Texas bound

This site has been very quiet for a long time. I've been pretty busy working on making a dream come true. About 2 1/2 years ago my family was vacationing in Orlando, and decided to make it our long term goal to move somewhere like that, so we could live on vacation. This spring has afforded us that opportunity. I spent several months trying to get interviews with companies in Texas, Florida, Arizona and California, but my foreign status plus the general downturn in the US economy was making it difficult to get interviews, let alone sponsorship. I expanded my search net a little wider and discovered that a local company whom I'd considered offers from twice in the past was hiring in Houston. I approached them and while they initially seemed interested, a month went by without an offer. However in the interim I had managed to schedule 3 interviews in Austin and scheduled a little vacation down there.

Literally days before I was leaving for this vacation and these interviews I got an offer from the local company, but it was for a local position! I let them know that the offer wasn't quite up to par with my expectations, and told them that I couldn't accept it in the time frame suggested as I had some interviews scheduled in Texas. Within 4 hours I had an offer for Houston that met all of my expectations and I accepted it immediately.

I went on my vacation, and instead of a job hunting expedition it became a house-hunting trip. And it was FUN. My wife and I met a couple of wonderful realtors and had a great time exploring the different neighborhoods with them. We toured an elementary school and were totally impressed. Our son goes to a great school now, but I think that this will be at least as good (really - I think it is better!). Plus the neighborhood we selected seems built for us - very family oriented, values that match ours, similar economic situations, a perfect match.

Except that my company recently moved their office from this area to one about 30 miles away - an hour + in typical traffic... That really isn't significantly more than my current commute though, so it isn't too bad, and everything else is so superior to our current situation that I am absolutely convinced that this is the right place and the right time to make this move.

Right now I am in between jobs, have 5 days to finish packing before the movers come and then it is off on a mighty road trip to drive 3800 km from Calgary to The Woodlands, hopefully arriving before our furniture does!

Unfortunately I'll only have a few days before starting my new job to get settled in, but I've laid the groundwork, and my wife should be able to tie up most of the loose ends.

Hurray! Time to get back to the packing...