big-ticket

So, we got the new title for the car in record time and within 30 minutes of getting it I have started the process to donate it. One more large loose end tied up.

Just got one thing left...

its in his head

Well, we have seen proof that the only thing keeping Felix from walking is his own personal/mental/intellectual reason. He has been practicing standing on his own quite a bit lately, and every time we go to the library he sees other kids who are around his age or older and sees them running, walking, standing. Every time we come home from the library, he seems to want to try out what he's seen. Last night he looked like he was really trying to walk. This morning while he was playing, he was standing by the couch, holding on with his hand for moral support, when a garbage truck pulled into the alley. Felix is fascinated by garbage trucks in the same way people are fascinated by sharks and bears and tigers: awed, amazed, curious, and a little scared. Anyway, when he heard the garbage truck's tri-tone back-up alarm, he looked up and out the window and without even hesitating walked two steps unassisted, through open air, and put his hand on the coffee table for the last few steps to the window before pressing his face to the glass and trying to see the elusive garbage truck. Andrea was laying on the couch, uncharacteristically partaking of mine and Felix's morning ritual, and i was sitting on the bottom of the stairs. We both looked at each other in astonishment. There was no warning, no wobbly baby-stepping, just, "What's that? I'm going over there NOW!" regular, confident, unconscious walking. Andrea and I immediately clobbered each other in the middle of the living room floor, saying, "Did you see that?! He walked!" and hugs and kisses and the happy random tear, all the while Felix looked out the window and then at us as if to say, "What are you guys making all that noise about? Can't you see there's a garbage truck out there?"

afterthought

Oh yeah. I guess i haven't explicitly mentioned it since Monday (though I maybe mentioned it in passing the other night) but I did get the offer from the company I wanted to work for on Tuesday morning right as I got off the plane and I accepted. So, I think I said I wasn't stressed out anymore since our living arrangements have been solidified and our working arrangements have been solidified, but that's the deal. I got the offer from the company in midtown Manhattan as a "network engineer" though I'll actually be the SMS engineer and application packaging expert. Since the company is only about 1000 employees and the IT is something like 30-40 people, I'll get to get my feet wet in all kinds of other areas. It sounds like its going to be a lot of fun and a very good job for me. I turned down the higher paying consulting job on Long Island for this job. In a way, I did the same thing Andrea did: I picked the job I knew I would really enjoy and grow in, not the one that offered the most money or the shiniest carrot. It really is astonishing how quickly all of these things have fallen into place. From everything I read and hear (even from our new landlord) our experience relocating to New York is incredibly unique and definitely the exception to the rule. In the same regard, I would say, hey, look at us, we're not magical wand-waving wizards making this happen. We aren't even religious and don't attribute any of this success to any external origins like karma, kismet, god, or luck. I guess "luck" in so far as it represents favorable coincidence or circumstance allowing for a less probable positive outcome. I'm sure I'll hear from my mom because she's been praying for us this whole time and may be a bit miffed that I'm disputing the impact that might have had on our outcome...sorry mom, no offense meant. But thanks for thinking of us! It's always nice to know that people are concerned with how things are going. As a material humanist my tongue in cheek response to "I'm praying for you" would be "I'd prefer money." Of course I wouldn't say that to my mom. My parents are retired, after all...

OK, so before this spins off into a philosophical monologue, I'll just say: Got the job, got the apartment, got the nanny, got it all! Just gotta get the house sold.

obligatory

yes, I'm up and its almost midnight so here's the obligatory post.

It is very very odd, this stretch of time I find myself in. Andrea and I are both home all day (meaning, not at work) but we're not fretting about finding work, finding a place to live, or anything. Andrea is focused on what to do to get ready for the move. I'm doing whatever she says she needs me to do. Sure, I have a few of my own things to do, but my major stresses are out of the picture. The house, well, the house. I'm cashing out my 401K (oh no, they all groan in chorus) which should pay for the mortgage until the house sells, or even allow us to help the house sell sooner. Once I'm looking at paying the mortgage AND rent AND bills out of my salary alone, THEN I'll get stressed about the house. But for now I'm in this weird place where I'm not on vacation, but I'm not working, and I'm not freaked out. It's really weird, but in a good sort of way.

