Recently in California Category

So Tuesday morning, the Atlas Van Lines truck showed up right on time. The driver handed Arlene a form.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"Gypsy moth quarantine," said the driver. "Yer s'posed to have it when ya move here."

It turns out that the great state of California requires you to have your belongings inspected for the dreaded gypsy moth. Then again, maybe they don't. Santa Clara County says yes, but other sources say no. I went ahead and called the inspectors to come check out the kids' toys (which were pretty much the only outdoor thing we brought from Ohio), but no one came.

Of course, it might have helped if someone had told us before the move that we'd need an inspection. I mean, by the time the truck's unloaded, these hypothetical moths would have free run of our yard… if all the rain didn't kill them first, but that's another post.

So yesterday I had my first real "official California" experience. You've probably heard all about the state government here: the problems with bloated pensions, the budget, the knuckleheads in Sacramento, and so forth. I was worried about having to deal with the DMV, because-- really-- does any state have a good one?

First I hit this extremely useful unofficial DMV guide. It was a lifesaver. The fun started when I wanted to make an appointment. The web-based interface for doing so is ugly, but functional, (and hey, at least they have one, unlike Ohio), but I was really surprised to find that the soonest I could schedule an appointment was... yesterday, or almost three weeks from my scheduling attempt. There weren't any better times available at any of the other offices that are quasi-near my office, so I decided to wait the three weeks instead of trying to show up and get in.

Second hurdle: you need to fill out a form 44 to get your license, but you can't get one online; they're all individually barcoded. So much for being prepared. Anyway, I showed up yesterday (about 15 minutes late, sad to say). When I got there, I waited in line for 5 minutes or so, got a copy of form 44, and was sent to fill it out. After filling it out, I got back in line, spent some time with the nice appointments lady (10 min, say), sat and waited for 10 minutes, went to a different window to have my documents verified and pay, went to yet another window to wait in line to get my picture taken (10 min), got a rules-of-the-road test form, took the test, and waited for it to be graded (15 min). At the end of all this, I walked out $30 poorer with a paper "provisional license" and a promise that my real license would be in the mail in two or three weeks.

Was it bad? No, but a far cry from the efficiency and speed of even the Bowling Green office of the Ohio DMV. I still have to go back and register our vehicles, too. Le sigh.

Today is Labor Day, which means it's the start of the third full week that David and I have been living in California, and my fifth overall. I miss Arlene, Matt, and Tom so much! I can't wait to see them again on the 25th, right before we close the sale of our house in Ohio.

A few assorted thoughts on being a newly-minted Californian.

1. I am adapting to traffic and commute times. Note that I didn't say I liked them, just that it seems like I'm getting used to them again, much as when I lived in Atlanta. David has seminary each school day at 0650, so once I drop him off I can usually be at my office between 0745 and 0800. That usually makes me the first one in, which is fine with me. On days when he has football practice, he's done about 1830, which leaves me plenty of time to leave the office and still get him on time. Of course, once Arlene, Matt, and Tom are here I'll be able to take the train more often.
2. Speaking of which: I took the train last week to get back to Morgan Hill after dropping off my rental car. It worked fine. It's about 40 miles each way from Morgan Hill to my office. The Saab gets about 28 mpg in mixed city/highway driving, so figure (5 * 40 * 2) / 28 ~= 14 gallons of gas per week, or about $44 at today's gas price. Train tickets cost $7.75 each way, or $52.75 for an 8-ride pass, or $205 for a monthly pass. Thus I'm paying a slight premium to be able to sit and work, or read, or whatever instead of just sitting in traffic. Not a bad trade, it seems.
3. It seems like these guys are everywhere. I see at least three or four cruisers each day going to and from work. Kinda makes the Ohio Highway Patrol look like slackers.
4. The weather seems to have two states: pleasant and hot.

Work? Work is awesome. I am still enthralled with what I'm doing in three respects. First, we have an extremely talented and smart team. Second, I continue to be impressed with the tutoring engine and what I'm leaning from it. Third, I am having great fun setting up our experimental Exchange 2010 environment. Compared to what we have now, Exchange 2010 is light-years ahead. It's like moving from this to this.

Our typical daily routine is to get up around 0545, shower, and grab breakfast at the hotel. I drop David off at seminary, drive to work, work, and then pick him up again after football. We've really done a good job of eating in: turkey burgers, salmon, pasta-in-a-bag, and so on are all typical fare. Arlene sent us a crock pot but I broke it about 2 minutes after it got here, so that hasn't been much help. We definitely miss her cooking!

