WILL THE REAL PAUL SUNDBERG PLEASE STAND UP?

Discovered to my chagrin that not only am I not the only Paul Sundberg on the planet, but I'm not even the only Paul Sundberg on Facebook!

Paul Sundbergs on Facebook

They don't even look like me! Can you pick out the real one among all the imposters?

Since my last post, I had Spring Break out in California - drove to see Annie and Cam in Fallbrook, spent a fun Friday up at the Griffith Park Observatory with old church friend Gabi Acosta, and stayed with old Aramco friend Kim Ayers and her husband Allan Petker in San Pedro before heading back to Phoenix March 22.

The tenants-from-hell that had been living rent-free (not legally) for a year (!) in Aunt Helen's former house up in Crestline had finally been evicted the weekend before I arrived in CA, and the wife had been badgering Annie by phone on a daily basis for permission to take some of Helen's furniture (say what?), leave some of her things in the house (say what?), etc. Ann and I own the house jointly - at least until the market recovers enough to resell it. So it's being overhauled to put up for rent - hopefully with responsible tenants next time. Ann, being local, has put up with most of the dirty work, unfortunately, but it was her idea to let the "nice neighbors who looked out for Helen" rent the house. Something I had misgivings about from the beginning. With reason, it turns out.

BLIZZARDS IN MARCH

Am in job hunt mode again. Present one-year contract with ASU ends May 15, so March 26 I was to fly out to Denver for the annual TESOL conference, where there's a job fair for ESL teachers as well as presentations about any (ESL) topic under the sun.

That Thursday, I first called my Denver hotel to let them know I wouldn't be arriving till late that evening. "Oh, didn't you know we have a white-out blizzard going on, and most of our guests have been canceling?" No, I didn't. I called Southwest and found out that, yes, my flight that Thursday was canceled, too. Since the next morning at 10:00 I was supposed to be interviewing with a Japanese university recruiter, I wasn't thrilled at the news. "How early Friday morning can I get there, then?" I asked. "Hmm. We have a flight from Phoenix to Denver on Sunday that has a seat...."

Turned out that everyone and their brother had been rebooking, so that Friday morning all flights to Denver from Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego were booked full. "Ah, we have one seat on a flight from San Francisco to Denver that morning. Would you like that?" What choice did I have? So, for a mere $399 extra, I would make it into Denver by 9:00 am.

So, Thursday evening I sat in Phoenix airport waiting for my SF flight - which was delayed because of high winds, then delayed again. Finally, about 11:45 pm we board the plane, arriving in SF about 2:00 in the morning. I had a reservation at a SF airport hotel, but now I'd have to be back at the airport for a 6:15 am flight. I decided to check in anyway - at least to shower and change clothes for my three interviews in Denver. I had a chance to nap; that was all.

I managed to do all three interviews ok - the first one kindly rescheduled me for noon: Toyo University, Amideast, and Kwansei Gakuin University. I have other applications in the works, but those were the three that were interviewing at TESOL. Fortunately, on the trip I got to see an old Illinois friend also attending the conference, bump into an old boss from American University Cairo, and overnight with an old Aramco friend who lived up in the mountains just west of Denver.

Was it worth the extra $399 dollars to get there "at any price"? We'll see what job offers come my way ...