Taking Shape

Life is underway here in Denver. Annie just finished her classes at UNMC and college is a thing of the past for both of us, however, she still has Credits to take on Tuesday in Lincoln. Credits is the Practical Final as opposed to the written one she took in Denver two weeks ago. Life is going to be changing so rapidly for each of us in the next several weeks. Denver has been beautiful this first week with temperatures in the 70's. I sunburned the "Chaco Z" into my feet yesterday while I was filling out applications for more jobs. This past week has been full of training sessions at REI (Values, Benefits, Safety, Backpacks, Loss Prevention, etc...). I have also been filling in gaps for Urban Mattress as an added job as well! While I was waiting for training to begin, I snapped some photos on a glorious morning around my new work place. There are bike racks all around the city where you can rent a bike and return it to a different rack in another part of the city - like RedBox! I'm excited for the next couple of weeks!

One Step Closer

Today I was offered a position at the Flagship REI store in Downtown Denver. I'm excited! After a group interview last Monday, I was "befuzzled" at how the management would make a decision to hire any of the 9 of us in that room. There were 4 more group interviews after the one I was in (that's about 5o people interviews for limited positions)! I felt pretty confident going into the interview since I had stopped in to the store two times prior to the interview and spoke with two different managers. When the I got the phone call almost 2 weeks ago now asking me to come in for the interview, the HR person on the phone said she had already heard so much about me. I guess more than 600 people applied for the openings that were posted!

I plan to stick with the company for some time so I can move up and make a little more money than a sales specialist position. The hard part may be saving my money and not spending it on the gear we get at a discounted price. I'd like to be in some sort of a management or supervisor position within the first year. Ambitious? Maybe not enough... I will also probably have to work a second job just to provide enough income for Annie and I to live off of so she can apply her income to her school bills! Woohoo! Our plan of action with our limited money is: give (tithe), pay (bills), save (pinch), and then play (hike 14ers and kayak and concerts and restaurants and Rockies, and Nuggets, and Broncos and rock climb, and visit home, and frontier days, and happy hour, and water world, and Elitches, and museums and...). So we'll see how that goes. No debt is not the goal - Its our standard.

So there's a bit about the future work force and finally an answer to the big question of "Where will Cash work once he's married?"

Denver Bound

Today I find myself at the REI Starbucks doing some more job hunting. So far I have decided not to take jobs at Patagonia and Starbucks for the hope of better paying jobs. I am waiting to hear back from REI in the next 48 hours. A sales position in the Camping/Hiking Dept. would be great and the opportunity for advancement seems reasonable. The community here would rock. AND, Annie and I would be living across the Platte River Park from the store. I also have resumes and applications out there for the following businesses:

-City of Denver (Park Ranger)

-Home Depot (Garden Center)

-Sales (Conglomerate of Craigslist findings in Downtown)

-Landscaping business for upscale houses and communities

-Urban Mattress (another sales position with the prospect of opening my own store in 2 years)

Annie and I will be living at the Skye 2905 apartment complex. We are excited about living here and having a view of the mountains and city.

I have a few connections to get plugged into churches in the city. Here are some of the churches we will visit: Denver Community Church, Bloom, and Fellowship Church. Through a community of people who approach life through the freedom, joy, love, peace, kindness, and journey provided Jesus, we hope to blend in for a while and become involved in missions (both to the city and overseas) over the next few years.

So there is life today. Will I be in Denver next week beginning work? We shall see...