Seasons changing again.

Things have been pretty hectic lately so I haven't really kept up with everyone as much as I'd like to.  The big announcement with me is that I'm leaving Magenic and taking a new position much closer to home.  I've really liked most every company I've worked for over the years, and have always made a lot of friends at work.  Magenic has been a lot different.  As a Magenic employee, you frequently hear about the Magenic 'family'.  Many times such phrases are little more than campy soundin cliche's.  I can honestly say though, it's been completey different at Magenic.  It really is as close to family as you can get without the real thing and it's a huge bummer leaving.  The problem is, i've been living a duel existence.  I work in Atlanta, have a residence here, but I live in Greenville.  Atlanta traffic is something to behold so unless I leave really early Friday's, I end up with maybe 2 hours with the Family on Friday, all  day Sunday, and then about 1/2 day Sunday.  Although I agreed to travel as much as needed, Magenic was aware of my situation and really went out of their way to minimize travel for me. In my tenure, I've only had one real travel gig and that was only 5 weeks. I had a few small ones, but they were two or three day engagements. Throughout all of this, I've been busy doing work for Microsoft, work which requires me to be in Redmond regularly. I've been tech editing books pretty much consistently and I'm in the process of writing another book.  All of it added up to a really busy private life.  Kim has been a saint about the whole thing but we all have our bending points. 

So today was my last day at the company.  Sunday is my last day at my current residence.  I'll certainly be around Atlanta regularly so I'm not leaving in any permanent sense.  And  b/c of what I'll be doing, I'll have a lot of free time.  Sahil had been instrumental in convincing me to go independent and i finally stepped up and did it.  I have a lot to learn about the whole 'running your own business' aspect of consulting, but to be honest, I'm a really late bloomer in that regard and it's about time I did it.

I was spending most of tonight getting ready for my code camp presentation tomorrow all the while packing and trying to get out of here.  I probably should have just hired movers but like cutting my own grass, moving is one of those things I always insist on doing myself.  If I keep up that philosophy though, I am pretty sure I have maybe 2 more moves left in me in this lifetime, b/c moving Sucks.

Anyway, as I was getting everything moved, everything started to sink in.  When I first came to Magenic, I was really scared of being a little fish in a big pond, and I was.  B/c of really helpful co-workers and really supportive management, I was able to build up my skills pretty quickly.  After 6 months I won Magenic's Consultant of the Quarter award which was a big honor for me.  Shortly thereafter I was promoted from Senior Consultant to Principal Consultant.  With that came the position as Technology Evangelist which really added a high cool factor to an already cool job.  When I first got to Atlanta, I hated it. I love big cities and have lived in a few, but I felt totally overwhelmed. Traffic was like nothing I've ever experienced and it seemed that you had to plan your day around traffic.  It was hard to make committments to be anywhere in the morning, afternoon or early evening b/c of traffic.  One flat tire on the side of the road magnified by rubbernecking could turn a 15 minute trip into a 1 1/2 one.  And there was always a flat tire or police officer pulling someone over.  Rubbernecking is a scourge and I don't know what can be done about it, but it has to cost zillions of dollars in lost productivity.  The weird thing too is that EVERYONE acknowledges how wrong it is. Everyone says it's terrible and everyone says they don't do it. Yet every time there's a guy pulled over on the road, traffic will be backed up for 5 miles or more so there's a disconnect somewhere. (Reminds me of the "Kids peeing in pool paradox".  Every time I mention that I don't go in public pools where there are children I get asked why. I say 'b/c kids pee in the pool. I'm sure adults do as well, but you just *know* that kids are doing it.  Immediately, people with children say "Well, my child would never pee in the pool!"  So self-reports indicate that absolutely 0 people's children pee in pools, yet there's a lot of child pee in pools, so where does it come from?  Same phenomenon seems to be in place with rubbernecking).  Anyway, I ended up getting a place with a great location, so I missed traffic both ways other than getting out of the Perimeter on Fridays.  Little by little I went from hating Atlanta to really loving it.  Then it turned into my favorite city to live in.  And now that it's acheived that place in my heart, I've got to move ;-(  To that end, I'm quite sure I'll be back regularly - there's just too much I've gotten accustomed to doing here and greenville is cool and all, but it's not Atlanta.

If you want to get a hold of me, you can use the Contact link above and shoot me your email address, I'll get back to you from there.  You can also reach me at Facebook , LinkedIn, or Twitter.

Anyway, I'll be fully moved in this weekend and Kim and I will be tying the knot shortly.  Since I'm going to have a lot more free time, I'll be able to blog all the different 3.5/LINQ/ Entity Framework/Synchronization Services stuff I've been working on and hopefully will be able to get back into the newsgroups a lot more consistently.

As much of a bummer as it is to leave Atlanta, I've always liked Greenville and I'll be able to see Paul and Jason a lot more, not to mention my friends in Augusta like Ben. Brian and Andy.  All in all this is going to be a good move, but leaving a city you love and a job you love in a company you love is never easy.

And by the way... although we have a pretty high volume of applications, Magenic is always looking for passionate and talented professionals.  If you are in the Atlanta area and looking to get into consulting, or looking to work for a company that will really help you develop your career, Magenic is definitely a place that you'll enjoy. I'd be glad to get you introduced if you have any interest there so just drop me a line if you want.