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Hmm. Lets see, living on a beach in Thailand -vs- 14 hours a day in cubicle. Tough call.
If I have to be working though, I've gotten really lucky. Friends kept telling me how tight the job market is here, and I was expecting that explaining the 5 1/2 year hole on my resume might be a bit tricky. Somehow, "sabbatical" doesn't quite seem to sum it up.
So, how did it go?
A Pure Software reunion gave me a chance to do some networking, and hopefully a bit of interviewing. so I scheduled a one week trip.
It was surreal to see the Bay Area again. In some ways a much bigger culture shock then coming back to the States. So many things that have changed, and so many that have stayed the same. Visiting my old haunts, a character in a rapidly receding dream as morning moves to afternoon.
The reunion was fun. To see how people have changed, where they have landed, and what they have done with those 5 years. To contrast their 3.5 kids to my prodigal memories.
The day after the reunion though, left me staring at a silent cell phone with only two appointments booked for the week and lots of time for sightseeing.
At Pure->Pure Atria->Rational->IBM, I interviewed for what was essentially my old job and failed to get it, nincompoops!
A lot of time for contemplation on times well spent and mis-spent, values, family, and responsibility. Funny how in Thailand, broke and living on the beach seemed quite acceptable whereas here I feel a bit marginal.
I carried these thoughts with me to the airport for the long flight back to my family when I got the call. The VP of Engineering from Scalent Systems was on the way to the airport to hand deliver an offer letter.
Sabbatical over.
The relocation was intense. Two weeks to make and execute the plan: fly from New York to Colorado. Rent a truck, empty the contents of my old storage locker into it (mostly books), and drive to California. Introduce Siri to the Bay Area, find a place to live, buy a car, buy some furniture, get my act together and show up for work on Monday.
The life of a repo man is always intense.
As jobs go, Scalent is a good place to show up for work. A 20-person startup, a bunch of experienced people who have done it all before, trying to do it all again. But, it is a job.
Siri and I are quite happy together. In Thailand when we were talking about coming to America I had a long list of things I was worried about, food, cultural differences, weather, etc... None of them have been problems. We've stepped out of one life and into another. I spend my days chained to the keyboard, she spends hers studying English, then we hold each other at night and wonder how it all ended up this way.
At birth he was 6lbs 10oz, and 19 1/2 inches. Everybody is at home now and doing splendidly.
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