Its like a never ending stream of saturdays and sundays, which is really weird in itself, but which also does things to your mind. I'm losing track of what day it is. The largest unit of time I can really remember is an hour. You go beyon hours and I just don't know what you're talking about. Today and tomorrow is about as concrete as I can fathom. Was today Tuesday or Wednesday? I think it was Thursday, actually. Seriously. I've been doing my Saturday schedule for several days now, and enjoying it. Will I be able to adjust to going to work? Is this what a vacation feels like?

I spend the mornings with Felix, playing in the park...he's just about to start walking. I can see he's starting to try.

I have started making breakfasts and lunches and dinners...

I don't know how to explain it...on the one hand I feel like i have tons of time, on the other hand, I don't really have any free time for leisure. This few chunks of time I've grabbed tonight are sort of fluky. I htink it seems like i had time tonight because I was doing something that didn't require much thought and i was able to double up tasks. We're manually destroying all of our old records and paperwork that we've accumulated in our filing cabinet, retaining only what we decide is actually useful.

Honestly, I don't know why you are supposed to save all your utility bills and pay stubs and bank statements. Maybe the last years worth, but all of them? We have a wooden filing cabinet that is packed full of papers...most we never even look at again but are stashing away because we think we're supposed to. So now we're going back through them all and blacking out vital info with a sharpie and then shredding the pages (by hand so far, poor andrea). I mean, seriously, why take all of that with us? Is it necessary? It hasn't been so far.

I got William Gibson's new book from the library....had it sitting on my dresser for two days now...and I'm worried I'm not even going to get to read it because I don't have all of those idle chunks of time that you have when you're in the midst of a normal life. No bus rides to work, no lazy afternoons...every moment seems to be full of something. I'm actually sort of disappointed that these few moments I have I'm writing here instead of opening that book. I guess I'll have plenty of time for stuff like that once life resumes. Subways and lunch breaks and weekends during nap time. Those things will all resume at some point in the not so distant future. Right now feels like...hang time. Slow motion. Like pollen drifting through a sunbeam.

shazaam!

Somehow, I think we've actually managed to pull it off. This morning I signed a lease and put down security deposit and first month rent on a beautiful 2 bedroom in thhe heart of Park Slope. Incidentally, it was the only apartment we actually managed to see over the weekend (that's a WHOLE long tale I won't get into right now). We LUCKED OUT, big time. I think what it came down to was that the owner met all of us, saw how determined we were to move, got a good feeling for us, and decided we were the type of people he wanted as neighbors. Seriously, I'm sure other people looking at the place might have had higher paying salaries or better credit (than me, andrea and glen have good credit). Whatever the case, we made a very good impression and they liked us. So I secured the deal this morning before going out to my two interviews. The resul of those is that I am almost guaranteed a job I really think I'm going to love with people I can really get along with in a convenient place (midtown Manhattan)...they just need to pow wow tomorrow morning and contact the placement agency with their offer, which I no-doubt will accept. And that, as they say, will be that. In a matter of days we'll have tied up all of the most crusial loose ends and my world will once again be returned to a state of sanity. I think I've lost 10 lbs during this trip from all the hiking and lifting of Felix's stroller going up and down to the supways and such. No wonder new yorkers aren't fat!

pocket blog

ok... i've been living on my pocket pc while in new york, which is a real bitch for writing emails and blog entries. I have several in progress and several in planning but you're going to have to wait. this entry took 3 minutes to write.

no vacation

It's quarter past five in the a.m. and everybody but me is at the airport trying to get their flight home. My stay in ny has been extended for a number of reasons, not least including job interviews and apartment hunting. Needless to say, both avenues have been both reassuring and stressful. Both fronts have wonderful opportunity but also require us to just wait. And they're all timed wrong. The apartment rests solely on whether or not the financial figures work out. The jobs both hinge on my interviews on monday. It would be so much easier to land the apartment if my job was nailed down. sigh...

so the title comes from a conversation with Andrea. When telling people that we're moving to new york, a common response is, "I love visiting new york but i wouldn't want to live there." Well, when I compare my experiences in new york, including the two times I came out here to visit Andrea during her internship and now this past week, I agree with Andrea's assessment that people have it all wrong. Visiting New York would not be what we consider a vacation. The reason being that you need to put so much time and effort into planning out your trips into the city that it could hardly be relaxing. You see the droves of tourists coursing from the WTC station out and up top China town and you just think, "i would hate to spend my free time trying to pack all of that into a short trip." If you mess up one of your subways or connections, you could end up way way way off course and with tons of stress. New York would be a very stressful vacation, think, unless you are throwing a lot of money down the tube and staying at a hotel in manhattan and using taxis to get all around. Otherwise, all that walking and hauling your shit around, with no place to sit or pee...does not sound like a vacation to me! I'd rather live here an have my own relative homebases like a place of work, a home to go home to at the end of the day, maybe a frequent hangout, a place to really rest up for real. I have not been here on vacation by any stretch of the imagination, but I have had to get all over and let me tell you, I'm beat!

