The adventure continues

The Corporate Masters don't use anything resembling a real calendar. The calendar, after all, was Not Invented Here(TM). Instead, we pass time with an arcane system of "workweeks". Yesterday, for example, was WW22.5 - Friday of workweek 22.

After almost ten years, I'm sufficiently indoctrinated to be largely incapable of thinking in terms of strange moon-based designations of time that have odd names of various deities and rulers. Sure, I could talk about my birthday in terms of how far into the month honoring Julius Caesar the specific day lands, but it's much easier to simply note that this year it'll land on WW28.4.

As the time for our move to San Jose draws nearer, more folks are asking for details of the move. Here's what I know so far. I'm asking for a cubicle in the South Bay cube farm beginning WW27.1. It's the first day of a new quarter, and although we're not doing this as an "official" move to avoid incurring too many costs, it's a good day to have that lined up. I'll also have what's known as a "PAN change" - I have no idea what that means, really, other than that to the Corporate Masters, I'll be a California-based employee, not an Oregon-based one. My manager and reporting structure and job all remain the same, but taxes will be withdrawn as of then and dumped into the black hole that is the State of California operating budget.

Within three minutes of that change, I plan to register to vote in California. I may not be part of the problem, I'm not sure I'll be down there long enough to be part of the solution, but I'll happily join the ranks of those yelling for something to be done.

The move itself - well, it'll happen in stages. I'm currently scheduled to fly down on WW25.1 to sign lease paperwork, but since that's the day between Father's Day and my dad's birthday, I'm contemplating pushing that out a bit, perhaps to 25.3. The wee hours of 27.1 will see the kid & I landing across the country, as I drop him off for a couple weeks with his grandparents. I will fly back to OR on 27.3. I need to line up and schedule movers, and depending on their timing and costs, I expect to have stuff packed up and out the door around my birthday - 28.4, for those keeping track at home.

The kid returns from the East Coast on 29.4, but I may still be in the Bay Area then. He'll probably hang out with his dad, godfather, and my dad 'til 30.3. A cousin's wedding in Yakima is at the end of WW30, so we'll go to that, and then head back to Portland to catch a flight home - which by then will be... San Jose.

And yes, it is home - or will be. Lease papers are prepped, deposit's in. A few friends will be helping with furniture selection, doing an IKEA run or three after I get the keys but before we arrive. It's also 3BR - partly so I have a place where I can work, and also to provide a place for friends and family to land. (Y'all are going to visit, right? RIGHT? Bueller?!?!?) I also picked it because it's in the complex where a couple of friends live, a mere 2/3 of a mile from another friend, and pretty much equidistant from work and the kid's school - and other wonderful friends who made the trek from Oregon to San Jose just two years ago. Familiarity's good - the kid's been to the complex and remembers the pool well. He's happy.

School begins WW34.4. WW36.1-5 I'm to be back on the East Coast for a conference. Sometime in the WW42ish range, I expect to head to Mexico for a week - miss it terribly, and it'll have been over a year by then. That, of course, is in the "Octomonth" - which, when one tries to use the standard calendar, would be Month 10.

So many things moving of their own accord now, and I'm aware of how few are really under my own control, no matter how easily I can plug them in to the "workweek calendar". I'm finding the precision comforting, even though I know it's illusory.

Home?

What do you think? Should I take it?

Oh wait - that's not San Jose, that's Barcelona. Much as I'd love love love to be moving there in a few weeks ... or Mexico City ... San Jose it will be. And that's a good thing, really. It's a lovely place, and rumor has it that there's a few little places that are attempting to find their inner quirkiness. Portland it's not - but it'll be an adventure nonetheless. Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and the City herself are all nearby.

Right now the question's housing. I've applied for one condo, conveniently located, in fact where The Student & his beloved live. The Plan(TM) (ha.) was to be further downtown, but this place does have the advantage of being roughly between school and my office, and also in a really diverse neighborhood. Right by VTA, right by a grocery store, right by a taqueria. The Student will be gone for his research year for his doctorate, but his spouse will be in town, and having him so close by is way cool for very many reasons. (The Kid, of course, sees an opportunity to prove his Wii dominance, and I daresay there'll be some of that going on.) There's also something to be said for staying in a place I know well already, and in fact where I stay when I'm traveling down there anyway. It's comfortable, quiet, and stable. (Which is more than can be said for California itself these days.)

But - if the leasing company says no, I'm really comfortable with that, too. No rush, and lots of options. Maybe even too many options...

It's all feeling rather real. Methinks it's time for the kiddo and me to go to Videorama and get some more Futurama episodes. Escapism sounds like the plan for tonight. And if I can't go to Barcelona right now, or Mexico, Futurama sounds like a lovely place to be.

It's never pretty

The photo a couple posts back of all of those neat U-Haul boxes, carefully stacked - ha. The people at the ad agency who produced that stuff have obviously never really moved themselves. Today's photo is of my living room, just about ten minutes ago. The home office is even worse. No photos of that - this is a family blog, after all. Oh, the humanity!

