My life here is not over after all

As I posted a while back about the upcoming changes in my life, I figured I should follow up and let everyone know that plans have changed. My *wonderful* employer listened to my concerns and issues and has decided to allow me to stay where I am for the time being. I’ll be officially based out of their Chicago office, but will continue to actually do the work from my humble basement. I’ll make periodic pilgrimages to various offices (most usually the Boston office, but occasionally the India office and perhaps the Chicago one as well) as needed but for the most part, yall are stuck with me for the near future.

And they moved up the date of conversion from contractor to full-time employee. I started with the company officially on Monday (Dec 21). It was a very nice birthday present. I must say that while 2009 got a little rough and gloomy there for a while, it appears to be ending rather nicely.

My Life Here is Over

Life, they say, is full of change. And change, they say, is inevitable. Which would make life full of inevitable, I guess. So I guess it’s inevitable that I’m about to have a metric assload of change dropped on me in a very short span of my life.

The onslaught of change in my life started in late July. I’d been looking for a new opportunity for a little while and eventually accepted a full-time, permanent position with Sapient Corporation. They were one of the largest and oldest installs of our flagship product, and I’d been supporting their environment for over four years so the transition seemed like a smooth, almost natural thing. It was, however, a change in that I was moving from an application support role to a Linux Administrator role. Not a big deal, as I’ve been wanting to make this move for some time now. However, it is change #2 (change #1 being the change of employer).

Now, as some of you know, I’ve worked for one California-based company or another for the past six years and have been fortunate enough to work out of my home. And if you’ve clicked the link above, you’ll note that Sapient is based in Cambridge, MA. As you’re probably expecting, the era of working from my basement is over. That’s right, change #3 is that I’m expected to be drag my butt to an office and dwell in a cubicle for my weekly forty. In all honesty, this is also a bit of a welcome change. Contrary to popular belief, working from home full-time is not all champaigne and caviar.

But Doug, you’re saying, what office? Do they have one in Ohio? No, they don’t. I’m moving. That’s change #4, and its the first change that actually worries me a bit. And no, I’m not moving to Mass. I get to move to sunny Miami, FL. Yup. Me. Ohio born and bred, steak and potatoes eating, geeky white boy. Transplanted to Miami. Yes, exactly. On the plus side, I talked them into letting me stay here until Steph graduates in June. So I’ve still got plenty of time to get things in order, sell the house, find a place down there, etc.

So now you’re thinking ‘holy shit’, right? And probably following that up with ‘what does the family think of all this?’. Well, that’s where change #5 comes in. You see, Steph is going to be going off to college, so it doesn’t really affect her a whole lot. Emily, on the other hand, will have just wrapped up her freshmen year, so it would mean finishing high school elsewhere. And she’s made it quite clear that she’s not down with that (to be nice about it). So, in what can only be described as selflessness-to-the-point-of-stupidity, Tina and I have decided that I will move to FL and Tina will stay here, with Emily. I’ll wait while that sinks in.

You see, Tina doesn’t want to leave Emily behind (she’d go with her father) and Emily doesn’t want to move. So, Tina is staying here, and getting an apartment so that Emily can finish up school here and then when she graduates (2013), Tina will pack up and join me in Miami. And that, quite honestly, is not a change I’m particularly excited about. We’re going to be ‘together-but-apart’ for three years while Emily does the high school thing. We’re going to have to coordinate the holidays and spring breaks and all that shit among Steph’s college schedule and Emily’s high school schedule (to be expected) but also among who will be where. Do we all try to cram into Tina’s apartment in OH? Or into mine in Miami? Or somewhere else entirely (like maybe my parent’s or Tina’s)? Who knows. I guess we’ll work that one out when we get to it.

And then of course there’s the whole long-distance relationship thing. Which, quite frankly, I’m not even wanting to think about enough to write something up here. Ponder it yourself. I will say that I am NOT worried about this being the end of us. Tina and I have been together 11 years already. And that’s not without surviving some hairy shit here and there. But I still don’t really wanna think about it.

In any case, I’ve held off on saying anything about this to the general public (a few close friends know most of this) but things have been decided, people have been informed, and all that. So there it is. The end of my life here is officially marked on the calendar.

Should be an interesting span of months from now until June. *Sigh*