It was a great interview experience and I can only echo Labmonkey's comments. BTW...I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know all of the other "black suited" fellas. I was beyond nervous the entire trip, but being around all the other guys really helped make me feel more comfortable.

I stayed at the Homebridge Suite and it was a pretty nice room. Kitchen, two beds, microwave, full-size fridge, dishes/glasses, etc. If I ended up staying there through training, it wouldn't be a bad deal. The only thing I wish is that there were some eatery places a little closer (walking distance).

The building was impressive and everyone we were introduced to was very nice. The interview process was on par with the most recent gouges. I got a kick out of how everytime a guy would come out of one session, we would surround him with "Tell me what happened!" All of the guys were really forthcoming and that's what I like...community...we have to stick together!

Everyone had the same schedule, just at different times. We went through a Mesaba informative PowerPoint Presentation, Wonderlic Test, 25 question FAR 91 test, Oral/Tech, Sim, and the pee test. We started at 7:30 and I was done at 3:30. I just made it to MSP in time to catch a 4:20 departure back to Madison and I slept the whole way home.

I swear, last night was the first night I got any significant sleep since getting the call for the interview. When you want something bad like this, it can be tough. Man.....if you go, eat a breakfast (if you can) before you go because there is nothing to eat. Luckily, I packed some bran cereal bars, but jeepers....when I got home I was feasting on Culver's cheeseburgers and I thought I was eating filet mignon.

There were 8 scheduled for the interview...one guy didn't show for his flight inbound and another disappeared after the oral. Maybe Labmonkey knows what happened to him, but when I came out of my oral, he was gone.

Steve and Darren (sorry, if spelling is wrong guys) really made me comfortable. I'm in the waiting game now, but if they call me it would be awesome. I really liked what I saw and I hope they liked what they saw of me. My Sim was shaky, but I think almost everyone of us reached a point during the Sim where we were confused...nothing that would fail any of us...it was just too easy to start 2nd guessing myself with two completely silent evaluators writing on pads of paper behind me while I attempted to determine my location from a random VOR. I turned around at one point and informed them that if they didn't start talking my heart was going to jump out of my chest and knock this clunky sim off the table. LOL

Thanks Labmonkey, pleasure meeting you and I hope we hook up in October in a class. Good luck.