This has certainly been the kind of day that you would avoid if you knew it was coming ahead of time. It started out not too bad - I had a job interview first thing in the morning and would've been really psyched about it if it wasn't for the head cold that I'm still suffering through. But even though I didn't sleep well, I was pretty upbeat about the interview. I even managed to find the place with only one wrong turn!...which is admirable for me because I often miss turns more than once in a single trip to a new place, especially without a navigator.

The interview went really well - I didn't have a single coughing attack, and my nose only starting really getting stuffy at the very end of it (since I had heavily drugged myself before attending it - all the more reason to be surprised by how impressed the interviewer was). The interviewer said my resume was really impressive, that I seemed very energetic (one of his first questions was whether my HR position was full-time while completing my masters, which it was), and that he liked the cover letter and thought you could tell a lot about a person by the type of cover letter they write. After all the bad cover letters I've read, I should think I would be able to write a pretty good one!

He offered me a job on the spot - teaching a course that would be very similar to one of the courses that I taught last year, and I could even use the same textbook - talk about minimal prep! The campus of the college was gorgeous - a series of beautiful brick buildings nestled in the woods - very picturesque. I was delighted!

As I drove home I noticed that the battery light was on the whole way back... which wasn't a good sign since it was a brand new battery and it had been coming on periodically at low speeds or at an idle, but it would not go off - clearly I was running on battery power only and the alternator was not recharging it. Not a good sign. But I was heartened by the fact that the course I had just been offered would not only pay for the repair of the alternator, but the other $2000 we've spent fixing the damn car in the last few months...god! I wish we were still close to my brother in law! I barely made it home - I actually had to push the car the last couple of feet into the driveway 'cause it conked out with no juice whatsoever to restart it

[tell me how it is that the annoying reminder ping that you've left the door open and the keys in the ignition can still operate when there seems to be no electricity available to run anything else? mysterious, I say]

So why did I say that I would've avoided today if I could have? Because of what happened next...

As I was leaving the interview, I realized that we had spent over an hour together and that I would have no time to drive to school to meet with the International Student advisor about getting the visa I would need to accept this job. I was going to just drive to school, but the flickering battery light prompted me to decide to head home first and call to reschedule, which turned out to be a good decision since I would have otherwise been stranded somewhere in Newton instead of making it home. I had intended to meet with her yesterday, but when I showed up for the appointment, I was told it had been booked in error and I would have to come today (and make a special trip just for this meeting). The long and the short of that meeting was that I was told I could not accept the job I had just been offered without giving up my TA appointment. This was a new development and would not have been a problem in the days before SEVIS, but since the 9/11 terrorists came into the country on student visas, students are now evil creatures who must be strictly monitored and controlled.

The kicker of the afternoon is that if I had met with this woman yesterday as I was supposed to, I would not have gone to the interview, and the car would also not be dead.
(I'm trying strenuously to avoid swearing on my blog, but some days....)

To top it off, I got a lovely call from the warehouse where our piano has been stored for the last year (since we couldn't get it into our place) telling me that according to their records, I have not paid the handling fee for bringing the piano back out of storage, even though my receipt says that I have. So now I will have to argue with them when I go pick up the piano. I'm not looking forward to the extra hassle. I have had nothing but problems with these people - deal or no deal, they don't run a very good business.

I wonder what will happen in the next few hours before I finally make it to bed?