Week 29 July 15-21

Virginia Beach

So we are here....living in Virginia.....unpacked (sort of)....time to explore!  Of course our whole family loves the water, so naturally, we headed to Virginia Beach on our first excursion.  It was a cloudy day, although it had been so hot that if felt good.  From Midlothian, it is about 2 hours away.  Half way there is Williamsburg.  We stopped there for some lunch at a local place called 6 Crabs that I found on Yelp.  We sampled the local cuisine, including soft shell crab, (not a fan now).  Williamsburg in itself would be an entire day adventure, but we were on a schedule and moved on.

We went through Norfolk.  It was awesome to see the aircraft carriers in the bay.  Virginia Beach is on the other side of the bay so we had to cross a bridge/tunnel (again...really cool.)  On the other side we took a side excursion to see if we could get a Navy tour of the base, but the last tour had left by the time we got there.  Again, another excursion destination.

Now we were only about 30 minutes from the beach.  For a cloudy day, the beach was pretty full.  This was the first time the kids got to touch the Atlantic Ocean, and Jenny said it was her first as well, although she had been to the Gulf and the Carribean.  We got to spend about an hour on the beach before thunderstorms blew in.  This was a great excuse to get going.

We packed our things and headed back home (about a 2 hour drive).  It was good to get out and experience some of what Virginia is about, although most of it was spent looking out a car window.  When Drew gets her cast off, and the weather is sunnier, we will leave earlier and go back.  Now we just need to figure out what to do next.

Week 28 July 8-14

Starting a New Job

As far as career changes go, I don't think that I have had very many changes in my career path.  My last employer, I was with for 11 years.  I started this week with Taylor & Parrish Construction, Inc. in Richmond VA. 

Starting a new job is like starting the first day of school.  There are a number of things that you don't know and for the most part, they are the minor things.  The cultural things, that from a career standpoint don't mean much, but from a personal standpoint are very important. 

When I took this position, I thought, or at least have an idea, of what I would be doing.  It would not be much different from my past experiences, but it seems that the other personal things seem to be the cause of the most wonder.  Will I like my coworkers?  Will they like me?  Will it be fun, rewarding, challenging?  All of these things, that I know I will not have a feel for for a few months, if not longer. 

When I look back on my career at Granger, I remember that for at least the first 4-6 months, I really didn't like it.  During my time there, I had the opportunity to work in different offices as well as on differnt project long term assignments.  Each time was like starting a new job, and each time, I really didn't like it for the first few months.  Each time, however, when faced with a change, I know I was enjoying my current "job" and not eager to change.

This feeling out period is something that I know is a process that needs to happen, but it is what I hate the most.  Not having a clear picture of your current situation is frustrating, even though you may never have a clear picture of your current situation, at least with time, you have expectations. 

So far so good though.  I hope I start to fit in soon.  I hope this process is fast and this is the right spot for me.  It is pretty overwelming when you not only start a new job, but also live in a new area.  There is absolutely no comfort place.

I talked to a friend on the phone the other day and he said,"You hit the reset button on your life."  I never thought of it like that, but he was right.  I just try to think of it as exciting rather than scary. 

Week 27 July 1-7

The MOVE

Our "stuff" was on its way to Richmond on the 28th of June.  Our house was pretty much empty and we were staying at Mom's.  Our goal was to spend a few days with our family and relax, but there was still a lot to do.  I think I was at the house in Belding every day before we left.  I don't think it was so much that there was a lot to do, but rather hard for me to leave the house empty, entrusting it to property manager to rent for me.  Regardless, the house looked great when we left, and I trust our property manager.

We did get to spend at least a couple of days by the pool, and had firewords on the 3rd.  We spent the 4th with the Van Oost family at mom's and put the finishing touches on packing that evening.  Our plan was to head out bright and early on the 5th, anticipating a 12-14 hr drive.

Early on the 5th, we headed out.  There was a storm that night that had a number of trees down.  We made a quick stop at the cemetary in Stanton and again in Sheridan, then we were on our way.  We really didn't plan a route, just trusted the GPS.  I was driving the Trailblazer hauling a U-haul trailer, while Jenny followed in the car.

Our route took us through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and into Virginia from the north (DC area).  It took us all of 15 hours.  Again, we could have planned better.  We did have a number of bathroom and gas stops that were not really spaced well.  The drive was long and hot.  It was stressful hauling the trailer and limited to 55 mph for most of the trip. 

By the time we got to Virginia, we were all ready to be done driving, but had about 2 hours to go.  We pulled into Richmond in the dark.  Although we went by downtown, you couldn't really seem much of that or the James River.

We spent the first night in a hotel.  Then next morning, I went to the Property Manager's office a picked up the keys for our new home in Richmond....we actually (Midlothian).  We arrived at the new place on Friday morning (July 6th.)  Our pod showed up on Saturday the 7th.  It was terribly and unseasonally hot that weekend.  On Sunday, the thermometer read 108 degrees.  Welcome to the south. 

