Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Back from Margaritaville!

I'm back from Margaritaville with some very good news! I was very vague about my trip and only a few people knew about it at all. It wasn't a real vacation, it was a three-day working holiday. When I started a few months ago with Amtrack I knew that even thought the money was insanely good, it wouldn't last for long so I began doing some research on railroad jobs on railjobs.com and found one in Clewiston, Florida that sounded pretty good. So about a month ago I updated my resume and emailed it never thinking I'd be hearing back. Well, about two weeks ago I got a return email from the head of the railroad asking me if I was still interested. Hell yes I was interested! So the company flew me down to West Palm Beach over the weekend, paid for my rental car and put me up in a nice hotel near the offices... Pictured above is the engine yard...
Here's a picture looking north from the hotel... I haven't seen real palm trees in a very long time... But the last time I was someplace this tropical little brown guys speaking Spanish were desperately trying to kill me... But I don't think I'll have to worry about that now.
A little friend another guy who was down for the interview also and myself found on the verandah late Saturday night...
The Clewiston Inn... Where I stayed in a suite... It was built in 1938 and is on the National Register of Historic Buildings... Very Art-Deco, south Florida style, which I love...

Apartments across the road from the engine yard...

So I go down and have the interview... And I get the job! They do all the HR paperwork bullshit including my drug test and direct deposit authorization...

Pay is slightly less that what I'm making now, but this job with Amtrack was only for a finite time anyway. Full benefits, eye, dental, prescription...

And here's the kicker... The company is going to pay my moving expenses and put me up in an apartment rent free for up to four months until I can find a place of my own...

And I'll be doing what I should have been doing here in Durbin in the first place... Conductor then on to locomotive engineer by next April.

But here's the bad stuff... I have to be down there before the 16th of August. I'm sure glad I never unpacked anything. Something told me I shouldn't when I moved in here.

I'll be about an hour from West Palm Beach in the east and an hour from Ft. Myers in the west.

I'm moving to Margaritaville!

And I'm going to be an engineer!

Copyright 2006 Thomas J Wolfenden

16 comments:

Kat_womanx2 said...

WTG!!! I told you this year was going to be smiling on you...congrats, best wishes...stay in touch. I'm VERY happy for you!!!

cmk said...

CONGRATS!! So very happy for you...but we'll miss you till you are up and running on the interweb again! Keep us informed as much as possible...and good luck.

Lisa said...

That is so cool. Yeay. So happy for you...

Mrs. S. said...

Way to go Tom!

tsduff said...

WOW!!! Can your story get any better! I've been workin on the railroad, all the livelong day... I'm so happy for you! Except - are you ready for the Florida summer heat?

Anonymous said...

OMG Tom!! Congrats!! You better keep in touch!

Thomas J Wolfenden said...

Kat: You know me well enough by now. I said I would do it and come hell or high water I was going to make it succeed!

Cmk: I don't think my down-time will be as long this time around. I'm taking all my shit with me at the onset and I'll have my own place as soon as I get there.

Lisa: Thanx!

Red: Is there any other way to go?

Tsduff: Yep. I lived in Panama for three years. If I can stand the jungle for that long I can put up with higher humidity in the Florida summer.

Karen: Thanks, and I will

DivineMsN said...

Congrats!

Kev said...

Oh dear ... Florida is about to be hit by Hurricane Tom.

The Ramblin Hillbilly said...

I'm definatley interested RT, although my phone went down and I have a new one now so i no longer have your number. Give me a call

Your Bud
The Ramblin HIllbilly

tsduff said...

ps - cute cute little lizard!

Thomas J Wolfenden said...

MsN: Thanks!

Miss Fire: I'll keep that in mind. I'll email you contact info when I get down there and settled. I'd like to meet you and Mr. Miss Fire

Kev: I was thinking the exact same thing...

Bill: Sent you the contact info on Yahoo IM. Drop him a line.

Leazwell: Toot toot, huh? LOL

Tsduff: He was a bitch to catch too... It didn't help that I was pretty well lubricated at the time either...

Sherri Sanders said...

Congratulations!!

tsduff said...

Well, you did a good job - his tail isn't even broken!

Okie said...

I've vacationed in the Ft. Myers area a few times and absolutely loved it. It'll be a great place to live.

Lora said...

That is fantastic news, Tom! I can't tell you how happy I am for you. With perseverance and hard work, dreams really do come true. Congrats. Look forward to hearing more.