Job: YES. Home: YES

I finally have internet at home again. What a relief!

Home Update: Ken and I are now settled into our new little home (pictures yet to come). We moved in this past weekend. While we’re still getting things settled, we’ve got a lot of it put together already. I’m busy going through things and getting boxes packed of things we just don’t need. Apparently we have millions of dishes I didn’t remember having or ever acquiring. Many of these will be going to Goodwill or possibly even on a garage sale if I ever get my act together.

Job Update: I interviewed for a few jobs the week before graduation. One was for a writing position at John Deere and the other for a teaching job at a community college in Mason City, IA. I’m pleased to say that I was offered both jobs, but as you can imagine, it was difficult to decide. I’ve always wanted to teach at a community college, so when that position came up, I was pretty excited. The downside was that it is located an hour and 15 minutes away from where Ken works. That would mean a 2.5 hour commute for me every day. The writing job is in Waterloo, actually in the same place Ken works (same building), and we’d have a 10-minute commute to work each day. Ken and I considered living partway between the two, but in the end, we decided that with gas prices so high and threatening to go higher, the commute for both of us would be pretty expensive. Plus, we really value our time not working or driving and decided we didn’t want to both be on the road for up to an hour + to work and home each day.

And so, in the end, I accepted the position of Communication Specialist at John Deere in Waterloo. I’ll be working with writing and different forms of communications (Deere documents, internet, broadcast video, employee relations, event planning, etc.) for the 5 different Waterloo-based Deere plants. It’s a full-time ontract job, so I will continue to look for full-time Deere or possibly teaching jobs in the area for now. Word is that many people being as contract employees at Deere and are then hired on eventually. Some of the projects I know I’ll be working on include their new plant broadcast system and planning two upcoming events: the annual managers’ meeting and the 90th anniversary of Deere in Waterloo. My start date is Wednesday, May 28, so I have a few days left to enjoy the summer. Interestingly enough, Ken and I can even carpool to work as we’re in the same building.

I don’t know what it will like not to be teaching as that’s what I thought I’d be doing after getting a PhD, but I’m excited about the new opportunities with this position. As a tech writing teacher, this industry experience will be good for me if I decide to teach again in the future. I may even try to adjunct a writing course at Northern Iowa or the community college in town once I get used to my work schedule just to stay in the classroom.

I’ll try to post some pictures of graduation, the open house in Normal, and our new place once I find out where Ken packed the digital camera.