sleepless in minapple

Yeah, when she sees this I'm sure Andrea will ill me, but what the hell. If she is asleep right now, it is only because her body has shut down. SHe said she couldn't sleep at all last night. Well, I slept fitfully last night and tonight I'm wide awake. So I'm tootling around the house, trying to do little things here and there to ease our transition. We fly out to NY tonight on a 6:55p flight, but travelling with Felix, we're going to try to get to the airport at about 4pm. We will arrive in NY around 10 something local time. No idea what shape Felix will be in. Then we hightail it over to Jersey City to crash at Ally and Mushi's. Then we have to be up at the crack of dawn. I have a round of interviews starting at 9am in midtown Manhattan, Andrea has a tour of a daycare, I have another interview at 1:30pm in midtown, Andrea wants to stop in at the studio and get her paper-work started as well as pick up her check for the freelance she did and her letter of employment, then we are camping out in a park to interview nannies. All this time, Glen will be interviewing at various restaurants. Friday we have another daycare tour and more nanny interviews. Saturday is designated as our day to go to open houses or visit apartments and try to get one secured. Sunday, Andrea, Felix, and Glen probably fly home in the early morning. I will stick around for an interview on Monday out on Long Island. Between now and then, we may all add interviews on any given day...this trip will be packed.

Somewhere in there we have to eat, let Felix stretch his legs, sleep, get Felix some naps, and try to keep from losing our minds.

So, here's the tag line for this particular NYC full length feature:

One apartment, Marry Poppins, two jobs...can you find all fo these in New York City in three days? You'll find out soon enough!

yes no maybe NOT

Wow. SO now I'm like, unemployed. It feels very weird, very scary. I think its scary because I have no idea how long my hang-time is going to be. The deal with going right back to work with my previous employer is all but off the table since they discovered (rather late in the game) that they did not need our direct VP's approval (my boss's boss's boss's boss's boss) but actually the "pyramid executive" which turns out to be the CIO. So...yeah. While everyone was all confident that they'd make it happen, slam dunk, etc, now they're all "Oh, gee...I dunno if we can really make a good case to her..." Wtf? It's the same damn case, isn't it? Or maybe its just too embarrasing or something, to admit that you have a little team somewhere that relies on a small handful of people to keep things not only running from day to day, but keep things moving forward. I have no doubt that my old team can keep chugging along pushing their buttons and accomplishing their day to day work without me. But what they'll find is that not much new happens. Anything new that happens will come from outside of the team, and let me tell you, it sucks a huge load to have someone external to your team start calling the shots. But, you know, I've been saying half jokingly that once I'm gone the team will be dissolved and the functions will be dispersed to various similar type teams. I actually sort of left a proposal for just that in my last project update.

Who knows. Maybe when my old new boss gets back from vacation he'll decide he really REALLY needs me back (but I really don't think so) and I'll get that phone call.

Here's the part that I hate, though. I have my next paycheck coming up which will be a full pay period worth of pay PLUS about 6 weeks of vacation paid out. Then, somewhere from 2 to 3 weeks after that I can cash out my 401K which will be another nice lump sum (side not: everyone groans and says "Oh, you get nailed on that cash out, though, ugh, its horrible! Don't do that...") but you know, for me the 401K is a lot like a tax refund. Even though I always kept tabs on it and sometimes adjusted my contributions or the way it was "invested", that steadily growing number was more like a video game score, not like real money, because it wasn't connected directly to my day-to-day well being. On the one hand, yes, it sucks that I'm going to lose thousands of dollars by cashing it out and I will effectively have to start from scratch with my retirement savings. But those are all things that I don't really feel right now. Even at a number somwhat less than that arcade score I've been monitoring, it'll be like real net positive cash flow that will be desperately needed even if I don't start working immediately. So, in the next month or so I will actually have a lot MORE money on hand than usual specifically because I left my job. Bit it doesn't feel like that's real, either, until it happens.

