Early am; bitterly cold outside so fire is on and house is cozy. Coffee is in the press.
Government suddenly re-opened Friday. Trump caved as expected. And except for hundreds of thousands of people massively inconvenienced and lots of media drama, things remain the same. The funding is only for 3 weeks though, so stay tuned.
Nice weekend in Cleveland. I drove up Thursday after work and Lisa and I introduced Mandela to Marcy. Not really besties, but no bloodshed and reluctant tolerance enforced by constant oversight. Two alpha females forced to share space. Friday afternoon we drove to Peninsula to look around the neighborhoods and look at a couple of houses that are listed for rent. Still too early to sign a lease, but I just want to get to know the general area. It was damn cold—low teens most of the weekend. We stopped at a nice wine bar & restaurant (wine mill) and had a couple of drinks and a snack and some spirited conversation. Lisa tolerates my semi-combative debate style with grace and often gives it back to me. After we drove home for our FNM experience and cheese and crackers and more chatting and eventually a game of cards where I was beaten mercilessly.
Friday morning I was at Cleveland Clinic for my drug and tobacco screen and some HR paperwork. Last day at Vertiv is 2/8 and first day at CC is 2/13. Lots to do between now and then.
Saturday morning, after a nice breakfast at Jake’s (not by the lake), I headed south with the little dog, taking a long route through Cuyahoga Falls and down through the middle of the state and finally to Somerset; I passed farm after farm driving over the rolling hills and through some pretty country. I left Dela with mom and dad as the next two weeks will be very busy and there will be some late nights.
Just before hitting the road south, we stopped at a little park in Bay Village to marvel at the lake in white winter splendor. Very beautiful.
I woke at 3:30 this morning–suddenly fully digesting that this Cleveland thing is really happening so I need to kick off the myriad of activities to get things started; need to book an extended stay hotel near the office in Beachwood, find a place to live, get the condo packed up and listed for sale. All while work will be crazy as we finalize preps for our go-live on 2/6.
I was feeling pretty settled here, so not thrilled about the move, but I know it’s the right thing from a career perspective. It feels more and more like the wheels are coming loose at Vertiv and I don’t want to be there when they start coming off. Too bad as I like my boss and some of the people I work with. But CC feels like a much more stable and manageable work environment.
Anyway….not like I haven’t moved a hundred times before. A short re-cap. Started in Chautauqua > Chicago (Navy Boot Camp), Philadelphia, Orlando, Idaho Falls, Seattle, San Diego, Pocatello, Mystic, Idaho Falls, Chautauqua, Cincinnati, London, San Francisco, San Diego, Namibia, Chicago, Sydney, Namibia, Pocatello, Victor, Cincinnati, Columbus and now Cleveland.
Those are just the cities and does not include multiple moves between homes in the same cities or the 6-month stint in Amsterdam waiting for my visa to come through for UK, and then the 6-month stint in London working at BBC in 2013. I’ve also been back and forth to Namibia approximately 25 times over the years, sometimes staying for 2-3 months at a time. So another move is unlikely to jolt the earth off its orbit. Just a hassle for a couple of months.
So, off to the basement to start packing.
The Martini Tales 