Journal Journal: Update.... 6
Update- tried posting this earlier, didn't notice the radio buttons for "publicize, publish, post" so I think it went to the bit bucket. So Here it is under the "post" option. Thank goodness I copied it to notepad before saving.
So it's been about a year since my last JE! I have been lurking around, and recently commented in dexterpexter's journal since she was asking for updates from "the circle". Apparently a few others (including FK and Sam) were also lurking and jumped in. So.. since there are at least a few still out there I thought I'd post an update, in case anyone still has me on their friends list and wants to know what I'm up to!
I'll start where I left off on my last JE. I mentioned my wife was expecting and we had a few "complications" early on. I'm happy to report everything went very well, and she was able to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth after C-section). It was quite an awesome experience, I got to help deliver our new baby girl (Jocelyn), who is now going on 10 months. My wife had a little bit of a tear, but she's recovered quite well from that (I was jokingly going to get a shirt that said "I tore mommy a new one" but thought better of it).
Things continued to be crazy with work. In addition to politics being the primary focus on my job as the director of software dev (which was burning me out- way too political of a company), I was asked to travel the very next week after my daughter was born for a project, all the way to the west coast. I grudgingly went (with colleagues wondering why I was "distracted" while there). After that experience I new it was time to move on. I had a retention bonus that required me to stay with the company until Sept. 15th. I gave my two weeks notice not long after that, and now I'm with a consulting company called "Perficient", which is based out of Livonia (between Ann Arbor and Southfield, MI). I'm helping build the business in the Northwest Ohio / Southeast Michigan area which means I don't have to travel, and if so it's only regional. I haven't had to do any "flight" travel since I joined the company in Oct- has worked out really well. My official title is Engagement Manager / Technical Architect- so in addition to managing a small team at a few clients in Toledo, I also get to continue to work on the technical side- really my ideal job for this point in my life. And, we're always looking for good people and have offices all over the US.
Other updates in no particular order... My oldest daughter (now 4 1/2) started pre-school last year and loves it. She's doing really well. Hard to believe she'll be in Kindergarten very soon!
I'm still playing xbox, been doing Call of Duty 4 lately. I get in trouble every now and then when I'm not paying attention to the time
Still getting settled in to the house we built a few years ago- thinking about finishing off the basement now that I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in the area for a while.
Life has been pretty busy with 2 kids but my wife and I are managing pretty well. She's working part time as an environment consultant, and her parents are still helping watch the girls on the days she is working.
We're also still active with church, and leading music for the service. Our church merged last year with the church I used to go to (it was the "sending" church).
Anyway... please say hello and give me an update if you're reading this! Would be great to hear from old friends.