The best news I've had in some time.

So, this is how I learned I was no longer unemployed. I was dropping Noah off with his mother. I checked my iphone for emails, and voila, at 2:40 p.m. Central Standard Time, my luck all the sudden got a whole lot better.

Here is how the email began...

Kevin:

Attached is our offer letter to you.  Upon receiving your acceptance, I'll book your travel and provide you with necessary information regarding the upcoming training in Tempe, AZ.

 Please let me know if you have questions.  I look very forward to working with you.

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So, what's the job, you ask? Well, I'll be an investigative auditor for this company that works with all the big mortgage insurance companies to check for real estate fraud. I'l go through files, call the lender, the buyer, and others involved with the transaction to see if everything was on the up-and-up.

The pay isnt great, but its more than what I was getting in unemployment. And there are plenty of chances within the company to make more money if I do a good job. They are always giving out bonuses.

I feel like I can finally start my life again now. I have a job. I HAVE A JOB. I'm normal. I can get up. Go to work. Go to lunch. Come home and do it all over again the next day. I'll have co-workers, a desk, covered parking (never got that at the Star-Telegram). It's crazy what you take for granted, and what you don't miss until it's gone.

The really neat thing is that the job is less than two minutes from my apartment. Seriously. It's on the same exit that I take off the highway to get home. I just gotta drive out of my apartments, do the u-turn under the bridge and pull into the job. Guess I can never use the, "traffic excuse" as a reason for being late anymore, huh?

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Something else. I start Oct. 5. They want me in Tempe, Arizona (they are paying for this, of course) by 8 a.m. that Monday morning. I run the Portland Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 4. I thought about not running Portland, but they said theywould pay for my plane ride from Portland to Phoenix, so, I'm still on for the marathon.

I'll leave Portland Sunday night. I figure, as one blogger told me, the mojo is with me, might as well use it the day before I start work. I may be pretty sore on the plane ride to Tempe, but hopefully, I'll be so giddy after qualifying for Boston that it won't matter.