Things can't go any better.
Okay, so it's been almost a month now since a whole lot of changes took place in my life. I quit my old job, and moved from Florida to North Carolina. I moved in with my girlfriend, and started a new job in a relatively different field, in a tiny company, with a completely different methodology. I left my friends behind for the embrace of Bible-belt, NASCAR loving Charlotte. Oh, and the dogs. God, damn, dogs.
Yet with all of these changes, I somehow not only survived; I thrived. Everything in my life is clicking, on all cylinders, in a way I never thought it could before. Here's a quick run down of everything that is great, and all the reasons why.
1) living with the girlfriend
I'll admit it - I was very nervous on this one. I am never one to jump at something without cautiously looking at all my options, weighing each one, deciding what is best. I've been with my girlfriend for almost a year and a half now - but at just 26, was I ready to move in? Wouldn't an apartment (or yet another house) be better for my single-guy mentality...especially with the fact that my girlfriend has two dogs that made the thought of living with her less than appetizing.
Somehow, this has worked out fantastically. Maybe I was a bit burnt by previous relationships (aka the Crazy Factor), but I am so pleasantly surprised by how nice living together has been...sharing responsibilities (okay, so I've done very little so far), cooking for each other, shopping together, picking each other up - it's a real team effort. And I guess the relationship has been like that all along...which is all the more amazing. I am so lucky to wake up next to my girl.
2) the new job
This one was downright overwhelming. I was spoiled right off the bat, sent home after a half day the first day of work. But soon I was in the weeds of things, trying to wrap my head around only the second real job I've ever had. And man...things were so different. It was so alien, my mind wanted to reject it, spit it back out, and go swim in what was comfortable again. I felt like the odd man out with all these 'southern gents' and their fixin' and their y'alls and their full, hearty guffaws. And I knew nothing about this side of the health industry - let alone this side of IT.
Somehow - despite feeling like I literally do nothing for most of my day - I've found a way to be a rock star here, as well. I quickly impressed people with my ability to learn systems and processes fast - and after about a week, it clicked; I could look at an EDI transaction and tell you where the failure was. Soon I was really grasping the ins and outs of the business model. And today, I put it all together to fix a potentially huge outage in California, from my desk here in Charlotte. Nice!
3) money
Okay - everyone probably knew I was going to be on top of this one. I have this figured out on so many angles, it actually starts to make finances boring. But enough pre-bragging - on to the bragging.
Angle #1: So I worked for CuraScript for a total of 4 years and 2 months, starting at $11.50 an hour or so, and ending up around $60k/yr. All the while I accumulated PTO - taking large chunks of it for my cruise, all the trips with the girly to Tampa, Ft Lauderdale, camping, flights back home and to NYC for New Year's...and all the time spent scoping out Charlotte. But I still managed to accumulate 215 hours or so banked by the time my employment expired - leading to a huge, whopping payout. This was great - many of those PTO hours were earned while I was making $11.50, or $13.50, or $14.75, or even $45k - but they all cash out at my final pay rate. Nice sign-off bonus!
Angle #2: I held out for the second offer from my new job, after they seemed to be fairly set on hiring me. It was a big chance (their first offer was really fine, after all) - and to roll the dice further, I inquired about a relocation bonus to cover my moving expenses...and got $2000 offered, along with a pay bump. It wasn't huge - and it was pre-tax - but hey, how awesome is that. So to make that stretch out as much as possible, I looked around at moving companies - and went with ABF Transportation, which quoted my move price at around $691 - about $600 less than the next-lowest quote. Sure, I had to pack the ReloCube myself - but all my stuff arrived a few days later, in perfect condition (except my huge desk, that broke while I was loading it).
Angle #3: The Florida real estate market tanked, which is bad for my $160k condo. I probably would take a loss if I put it on the market (if it even sold). However, fortune smiled upon me in the form of my nice older roommate, who has decided to rent out the entire condo from me. She is looking for a roommate herself, and I am leaving her rent at roommate-levels until she finds one; but man, I lucked out. If all goes well I can gain equity with almost negligible expense. This is how all those rich white guys do it.
Angle #4: Living with the girlfriend. I thought it might be on a trial basis only, or until I find my own place...but when you live together, you only have one of all those bills - energy, internet, television, mortgage. You can cook for two, and less stuff goes bad. And we're great about splitting expenses - maybe I'll pick up the huge grocery bill, or the goods we get at Target; she can pick up the next store's purchases - pet stuff, home depot, whatever.
I'm sitting on top of all this, watching the money pile up - last paycheck + PTO from CuraScript, first paycheck from the new job, relocation from the new job, rent income, etc - wondering if things could get any better. That's when Progress Energy calls me, agreeing to reimburse me for the AC work I had done in Florida a few months back. Holy Crap. I should really start praying, or adopting villages or something. Is this Karma? Is it rewarding me for all the crap people used to put me through (aka the Crazy Factor)?
4) culture
I am not a huge Guster fan; they have some good tunes, and the vocal harmonies are nice, but sometimes they get too candy for me (4-3-2-1 countdowns do not belong in a serious tune). Still, I happily said yes to the chance at seeing them in a quaint little theater in downtown Charlotte, after seeing the John Cowan band play an amazing set there before my move. And this tiny, hip venue has awesome shows every week - from melodic pop like Edwin McCain and Sister Hazel, to some serious bluegrass greats like Cowan and Del McCoury. And what surrounds this theater, in the North Davidsion (NoDa) district? Why, about 5 other clubs, all playing local and upcoming talent. If you don't want to go inside, well, odds are at least one band will be playing outside on the street. And these aren't crappy garage bands - the street dudes know their craft.
After living in a cultural black hole like Orlando, Charlotte is amazing; it possesses so much culture and grace, but not with the snooty-ness or gross club scene that some Boston locales offered. I am impressed.
5) toys
Another worry of mine with accepting the new job was losing my treasured work laptop (a crappy IBM thinkpad). In return, I get a crackberry - or actually, a Cingulair 8525 windows mobile PDA. So now I can get my email, phone, camera, and web browser all in one touch-screen device. Like the iPhone, only a) I don't pay anything, and b) it doesn't suck.
I also picked up an amazing second-hand Dell laptop, which was loaded by its previous owner with all the goods I could need to play my games and run my design apps. So the laptop issue is covered. And second hand (thank you, CraigsList) means I got an eBay $1400 purchase for $750.
Finally, after all these bonuses hit, and my local Target had 6 Nintendo Wiis in stock, I decided it was time to take the plunge and purchase it. With extra wii-mote, game, and some other goodies, it came to $375...until the clerk offered me 10% off if I applied for a Target card. It never made sense to before - but for $37, sure, I'll waste 10 minutes and carry around another ounce of plastic. Another angle.
6) the air up there
Thank you North Carolina, for having a physical atmosphere. The lack of 100% humidity is endearing. Floriduh residents - well, forget it, stay where you are. The traffic doesn't get better up here, but the people do.
7) Red Sox win the World Series
Can't say much more about this. They lost it all so sadly when I was 5...and then, the same year my life was really aching hard, in fall '03, they lose it again. Now, they're unstoppable...and it feels great. Maybe we both just needed to add some winners to our roster, and get other teams to swipe away the losers? :)