It's been a frenzied few days. I flew to the Bay Area to be present for The Student's PhD qualifying exams, which he took and passed on Tuesday. He flew back up here with me on Wednesday, and the past two days have been spent packing boxes, with visits to friends interspersed within. He flies back home today, leaving me with a work-in-progress. The move seems very, very real right now. Not much is packed yet - the medicine cabinet, DVDs, and many shelves worth of books. Still - of everything in this house, the things that matter are the kid, the cats, and my books. Having the last of those three largely ready for transit makes it impossible to deny that yup - we're heading outta here.

These next few weeks will be a blur. Work remains in high gear, the school year is winding down, and there's still the little matter of figuring out where the boxes will be unpacked upon our arrival in San Jose. There's a little more clarity around the date - thinking mid-July right now - but beyond that, more unknowns than not.

At least the books are packed.

And so shall it be

We're headed to the Bay Area. No, not to Lake Merritt where this photo was taken, but it's safe to say that we'll be up there pretty often, too. If the Corporate Masters weren't in the South Bay, I'd be in Oakland in a heartbeat, just to be able to walk around Lake Merritt every day.

I'll skip the full backstory, but suffice it to say that this wasn't the easiest decision. Truly, it's a decision between two really fabulous options - the chance to stay in a city that I love, moving to a condo or apartment to ratchet down all of the stuff I'm juggling was compelling. So too was the opportunity to spend at least a year living in a sunny city where we've many friends as well, including some other refugees from Puddletown. Dealing with the rain, paying the "sun tax" - no clear-cut answers either way.

This past month or so has been a time of pretty intense prayer, discernment, and checking in with folks ranging from my spiritual direction peer mentor to friends from the "wayback machine" - years ago - to come up with the answer. Most paths led to the same destination - it's all good. The kid loved his visit at the school in California, and he's having a more-or-less OK school year up here as well - or at least, as he put it, "It's way better than last year." I'll take that.

What it came down to was pretty simple. Another part of my life that's way out of balance is and has been work. Three managers in eight weeks, more work than we can fathom how to deal with, and increasing tension around different workstyles and dynamics threatening to blow the whole pop stand apart. A colleague said, "Look, we you have all that spiritual direction training; go see what you can do to help sort this out." Add to that the training that's part of my job, but which hasn't been offered nearly as broadly as it's needed - again, a casualty of the economy and travel restrictions. There's many opportunities to make some professional changes and have a better work/life balance while living close enough to commute by bike in the decent weather... all so compelling.

The kid saw a print ad for the Monterey Bay Aquarium early last week, and started making a list of things he wants to do during the year we'd be gone, just in case we were going to make the move. Dad's practically measuring for drapes, ready to head into the house as soon as we're packed up and out. (ETA of that is mid-July, but more on that later.)

Therefore we're making that big step forward in faith. I don't know what it'll be like, but I'm curious to find out. The kid was up for spending a year in Mexico and asked if that still might be an option someday - he's ready for this adventure, too. Working on details now so he keeps strong connections with his dad & dad's SO, godparents, grandpa, and friends - hey, maybe he'll have his own blog!

More as we know it, but we'll start with this for now. And now I'm off to mow the lawn - a task made more enjoyable now, because I know it'll be permanently off my list of things to do soon!

Whichever way...

I've promised myself that I'd begin updating & blogging just as soon as I figured out whether I'll be in Portland or head to San Jose for about a year starting this summer. Quite literally over the course of a day, the 'decision' changes. I wake up at 3am in a panic; how can I move, how can I uproot the child, how can I get everything done that I need to do to get from here to California. I'm now practiced at getting myself back to sleep. By about seven, coffee in hand, I can sit with the liminality and uncertainty, telling myself to take things a step at a time, and that the next steps are getting the kid to school and getting me to work.

By noonish, I'm convinced that I'm ready to go to San Jose. I've usually heard from one or more friends or family down there, many of whom don't know one another (yet), with everything from suggestions for apartments, a mention of a new cool place the kid will love, and offers to help organize - either up here or there.

Later in the afternoon I wobble - friends at the kid's school, the folks who keep the kidlet after class, the soccer folks - all part of what I know I'll miss if I'm away. And then the kid starts talking about wanting to get to the Aquarium on Fisherman's Wharf again, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the science center in Golden Gate Park that was closed the last time we were in the City.

In short - it's not easy. And work is really, really rough right now in many respects, which doesn't help. It's taking more emotional energy and plain old consciousness than it should, and that doesn't begin to touch the time investment. But right now, a paycheck's a paycheck, and I really do like the majority of the work itself and have some fabulous coworkers. It's not sustainable long-term, though, not like this.

So I'm tackling things bit by bit. Kid is with my dad right now, and I'm getting a particularly difficult bit of work done. Later I'll pack up some stuff for Goodwill, and pack up other stuff for an eventual move - somewhere. Tee Bee Dee. Mass at 5, then a bit more packing, perhaps. Just don't know quite where the boxes will be unpacked yet.