Getting back into the swing of things...

For the one or two regular readers, who are actually just family members and a phone call away, I'm sorry for the long layoff. I had stuff to talk about, but just needed a sabbatical from the blog. Not like it's an especially onerous task to whip up a few posts a week that feature mostly pictures and videos of my kids doing cute things, but for whatever reason I just didn't have the motivation to follow through with it. We are back now, with a back log of stuff to write about, and I think the wife is going to be helping with a few more of these posts from time to time. She is the boots on the ground so to speak, being home with the dynamic duo of Jackie and Catherine most of the time, so expect her to dash off a quick post now and again whenever they do anything fun.




As for me personally one of the big changes (aside from adding another baby girl to our brood), was a change in employment. I was relatively happy at AECOM, but the commute was getting a bit much for me. Around this time last year, I had started driving to Queens two or three times a week for project work, I still had my responsibilities for the project out in Denver as well as other random engineering assignments on different projects. Being one of the mid-to-senior staff members at a downsizing engineering concern is no fun, you take on all sorts of projects that are half complete, have problems, or have been neglected while they wait for another staff member to pick them up. That was the situation in my group at the time. They are apparently hiring again, so good for them, but at our present domicile in Bridgewater, I was getting tired of the commute. I was used to hanging up on recruiters as they always seem to call your desk. Being in an open office environment, it's not easy to either express your displeasure with your current working situation, or discuss possible career moves with a recruiter. One day last July I got a call looking to fill a position in Bridgewater.

With a growing family, that was a call I had to take. I ended up making a quick interview on a scheduled off day, and had an offer letter the following Monday. We decided to make the move, and despite folks from the old office telling me "you'll be back in six weeks" we haven't looked back, (aside from random calls to give insight into this or that on the projects I was working on).

My current assignments differ greatly from they type of work I was doing before. The new company deals primarily with multi-family residential properties, it's a challenging change, and even more challenging to keep up with the fast pace sometimes, but so far so good. It's rounding out my professional experience with another facet of the business. Almost a year in, and we're pretty happy with the decision, hopefully they decide to keep me around awhile. The company is growing, and that's always a good type of company to be at.

Most nights I'm home to these guys by 5:15 or so, which makes me a very lucky and happy man.