And of course we also have special circumstances all around that make that infusion of cash no longer a luxury, but a necessity. So, while I'm quite used to and capable of floating through the second week between paychecks on a couple hundred bucks, it feels a lot different when in the middle of that week we're taking a trip and will need to have money at our disposal for traveling expenses. And of course we'll need to put down a hunk of cash for an apartment which could eat up all of my vacation and some of my regular pay, and then there's moving costs, which is going to be a couple grand, and of course we'll have to keep paying the mortgage until the house sells... so, even with large than usual amounts of money flowing in, we're still doing a delicate dangerous balancing act. And even if its not as bad as I'm making it out to be, the point is that it FEELS that way. This stands to be our most tense and stressful month yet.

And to make it worse, I'm now without many of the resources I'm used to having at my disposal, like decent laptop computers, access to almost any computer-related or business-related book for free (books 24x7 is one of the great untapped benefits at my preious employer. I used to tap it all the time), health insurance, dental, prescription...sigh. There are so many things we probably should have made sure we did first, like get a 3 month supply of prescriptions, any last checkups or things.

Sigh.
Felix calls. I have to go.
Good luck.
Send money.

major tom

So I handed in my official resignation at work. My official last day is this coming Friday. So, what to do? Well, its sounding like I'm probably going to go right back to work in nearly the same job but as an independent contractor. This works great for me because it gives me a stead ypaycheck until I find work in new York. It also allows me to continue working on and hopefully transitioning some of my current projects rather than have them die on the vine. There's only so much you can do with documentation, after all. So, counting down... of course the contracting thing is not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination, so I can't go counting on that cash flow just yet.

On top of that, as soon as my new boss came up with the contracting as an option I got a response and subsequently had a phone interview with a game design company in New York who is looking for someone like me to be their IT infrastructure guy. I'm just afraid I scared them away with my suggested salary requirement. Have not heard from them in over a week now. We'll see what develops there. I'd like to work for them, but since its a smaller shop than I'm used to (30 full time staff vs. the bajillions of people working at my current company) they might not even be able to offer a competitive salary in my range. I mean, I can mae a super great case but if they just can't afford it, they can't afford it. I just hope they come back to the table.

Today we had our first open house and it sounds like a few people came and there is at least THAT much interest. No telling how much is just people who like going to open houses for recreation. Hopefully something will come out of it. We got out of the house and took Andrea's dad to lunch and afterwards Andrea, her brother, Felix and I all went to the beach for a couple hours. The first time Felix went to the beach he was content to stay in the very very shallow water and play in the wet sand or ty to bury our blanket. This time he had a great time being carried into the deeper water (only up to my waist) by mom and dad and splash around. I spent most of the time crouched so the water was up to my shoulders/his middle. He played around with us in the water quite a bit. As scared of water as I was as a kid, I'm very conscious of doing things that might freak him out. I'd like to avoid giving him that sort of negative experience. I don't know where my initial fears of deep water came from, but as a result I did get dunked by more than one swimming instructor. Looking back, I realize they were probably jr. high kids or high school kids working a summer job, but back then I thought they were adults, so it was a very damaging experience for me. Anyway, Felix is such a physical kid that I don't want to prematurely turn him off of any avenues for expending his energy.

And in two weeks we fly out to NY to look for apartments, nannies, jobs, etc.

birthday massacre

Saturday we had Felix's birthday party and family and friends were there at the park for grilling and food and a pinata. I haven't been to aikido classes in almost a year but I pulled out my trusty jo and the kids had at the pinata with it. Unfortunately it was so solidly constructed that even after knocking the legs off it's main candy cargo compartment there was no sign of the prizes within. Finally I stepped in (the kids were getting TIRED from beating on this thing) and delivered a standard body strike (I think I executed with decent form) and the anticipated candy explosion finally happened. Suddenly the kids were no longer tired but were anxiously scrabbling around on the ground for the brightly wrapped sugar bombs.

The weather was perfect - mid 80s, breezy, no rain.

And we managed to give back almost all of the remaining baby stuff; good luck to you all planning on having another baby!

