry. C had a hair appointment. Was a decent day except for my head. 

ANA Y4 D315

Back to screaming. I had a full 24 hours of silence. It was beautiful. But alas, here we are again.

Did laundry. Took dog for walk. Made a pork tenderloin for dinner.  

ANA Y4 D314

Silence.

For once I have real things to share. Had a fun time outside the house last night. We took a friend to K-pot for dinner. It wasn't horribly busy either which was nice. After dinner we came back here for cake and socializing. Was good to interact and have time away. Before we left though I got an email from yet another company wanting to do an interview next week. Nice way to end the week for sure! This means I now have three BIG companies interested in me. I can do this. I can make it. I have to make it. 

ANA Y4 D313

Silence.

Couldn't sleep. Went to bed around 10:30, got up 11:45, stayed up until 1:45. Did bills. Sat around all day stressed and waiting. This is my life and it's ending one minute at a time.

ANA Y4 D312

Still screaming still waiting. Nothing to do but stress. Nothing to do but go insane.

ANA Y4 D311

Scream.

Interview went well but...

They are a huge, old company. There will be at least two more rounds of interviews plus a case study round. Which means this will take weeks. I don't have weeks. I am running out of options. I am running out of money. It's a really good fit too. It's a perfect role for me. I just don't know if I can wait them out.

Made salmon for dinner. Whee.