Exactly two months ago we read a Twitter post about Murphy-Goode Winery’s call for applicants for a Really Goode Job as their Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent for six months this summer and fall and it was love at first sight.  An opportunity to combine our journalism and new media skills with our love of wine and the Cali wine country lifestyle AND earn some much needed money to fuel the remaining years and miles of our Trans-Americas Journey? We’re in.

So we shifted gears, quite literally pulling our little road trip over to the side of the road in Ajijic, Mexico where we sat out the swine flu and began conceptualizing, writing, shooting and editing our application video, complete with an original soundtrack. We worked hard, but made sure we also had fun tossing around ideas for the video over many, many glasses of wine with our friends.

During the video production process we also began taking our love of wine from the conceptual (we love it, we drink it, it’s part of our life, duh) to the concrete: why do we love it and how can we become the best vessels for most effectively communicating all the wonderful things about wine, winemakers and the wine lifestyle to as many people as possible?

We worked hard, got creative, stayed committed, met new people and learned new things and made sacrifices–the same approach we used to make our Trans-Americas Journey a reality. We’ve even returned to the U.S. from Mexico in preparation for the call (or email or Twitter) we hope is coming our way.

Every day for the past two months we get up in the morning and screen all the new application videos over coffee. Then we hit Twitter to spread the word about the funniest one of the day. Then it’s time to read through the best new posts on various web sites from contenders and non-contenders and post some mini-thesis of our own as the conversation about how best to use web 2.0 tools to market wine and boost brands rages on across the internet on neutral sites like Andy’s Goode Life.

Through it all we’ve honestly been too busy to be nervous. Until now. In less than four days, on Friday June 26,  the folks at Murphy-Goode Winery will narrow down the 1,000+ applications they’ve received to 50 finalists. In mid July those 50 will become just 10 and those final finalists will be brought to the winery for some in-person evaluation and other Sonoma shenanigans.

The other night, as we opened a couple of bottles of wine from a winery in New Mexico (the fume blanc was good but the chardonnay was somehow leaden and thin at the same time), it hit us how invested we are in getting this job. As the last of the sunset light turned the Franklin Mountains above El Paso a tender shade of pink, we started feeling applicant anxiety for the very first time. If we get this job we not only earn the right to an amazing continuation of the hard work, creativity, learning and commitment we’ve already invested in the application process, but the future of our Trans-Americas Journey will be assured. If we don’t get this job, well, we prefer to stay positive.

As Friday approaches we’ll be self-medicating by planning a brief return to the road to visit some area wineries (watch this space to hear all about what we discover in Texas and New Mexico wine country). With your help and a little luck we look forward to celebrating Friday’s announcement with a bottle of 2003 Murphy-Goode Wild Card Claret (possibly the last bottle to be found in west Texas) which we’ve been hoarding in our friends’ new wine refrigerator, which we’re still on the fence about.

Please, if you haven’t already watched and voted for our one minute application video, make like an Iranian and GO VOTE!