I got a little burned on the back of my neck, legs, and arms. Felix did not get burned. He does, however, have a farmer's tan, just like his dad :)

Today we took Felix for his 1-yr dr. appointment with vaccinations and blood labs. ugh. It turns out he's only 20.45lbs (only about 1 pound, or a little over 1 pound since his 6 months appt.) which puts him in the 16th percentile for weight. The doctor said, "well, we expect the weight gain to drop around this time because he's so active...what kind of milk is he drinking?" and I'm like, "Uh...breast milk...what else would he be drinking? He drinks a lot of water." "You should start him on whole cows milk now. How much water is he drinking? You can just give him whole milk from now on." I made a joke, "No skim milk for you,k kiddo!" and she said something like, "Yes, you'll have to get different milks now. Most parents are happy once they can finally giove the baby the family milk...What do you drink now?" to which I repsonded, "We don't drink milk...but I guess we'll start buying it now. He has had soymilk a few timesa and he likes that, but there's sugar in it, so he doesn't get much."

Apparently she thinks he isn't putting on weight because he's very active and because we are not giving him a steady diet of cow milk and sugary juices. He eats fruit, veggies, meats, breads, and yogurt by the ton (and poops it by the half-ton), so I don't know that he's really under weight. I was a little surprised that he only gained about a pound, but then again, he has gone from barely crawling at 6 months to full-on monkey status (crawling, rolling, hopping, climbing, swinging...just not walking upright) at 1 year. He sure seems bigger. Jus tyesterday after his bath I was holding him up in front of the full-length mirror and for the first time realized how long his legs are. You don't notice so much when he's clothed and playing because his knees are always bent and he has pants and diaper, and all his gear on, but seeing him all straightened out, the kid has looong legs. His legs are as long as his head and torso together, it seems like. But he's only in the 30 something percentile for height, I think. So who knows. I still think that these percentile scores aren't necessarily a good developmental judgement considering how obese Americans, and American children specifically, are these days. Are these global scores or just American scores? And wouldn't it make more sense to have height, weight, and head circumference correlated and maybe combined into a single score? I mean, what does it say, developmentally? If you are just looking for tracking your single child's development, what's the point in comparing it to other kids? I guess after reading/listening to Freakanomics I question the usefulness of these % scores. I mean, they never really tell us what they mean or what they are deducing from them, or even if those deductions are actually logical. What's to say that Felix isn't in the 16th percentile in weight for his age because most kids between 6 amd 12 months put on a lot of weight due to their parents starting to feed them "adult" foods like Big Macs and Coca Cola? And Juice...my god, juice...sugar water.

One of the gifts Felix got was an electronic talking nursery rhymes book, which had your standard marketing on it, pictures of a right-aged child using said toy. On this box the child was obese, I mean like puffy, drooping cheeks, porcine, obese. The kid didn't even look happy. It was shocking. That was the model that the advertising people put on this product. I wonder if that's what they thought represented the "everychild". I wonder if they did research and found that that model DID represent the everychild. What does that say about the usefulness of the growth percentiles?

Anyway, on to the massacre...pinata massacre on Saturday, Felix massacre on Monday morning. After getting his three immunizations, which was heart wrenching, we took him up to the lab where they drew blood. On children, they draw blood by pricking their finger with a lancet and then milking wound into little vials. So, Felix is sitting on my lap and I'm holding him still and the lab tech pierces his finger then starts sopping up the blood with an alcohol nap, probably to keep him from clotting, and then proceeds to squeeze his finger and scrape it with these little plastic vials. She finishes up with this first vial and then, trying to cap it with the same hand, slips and tosses the entire vial of blood on my shirt, face, and pants. I was less upset about the blood on my clothes than I was about the fact that she had just wasted a vial of Felix's blood and would now have to do it again, prolonging his agony (and it was agony, believe me). Poor little guy. We left looking like there had been a massacre. I went hime to change my shirt instead of being dropped off at work, so I was an hour later than I had planned on. Poor Felix.
Happy Birthday little guy...

sale sale sale

Ok, so we survived the yard sale and came out OK. We moved a ton of stuff and still had some stuff left over. I got rid of 75% of my assorted computer gizmos and related junk. I haven't had time to tinker with any of the less than 100% complete computers in years anyway. Some people got some good goddamn deals, I tell ya.

And, to top it off, we put an add on Craigslist saying that we would have leftovers for free affter the sale. Let me tell you...it was like out of a movie. 4:30pm rolled up on us like the fuzz busting a good old whorehouse. Cars skidding to a halt and people rushing up and grabbing whatever they could get their hands on. Andrea says, "everything on that table is free." and heads inside and I stop her and ask, "Are we giving the table away for free?" "What? NO." "Well, then I think we better get it inside."

