My blogging has obviously been very light of late. In addition to native laziness and a sudden lack of interest in the Internet, it derives from my having found and bought a house in the Seattle area during the last couple of weeks. Business considerations have made it possible and desirable to relocate to the "Eastside". In addition to buying the house, it has been necessary to rent out the old house, find a couple of new jobs, and transition out of the old jobs.
I have spent nearly 12 years in Boulder, the longest I have lived in one place in my entire life. It has become home for me. I am naturally reluctant to be leaving a place that feels familiar and comfortable. Moreover, it is an economically unwise time to sell a house in depressed Boulder and buy one in still-booming Seattle. Yet it became a choice of moving into some entirely new stimulating and challenging areas (machine-learning applications) or retiring early. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Given a choice of life or a version of the alternative, I always choose life.
I am a person who has never chosen the center. I have always preferred to live on the peripheries. I never wanted to be in New York, Boston, DC, or LA, each a center in its own way. Now I am headed right smack into one of the two Meccas of my industry. It is exciting and frightening. The new job will be very high-profile and very difficult. It is highly likely that each of you reading this blog, together with millions of other people, will find themselves using my work at some point. No engineer could ever resist that.
I find it singular that three of the contributors to this blog, people who have never met in person, now find themselves individually making their way to the State of Washington for one reason or another. Does it mean we will all soon be voting for Maria Cantwell and glad to do so? Hopefully we can all get together for some coffee during the long wet winter nights.
7 comments:
Congratulations and best wishes for success in your new venture.
BTW - Truepeers is actually closer to Seattle (I think) than Loner. That's five of us within reasonable driving distance.
Dude! Moving to Seattle?
Best of luck. I'm betting you'll like it - close to water, mountains, and to the sagebrush and desert on the eastern side. Like most stereotypes, that of Seattle does contain a grain of truth. But there is much more than meets the eye at first glance. Good to have you up here.
MHA—
Cool. Congratulations on the job. We should definitely try to set something up sometime soon.
Best.
You did the right thing, in spite of abstract generalities about real estate prices. Anything else would be too much like people I knew in their 20's working for a Federal agency, afraid to move because they'd "lose their pension."
....afraid to move becasue they'd lose their pension.
I spent a college summer working at the Post Office, where 30 year olds already had their retirement date written on the calendar. That was enough for me.
Just have to say, what a great insight Skook. You distilled it down to the essence. And quickly. HA.
Post a Comment