Went to Stowe today!

Hi everyone,

Well, one week has transpired since I started my new job. It's an AMAZING place, I can hardly describe it. I sit in an area that has a 50' high ceiling, it's 50' wide by 35' deep. They have speakers in the wall hooked up to an amp plugged into an AirTunes router. If you have iTunes installed, you can play your music through the system and be a DJ for the whole office. If someone else is playing tunes at the time though, you can't override them. Also, there are 4 dogs that run around in my area. One of them, a Pug, has taken a liking to me and stops by my desk at least once a day for a good ear-scratching.

Don't let my description of my office fool you, however. We work HARD. This is the most intense job I've ever had, and even though it's my first week, I have been working 9-10 hour days just trying to get up to speed. For the first week, I started by trying to document the process for the different areas of my group. It's a challenge, but my group is growing by almost a dozen new employees, and I'd like to create documentation that will help these new folks get up to speed.

One of the perks of my new job is that I get a killer discount on gear in the company store. I got new snow pants and a new jacket for about 40% of what it would normally cost. I was also able to "borrow" a brand new board, boots & binding setup for the weekend to try out at Stowe mountain.

Speaking of Stowe, I just got back from going out there. One of my other benefits is a season pass to Stowe. I had a blast there. It's about 3 times larger then Lutsen, 4 hours from home. Stowe, however, is just a 40 minute drive from my place.

Here are some pictures from my journey to Stowe.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20886023@N00/sets/72157594556661308/

All of my furniture has arrived, and I spent all week setting it all up. I've been VERY busy this week, to the point that it's been overwhelming and I'm a bit behind on emails with my friends and family right now. I hope that I'll be able to catch up a bit on correspondence this week.

That's all for now!

It’s been about a week since I’ve updated this blog, and I have a lot to cover.

On Friday, I celebrated my last day at Widgets. Overall I think I had a positive experience there, and I definitely learned a lot. There are many things that I wish they did differently, but on the whole I’m glad I got the chance to work there.

On Saturday, 2/10/07, I flew to St. Louis for a gig there. The gig went well, and I had a great time overall. I made it back to the hotel at 3am. At 7:15am on Sunday I had to get up to catch my flight. When I got home, I had to prepare all of my things for packing on only 4 hours of sleep. I crawled into bed around 11pm.

On Monday, the packing crew showed up and packed everything I owned into boxes for the movers. I went out to Punch pizza one last time with a few friends. I will miss my friends and Punch pizza very much.

On Tuesday the movers showed up with a massive semi-trailer. They packed everything, and then loaded the Miata in the back. Right before they left, they mentioned that there was a mistake with the date I was told for delivery, and that they’d be there the next Tuesday instead or Monday. Unfortunately, I am supposed to start work on Tuesday. I called the movers, and they apologized for the mistake. They assured me that my stuff will show up on Monday, and that everything would be ok. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

On Wednesday I was supposed to fly out, but Burlington, and the entire east coast, was hit with a major blizzard. It was the 3^rd worst blizzard in the history of Burlington. About 2 and a half feet of snow fell on Wednesday 2/14. My flights were canceled, and I spent an extra night in Minneapolis.

On Thursday at 3:45am, I woke up to get to the airport for my 6am flight to BTV via ORD. The flight was uneventful, but a little bumpy on landing due to 30mph wind gusts. After I checked into the hotel, my landlady called to tell me that she couldn’t meet me at my new apartment because her car was buried by the snow. She asked if I could swing by her house instead to pick up the keys. When I got there, I offered to help dig out her car. Afterwards she offered me a cup of tea and told me all about her job at the University and her daughter that just graduated from college this past year, now teaching English to kids in China.

After I picked up the keys, I went to the apartment to check it out. You can see the slideshow here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20886023@N00/sets/72157594538239256/

Here’s a video walkthrough:

I had to go to Home Depot to pick up a shovel to dig out my own sidewalk. I also picked up a TV for the cable guy to use when installing cable at my new apartment tomorrow.

That’s all for now, I’ll update the blog with more stuff in a few days!

Welcome

I am about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. A move from the great frozen tundra of Minneapolis, MN to the land of maple syrup and dairy farms of Burlington, VT.

I have created this blog so that my friends can follow along with me on my journey. Today is my last day at the job I've held for over 7 years. On Monday, my things will be stuffed into a moving truck bound for VT, and on Wednesday I fly to Burlington on a one-way ticket.

I plan on updating this blog on a fairly regular basis, so stay tuned!