In my life, I’ve had several jobs (and by several I mean about 15). Sometimes I worked them just for the summer, and other times I worked two jobs on top of classes, so when I decided I needed a part-time job on top of my full-time job it didn’t seem overwhelming or crazy to me in the least. Now that Brian and I moved the trip up, this was really the only way we’d still have the same trip that we were planning.

Earlier in September I made my way to some of the more upscale restaurants in the area, but when I handed in my applications they informed me they had just hired a bunch of people (Dah! All the college kids beat me!). The only other possibility that I saw was Denny’s. We live on the outskirts of town and Denny’s is right around the corner, off the interstate of course, making it literally a 3 minute drive from our place. I figured since I worked at Cracker Barrell before in college, this would be a snap to learn. After some contemplation, I decided to apply at Denny’s. Like I said before, I have had many jobs in my life, but never… never has it been a longer process than at Denny’s! Take a look at the following timeline to see for yourself:
Saturday, September 10: I call Denny’s and ask if they are looking for any servers. The manager says that the first step is to take a phone interview and call back in a couple of days. I call the number and it takes probably 20 minutes or so to complete.

Tuesday, September 12:  I call Denny’s back and the manager said the next step would be to come in and fill out a paper application. He said coming in anytime after 8pm would be best. I make my way to Denny’s after House and fill out the application. The employees around said they would get a manager to come out and talk to me, and, after 15 minutes of waiting, he came out to tell me I had an interview for tomorrow at 9pm.

Wednesday, September 13: Nine o’clock rolls around and I’m at Denny’s sitting with a manger for an interview. The questions seemed absolutely ridiculous to me; “What’s the difference between customer service and hospitality?” We make it through the interview and just when I think he’s about to tell me when I start, he says, “How’s Saturday at 4pm for your 2nd interview?” (What?!)

Saturday, September 16: The second interview was with another manager. It went a lot quicker than the first one, and basically felt like a waste of time. At least he left me with a “you start orientation on Monday” comment. What a relief! You have to really want this job to get it!

Monday, September 18: Orientation, forms, videos, etc.

Tuesday, September 19: Server training.

Wednesday, September 20: Server training.

Thursday, September 21: Server training.

Finally, on Monday the 25th, I will take my server test and officially become a Denny’s server.

This has been the longest process ever!

It will be worth it, though, in the long run. I’m sure I’ll be able to meet my money goals with this job and make the trip of a lifetime really happen. Plus, I’m really excited to get out. I work from home and speak to people on the phone all day, but it gets lonely. We’re in a new city where we don’t know many people, and it is just plain hard to get out without a reason. I’ve been more than happy to bring people their pancakes, eggs, juice, sausage, whatever they want for dinner. It just feels good to me right now. Actually, I’ve been craving the very thing I’ve been serving all week and begging Brian to make me some pancakes for dinner before work, but he just replies, “You’ll hate people who eat breakfast for dinner.” Sure, maybe in time I will start to hate them. As for now, I can just relate.

We did it. I called Insight and cancelled cable TV. I know you must be thinking we’re crazy, but I’ve been really thinking lately about how much of a distraction it can be. I have the TV on all the time and find I get preoccupied; I stop what I’m doing and watch the TV, which sometimes makes me very unproductive. I really want to read more books on the countries we’ll be visiting and learning more computer programs (adobe illustrator especially), and honestly, I just can’t get that done when I get in tube mode. Brian agreed. He’s in graduate school now and there’s no time for distractions there.

Sure, there are some shows that I’ll miss dearly like Monk, Psych, Law N Order at any time of the day, and TLC in general, BUT I’ll still have HOUSE on Fox Also, we got a coupon for a free month of Blockbuster’s version of Netflix, so that will keep us occupied for a month, and then we might actually do Netflix (the $10/month version). That package allows one DVD at a time, but unlimited rentals for the month, including some of my favorite TV shows (hence the decision to finally cut cable out of our lives).

That concludes the bye bye cable part of the article, but you might be wondering what the other excitement is…

We’re going on our trip way sooner than we were planning!

It turns out that Brian is not getting his oral work done just yet. This plan was going to involve a little bit of mouth surgery, something the dentists explained to be minor and compared it to getting wisdom teeth pulled. Oh, what a joke! This surgery would end up widening his sinuses, chiseling into bones, a hospital stay, and more, giving us a grand total of $22,000-$30,000 for the surgery part alone! This is on top of having braces for 2 years +, and it turns out that getting the braces without the surgery will actually create more problems.

After much consideration, Brian has decided to stick with the splint he currently has for his jaw (I have one, too. Isn’t it cute; two love-birds with TMJ) and look into the oral work when we have an insurance plan that might help out with something along the way.

So with this news, Brian has pressed that we should leave immediately after he’s finished with his Master’s degree (Dec. 2007). I guess we’re leaving in January 2008! HOW EXCITING! I had finally gotten used to the idea that it could be a very long time until the trip, but alas, this changes everything.