Sure enough, within about 10 minutes only the most despicable dregs of our sale were left on the boulevard. I chucked that stuff into the dumpster an hour later.

And tonight we signed on the dotted line to put our house on the market. Go baby go.

Tomorrow I think I will and in my notice at work. So much is happening in such a compressed amount of time. It is a truly bizarre space to be in. When I'm at work all i can do is look for another job. When I'm home, all i can do is think about work and all the stuff I'd like to accomplish or wrap up before I'm gone. It's weird to consider that I will possibly be unemployed for a period of time. How weird and scary is that? If things work out in a particular order, we could be homeless as well (although that would actually be a GOOD thing).

In a way, it would be really nice if we were just able to cut ties and make the leap to NY. The only real anchor is the house. If I didn't have that mortgage to worry about, we could just pull up stakes and go. Sigh. On the up side, 1 way airline tickets are pretty cheap if you buy them a couple weeks in advance. Obviously round-trip is cheaper if you know your return date and buy with similar lead time, but in the event that I have t fly out to NY early, or if I stay longer and then flay back here at a different date...

Who knows. details details. I don't like the idea of splitting the family up if its not absolutely necessary.

gar-bage sale

So, day one of our yard/porch sale (since we have no garage) was pretty successful. We still have a lot of the stuff we really wanted to get rid of, but you can tell that people were coming in from the Craigslist posting. I kept wondering why everyone was asking "So, moving to New York, huh?"

We had advertised that we were going from 11am to 4pm. At about 10am Andrea and Glen we starting to get everything set up. By 10:15am there was a swarm of people sifting through our stuff. By the time 11am rolled around the surge had ebbed and we were a bit dazed. A steady stream of people, mostly looking for some of the things that had been swept up in the first mad rush, came by. It felt great, like we really stood a chance of getting rid of most of our stuff AND making a tiny little profit at the same time. But then the initial surge was over, whether they were mostly craiglist people or just passers by, and the adrenaline ebbed, and then THOSE people started showing up. You know them...garage sale assholes. They drive expensive cars and have deep dark tans and usually ponytails (on the guys) or expensive-yet-badly-done dye jobs. They haggle when haggling is not even needed, when its not even tasteful. They had no rhyme or reason to their garage sale purchases except that they got a deal. These are the people who, when looking through your collection of vintage fur coats that you are obviously selling for MUCH less than they would find in even the most bargain basement thrift shop, they still ask for more off, even if its just a dollar. They ask because they feel like they can, like they've got you over a barrel. And they know you are torn between standing firm on that one dollar but they might also be offering to buy something that you know nobody else probably will. You know, maybe it is the gall to ask for that one dollar that keeps them driving a Lexus, but I can't help but to feel that for them, it doesn't matter what they're buying, its the making a deal, the getting of someone to submit to their will that motivates the to buy the most random assortment of shit, and then haggle over it.

You know these people. They are the ones who will peruse your collection of DVDs and comment on how they can "get this stuff cheaper on ebay." Then go log on, asshole. You pay no shipping and handling here and your gratification is almost instant. Further more, we're not selling because we need the money to pay for kidney transplants, we're selling because we need to de-clutter and perhaps supplement our moving fund. Cripes. It only takes on really bad garage sale asshole to sour a day for me.

And, incidentally, it appears I have not completely forgotten how to speak spanish. A large portion of our customers have been hispanic, many of whom spoke little english. Granted, mostly just saying numbers and pointing at things, or clarifying "Para todos" or "cada uno". But still...helpful. At least I know I can still count to 100 en espanol.

Hopefully we'll do as well on day 2. I need to post to craigslist again and also set up a posting on freecycle to let people know that they can get stuff for free after we're done.

Pirate is NOT the new Ninja

I discovered Ask a Ninja today.
enjoy

here's the new recruit

Well, this morning I spent about 40 minutes making calls to HR and 401K and did the paycheck math and figured out my absolutely optimum "last day". Then, of course, I reported my findings to the CEO of the relocation enterprise. I won't be announcing to my employer when intend to vacate until sometime next week, when me new boss has officially started. He already knows my plans (in the elevator today he offered to link me up with a guy he knows out east who might be hiring) just, like everyone else, does not know the specifics. Originally I was going to hang on to my job until i found a new one to go to, but that's just not in the cards. There's something called money at play here, namely the large sums of it we are going to need to actually move, so while I steady paycheck is nice, what we're really going to need is some rapid infusions of lump sums like all those weeks of vacation I've never used and all that 401K (heh, if left alone, in 60 years it might be a tidy sum, but as far as 401K goes, its not exactly a retirement savings just yet) that isn't really all that much, but could mean the world in terms of securing housing, paying a mortgage (until the house sells), and allowing us to float at least until Andrea starts getting paid.

