Allvac Interview Trip

So we are back. We had a great trip even though it was short. The pictures above show some of our activities. The house pictures show the homes Krista looked at and the neighborhoods around them. I've included info in the captions about the homes and places we went. I must apologize for many of the town and countryside pictures as they were shot out of a moving car through closed windows (it was cold). You'll still get the idea though I think. The pictures of the two churches were fired while driving. The big pointy church is Calvary Church in Pineville. It is a gorgeous, but massive building. Those pictures were taken at varying speeds from 20mph to about 40mph by Krista facing a setting sun. The traditional Baptist looking church is First Baptist Church in Monroe. This church is at the end of Church ST. Church Street runs North and South with the old courthouse at one end, and the church at the other. It's actually quite cool to look either direction and see a beautiful building lined up with the end of the street. Those pictures were taken freehand (no look) by me out an open window at about 10mph as I coasted across the intersection. Quite nice I think. Other pictures of note are captioned as well. I also included my recap from my email for those that didn't get it. Enjoy.

This is my favorite picture of the old church.

This is from an email I sent this morning...
Hi Everyone,

I wanted to write a thank you message to everyone that prayed for me (us) yesterday during my interview. I also thought I would give you a little rundown of activities I was involved in while I was there.

The interview itself went really well. I was picked up in the morning by the Director of Product Engineering at 7:30 and we drove to the plant. The first thing on the agenda was a plant tour. So I was dressed nice (shirt, tie, suit coat, etc.) but had to be safe for the tour. So off go my new shoes and on go a pair of black Converse steel-toed boots. I looked like I was wearing combat boots with my interview attire. I was quite humorous. I also had to leave my coat behind for the tour and wear my (warmer) leather jacket because it was 30 degrees and windy. The tour was great. The facility is deceptively huge with impressively big machines. The only downside was the Press and the Rotary Forge (example pictures attached) were down for scheduled maintenance. That was disappointing as they are the meat of the plant's operation. After the tour I got to change back into my nice coat, but had to keep the combat boots on. I then sat through 2.5 hours of interviews with 8 different engineers from all over the plant. The interviews were fine. Nothing remarkable there (though no behavioral questions at all, thankfully, just questions about my work and what I wanted to do at Allvac). For lunch I went out with 4 other engineers to a small restaurant (diner actually) in downtown Monroe. I then visited the R&D facility which is about 5 miles east of the main plant. The R&D facility was kind of neat because it was completely empty! They have large open rooms with desks and no people to fill them and everyone has a nice office with a door and window (rather than the cubicles at the main plant). They gave me a tour there of the "Pilot Plant". The Pilot Plant is a small scale version of the big one. Basically a big sand box for an engineer. They can melt, remelt (yes, it's important), heat treat, and forge whatever they want on their own schedule without interrupting production. Very fun. The lady that gave me the tour is a dead ringer for Aunt Barbara in Vermont, by the way. Same hair, glasses, accent, attitude, everything. While I was sitting in her office, being interviewed again, there was a massive explosion. The whole building shook, pictures on the wall rattled, BIG. She goes, "Whoa. that was fairly big one." ??? a fairly big explosion??!! How often does this happen? She went on to explain that there is a car recycling plant across the street. They have a chipper that basically tears a car to pieces and occasionally they explode (they weren't clear what the cause was, car battery, gas in the tank, whatever). I thought the explosion was kind of fun, but immediately focused on the task at hand, getting a job, again. Of course, 20 minutes later a bigger explosion rocked the plant. R&D is a crazy little place, I must say. I then met with the Director and VP of R&D (2 different guys). They were great and we got along really well and they both seemed really excited to have me come work for them. The big question was whether I was willing to learn Titanium of if I wanted to stick with Nickel (yes, there is a big difference). They could put me in either type of job. I pushed Titanium because I think it would be fun to learn a new alloy system. After the R&D trip (3pm now) I went back to the main plant to meet with the HR lady. She gave me an application to fill out, which I did, and then went over the benefits schedule. After meeting with her, she walked me back to where I started. As she did so, she made fun of my combat boots I was still wearing. I met with the Director of Product Engineering briefly and then called Krista for a ride because he had a conference call coming as I was leaving. I changed back into my nice new interview shoes finally and left a happy camper.

Extra curriculars here included two dinners, one Wed. one Thurs. The first was with a young Ph.D. that started with the company back in December. I think he is still trying to get his head above water so his perspective, while great information, was a little gloomier than anything I heard the next day. He was a nice guy that enjoys his work. I think he just feels overwhelmed at the moment (he also has a house in Michigan that hasn't sold for 7 months, that could do it too). Dinner was good and then we dropped Krista off at the hotel so she could relax and watch the Tennessee-Vanderbilt game. We then drove around the area a little and pointed out shopping centers, neighborhoods, apartments, that sort of thing. The second dinner was with Jack, the Director of Product Engineering that picked me up for the interviews. Jack and his wife met us at a place called Sugar Magnolias. It was a small, upscale southern cooking restaurant. The food was fantastic even if most of the menu contain seafood. We got to talk about non work things during dinner (with the exception of a brief overview of my day because we couldn't talk earlier). The key lime pie was great too.

Krista's side of the story is a little different. She could probably tell it better, but she's asleep so you're getting the short version from me. Krista headed out around 10am and became dear friends of the GPS. First she went to a great (I'm told) bagel shop for breakfast. Then she headed into Monroe. Her first stop was going to be the PCA church that she looked up on the internet earlier. When she arrived, she went to the office only to find it empty. She waited, and waited, and read some literature, and waited, and finally, she left. The church is a plant and still meets out of a high school but is starting a capital campaign to buy some land (sound familiar). Their office is in a rental space with several other businesses sharing the same building. So Krista noticed a realtor downstairs and went down to talk about rental properties. He said his office doesn't really deal with rentals, but he agreed to run a list of the MLS for her. He then mentioned that he, personally, had a place that would be available probably by May and gave her the info on it. Krista then went back upstairs and the ladies at the church office were back so Krista got to meet them. Apparently they were AWESOME!!! That's how she said it to me by the way, capital letters and all. She hung out with them for a while and told them about her dashing husband and what our lives are like, etc. While there, the ladies asked if they could pray for me while I was in my interview. Krista was so excited. They got together and and took hands and prayed for my interview, for Krista to find a good home, and for Emma. Krista didn't get to meet the pastor because he was out, but was told when she could try to come back. Krista then took pictures of houses and looked at neighborhoods and found a couple keepers (including the Realtor's house). Those pictures will probably make the blog later. When she was done with that, Krista checked out the Super Walmart (huge fabric department) and then went to the Monroe Mall (and bought some more preggy shirts). She was at the mall when I called for a ride. After she picked me up, we drove all over town looking at houses and we went by the church office and met the two ladies (missed the pastor) and the Realtor. Then I took for a drive to downtown, which she had apparently missed during her travels. Then we went back to the hotel and dinner...


I apologize for the long email, but I know everyone will want the whole story and I'll get tired of saying it all so this way no one gets cheated out of the adventures. We are so thankful for everyone's love and prayers. We feel very good about the possibility of moving here and are so excited that it might be working out better than I could have planned. This has been a great trip and the countryside is beautiful. I will let you know how things go as I hear back. I also have a deadline on Monday for first submission I have to get ready for and that is no small ask at this point either.

Thanks again everyone,
Brandon and Krista