the results are in

Howdy. We have some real news this time. First of all it's thanksgiving and we're going to eat this:


Also, we're moving here:

I got a job offer as a hydrogeologist for a groundwater and environmental consulting firm in Boca Raton, Florida where it will be my job to help keep nastys like arsenic and chlorinated solvents out of the water systems. We're both pretty excited. We actually both got to fly down and visit the company and the town last week. Our airplane had to be de-iced when we left Salt Lake City but in Boca, the ocean was about 78 degrees and the birds were singing. Also there were a lot of old people.

Florida...

So, here's the deal...
Depending on an interview coming up this week we may in fact move to what our friend Adam refers to as the wang of the United States:
Eric has been in talks with a company out of Boca Raton for a position as a Hydrogeologist for quite some time now. They had mentioned wanting to fly him down for a second interview and said they would call to schedule the details. Well!, Monday he gets off the phone and looks at me and says, "So do you want to go to Florida next week!?" Immediately the synapses in my brain fire to pictures of sandy beaches and warm breezes only to then fall upon this question that I posed to Eric, "Why do they want ME to come?" So, I called my mom, who by occupation speaks the language of "hiring practices within the big kid career realm" and asked her opinion. After doing so, I realized this company's willingness to fly me across the country has everything to do with wooing us to the high cost of living (80% higher than Provo) that is Boca Raton (hello, $700 quarterly HOA fee) as well as making sure I'm not going to cause any sort of domestic disturbance for one of their potential employees by being a psycho wife that calls her husband at work eighty-four thousand times a day. How will they determine this? Well, they are taking us out to dinner which apparently is my opportunity to convince them I am a non-crazy sort of female... First impressions may help me in this cause so here is where the two people that follow this blog should submit their two cents.

I don't know what to wear.

Eric is no help. Sometimes I'll ask him which high heel to wear with an outfit to church on Sunday and he gives me a lamentable stink face that says, "Why do you even wear those torture devices at all? Also, tall girls are intimidating." I've gone through my closet... this is what I've come up with. Please take your pick and let me know your preference. I no longer live with five girls, with five other closets, and fashion advice in order to make a confident selection.

Things to keep in mind:

1) The difference in weather...
2) Being that it IS Florida, are people more laid back, due to their annual intake of sun resulting in heightened Vitamin D production, such that a business casual dinner is more informal in terms of dress?
3) These people are scientists... not power attorneys, which I'm assuming may mean they prefer practicality over show.
4) I have no idea what restaurant we are going to.
5) Eric will be wearing a tie.
6) We are getting off the plane, stopping at the hotel and then going straight out to dinner.
7) Obviously, I'm overthinking the whole thing.

We fly out on this Thursday the 19th, so take your pick and two cent away!

Almost there.

I turned in the seceond draft of my thesis today, and it looks like I'll have my thesis defense on December 1st. So if any of you find yourselves lying awake at night wondering whether or not you could use frequency domain electromagnetic induction or shallow high resolution seismic to characterize shallow hydrogeology in arid saline soils, just let me know... I'll send you a copy.

Rodents

We have rodents. Pet ones, that is. We've had two gerbils for quite a while now, still not dead, thanks to our supurb parenting skills. We just keep giving them all the PVP pipe their liitle teeth can handle and they keep living. We're ready for human babies now.

But now we also have two rats. Yep. We're the weirdos with four rodents. We didn't pay for them though I promise. We got them for free in order to rescue them from a boa constrictor. The rats are actually pretty cool. They sneeze a lot and sniff around.
You may remember earlier this year we made a couch. Well, it was pretty fun to build, but it wasn't terribly comfortable so we sold it on craigslist. Say goodbye to our homemade couch.