No go

My trip to Colorado is already more than a week past. It's crazy how quickly time passes.

The trip itself went very well. I left straight from work on Wednesday to drive to catch the train in Ottumwa. Had the train been on time, even with leaving work early, I would have barely caught it. Luckily, Amtrak is reliably unreliable.

I was the only person to board the train in Ottumwa. The attendant assigned me my seat, putting me next to a firefighter from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bryan was a good seat partner. We chatted a bit, watched a movie on my laptop, and when it came time to sleep he didn't mind that one of the more comfortable positions for me was laying my head on his shoulder. Yayy for nice people!

We got into Denver only 45 minutes late (I think that's a new record). Dad and Jody quickly picked me up from the station and took me out first to breakfast and then around the city for which I was interviewing. Jody had to attend some afternoon meetings so Dad and I crashed at the hotel for a bit, where I showered then crawled into bed for a nap. Mid-afternoon we went out for some lunch and met up with Jody.

This is where the trip started to get interesting. Post lunch the original plan was for Dad to head to Chuck's ranch for the night to help with branding prep while Jody and I were going to spend some time on final interview prep before heading to bed early. Only when Dad tried to start Phred he wouldn't start. As 5 pm neared we decided we had to call AAA and get Phred towed to the nearest mechanic. The towing service responded quickly considering the time of day and by quarter to six we were at the shop. Problem was that the shop closed at six, so Phred sat overnight and Dad had to stay with Jody and I.

My interview was bright and early Friday morning. Scheduled for 8:15, we arrived at the city administrative building at 8. By 8:05 I was in the conference room with my interviewers. Sixteen questions and 50 minutes later I walked out knowing I had completely nailed the interview. We went out for a celebratory breakfast before checking out of the hotel. We did a little shopping at the mall before picking up Phred and officially splitting up. Jody headed toward home and Dad and I headed toward the ranch.

Friday evening I got a call telling me that after a day of interviews the field had been narrowed to me and one other candidate. The interviewers could not decide between the two of us so they wanted to meet with each candidate again. I was able to set up a meeting with the city manager for Sunday morning.

Saturday was the longest day that I have had in a long time. We were up at 5:30 and I barely stopped moving until 10 that night. It was an incredibly fun and exhausting day. Pictures to come in another post. I shoved around calves and waived off mamas with giant horns and branded number 74 and vaccinated some of the herd and helped with the horses, among other things.

Sunday morning Dad and I headed to Denver for my meet-and-greet with the city manager. We met for about 45 minutes at a local coffee shop, during which we discussed football and the midwest and, of course, my qualifications and the city. After the meeting Dad and I spent the rest of the day kicking around the Rockies and downtown Denver. That evening I got back on the train to come home.

Once again I was assigned my seat, but unlike the trip out to Colorado, my seat partner was no good. After spending two hours gagging on the combination of stale smoke and unwashed body I asked to be moved. Then I asked again. I finally was allowed to move to another car which afforded me two seats for the rest of the night. The train lost time overnight so I didn't get into Ottumwa until right around noon on Monday morning. From there it was a three hour drive home and just like that my Colorado trip was done.

After hearing nothing from the city all week I called this past Friday to check on their process. When the HR lady called me back later that day it was to inform me that they had elected to go with the other candidate. I am understandably disappointed but not at all sad that I made the effort to travel to Colorado for the interview. The ego boost of making it to the top two (out of 170) alone was worth the trip. Now I just have to try again.

So endeth the long post about my Colorado trip!

Love!

~g