A long road to hoe...

That's what it's been...a long road. While mid-April isn't really that far in the past as far as calendar time, it seems like an eternity. I've once again been remiss in my blogging...oh well. Perhaps if I give you the "short version" of my long road, you'll forgive me for my neglect.

April 22 - I was officially laid off from my position at Method R. It sucked, but it was a necessity for the company. I get it, but it sucked.

Panic stricken and thinking I would soon be bankrupt and on the streets, I began to look for new work. The good folks at my old employer, Hotsos, were able to provide me with 5 weeks of sub-contract work that got me through till almost the end of June. Whew!

I applied for a gazillion jobs between April and July but only one opportunity really looked promising. Around the first of July, I got a formal offer from Agilex Technologies based in Chantilly, Virginia. I accepted. But, the offer was contingent on me passing a government security clearance and also on the client I would be working for approving the funding. So, I had to decide if I should take the risk that everything would work out and go ahead and move (all the way from Oregon to Virginia) in anticipation of everything falling into place, or if I should just stay put and wait and see.

Well, I'm not very good at wait and see. And, since I don't have a checkered past (polka-dot maybe, but not checkered) and figured I'd pass the clearance, I decided to assume the risk and move. Now moving 3000 miles across country is not fun. The last week of July, everything got packed up and big burly boys were hired to load our U-Haul. My brother flew out from TN and he and I drove across country (in under 5 days!) with a 27 foot truck and my family mini-van. At the end of that road were more burly boys waiting to unload the U-Haul. It was a whirlwind and quite tiring, but it's over and Virginia is now home sweet home.

One of the 2 best pieces of news I needed to have came while I was somewhere in Nebraska. My job offer was finalized (as funding and limited security clearance was approved) and a start date of August 24 was set. The other piece of good news happened 4 days after arriving in Virginia. That news was that my house in Oregon had sold!

R-E-L-I-E-F!

So, here I am just a few short weeks later and I've been on the job at Agilex for 3 whole days. So far I'm just getting my feet wet and doing a lot of reading about the project I'll be working on. This new job means that my travel days are over. I will get to do what I love (Oracle performance optimization, particularly on the application side) and pile on a broader range of other stuff as well. But, I will be home every night and will get up every morning and go to work at the same place. After all these years of being on the road, that sounds pretty darn great to me! My 2-year old daughter confirmed that the job decision was the right thing when I walked in the door after my first day. She said "You came back Momma! You came back! I love you Momma!" and "Did you have a good day at your new office?" 'Nuff said!

I'm looking forward to new challenges and a new day-to-day routine. I'm also looking forward to having many new adventures to blog about. As soon as I catch my breath and settle in, I'll be back in the saddle. Until then, thanks for hanging with me and wish me luck!