With so much to do, and so much unknown, it hardly seems like we are living here.  It seems more at this time, that we are on vacation.

Week 26 June 24-30

Downsizing

Since we were getting ready to move to Richmond, VA, this week I had off from work.  In fact, I was unemployed.  Our POD with most of our belongings was going to be picked up on Thursday the 28th, so this left very little time to get everything packed and loaded. 

During this process, it was interesting to me, to see how much stuff you accumulate of time.  We had lived in our house in Belding for 12 years.  There is so much stuff that is on the boardline of keeping it or not.  Of course there are "no brainer" things like the kids school pictures, etc., that there was not question that we were keeping.  And there are the other "no brainers", like broken kids toys that we had lost years ago, only to be found again, that had no problem finding their way to the garbage. 

What was hard to get rid of were the boarderline items.  Most of these were my things.  Things like a padlock, a set of hinges, a box of screws, wood shims, fishing lures,....on and on.  Things that would some day come in handy, so I kept them, yet when would that some day be?

I threw away or sold in a yard sale boxes and boxes of nails and screws.  What was one of the first things we had to buy when we arrived in Richmond????....Two boxes of screws.  I had an awesome cafeteria dining table I salvaged from a prison.  It had 8 seats and a stainless steel top.  Then whole thing was made of steel with plastic seats.  I had visions of this sitting on our lower patio in Michigan.  I must have moved thing thing in the garage and from the garage to the shed a dozen times over 3-4 years.  I could have had it put together in an hour.  Ultimately, Jenny had to practically beg someone to buy the damn thing for $25.

It sure stinks having to leave your "treasures" behind, those "treasures" you pick up along the way, but I guess it was a good thing to ultimately purge this junk so I can start accumulating more.  Who knows, maybe I'll end up with a picknic table I'll actually put together and use.

Week 25 June 17 - 22

Moving Logistics!

Moving is NOT easy. In fact, it sucks. There are so many things we have had to deal with....finding a house in Virginia, finding someone to manage our house for us in Michigan, getting a Mover, shipping Harley's, finding time for some family time, saying goodbye, utilities, repairs to the house, on and on.

We used PODS, to ship most of out stuff to our new home. Our strategy is to sell most things that we don't dearly love and replace them when we get there. The POD thing seemed cool because we did not see the value in hiring a mover to pack our boxes. They drop off a container at your house, you pack it, call them, they ship it to your new home.

Jenny and the kids have been so good about doing most of the work. It has been amazing, all that we have pulled off in the last 2 weeks, with more to come. We are more confident that this will be a success!

Week 24 June 10-16 Relocation!

So, I am catching up on my blog with soooooo much going on. I will be mobile blogging for a while.

This week was a life changing event for me and my family. We have decided to move to Richmond, VA. This has been in the works for some time, requiring lots of discussion with lots of people. Jen and I have discussed moving for almost 2 years, but opportunity doesn't just fall on your doorstep. You have to go find it.

This spring I have been interviewing with various Construction Managers/General Contractors around the country. (for those of you who wonder what I do, I am primarily a construction estimator. I work primarily in the delivery of Pre construction Services, such as estimating cost, scheduling, logistics, & purchasing. Most of the time, I am the lead in trying to win projects for various clients.). I love what I do.

Anyway, I had an opportunity to work in the Pre construction part of a firm in Richmond called Taylor & Parrish.

www.taylor-parrish.com

I am excited about my opportunity there, but work was not our sole decision in making the move.

We feel there may be more opportunity there for Jen to pursue her passion of teaching. Jobs are so tough to get in Michigan, and believe it or not, time keeps marching on.

Additionally, we felt it would be good for the kids to experience a new place. Jen and I both live 20 miles from where we grew up. We do love home and Stanton/Sheridan will always be home to us, but we had a desire to explore other parts of the world. I hope we are right about this.

It is a big move for our family. A big risk! But we don't want our lives to be ruled by fear, so we decided to take a leap. We try to maintain the most positive outlook and hope a couple of years from now, we will look back and feel blessed that we took this chance.

If it doesn't work out, for some reason, or another, we feel our family is resilient enough to come home, or change again, and not regret trying to make our lives a little better in some way.

One positive note is that I will have a lot more opportunity for subjects for this blog!

Week 23, June 2-9

The Tobacco Co.

Jen & I were visiting Richmond Va this weekend. While in town, we wanted to check out the downtown life a little. We went to Cary Street and stopped at the Tobacco Company. It reminded me of the B.O.B. A multi floor building with a club in the basement, bar/tavern on the first level, & fine dinning on the upper levels.

I could not hazard a guess on how old the building is, but it was really cool.

Check out www.thetobaccocompany.com for more details.