oh yeah the blog thing

Things are busy busy, I'm giving the house an all-over purge and cleanse since we need an apartment inspection before we can move to a first floor apartment. Busy days, long dreamless nights.

Cindy is doing pretty well, all things considered - she's only had one bad day in a week, which I think is great.

I've purchased two different blood pressure cuffs for her, both fit fine, but neither one will give a reading on a consistent basis, five times out of six will simply error out rather than give a reading (they work every time for me...) so I'll be buying our third blood pressure monitor today.

75/25 Hope & Fear

This is going to be an interesting year. We're feeling 'done' with Florida and talking about applying for jobs nationwide, finding something worth moving for, and making a move.

Personally, I'm thinking Seattle, but any city on the west coast would make me happy. The idea of going back to Los Angeles is a soothing one, but wouldn't it be more interesting to move somewhere new?

But why not go with what you know? I had good fortune in Los Angeles - I met Cindy, we went from no car, crummy jobs, and a small studio apartment in a questionable neighborhood to good jobs, two cars, and a nice apartment in a great area. (Some might say probably correctly that all that good stuff was thanks to Cindy, not Los Angeles.)

Still, We've done CA and it would be fun to shake things up a bit. I lived in Ft. Lewis, Washington as a kid and it's a beautiful area with great weather. Seattle is the most bike-friendly city in the US - I'm picturing a cute little downtown apartment that allows me to bike to work.

With all the software companies in the Seattle area and my experience with software, jobs for me will be a lot more plentiful than in Ocala Florida, 'Horse Capital of the World'. Jobs for Cindy will be more plentiful too - with all that rain, the culture is dominated by coffee and books.

It's exciting and a little scary to think our lives might be thoroughly juggled in the near future.

Don't Blog Exasperated (like, don't drive angry)

All right. I've had enough time to let the reality soak in - I know that I'm not going to wake up and say "Wow, you won't believe the horrible dream I just had".

First, some background for context - we'd been planning to move to Florida for the past year or so, to be closer to Cindy's family in the Tampa/Orlando area. We were making plans, saving money, and researching the Florida destination online.

One day, we got the news that the store Cindy managed in Los Angeles would be closing in 60 days. It was probably 4 months ahead of our planned moving schedule, but hey - it was a kick in the pants to get us on our way.

Unfortunately, the only store in Florida with the right opening was in Miami. (About 5 hours drive from the area she wanted) But hey, it's still Florida and she would be 3000 miles closer to her family. The move to the Tampa/Orlando area would be much easier than the cross-country move. Fine.

So we moved - the biggest pain in the ass of my short life.

Last Sunday, just a few short hours after we finished unloading the U-Haul, Cindy called her new store to check in, and say that she wanted to stop in to meet the staff. Her District Manager was there, and had some bad news for her...

Her new store would be closing in 60 days. Less actually, since the news had arrived while we were driving cross-country.

Yeah. So odds are very good that we'll be moving again very soon - and it might as well be to the Tampa/Orlando area, even if it means she takes a position she's not as happy with...

I have to say, the news has really sapped my enthusiasm for unpacking.