Job Transitions

Job transitions are hard, they bring uncertainly, self doubt, and fear.  

My product line was under Interthinx, a Verisk Analyics company.  We had little in common with the rest of Interthinx, so Verisk decided to move us under one of its other subsidiaries, Argus.  On paper it sounded great, but when it came time to move our small 22 people group, it was clear changes needed to be made.  The main one is that Argus has most of its people in White Plains NY, and the rest in SF.  We were all spread out and many of us were remote offices.  I was not interested in relocating.

In early December, I found out my position would be eliminated/relocated to White Plains.  In fact, most of people were affect, with exception of 6 people.  I decided I wouldn't consider relocation and would take severance instead.  It was hard news to get before the Holidays, but I had several weeks to look for a new job while still employed.

The truth is I have been unhappy for a while now.  In the past 6 months I have been informally looking, and this is the kick I need to seriously search and move on.

I have a few opportunities that have evolved to face-to-face interviews and even trips to take me to different cities for interviews (none to relocate, but to meet teams in these locations).  In between, I have been given a modest severance, but a contract with Argus for January and extended to the end of February, that will keep my original income coming in.  Fingers crossed I will have another job by then.

I reminded myself to be grateful, since Bill works, all our benefits are under Bill (and they are great), and we have a lot of savings with no much debt other than a mortgage.  It could be worse, but I'm hoping for a better update soon.

Spelling bee

Mason is a very good speller.  He won his classroom spelling contest and joined 2 students from each grade from 1st to 8th grade at the Broomfield Spelling Bee contest.  

This weekend, we studied words from the National Spelling Bee list for 1st to 4th graders.  He knew most of the words through 3rd grade, and about 70% of the 4th grade words.  We didn't want to push him to study beyond the 4th grade words.

Bill went to watch him.  He was the youngest kid there.  We just wanted him to make it pass the first two rounds, but he did better than that.  He made it to the 5th round, where he missed the word "shortfall" because he didn't say the "t".  Although in the video Bill took, he did say "t", but very quickly and softly.  

The other words he got right were: silly, given, respect and bucket.  Yay Mason!!  Here is his glow in the dark trophy for being the best speller in his class (printed on the school's 3D printer).

Gymnastics and pool

We changed Audrey's gymnastics class to the Broomfield Rec Center.  It is a larger class and her friend Aesha goes there as well.  What is great, is that we have plenty of options on what to do during her one hour class, instead of just sitting and waiting.

Today, I went running, while Bill and Mason went to the pool.  It has two slides (one with tubes), a lazy river, water play area, hot tubs and lane pool.  Audrey also went to the pool after her class.

Mason swam in the lane pool several times, and here are two videos I took.  At the end Audrey also wanted to jump in to race Mason.  We know she swims at school, but wasn't sure how well.  To our surprise she could swim the 25m in her breast stroke, back and forth "racing" Mason.  Next time we will need to take a video of that too.
 

 

Copper over MLK weekend

We went to Copper for the MLK long weekend and rented the same condo we did last year.  The location of the condo is great because it is only a few hundred yards from the slopes, and there is a shuttle that takes you to the East village for tubing or West village for ski lessons and easier slopes.

We skied with the kids on Saturday because lessons were sold out.  Mason can ski next to us, but I had Audrey on the leash to help her stop and turn.  It was not an easy setup.  She got tired and didnt want to go after lunch, so I took her back to the condo for a nap.  Bill and Mason skied until the last lift at 4 pm.

On Sunday, Audrey and Mason were both in their respective ski lessons from 9 am to 3 pm.  Bill went snowboarding in the morning and was planning to stop in time for the Broncos kick off at 1 pm.  I hung out and read a book.  It was a beautiful day.

Mason had a fantastic day of lessons.  His instructor said he has a lot of control and can stop/turn with no issues.  He is learning more parallel skiing/stopping and his j-turns.

Audrey can snowplow to a stop and can link a few turns.  She also had great time and was full of energy until she saw me and wanted to be carried everywhere.  She will need to work more on linking her turns.

Bill and I watched the game.  Go Broncos!!  We are super excited that the Broncos are going to the Super Bowl. 

On Monday, Bill took the kids tubing.  Copper has a great tubing hill.  We packed up and left around lunch time. 

It was a great weekend and we will definitely do it again.  

 

Mirror mirror on the car...

We went leaving Audrey's gymnastics class at the Broomfield Rec Center, walking towards our car in between other parked cars in the parking lot, when she walked in one of the car's mirror.  The impact was followed by immediate tears. I was horrified, but releaved that there was no cut or blood.  Some similar had happened to Mason when he was about that age, and he required a stich that left a little scar on his left eyebrow.  After rotating between the bag of corn and peas, she was feeling fine, but could see that the bruise would linger longer than the pain. 

Getting the ski season started

I had been itching to get the kids on the slopes.  We got them both skis earlier this season through Colorado Ski and Golf (new boots and used skis). They have a great program for new or used equipment, trade if the kids outgrow during the season and 50% off next season's equipment.  I also got ski rentals for the whole season, as one of the things I dreaded the most last year was waiting in lines for equipment for myself and the kids.

