The New Job

Once our two week blur was over, it was time to start my new job. I was extremely nervous about starting this new job because it was a huge step up for me. Bully Dog Technologies was a great job, but it was seriously small potatoes compared to the new job. Once I arrived at work on the first day, they informed us that we had training to do for the first three days. This was actually a relief for me since it meant I wouldn't have to possibly start coding until the next week. The first day, I could not stop smiling all the way through. I was hired along with 9 other people. Most of the others were in sales, but to still be a part of a huge group like great makes me feel very good about the new company. Then they started talking about the benefits. I almost burst out laughing because I couldn't believe how great they were. First, we get free soda. Free Mountain Dew!!! Woohoo!!! On top of that, the company has condos that they allow the employees to reserver for free. They are fully stocked and rotate locations. They are free to use for anyone. Also, we get free insurance. Medical, vision, dental, all premium free. To give you an idea of how much that is worth, the medical premiums the company pays for everyone is $1100 dollars. That is per person. In a year's time, that's worth over $13,000 dollars. Talk about a huge perk. I really cannot believe my lucky stars that I even got this job. I am so grateful to have it because it has been a dream come true. The next two days would go pretty quick. One day was basically geared toward the sales people and the last day of training for me was mostly about benefits and insurance. Once I was done with my 3 days of training, I found my new desk, plastered my nameplate on it, and met with my supervisor, who then told me I had two more weeks of training before I started coding. That was also a relief because I was still nervous about coding for my new company. The new job has been great. Thinking back, I still can't believe I got it and that I am seriously that blessed. I still really miss my life in Pocatello, Id, but I know I am going to like it here once things start to really move.

The Blur - Part 4 (Saying Goodbye)

So the day of the move finally came. The end of the blur was in sight. The hardest part was now here, saying goodbye to our life in Idaho. Not only did we have to say goodbye to our house and the backyard we had built, but we also had to say goodbye to all of our friends and family. First, we said goodbye to our family. We ended up doing this at Applebees at a birthday party for one of my grandparents. It wasn't really sad, just hard. Next, we had to say goodbye to all of our friends we had made in our LDS ward. This part was harder. We had people coming up to us that had never talked to us before and telling us that we would be missed. We also had dear friends that we had to say goodbye to. I really hope we can see some of them soon (Jeff, if you are reading this, I'm sorry that your Chargers lost, but the better team (the Patriots), won).

Once we had said goodbye to those people, we had to say goodbye to our neighbors. One of our neighbors had just moved in a couple weeks ago and we were just getting to know one another and were really liking each other. They were sad to see us go because they liked having us as neighbors. Our other neighbor took the goodbye with more difficulty. My wife had been watching her little boy since he was 2 months old. It had worked out really great for our neighbor because we were right next door and her boy basically grew up thinking he had another mom. It was really sad to say goodbye to her. She understood we were doing what we felt was fight, though it didn't make it any easier. She wished us well and agreed to keep an eye on the house until it got sold. We will really miss being in that neighborhood and having those neighbors.

When we were finally ready to pull out, we checked all the doors and lights to make sure they were locked and off and made sure to keep some water trickling to keep the pipes from freezing. I walked around the house inside and out and took some final pictures. I spent some extra time in the backyard taking pictures for sentimental reasons. I had spent so much time and money on that backyard and just got it to the point I could enjoy it and now I had to give it up. Not an easy thing to just give up. There was a lot of sweat equity involved there.

Once I said goodbye to the house and backyard, we pulled off and on to our new life. The blur was over and we were off to our new life in the Salt Lake valley. It had been a scary two weeks and I am still amazed that everything got done, but everything appeared to be working out through the entire process. This gave us affirmation that we were making the right decision. the next big thing to come up would be starting the new job. More on that in my next post.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage?
- Mountain Dew (comes with being a software engineer)

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
- My computer desk right now is actually at my empty house for sale. It has a keyboard, computer, and monitor on it right now.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
- 9

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
- Phillipi, WV. I would change it to Smallville.

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down?
- Stuff changing and happening to fast. Sitting on the couch with a mountain dew in my hand and watching a funny show.

The Blur - Part 3 (Saying Goodbye To Home)

While all of the work stuff was going on to get ready for the big move, there were 10 times as many things that had to be done to get the house ready to put on the market and for us to move. I will give all of the credit to getting the house ready to my wonderful wife, Kara. While I was at work over the course of the blur, she was home watching 3 kids and still getting the house packed. I still don't know how she did it, but she was able to get the entire house packed and everything put into the basement, all withing the last two weeks. No easy task. In addition to getting everything packed, she also had to separate things out by what we would be wearing until we moved out and what we would need to wear once we were living with the inlaws until we found a new home. I don't even know how to explain how she did that. There were so many other things that had to be done as well.

