Sunday, October 19, 2008

Friends in Philly

So I got an on-site job interview in Philly (Cherry Hill, NJ) last week, and remembered that I had some good friends that just moved out there, the Paynes. I emailed David to see if they wouldn't mind getting together. Here's a snippet of our email conversation...
That would be awesome! I usually take Tuesday evenings off anyway.
I’ll talk to Bethany about it and I’ll give you a call tonight.

I forgot to ask…Will you be bringing HeroScape? It does affect the decision...


Well my polite reply was that my Heroscape gear would require a second suitcase, and then I'd have to pay those ridiculous check-in baggage fees, so I wouldn't be bringing it. Well, they weren't kidding when they said it would affect the decision.

Worst. Trip. Ever.

They decided to show me the town. The company gave me a rental car, so I was able to drive out to my hotel and get settled before I met up with them. Why didn't David warn me there's a toll to come from NJ into Philly? $4! Luckily I had $5 cash on hand. David told me to meet them at the 30th street Train Station. They usually have good parking available. I parked in short-term parking, which was expensive. I figured we'd only be out 1-2 hours, so I didn't mind paying $12 or so.

We started our evening outing with a crazy-long drive through the ghetto of Philly to the other side of the city to have some cheesesteaks. What? They sell those EVERYWHERE! Why did we need to drive for 40 minutes to go to this particular restaurant? Ok. It's supposed to be the best. We got there, and had some fun eating and talking. The food was pretty decent, especially the pickle.

From there we headed back to the city center to check out the famous Rocky steps. They made me run all the way up those steps! At least they were kind enough to take my picture with Rocky.

Their daughter Angelique was hilarious. She was jumping around at the top singing the Rocky songs.

After our Rocky retreat, we drove around some more trying to find a creepy jail/museum. Now they had a GPS device, but I think David was intentionally ignoring it. We drove around for 10 minutes just to wind up back at the Rocky steps. Then we took a left and 1 minute later there was the jail. Sheesh. It was a pretty cool looking penitentiary. It was all old and brick and towered. Fun stuff.

We finished off the night with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It took forever to find parking on the street. But I was stoked to see the Bell. We get there and I start asking about its history. IT'S NOT EVEN FAMOUS FOR ANYTHING! They used to ring it. That's it! People rang it once upon a time. I'm pretty sure lots of bells are like that. Do we find cracked bells that entertaining? Independence Hall was pretty cool, too. I tried to salvage the evening with another great picture. We tried to look philosophical, but I don't think it worked. (Thanks a lot David)

So to top off the evening, they dropped me off 3 hours and 10 minutes later to my parked car. Did I forget to mention it was in short-term parking? Well, 3 hours is only $20. I could have swallowed that and been fine. The extra ten minutes you ask? That cost me $12 more! So $32 dollars later I sulkily drive my way back to NJ.

The interview went pretty well I think. I certainly enjoyed myself, and the job sounds amazing. We'll hear about it in a few weeks. The final part of my trip ended in hysteria. Remember how I only brought $5 cash with me? Well, I haven't remembered my Debit Card pin since I opened my account. I never use cash anyways. Who does anymore? Oh yeah, TOLL BRIDGES do! So I ended up begging at a gas station for $3. A nice lady gave me the money and said she knew where her blessings came from. Amen sister. I was praying for a kind soul just like you.

I'm hopeful for the job. It'll be interesting working there and living on the east coast again. And at least if we move there, I'll have my Heroscape stuff close at hand. That way we can still be friends with the Paynes.

7 comments:

Quinn said...

Very Funny! Poor David. His version of events was slightly more positive.

Tracy Hogan said...

Brad,
Yuck on the toll bridges and expensive parking. If you have to live in Philly, I'm glad you already know someone. I'm praying you get the job that's best for you and your fam....it would be selfish to pray for you to be here.....just because now we are addicted to Brooklyn.
moxxoxm

Sarah said...

Ummm...I thought we already talked about this...you are moving to California or somewhere closer to us!! HEllO! I think you had such a bad experience because you are supposed to not live there and live on the West coast

Emily Busath Murdock said...

I just hope that if you get the job, they pay you in CASH. I'd hate to see you have to beg for three dollars again. :) I take that back, I'd LOVE to see you beg for three dollars. That would be very funny.
Also, you are just like my husband. He doesn't know his ATM card pin, either. That cracks me up. You both have no trouble with complex math, but memorizing and retaining a four-digit-pin proves to be your nemesis.
I really do hope that things go your way. It sounds like you'd be really happy with that job! Good luck!

Megan said...

Hey just think, if y'all do go out to Philly or somewhere out there and we are at Law school out there, we can hang out and our kids can play! That would be nice to have family out there if that's where we end up going.

Megan said...

ps. you didn't like my angry elf comment? It's from Elf the movie, silly.....

Aqualung said...

Just think you got this private car tour of all these famous Philly places. Just be glad they weren't playing a World Series games while you were there and then the parking fees would have been triple what you paid. Good luck with the job offer.