How Ya Like Me Now?

YAY! I'm finally getting to post on my blog. (I realize I may be the only one excited about this but that doesn't bother me.)

Yesterday I had an interview with the Luis Palau Little Rock CityFest directors. They need someone to coordinate the 2,500 - 3,000 volunteers during the festival and I thought I'd check it out. It turned out to be a bumpy ride.

My interview was scheduled for 1:30, which was perfect because I had a substitution assignment that ended at 11:30. While at the school I made sure to print out the directions to the CityFest offices. I always use randmcnally.com because I find their directions to be the most accurate. (I figure if you are the guys who make the maps you should have great directions.) According to Rand McNally the directions were super simple. That said I left the house in order to have about 30 additional minutes in case I ran into a problem. I should have anticipated multiple problems.

Per my directions I only had to make three turns off the highway. The first two turns were a cinch but that last one stumped me. I drove up and down a stretch of road multiple times looking for Kirby Road. Kirby Road was not to be found. Finally I pulled over at a large convenience store to ask about the elusive location. No one, including a delivery driver, had heard of Kirby Road.

My time was quickly running out so I decided to call my contact and let her know I was lost and needed assistance. Unfortunately I couldn't find her phone number anywhere! How could I have left her number at home? ARGH! Okay, plan B. Call my BFF from high school and get the number from her. After all, the job lead came from Devin so I knew she would be able to help me out. Mission accomplished.

I then called my contact and told her my predicament. She was beyond understanding and told me that Kirby Rd is indeed difficult to find. She said the road was very easy to miss. Want to know why? It's because there isn't a street sign to mark Kirby Rd. In fact, the street changes names once it crosses the main road. So there was a street sign but it didn't say Kirby Rd. How convenient. (I learned this information on my own after the interview. It could have been a tad helpful beforehand.)

My contact decided to give me alternate directions. Unfortunately she didn't give me the correct street name on which to turn. She told me that once I was on Park Way Place I would turn right on Kirby. There is a church at the corner I was given as a marker. Well I got the the church but it was at the intersection of Park Way Place and Markham. Are you kidding me? Oh well, I decided to turn into the church and ask for directions again. A couple were talking on the sidewalk and offered assistance. The lady told me to pull out of the parking lot back onto Kirby. Excuse me? Kirby? She told me that the road I was on was Kirby. I just smiled and thanked her. Once I pulled out of the parking lot I looked up at the street sign and it said MARKHAM but I obediently turned left as instructed. A block or so later the street officially turned into Kirby Rd and I found my destination. I was only 15 minutes late... ugh... and I had been in the car for over any hour so I was crumpled looking.

Once I had met the two directors we sat, prayed, and began to talk. Oh, did I mention that the office was quite warm? It was. And I've been ill - again. About 5 minutes into the interview I began to cough. The warmer I get the harder I cough. The harder I cough the warmer I get. So I asked to excuse myself from the room and walked into the hallway where I continued to cough up a lung. I was hoping there was a water fountain in the hallway but that would just be crazy.

Finally I composed myself enough to go back to continue the interview. That lasted about 5 more minutes. The next coughing fit was worse. I barely choked out the word, "water" before I turned blue. One of the directors ran to get a bottle of water but I couldn't wait. I practically sprinted after her.

I then told her I needed to go to the restroom for a moment. By this time I had tears streaming down my face and snot was on the verge of flying. She began walking me down the hall to the restroom but stopped in her office to see if she could find anything to stave off a call to the paramedics. She told me she had some mints and I was truly grateful. In her desperation she grabbed a peppermint and a whole tube of mentos and shoved them at me. This perplexed me further. All I could think was that they probably thought I had swine flu and bad breath too.

I barely made it to the restroom in time to divert a disaster. I started coughing so hard that I was furiously grabbing at tissue to hold to my nose. My next fear was that I would cough and laugh (yes I was completely amused by all this) so hard that I would have an accident. Honestly, I think it was possible because it was obvious that I was not in control of my body at that time.

All the while I wondered what the directors were thinking because I knew they could still hear me. I just hoped I could clean up my face enough to continue. Finally with a peppermint in my cheek and water in hand I returned to the interview. I walked in, smiled and asked, "So is this the best first impression you've ever seen? How ya like me now?" We all laughed and started again.

At the end of the interview I was told that they had other candidates to see and would let me know something by the end of the week. Two hours later they called and asked if I would be available to take the next step and participate in a teleconference with their corporate offices in Portland, OR.

I guess they liked me fine.

I'm still praying about this position. I haven't heard the final word from God so I would appreciate your prayers as well. There are pros and cons to this job so I could go either way. I just want to make sure the way I choose is God's.

(As a side note, I sure love and miss everyone who reads my blog.)