Catching up - how time flies

I just noticed that my last post was over a year ago. I guess Facebook is taking its toll on the blog authorship. Anyway, I thought I'd got down a few notes on a Sunday afternoon, particularly after attending our Elder Quorum activity last night, on the subject of Family History. There were quite a few very interesting stories shared, and some surprises, like one of our members is related to Pocahontas, or at least her husband. Anyway, on to catching up my personal history . . .

Last May, I lost my job of 6 years with Akamai Technology. I was sad to leave the company, but not so sad to leave the latest group I had been placed in after the most recent reorganization. It had never felt like a good fit, and even though I still enjoyed working with many of the same customers, the internal camaraderie or esprit de corps had been shattered by long distance relationships with people never met face to face. A lot of this was due to the extremely restricted travel policy. In fact, the first face-to-face meeting I had with my new team was my last, after more than a year of working with them.

I went on unemployment and began my job search. I focused on getting a job locally in Vancouver/Portland area, then Seattle area, and also Utah, so we could be closer to family. I had a few interviews with the LDS Church, but nothing that panned out. Finally, I got an offer from Metasys Technologies, Inc., as a contracting company, with the client AT&T in Redmond WA. I have worked there now for three months. My contractor position however, due to an internal reorg of the at&t leadership, was converted to a full time position. As such, the position was opened up to public and other internal at&t employees, and I will be in competition with all of them to keep this job. The full time position, however, will have benefits that I do not currently have as a contractor, which will be very nice for the support of the family.

We are still living in Vancouver, but if this new full time position with at&t becomes a reality, we will likely reconsider moving to the Seattle area, likely renting a house, rather than buying again.