Gift Horse(s)

My muscles are aching like crazy today. Wish I could say it’s the result of some super manly act like chopping wood or changing the spark plugs on my car rebuilding the engine on my car, but no such luck. It’s an ice-skating injury.

To be fair, I had never before taken to the ice (whiskey on the rocks notwithstanding). But the skating rink on Main Street Square was too enticing to pass up, so we tried it out last night. Because I have zero coordination I stuck with one of the walkers they supply for free and have no shame about that.

It was a total blast, though! There was a rather steep learning curve just trying to figure out how to push off the ice and get moving, but once I mastered that, I was amazed at how my feet and hips automatically fell into a groove and knew what to do. Lap after lap, I was in the zone; the act of skating became almost mechanical in nature and addictive. As tired and winded as I was – ice-skating is hard work, yo! – I couldn’t bring myself to stop. It was almost therapeutic.

Afterwards, my legs felt like jelly walking down a flight of stairs and I had to grip onto the railing for dear life. I’m paying the price today, but it’s nothing a few Aleve won’t fix. I’ll give myself the day off from walking and should be right as rain tomorrow.

Tara was a little less enthused over the whole experience than me. Says she prefers roller-skating. Having never done that either, I can’t compare the two. But I hope to go again, I know that much.

Last week was most interesting. I am still trying to wrap my head around the events that transpired.

It all started with an interview on Tuesday. I’d applied for a position with a local news affiliate to produce digital content. It sounded like a great opportunity and one I was perfectly qualified for, so when they called me for an interview, I was thrilled. Our initial meeting went so well they asked for references immediately after and contacted them that afternoon. The next day they called me back for a second interview and offered me the job on the spot. Amazing, right?!

I told them I’d think about it.

Before you accuse me of taking leave of my senses, there’s a lot more to the story. I’ve mentioned that I’m doing a few freelance projects for a company I’ll call PSI for the past couple of months. They are the same ones who offered me a F/T position as a Technical Writer back in August after a four-day trial period. I actually turned down the job because it was a super stressful week and I wasn’t sure that proposals and government contracts were my cup of tea. Within two days, I regretted that decision. Felt like I’d looked a gift horse in the mouth. Because I’d been offered a decent-paying writing job in Rapid City. Who doesn’t grab onto an opportunity like that?! Apparently I felt so bad about my decision, I didn’t even mention it on my blog until two months later. I did eventually tell PSI a couple of weeks later I should have accepted their offer, but by then it was long off the table and I spent the rest of the summer kicking myself. So, when PSI offered me a two-month project with Special Olympics of South Dakota, I was pretty excited. It included some marketing work for them, as well. They set up an office and computer for me and asked if I would come in once a week to work from there, so they could get a better idea of my working style. And that is exactly what I have been doing since mid-October.

Honestly, I suspected this might be their way of offering me a second chance, an extended trial period in which I could digest sufficient crow and get back into their good graces. I did say in my October post, If this happens to lead to something permanent, I’ll be thrilled.

Back to Wednesday. When the news affiliate offered me the job on the spot, I asked if I could take a day to think it over. I wanted to give PSI an opportunity to respond, if they were so inclined.

They were so inclined. Said they wanted to bring me on F/T and asked what it would take to keep me. What have you got? I replied. They ended up making me a nice counteroffer and, after a few hours’ deliberation, I accepted. The news gig would have been the sexier of the two, but there were some negatives. Breaking news does not follow an 8 to 5 schedule; I would have been on-call virtually all the time. With a company-issued smartphone and laptop, this is true, but then I’d have to carry around two phones in my pocket all the time, and that would have physically weighed me down. Mentally, too; I didn’t like the idea of being out hiking, or enjoying cocktails somewhere, and having my phone go off with a message saying, You won’t believe the shit Trump just did now! Get this posted stat! Another downside: there are no holidays in the world of broadcast journalism. They are open on Christmas Day. And Memorial Day. The Fourth of July. Hell, they are even open on Arbor Day! And as low man on the totem pole with no vacation time for a year, guess who’d be marching into the newsroom on those days while everybody else was off opening gifts or barbecuing or planting seeds? Yep.

But the story isn’t quite over, because the news guys wanted to know if there was any way they could change my mind with a counteroffer of their own. Said they were very impressed with me and would hate to miss out on what I could bring to the team.

Just…wow, huh?

It’s nice to feel so wanted! Merry Christmas to me.

I’m sticking with PSI, though. It’s the better choice for many reasons. My first day will be January 2nd.

And, I’ll still be able to continue my freelance writing for Fuel. This goes a long way toward helping us meet our goal of buying a house next summer.

We’re looking forward to our first Christmas in South Dakota. Being far away from family means an end to the usual traditions, such as our Russian Christmas Eve at my aunt’s house, so we’re just going to have to come up with our own brand-new traditions. Which is why we’re having ham on Christmas day instead of prime rib.

We were hoping for a white Christmas, but it looks like we’re just barely going to miss out. They’re predicting snow beginning Christmas night around 11:00. Figures! It’ll be nice to see again. After our big storm on December 1st it’s been dry and warm. 20 degrees above average for the past two weeks. Looks like winter is finally ready to return!