So, the title...I posted my resume online and I mentioned before frequently getting called by headhunters, recruiters, etc. Sometimes you can tell its a guy in a bullpen who has a list of search terms and is matching words from resumes to words in job postings and trying to insert himself in between them to pick up some finders fee. Ok, it goes with the territory, and in some ways it feels great, in some ways not so great. It feels great when you get called by someone who seems to think that you really are a good candidate for a particular job, especially if its one that you haven't seen, or that isn't posted, or maybe even there isn't a posting but someone saw your resume and thought, "This guy has potential, I think I might be able to get him in here...or maybe there." I've run across a couple individuals that I think are really seeing some value in my compilation of skills. I've gotten calls from people who clearly are just trying to cram a peg into a hole and pocket the cash. My response to them is short, "Sorry, that's too far away. I don't have a car." or "For a short term contract such as this I would need to earn $90/hr to make it worth my while."

But I'll just say I have some prospects. Every day is like a roller coaster though, the emotional ups and downs. I had a phone interview the other day, my first, and I keep going over in my head, "I should have said this..." and then thinking, "God, that would be a really interesting job...if only it weren't so far away from the city. Even if they offer I don't think I can take it." Grrr.

On another note, we have our housing inspection tomorrow so we can go on the market on Monday. I've been completing projects at record pace, though not many of them are really impactful on the result of our inspection, I don't think. I mean, I dug out the inspection of this place from last year and literally nothing has changed except we've put a little wear and tear on, I started insulating the attic, and our crap is still everywhere. But still, last night I used almost all of my power tools and quickly installed sort of railing/slats thing out of 2x4s to somewhat close the stairwell in the basement. It wasn't an R&R but was a "safety" thing that our own buyers inspection guy pointed out last year. You know, the more I look at this house and the initial truth in sale report from last year...we sort of wasted money on the buyers inspection. GRANTED, what we were paying for was piece of mind, but still, in a city that requires a truth in sales inspection I think the buyer inspection should cost a hell of a lot less. Its a bit of a racket, especially since those guys aren't even certified by anyone. Not anyone who matters least wise, and they offer like, no warranty, on most of the inspection. Its really a purchase agreement placebo if you ask me. Anyway...so I've been getting handy and we've been getting ready to vacate. You know, all things considered, I think we're just going to have to clean and tidy up anything that has to remain here and this place should do OK. I mean, WE bought it not so long ago, right? The two houses nearby sold in under a month on the market.

We'll see.

ahooy!

So, as I suspected, at about mid-day my phone and email started filling up as all the recruiters started sifting through their in-boxes and resume search results from the past week while they were off on vacation. So, I feel better about my job prospects but I am curious about some things. For instance, I have gotten called by more than one recruiter about the exact same job posting. Does this mean that there's a limited pool of applicants coming up on the resume search for this position? Should i take it as a sign that I may have some leverage on this particular job posting? Or does it just mean that everyone is plowing through the same pile of resumes, of which mine is one of thousands? Who can say...

Family Date nite

We all, Andrea, Felix, and I, were invited to have dinner with my sister and her new guy whom she is dating. He lives in the cities here, not even very far from our house. So he had decided that he was going to teach her how to eat sushi. We met them at Midori's, a family run japanese restaurant near our house. I guess we are the first family contact. When I mentioned that I would have to get a sitter, she responded without hesitation, "No no, bring Felix." Wha...? OK.

So we arrived on time and they were already there. We met the guy and he seemed very normal, very nice, respectful. We got a table and sat down and we did some small talk and he seemed to be a very good conversationalist, very comfortable in his own skin, and very comfortable in the presence of Felix in a Public place. After a few minutes Felix decided to show his true colors and became an attention hogging hambone. From that point on I was mostly distracted by Felix, stuffing my grilled salmon, rice, and veggies into his mouth with my chopsticks. I think Suzanne and Andrea and Jon talked about stuff. They seemed to all be having a fabulous time. I do recall giving Suzanne pointers on the proper use of chopsticks.

Seemed like a nice guy.

location, location, location!

