I didn\u2019t want to say much about it at the time, but December 2, 2008 is when I was offered the job I have now. \u00a0Had I known how it would turn out, I\u2019d definitely still take it, but I\u2019d try to be a little more heads-up going through it. \u00a0But at the time, just to escape from the world of government sub-contracting\u2026it was paradise. \u00a0I had gone to the old country for Thanksgiving and sweated out days of waiting for the phone to ring, so to come back on Saturday and get the job offer on Tuesday – it was a country music record played backward. \u00a0Got out of prison, got my wife back, got my truck back, got my dog back…<\/p>\n
And just like that, everything turned blue and bright again. The clouds parted and the sun shone on a cool damp green world of Christmas. \u00a0The Kanye song about the Good Life that had mocked me the year before was suddenly triumphant. Obama\u2019s inaugural was a month away and we were still basking in the glow. \u00a0I was going to have a job above ground, with cellular reception, with actual benefits, with the ability to take the train to and from work\u2026life, in short, was finally looking up after the bottomed-out stretch of 2007-08.<\/p>\n
I was actually starting to experiment, too. \u00a0I had a virtualized machine on my MacBook running a lean Ubuntu instance, wondering if I could get by with a netbook. \u00a0Since the state of the art in cellphones was an iPhone 3G, the need for some mid-range device was real\u2026and ultimately I would deal with it by acquiring a netbook, disposing of it six months later, and finally getting an iPad, which nails the netbook space far better than any actual netbook ever did. \u00a0It was also cold enough that I was wearing the international travel jacket and contemplating the peacoat\u2026which I finally bought years later and am wearing today in the midst of a similar cold snap.<\/p>\n
The surest sign that the world was changing wasn\u2019t anything to do with netbooks or a new job or a black President, though – it was Vanderbilt in a bowl game for the first time in a quarter-century. \u00a0Of course, we backed into it, following up a red-hot 5-0 start by losing 6 of our last 7 games. \u00a0Scraped out a win against Kentucky thanks to DJ Moore\u2019s heroic effort on both sides of the ball (2 TDs as a receiver, 2 INTs as a defensive back) only to lose to Tennessee (again) and Wake Forest (AGAIN)\u2026and wound up in a bowl game in Nashville, 4 miles from campus. \u00a0And played a perfect game despite virtually no offense, and won 16-14, and our punter was the MVP.<\/p>\n
I think the thing about Christmas five years ago is that it came with the sense that my whole entire life was on the way back – that I hit rock bottom the year before and was now, indisputably, trending back up. \u00a0There was hope, there was a new day coming, and the future was both visible and bright. \u00a0Really, that\u2019s what I\u2019m missing these days: not a solution on a silver platter, not an illustrated guide to the future, but just a sense that things are<\/em> going the right way and looking up. \u00a0If I could somehow find that<\/em> under the tree on the 25th, I wouldn\u2019t want anything else for Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I didn\u2019t want to say much about it at the time, but December 2, 2008 is when I was offered the job I have now. \u00a0Had I known how it would turn out, I\u2019d definitely still take it, but I\u2019d try to be a little more heads-up going through it. \u00a0But at the time, just … <\/p>\n