Baton Rouge to Tallahassee
Christmas 1997
Donavan and Denise Hall
December 1997
Abstract
We provide an account of our completion of our university
education and our subsequent move from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to
Tallahasse, Florida. This text was intended for the January 1998
edition of
The Hallmanac
(then called
The Hall Herald
), but out of laziness, we never completed the publication or
mailed it out. What we have is provided here for historical
research purposes.
1
The Dynamic Duo Finish School-Get Jobs!
After a combined forty-one years of school and seven academic
degrees Denise and Donavan finally join the work force. Denise
completed her master of science degree in human nutrition in May
and completed a dietetics internship in August. She had thought
that she would get a job in Baton Rouge as a clinical dietitian,
but Donavan's career steered the two in a more easterly
direction.
Donavan applied for and was awarded a research position at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida.
This sent Donavan into a frenzy of activity, as his dissertation
still wanted completing. After six weeks of near non-stop typing
and three hundred pages later, Donavan successfully defended his
thesis and was awarded a doctor of philosophy in physics on
December 19.
Since Donavan's job at the ``magnet'' lab started on the first
of October, he and Denise packed up their worldly possessions and
moved to Tallahassee in the middle of September (a week after
Donavan's defense). Denise immediately set to work on the task of
finding a job in the relatively small town of Tallahassee. Within
three weeks she knew every dietitian in this part of Florida and
had secured two job offers. Denise choose a position in clinical
dietetics at Tallahassee's largest hospital, Tallahassee Memorial
Regional Medical Center (TMH). Denise is in charge of dietary
health needs of the cardiac and diabetes patients.
When asked about her job Denise commented that ``This is a
challenging position; it's demanding.'' Then added, ``My work at
TMH is not a job; it's a career.''
2
Moving to Tallahassee
We were fortunate that the lab agreed to pick up our moving
expenses, but we knew we were in for some excitement when we
realized that the job of moving our worldly possessions would
fall to the lowest bidder.
About one week before we were scheduled to move a
representative from Wheaton van lines called us and said to be
expecting a call from a gentleman named Octavian Cocherham. He
would be packing and moving us. Little did we suspect that he
would be moving us single handedly. In twenty-four hours after
his arrival, Octavian had packed and load more than six thousand
pounds of our junk (mostly books) into his tractor trailer. Note:
this six thousand pounds of stuff was packed into a 485 square
foot apartment.
The drive to Tallahassee was uneventful. When we arrived we
began cleaning the ``country home'' we had rented on the north
side of townÑa rustic place on ten acres. Almost
immediately we began discovering the odd quirks of our new abode.
The most annoying quirk we discovered the first morning we were
in the house was that the pump on the well desires a periodic
visit for some friendly encouragement with a hammer.
Right on schedule, three days after us, Octavian arrived to
deliver our stuff. The unloading was done more quickly than the
loading since Octavian had the good fortune of running into a man
in need of work. When the unloading was complete we signed the
papers and sent friend Octavian on his way. About an hour later
we received a call from Effie, Octavian`s wife, who was at the
Flying J about ten miles down the road. They had left some
important papers at our house. I volunteered to bring it over to
them rather than having them maneuver their rig down the winding
road that leads to our house.
During the drive to the Flying J the lower radiator hose on
the usually trusty 1984 Subaru wagon exploded. My engine died and
I ended up pushing the old girl to the Flying J.
Octavian was kind enough to assist me in the acquisition of a
replacement hose and in installing it on the radiator.
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On 31 Mar 2002, 11:28.
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