Have I mentioned how every day I get emails and phone calls from recruiters who want to place me in positions here, in Minneapolis? Sometimes its the same recruiter who I have already told several times that I'm only interested in positions in new York.

So, Andrea told me to remove our local contact info from my resume and resubmit it. She found that people in New York wouldn't even look at her resume when the yha a non-new york address. makes sense I guess. Nobody wants to waste time on people who are not local or who are going to want relocation assistance. Anyway, so I change my street location, etc to just plain "New York, NY" and when required (for resume posting sites) to enter a valid street address I put our friends' address in Jersey City. Voila. Posted resume last night and this morning I've gotten three phone calls and several emails for positions in New York/New Jersey area.

Now the big issue is that they positions are either "Start as soon as you can" or "When will you know you actual availability?" This morning's hour long recruiter conversation included "Would you be able to come out for interviews sooner than your current planned trip, if necessary?"

The guy I spoke to this morning inspired a lot of confidence, as it is his job, of course. I am the wheat that he must harvest and then convince someone to buy, I', the cattle, I'm the commodity. The fact that someone thinks they can sell me, make money, and also not screw me (one would ASSUME) in the deal is a nice feeling, though. Very personable guy, so I would hope that he's successful. He's going to call me back today or tomorrow with some stuff. His advice, "Ok, focus on selling your house, I'll see what I can work up here. I'd like to get your paperwork in front of some of my customers. I've got some ideas. I can get you taken care of."

So, at least it FEELS like I've got someone on my side. i know he's really on his side, but if he has any good sense, which I expect he does, he knows that its always a good idea to do right by people because it can benefit him in the future as well as the initial commission he might make off of me (from the employer) if he gets me placed.

So, sell the house, find an apartment, find childcare, actually move...figure out where all the money we are going to need to pull this off is going to come from...that's all I have to worry about now...heh...RIGHT!

And the worst part is, we're looking at apartment listing all teh time but these all seem to be similar to the job situation: Move in now, or Aug 1. Nobody is looking for renters any further down the road than that, it seems.

forgot

I forgot what I was going to write about.
Felix and I went to the Man-Store to get some stuff for being handy. I intend to fix the leaky faucet on our tub. I also need a 2x2 to replace the one that was stolen (along with my bicycle). And while I was at it I got some new house numbers, since the ones we have suck and you can barely see them during the day and can't see them at all at night.

We will start our unburdening process shortly, meaning its garage sale time! One nice thing about moving way far away is that you are really forced to get rid of the stuff you've been lugging from place to place even though you never need it or even use it, or even look through it! It's the great pairing down, so to speak. My stereo receiver, 25-CD Changer, and small but excellent sounding(and heavy) Pro x77 speakers will be on the block, as well as my (Shawn's) skis, all my leftover motorcycle gear, my scuba stuff, etc.

I expect we'll be getting rid of some extra furniture (not much though, since we're sort of spare in our furniture decorating anyway) and clothes as well as anything baby-related that is no longer being used and that we did not buy ourselves (though we'll probably try to give back any baby clothes and toys and stuff that we have on loan from the greater family lending library), just in case there is a #2 some day. Dunno. I don't expect us to have much storage space in NY and I'm sure not going to rent a storage unit. Not sure I know the place for nostalgic nicknacks anyway. I know I have a bin full of crap from highschool, college, etc. The "formative years" so to speak. Stuff I really have no attachment to. All going to go, I think.

Of course, aside from not wanting to take stuff with us we don't need, we also need to declutter as much as possible in order to sell the house. Who wants to go look in a basement or an attic and just see someone else's junk all over the place? No thanks. Most people don't want to be reminded of what the house will look like once they move their crap in. Don't spoil it for them. They'll have plenty of time to do that to themselves (as anyone can tell, I've fallen out of love with this house...a while ago).

Click, BOOM

So, even though Andrea will not officially accept the offer until tomorrow, I have pulled the trigger and notified family and close friends.

See, I've been telling people at work that I was only going to be around for a year or two and then its off to NY so Andrea can become the rock-star designer that Minneapolis's head is too far up its own ass to recognize.

If you read this and you did NOT get an email from me about our plans, its probably because I just forgot your email, forgot you were alive, or maybe you are just a complete stranger who reads my blog and don't realize that I do not know you, no matter how involved you feel in my life as you read about it on the interweb. Or maybe I haven't sent an email to friends yet, just family...