I may take another run at consulting years from now but for now I've thrown my lot in with the other folks at the Firm. Extended health and dental benefits are definitely a plus. :)
There were many reasons why I chose not to renew my contract. To quote one of my old/new co-workers:
"There's bureaucracy. There's government bureaucracy. Then there's [Deleted*] bureaucracy."
*Industry-name deleted to protect The Guilty.
- Mood:
relieved - Music:Push Push Lady Lightning ~ Bang Camaro
"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise."
~Author Unknown
- Location:Work
The first week of work was, needless to say, hectic. The company I now work for is one of the faster paced companies out here. I felt overwhelmed, struggling keep my head above the water and there were times I literally felt out of breath. There were a lot of new people to meet, trying to feel out the specifics of my new job, learning new aspects of the investment industry and learning new technologies.
The stress was wearing down my defenses as earlier this week, I was fighting off a weird kind of cold. It wasn't your usual nose or throat infection. It was more like an ear infection and the passageways from my nose/throat to my ears felt plugged up for a couple of days.
I miss the kids and
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sage_mum. A lot. Being separated from my family isn't easy. In fact, it can get downright depressing on some days.The good news is that I am slowly starting to feel better with the move. I get to speak with the wife (and occasionally, the kids) on the phone almost every day so that helps a little. But there's no substitute for proximity.
Work-wise, I felt the second week at my new job went a lot better. I was actually able to accomplish a few things and I'm in the final stages of finishing one of my projects.
I am also learning to live with my in-laws. My original plan saw me staying with my in-laws for a couple of weeks max - just enough time to find my own place to live in while waiting for the family to join me here in Vancouver. One, it's definitely less expensive to stay with my in-laws. The other consideration is that I am hoping that the house sells quickly so the family can fly over here in short order. I wouldn't want to find my own place only to move out a month later.
The house has been up for sale for almost a week and a half. There seems to be a good amount of traffic. Last Monday, our agent held an open house that was exclusive for brokers. The house saw an average of two sets of house hunters every day. It has been a bit stressful for the wife and the kids to be out of the house a lot.
How is British Columbia? It rains a lot. I really ought not to be surprised.
More to follow.
- Location:Maple Ridge, BC
- Mood:
thoughtful - Music:Wherever You Will Go ~ The Calling ~ Camino Palmero
- Location:At work. My last day here.
- Mood: contemplative
Alea iacta est. I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and stepping up to take on new and greater challenges. I will still be working within the financial services industry but I'll be taking on a new role in another department in a completely different area of the investment business.
My last day with the bank is Friday, February 16. I'll spend at least a week helping
sage_mum prep the house for sale, spend some time with the kids, meet up and say good bye to co-workers and friends over lunch or dinner. I told my parents about the decision to move and what's going on with the job search and selling off the house. Not the happiest or the most welcome news, but I thought they were proud to see where I'm going with my career and to know the kids will grow up where there is less hustle-and-bustle.
I'm aiming to fly out in late February - and missing my wife's birthday :( - or early March.
Update: My official start date is Monday, March 5th. I bought my plane ticket and will be flying out to Vancouver on Tuesday, February 27.
- Location:At work. 8 more days.
- Mood: relieved
One of the joys (not!) of being a business analyst, working in a project management office, is that not a whole lot of people understand how BA's fit in the circle of life.
A random user (in this case a sales guy*) walks into our office.
* No. This isn't meant to vilify or offer stereotypes of "sales" people - this random user just happened to be one.
Random User (RU): “Are you guys all using desktops here?"
Me: "Ummm... Yeah. Why do you ask?"
RU: "Well, I got a new IBM laptop and.. aren't you guys Technology or Projects or something?"
Me: "Projects, yes....Tech - "
RU: " - I have a new *IBM* laptop, and my mouse won't fit."
Me: "Your mouse won't fit."
RU: "Yes, my mouse won't fit. Haven't you ever heard of anything like that?"
Me: <shrug> "That's nice."
Random User Exits
Co-worker: "Maybe he should call the help desk."
I’m normally much more helpful and friendly but at that particular point my sympathy and patience jar was just about empty.
A friend and fellow BA offered a very similar experience. In his case, it was "your application does not work". The culprit turned out to be cookie crumbs in keyboard...
- Mood:
What. The. Heck?
Quickly, an adverb meaning Speedily; with haste or celerity; soon; without delay; quick.
Playing the waiting game. Apparently, for some people, "we want to move on this quickly" means "cool your heels because this process will take more than a couple of days, possibly take us up to a week .... or two... "
Where I'm from, "move on this quickly" means "before the end of the day" or, in some cases, one or two days at the VERY latest.
Still waiting. Goodness, I feel like someone who's been on a few dates and was told "I'll call you soon!".
- Mood: Impatient
I was in
I'm finding it mentally and emotionally draining to go through the long interviews but I'm mildly surprised that I'm enjoying the challenge of the interview process and quite pleased that I can approach the meetings with confidence and come out feeling like a winner.
At this rate I hope to have some offers around three to four weeks from now. So if I hand my two weeks notice and spend another week prepping for my immediate move... my SWAG* pegs my ETA in B.C. around the middle of March (March 10-24).
*Scientific Wild Donkey Guess
sage_mumand I also interviewed a real estate agent on Monday evening. seems like he's got his act together with a comparative analysis of similar houses and a solid marketing plan so so it's almost guaranteed we're going to let this guy run the campaign to put La Familia's Headquarters on the market and get it sold. A quick sale, short closing date and a decent offer that doesn't leave us too far in the hole would be nice. sage_mumand I are not holding our breath hoping to make a profit off the house; we bought the house at above-market price two years expecting to hold on to it for five to seven years. I was glad to know that the agent, the wife and I had a similar dollar figure in mind for the starting list price. As I expected, the agent was eager get us signing the dotted line and list the house. We held off as we still need to do some general fix-it work, painting and de-cluttering around the house before we're comfortable to put it on the market. The good news is that the agent does not recommend having the main bathroom renovated. We are not likely to see a return on investment on a bathroom I started packing my books last night. The tally so far: 9 banker's boxes of novels, RPG books and military history books. And that is not even a third of my collection. I’m taking a perverse sense of pride in that fact. I had a new batch of used books come in the mail today so
sage_mumasked me to put a moratorium on ordering books until we've moved to the West. We were joking that I should get the books delivered to my in-laws in the mean time. I'm sure they will be thrilled.
- Mood:
Feelin' Good - Music:Bulls on Parade/Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine
I resisted the temptation to use my work e-mail to send some job applications and got myself busy with some meetings and project work during the day job. So had to postpone any job hunting writing, editing and emails until I got home.
After some heartbreaking edits and formatting magic , I managed to knock down the resume down to two pages. Barely.
Armed with a new resume and customised cover letters, I applied to a couple of banking and financial services: one in downtown Vancouver and the other one in Surrey.
As always, the wonderful
sage_mum has been supportive and helped me through the review and editing process. <PDA>I love you, hon!</PDA>Oh, and I spoke to a couple of recruiters from the West! Yay! The past few days have been very productive and things are looking good but, by goodness, I am exhausted and my kids are starting to miss me.
- Location:La Familia Headquarters
- Mood:
tired - Music:You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
I've been working on my resume off-and-on for the past couple of weeks but I finally had a version I can live with and applied to a few job postings posted on teh Interweb.
- Mood:
hopeful