Weekends have been quite a bit more relaxed. Saturday David and I went to the 144th annual Scottish Highland Gathering and Games. It was everything we hoped for: there were pipers, the Marine Band San Diego, Scottish Heavy Athletics, and sheep-dog trials. Sadly I didn't get to have a Scottish egg, as the line was about 45 minutes long. Apart from that, though, it was delightful, and it's nice to know they'll be in the same place at the same weekend next year in case we get a hankering to go back. Sunday we did essentially nothing except attending church, devouring a Costco take-and-bake five-meat pizza we bought Saturday, and driving around to look at houses we found on RealtyTrac. For our evening entertainment, we watched the first part of "Torchwood: Children of Earth" (brilliant so far!) and an episode from the first season of House. We've also been reading a lot; the library system here is quite well-stocked and has many of the amenities we came to expect from Way Library.

Today David has some friends from church over to swim in the hotel pool while I write. Interestingly, even though today's a holiday, he still has football practice at the usual time, so once I drop him off I'm going to look at a couple of rental houses. Right now we're leaning towards renting for a year, letting our equity from the Ohio house marinate in a nice CD while we wait to find exactly the perfect house. Tomorrow it's back to the weekday routine!

(Mental playlist for this entry: Led Zep's Going to California; Fatboy Slim's Kalifornia; Take California by the Propellerheads; the Royal Gigolos remix of California Dreamin'; close out with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Dani California).

From the title of this post and the playlist above, you might have figured it out: we're not moving to Seattle, but instead to somewhere in the wild, wild Bay Area. Worse, I'm leaving 3Sharp and joining another company altogether. Shock! Horror! How did this happen?

It's complicated.

Since my dad's death in 2007 I've been thinking more about who I am and what I do. In my early career, I built software, a process that has tangible (and hopefully executable) results. In my current role, I spend a lot of time researching how things work, and the good and bad aspects of various technologies, and communicating my learnings to people in different ways. Over time I began to feel as though I was losing the passion that had made me successful at 3Sharp. I still enjoyed tinkering with new technologies (yeah, Exchange 2010, I'm looking at you), but I felt as though my inner fire was turning into banked coals instead of a roaring inferno.

At the same time, 3Sharp has been growing and changing in some new and exciting ways. Some unforeseen (and very much unwanted) changes in our business meant that we had to lay people off-- people I valued as friends and for whose welfare I felt responsible. That was a hard pill to swallow for me. At the same time, PKS, and its related technologies, have been strong areas for us, as has the work we've done focused on Office and SharePoint. The only way I could help move that work forward was by driving 3Sharp's sales and marketing efforts, but I quickly found that-- compared to the other things I knew how to do-- that I was neither very excited by nor very good at these critical things.

When Acuitus approached me to do some on-site training for them in Monterey, I jumped at the chance because Jim McBee (my longtime friend and a great American) had told me they were doing some interesting things. After the training was over, I flew down to San Jose to talk to them about hiring 3Sharp to do some additional work. During that time I got more hands-on experience with their digital tutor, and learned more about their long-term plans. Instead of hiring 3Sharp, they offered me a job.

After a lot of soul searching, and many long conversations with Arlene, I decided to accept their offer. I'd been approached by other companies before, including competitors of 3Sharp and companies that wanted Exchange talent in-house. This offer was different, though. What tipped the scale is this: I firmly believe that what Acuitus is doing will revolutionize the way computer-based learning works and how it's used. Working there will give me some unmatchable opportunities to build and do things that can make a lasting impact for millions of people. That was too much to resist!

There are a lot of scary parts to this change: I'm uprooting my family to move someplace that none of us have ever wanted to live, going back to working in an office instead of from home most of the time, and having to prove my skills and worth all over again from scratch. Instead of the established support system we would have had in Seattle, we're starting over in a new, and very different, environment from what we're used to. These things are all hard.

The change is hard for another reason. I think of my partners in 3Sharp-- Paul, Peter, and John-- like brothers. Telling them that I was leaving was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to face. I have learned so much from them that I owe them a debt I can't ever repay, not that leaving them is helping to repay it any! However,  I believe in their talent and drive, and I know that 3Sharp will continue to thrive and prosper under their care.

However, sometimes it takes work to move on to the next stage of whatever the Lord has planned for us. That's what I'm trying to keep in mind as we go through the process of looking at ridiculously overpriced houses and figuring out how we'll make the leap to this new environment. I've added a new category called "California" for posts just about the transition, even. Onward...