I thought I should at least say something about my change in jobs.

When I moved here in Feb 2006 I took a job with GWI Software.  I've mentioned previously that it was a 40 mile round trip commute.  I live on the Southwest side of Portland, and was commuting to the far north side, across the Columbia river into Washington state and then 99 blocks up to the far north side of the city of Vancouver.

I made many friends there and had some great opportunities to not only help them be more... what's the word - professional?  And yet along the way I learned a bunch of new tools and was able to round out my C# coding toolset and object oriented skills.  I didn't get a chance to use my SQL Server skills as much as in the past and my Business Intelligence portion of my previous experience; Analysis Services, Multi-Dimensional Expression (MDX), Cubes, ETL, Data Warehousing, etc. was not really used at all, but my ASP.NET and web skills were put to the test continuously.

What made it bittersweet is that we had assembled a really cool group of developers that were pushing the edge constantly.  And we all got along really well.  It was almost like a family.  Hell, you spend at least 40 hours a week there, it's hard not to form a bond with people.  And really, the line between work and personal gets more and more blurred every day.  Got a crackberry on ya?  Ever think about work in the shower or driving somewhere?  Thought so...

Sure there were a few things I didn't like.  The commute.  The rigid working schedule - 8-5 no excuses.  And sure the salary could be better, but who doesn't think they deserve more?

My wife, through a coworker, knew of a recruiter and passed my resume along.  The recruiter and I both laughed later over lunch how this all turned out.  I remember thinking just before the phone interview that I didn't really want to do it.  I almost called and canceled. Things were starting to get better at the office around some of my frustrations.  The working schedule was relaxing with even some VPN opportunities on the horizon and the office was moving 5 miles closer and putting in a shower so I could cleanup without having to use a sink and disposable wipes when I commuted by bike.

Well it turned out to be too good to pass up.

Two weeks ago I started a new job in downtown Portland as a Senior Consultant.  It's only 4 miles door to door.  15 minutes by bus, which comes every 10 minutes 4 blocks away from the front door of my house.  I work from home 4 days a week.  I received a nice salary increase.  Time is very flexible - just get your job done.

The company is called Perkins Consulting.  A small 6 person team but with the backing of a 100 employee sister company, Perkins Accounting, the largest private accounting firm in Oregon.

Life can always surprise you.  Give you a fork in the road.  Just like when I took the fork that brought me 2200 miles out here, to move in with a girl I only knew for 3 months.  I told her on the third day I knew her back in Nov 2005, "Why can't it be?", before I jumped on my flight back to Chicago.

I ended up marrying that girl.

Will you have the courage to take the fork when the opportunity presents itself?

Later.