THE GREAT RETURN!
I finally figured out how to get into my blog again!! This time (at least) it wasn't my fault. During the great migration between blogger to google ownership, me emails changed and I lost my password. Well, sitting here in my job in Nashville I had a moment of lucidity (rare at best) and suddenly remembered it. So, I'm back!
It might take an hour to explain what has happened, so I'll take a little less. About a year ago my wife (Joy, or Knitnick to those who know her) had a incident at work. Suffice it to say a little shit was running around the library being disruptive and she stopped her and asked her to not run. Well, welfare momma and recent parolee dady started talked lawyers, there were threats, and angst, and much hand wringning and teeth gnashing. In the end we looked at each other and said "what the fuck are we doing in a big city?!"
A decade ago when we got married/handfasted, we dreamed about a nice house on some acres int he country. A few animals, a kid or two, a dog, and PEACE! Not to mention the freedom that goes with it. Somewhere along the line we sold out for the burbs, then moved into the fracking city itself! After her incident, we prayed a lot and threw everything we had (mojo and money wise) into making it a reality. It was almost exactly a year, and she got the job offer to be Director of the Washington County library in Kentucky.
You might think this is a big job, it isn't. It's big for her, and us, but the entire county has a population of eleven thousand. DFW was around eleven MILLION. Her library branch in Ft. Worth had more visitors in a month than we have population in the whole county. So she took a little pay cut and off we went.
The next step was harder. My job/career is heavily dependant on population density or port of entry. There aren't a lot of customs brokers in Springfield Kentucky. Well, none really. I spent all the time before her starting looking furiously for work, and bombed. Our choices were three options.
1) She gives up the job and we stay.
2) She goes and I stay in DFW until I get a job.
3) We go anyway.
Option one was tossed in the shitcan so fast it never even realized it was alive. Option two was alive and kicking up to two weeks before the move. Then I had one of them moments that pagans will tell you about. Where you give up outcome and just go with it. I put in my notice and for the first time in ten years I was unemployed.
Moving to Springfield went well, most of our stuff went into storage, and Joy started her job (and Patrick school). I played home-pappa and looked for a job. Since before leaving DFW I had a trail on three positions through a recruiter, but none of them less than 100 miles from Springfield. Just after arriving I had a bite in Louisville (50 miles away), and eventually an offer, but finally passed on it. $39k was a $6k a year cut in salary. Soon afterward my current employer offered me $50k a year, in Nashville. 170 miles from Springfield. Good money, bad location. I took it.
The job is a good one. Quite a bit of travel, none of the angst and screaming rush of brokerage, a company credit card, 7 hour work days, 17 paid holidays, 20 vacation days in first year. Yum. The distance isn't so great. I started with a room-mate situation, but the last time I did that it left a bad taste in my mouth (not too much personal there Oz), so I've since bailed on that for a studio apartment at $400 a month. Pretty cheap, except there are a few thousand small roommates that just won't go away (see Joe's Apartment for reference).
Life is tollerable for now. I had a breif bit of horrible depression just after getting here, and came within a few days of quitting. But now we've just closed on our new house and things are improving. My lease here is only a year, and the experience is invaluable. I drive home Friday night (about three hour drive), and back monday morning. It's kinda becoming a wierd time warp commute. I think the older you get, the more you find you can tolerate.
Right now I only write a little and count days until my lease is up. The new mortgage (2nd property) is kinda big, but the house is awesome. Remember that house in the country and land? Check. Animals? Just ordered our first chicks and goslings. Check. Kids? Got one, and he's the best ever. Check. Dogs? We're working on that. Poultry first, at this point.
Life goes on...
I'll try to upload some images soon...or link to Knitnick's flikr!
Marik
It might take an hour to explain what has happened, so I'll take a little less. About a year ago my wife (Joy, or Knitnick to those who know her) had a incident at work. Suffice it to say a little shit was running around the library being disruptive and she stopped her and asked her to not run. Well, welfare momma and recent parolee dady started talked lawyers, there were threats, and angst, and much hand wringning and teeth gnashing. In the end we looked at each other and said "what the fuck are we doing in a big city?!"
A decade ago when we got married/handfasted, we dreamed about a nice house on some acres int he country. A few animals, a kid or two, a dog, and PEACE! Not to mention the freedom that goes with it. Somewhere along the line we sold out for the burbs, then moved into the fracking city itself! After her incident, we prayed a lot and threw everything we had (mojo and money wise) into making it a reality. It was almost exactly a year, and she got the job offer to be Director of the Washington County library in Kentucky.
You might think this is a big job, it isn't. It's big for her, and us, but the entire county has a population of eleven thousand. DFW was around eleven MILLION. Her library branch in Ft. Worth had more visitors in a month than we have population in the whole county. So she took a little pay cut and off we went.
The next step was harder. My job/career is heavily dependant on population density or port of entry. There aren't a lot of customs brokers in Springfield Kentucky. Well, none really. I spent all the time before her starting looking furiously for work, and bombed. Our choices were three options.
1) She gives up the job and we stay.
2) She goes and I stay in DFW until I get a job.
3) We go anyway.
Option one was tossed in the shitcan so fast it never even realized it was alive. Option two was alive and kicking up to two weeks before the move. Then I had one of them moments that pagans will tell you about. Where you give up outcome and just go with it. I put in my notice and for the first time in ten years I was unemployed.
Moving to Springfield went well, most of our stuff went into storage, and Joy started her job (and Patrick school). I played home-pappa and looked for a job. Since before leaving DFW I had a trail on three positions through a recruiter, but none of them less than 100 miles from Springfield. Just after arriving I had a bite in Louisville (50 miles away), and eventually an offer, but finally passed on it. $39k was a $6k a year cut in salary. Soon afterward my current employer offered me $50k a year, in Nashville. 170 miles from Springfield. Good money, bad location. I took it.
The job is a good one. Quite a bit of travel, none of the angst and screaming rush of brokerage, a company credit card, 7 hour work days, 17 paid holidays, 20 vacation days in first year. Yum. The distance isn't so great. I started with a room-mate situation, but the last time I did that it left a bad taste in my mouth (not too much personal there Oz), so I've since bailed on that for a studio apartment at $400 a month. Pretty cheap, except there are a few thousand small roommates that just won't go away (see Joe's Apartment for reference).
Life is tollerable for now. I had a breif bit of horrible depression just after getting here, and came within a few days of quitting. But now we've just closed on our new house and things are improving. My lease here is only a year, and the experience is invaluable. I drive home Friday night (about three hour drive), and back monday morning. It's kinda becoming a wierd time warp commute. I think the older you get, the more you find you can tolerate.
Right now I only write a little and count days until my lease is up. The new mortgage (2nd property) is kinda big, but the house is awesome. Remember that house in the country and land? Check. Animals? Just ordered our first chicks and goslings. Check. Kids? Got one, and he's the best ever. Check. Dogs? We're working on that. Poultry first, at this point.
Life goes on...
I'll try to upload some images soon...or link to Knitnick's flikr!
Marik
Okay, here are those pics!
Labels: Homestad
posted by Falconsword at 12:02 PM
2 Comments:
Welcome back amigo.
Nice to be back!
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