They like me, but I'm not hired yet

We just returned from our three-day trip to Norfolk, which was basically 12 hours of flying for every 2 hours of, you know, not flying.

But here's the skinny: The folks at the paper out there like me. There seems to be a general consensus that I would be a good fit. Of the 10 or so interviews I had, only one of the editors seemed a bit pessimistic about my age and the size of my paper (about 1/12th of their size).

The managing editor, however, is the big cheese, and we got along great. I gave him an honest critique of the paper, and he said he agreed completely. I stumped to get in the door as soon as possible so I can help with their planned redesign, which would be awesome.

So I fit in great, and I think I passed their amazingly intense editing test, but what's next? Hard to say. There's not really an opening for me yet. There might be, soon. Or maybe not. Or maybe in a few months. Or maybe not for a while. Yeah, it's that weird. I'm still not sure how to explain this to my coworkers here.

The problem is, I just assumed that a lot of people were flown out there to interview without a specific job in mind. Apparently not. Apparently no one understood what the hell I was doing out there. That's not necessarily bad, but it might embitter people who got their jobs the old-fashioned way. Or it might mean I have to fly back out later to interview again. And man, that's a tough trip.

But let's focus on the positive. I'll even use the flowery little icons:

• Housing prices are about $200,000 less than here. That puts them around $270,000, which is a bit more doable for us, and we might be able to get a place sooner than we thought.
• Downtown Norfolk is great. Tons of construction, new restaurants, young people. That's crazy. Every other city is watching its downtown die slowly and painfully.
• If they hire you, the newspaper moves you. I mean, a dude shows up and packs your stuff, loads it on a truck and sends it to Virginia. That would be nice.
• We already know a handful of friends out there, so there wouldn't be a lengthy friendship drought.
• The paper's staff has this great vibe of teamwork and mutual respect. It's hard to describe, but I can tell you it's rare in this industry. My bosses like to say, "This isn't a democracy," which I've always fought against. If staffers don't feel important and respected, they'll resent the manager and the paper. I'm sure that happens there, but a vibe is a hard thing to fake.

So that's about it for today. I'm still half-unconscious from the flying, but I'm excited. I wish things would move quickly, but there's nothing wrong with being a little patient for this kind of opportunity.