GroupWBench

Things are a changing 'round here. Let's see…I guess it started when I reached my limit at work and gave notice. It was a bit scary to do that without something else in hand but I was worn to a nub and ready to start bending people into pretzel shapes. The drive from San Antonio to Austin and back every day wasn't helping either. Austin traffic rivals that of much larger places. They let in way too many Californians. We need to shut down I-10 there in El Paso and let the loonie toons stay in crazy Cali. We sure don't need any more of them here.

I spent the next five weeks looking for the right job. I got teased with a few in far off places like Orlando, DC, Las Vegas, and Connecticut. There were a couple here in far off places here in Texas like Austin and Lake Jackson. In the end, I took a job right here in San Antonio working as the guy in charge of IT auditing for a pretty sizable finance and insurance outfit. I accepted their offer one day before getting an offer from a major retailor headquartered in Houston. I think this is the best fit, though. Then, not two days after taking the job, we got an offer on the house (which had been on the market on and off for a couple of years – six months this time).

We are using the sale of the house to downsize significantly. We've been selling stuff on Craigslist and Ebay. Ivy has been taking boxes and boxes and boxes of books to the local library. She ran a yard sale for us and has generally been the one doing the heavy lifting in moving stuff along. Whew – letting go of stuff is far from my strong spot. I'm mostly a pack rat by nature, but it is getting easier and actually starting to feel good to lighten the load. Belongings own you as much or more as you own them.

We are moving to a nice apartment about five minutes from where I'll be working. It is a two bedroom townhouse with a garage, so I guess we aren't quite downsized to a one room cabin on the prairie. We signed for the apartment today and spent the day cleaning. The cleaning crew that prepped it needs some remedial training. The movers are moving the big stuff on Monday and Ivy and I have a couple of weeks to get the odds and ends moved over and the house cleaned up.

All in all, I think this will be very good for us. We've cleaned out tons of junk we don't need. We'll be living somewhere that will mean we have a lot more time together. I'll be less wiped out and have time to remind my body what exercise is. I'm hoping to get back on the mat some before long, too. We'll be saving a good chunk of change here. That will position us well for the great get away boat.

Boats…speaking of boats. Ivy undocked and docked ours all by herself. Well, she had me as deck monkey, but she ran the show and did a great job. There was a bit of breath holding, but she did it all just fine. We finished the windows, they look good. We chased down the last leak. Fixing it means ripping out all the headliner and replacing it. I guess that is par for the course. We won't be working on that much until we finish the move.

With regard to moving…packing is underway. Gotta go supervise…I'm sure Ivy would appreciate me getting off my lazy butt and giving her some advice and guidance on packing and moving boxes.