We didn't have much time to go up during the holidays, so this weekend was it.  We were originally going up tomorrow, Sunday, but after checking out how cold it would be tomorrow (high of 9F) and that Eldora had gotten 8 inches of fresh snow overnight, we decided to head up today.  

We went to Eldora, a resort near Nederland, which is only 30 minutes from Boulder.  We had never been there before, but friends really recommended it because of the easy drive that avoids I-70.    And they were right!  The drive was relaxing, and it took us a little more than an hor because of it was snowing up there and down there.

Mason was scared at first, then it came back to him easily.  Audrey needs more practice but had a good attitude.  When I said "do the pizza pie" she did a reverse one pointing her toes away from each other!  I was going to ski with her on a leash, but that only lasted the first run and she didn't want the leash.

We stayed at the lower part of the easy slopes, on a long magic carpet learning area.  The snow was great, but it made the slow slopes even slower.  We probably took about 6 or 7 runs, and the kids got hungry.  It was a little cold, so we decided to call it a day and waited as Bill explored the more challenging slopes for an hour or so.  

No videos and only one picture from Bill from his chair ride.  Next time we will take more.  We are heading to Copper for 3 nights over MLK weekend.

Faster than expected shipment

Mason has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the toys we shipped from Georgia.  We were not expecting it to arrive until Monday 1/6, since we were seeking a cheap way to ship the toys and didn't pay extra to expedite it.  Mason was quite upset, since the LEGO Chima lion temple set from Santa was in it and he really wanted to build it.  

To our surprise the first box arrived on Thursday (3 days after shipment even with New Years in there).  But it was not the box with the LEGO set.  Luckly on Friday, the second box arrived.

After part of Friday afternoon, and an hour before and after our ski trip today, the set was completed.  All 1258 pieces being displayed on the LEGO table, replacing the old castle set from last year (now in a big ziplock bag).

Holidays in Georgia

We just got back from 10 days Georgia, packed with visiting friends and family.  We landed on Sunday afternoon to a lot of rain and cold weather.

We started with dinner with Bill's sister Shawn, Lena, Bill's mom Helen and Jack, Jack's daughter Mary and Luis the day we arrived at the Optimist, leaving Mason and Audrey with a sitter Mary found for us.  Dinner was delightful.

On Monday, Bill and I went for a run on the Beltline and visited two of his cousins (Tara and Knox, Troy and Karen) as Helen and Jack took spent time with the kids and took them to a movie.  We got to check out a Brazilian bakery I had researched near where they lived, and that was fantastic.  

Helen and Jack, kids and Bill went to the kids service at Trinity church in the afternoon, where Bill saw a couple of old friends from his High School days.  Shawn and Lena hosted a great Christmas Eve dinner at their house with delicious and plentiful food, followed by a dip in their new hottub.  That night the kids, still in Mountain time went to sleep at 10:30, while the elves stayed up until close to 1 am preparing for Christmas morning.

Kids woke up around 8 am local time, waking up the house, excited to check out what Santa had brought.  They both got their desired gifts from Santa, they must have been good enough to make the nice list.  Santa didn't notice however that Audrey's Frozen castle came in many pieces that required assembly.  Bill and I were happy to assemble, and I went back to bed after the gifts were open.

Bill cousin Thad had an open house on Christmas Day, were we saw more family (his wife Michele and boys Jake and Brody, aunt Barbara and Hank, and Bill's dad Brantley and Sandra).  On Christmas night, Helen and Jack hosted dinner and invited Bill's dad Brantley and Sandra.  We had a lovely meal that Jack prepared.

We found out an old colleague/friend from Rioport (company where Bill and I met) had recently moved to Georgia.  Yochai was had been in touch as a Facebook friend, and changed his career to become a yoga instructor.  We meet up on Thursday and he came to Helen and Jack's to give us all a private yoga class.  Our friend Maress and her girls Hannah and Elise came by for a short visit in the afternoon as well.  There are just too many people to see in Atlanta!

We had dinner with Lena and Shawn at a great Japanese place on the way to Brantley and Sandra's place.  The second half in Gainesville was a little bit colder, and we stayed mostly indoors.  

Sandra's son Andy, Angie and their kids Carlin and Jake came for two days.  Although Carlin and Jake are older, they played very well with Mason and Audrey, and gave the adults time to visit.  Sandra prepared delicious meals for us, including an old family recipe for turkey soup.  On Monday night, we went to see the Christmas lights at the Lake Lanier Islands, which was very impressive.  

I had to pack 1 large and 1 small box of toys and gifts and ship them via USPS.  There was just no way to fit the large gifts they got in our luggage back, even though we brought an extra empty duffle bag. 

We left Tuesday morning, stopped by a Chinese market where I picked up a paper for my Dad and a roasted duck for my Mom (she was very surprised, it is her favorite and they don't make it as tasty in Colorado).  We then met up with Helen and Jack for a quick visit and lunch at Varsity.

What a wonderful time.  

We came back in time for New Year's Eve dinner with my parents (they provided a feast, plus one roasted duck from Georgia).  

Happy New Year!!  To many more moments shared with family in 2014!!