In addition to packing, the house had to be deep cleaned. This is where my mom came to help. She actually came down for an entire weekend and just helped us clean the house. She scrubbed floors and cleaned walls. It was incredible. While all the cleaning was going on inside the house, I was working on getting the garage and outside of the house all cleaned up. It took an afternoon on a Saturday to get everything out of the garage and garage sprayed down and cleaned. Then, once everything was put back into the garage, I had to fix some loose shingles on the roof and fix the stairs that led down into my backyard. Fixing those steps was not easy. The dirt underneath them had to be dug up, nearly an impossible task at the beginning of January. Once I got past the initial 6 inches of dirt, everything went fine, but getting past that 6 inches of dirt to fix each stair was a nightmare. But it all got done. Over the next little while, we were able to get the rest of the house cleaned and our packed stuff all organized. Other small things had to be fixed, but they were no big deal.

Once everything was packed up, we needed help getting all of it out of the house. In an answer to prayers, we had about 15 guys come and help us pack out stuff. My father in law brought his moving truck up and our stuff was loaded up in less than an hour. One hour, that was it, and we were all packed up. The truck left that night and we were just left with what were to live on for the next few days and our furniture. One thing was damaged, though. One of our wall space heaters was bumped while something was being moved. It damaged the heater so much that it began to spark when turned on. It was a $110 dollar fix. I swear, when you are getting ready to sell something, especially a house, everything begins to break on you. When all was said an done, we had some more deep cleaning to do and that was it. We had the carpets cleaned and that was it. The house was clean and ready to sell.

I still can't believe all this preparation and cleaning all happened and was able to get completed in the space of two weeks. With all of this going on, life was just a blur and I still could not eat right. My head and stomach were not speaking to each other and I think at one point my stomach just gave up the ghost. Once the preparation had taken place and was complete, there was one more thing to do. Saying Goodbye. Stay tuned for the next post. It will be the hardest one to relive and type.

The Blur - Part 2 (Cutting The Work Tie)

Okay, so I will attempt to go into more detail about what has happened over the last two weeks since we decided to move out of state for my new job. When I went into Bully Dog Technologies, my last job, to tell them I was leaving, my supervisor wasn't in. Instead, I talked to Lori, the hr director. She said they would miss me and wish me the best and that she would tell Phil, my supervisor, when he got in. About an hour later, Lori came back to my desk and told me that she had told Phil I was leaving, but she thought it would be best if I didn't go talk to him for a little while. I'm assuming he wasn't too happy to hear the news. When I did go talk to Phil, my heart was pounding out of my chest. I was sure I was going to receive a beating or earful or something of that nature. But he was very nice and was glad that I was able to succeed and that they were able to assist me in that nature. I told him I would miss working there and that Bully Dog was a great place to work and that they had been good to me. We had a nice conversation and all he asked of me was that I finish up a project I was working on and teach some of the other employees how to take over some of my projects. I was at least expecting a counter offer, even though it would have to be a lot to counter what Spillman Technologies was offering, but the counter offer never came. Not really any disappointment there.

News of me leaving spread like wildfire. I physically only told two people that I was leaving, but by noon that day, everyone in the company knew what was going on. Over the course of the next tow weeks, some engineers even stopped talking to me. That didn't stand in my way, though. I had made my decision. The next two weeks at work would be grueling. I had a project to finish and at the same time I had to teach the engineer who would be assuming control over that project how to maintain it. It took up the next two weeks and I was working to the end of my last day trying to make sure everything was where it needed to be. But it all got done and I know I went out on a good note.

That's basically what happened at work over the course of my blur. The work that was being done at home to get everything ready to move will have to wait for my next post.

The Blur - Part 1

Okay, I'm not sure if I am dreaming or what, but the last two weeks have been an absolute blur. Two weeks ago, I got a call from a company that I had interviewed with. The company is Spillman Technologies, located in West Valley City, UT. When I had been interviewing with them, I never expected to hear from them at all because the interviews went horribly. I was even late to one of the interviews by a half an hour. Anyway, two weeks ago, they called me with a job offer. I about died right then and there. The offer was out of this world and the benefits would make any family guy falls on his knees and thank God. My stomach was literally in knots the rest of that day and it hasn't quite unraveled yet. After some serious praying and soul searching, we decided to take the offer. It was not an easy decision. We had a home, a beautiful backyard that I had just finished planting grass in. We had friends and family nearby and we were comfortable where we were. Accepting the job offer meant giving all of that up and moving out of state. Not an easy decision. The next two weeks would be a huge blur. I will go into more detail on what happened during those two weeks in my next post.

Friday Feast

Appetizer
When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it?
- I don't get to check the mail much, but I think the last surprise I did get was an unexpected rebate check.

Soup
If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be?
- San Diego, the weather is always perfect.

Salad
Pick one: pineapple, orange, banana, apple, cherry.
- Banana and fresh pineapple

Main Course
Describe the nicest piece of clothing that you own.
- My blue sunday shirt.

Dessert
If you could forget one whole day from your life, which day would you choose to wipe from your memory?
- The day I got part of my thumb cut off by the garage door opener.