The Announcement (No– Not That Announcement)

Brookie and I have had a tough time with this decision. We've recently been given a great opportunity, and the announcement is that we're going to take it. I have been offered a job as the Assistant Creative Director for Applied Creative, Inc., an advertising agency based out of Scottsdale, AZ.

This opportunity kind of came out of nowhere. But it's kind of funny how stuff happens at just the right time. Ever since I was looking for jobs after college, I have received weekly emails from Monster.com (mostly because I'm too lazy to delete my account with them). Since I had a good job, I had just been deleting them without opening them. But for whatever reason (chalk one up to curiosity, I guess), I opened one that came about five or six weeks ago. There was a job posting for Applied Creative for this position, and based on their stated qualifications, of which "creativity" seemed paramount to formal education, I touched up my resume and portfolio, and sent them off.

We were a little surprised when we got a call back requesting an interview less than two days later. I explained that I was living in Kansas City, but that my wife had some time off coming up because of Spring Break, so we scheduled an interview, rented a car, and planned a nice trip around the event.*

*Our sincerest apologies to our friends in Arizona if they are upset that we came to visit them with ulterior motives. We truly would have eventually come just to see you, but this interview gave us the excuse we needed.

So, that Saturday morning when we got up early and drove into the greater Phoenix area, we actually did have time to visit a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, so we didn't lie about that. And, we really did want to catch a Spring Training game while we were in town, so we probably would have gone up to Phoenix anyway. But our real reason for going was to interview for this job with Applied Creative.

I hate interviews. I used to think I was good at them, but maybe I'm less charming than I once thought. It was the typical routine. I arrived and announced myself to the front desk, they issued me a visitor badge, and ushered me into a room with three waiting executives, ready with their interview questions. I did my best, but in the end, I didn't feel very qualified, so I assumed that would be the end of it. But they called back Friday and offered me the position. We couldn't believe it. I guess they must have seen something they liked during our interview.

Brookie and I love it here in Missouri, and we've made some great friends. But they offered me a salary that would allow Brookie to stay home if she wants. And you really can't beat their weather. So we've decided to accept their offer. I'll begin my new job May 1, so we'll be moving to Scottsdale this month.

We're a little worried about selling our house, but everything else has kind of fallen into place, so we have faith that this will too. We're sad to see our time in Missouri come to an end, and we're very, very sad to have to say goodbye to all of our friends. But, just remember, you can always see what we've done this weekend by checking our blog. We're just excited that there won't be any more weekends that involve snow.

Click here to see our favorite part about this whole thing.