Bean Town or Bust: We are Moving!

Things have been hectic around the Simpson household lately. As you may know, Kristin graduated in Fall 09, and she has been applying for jobs at Zoos across the nation. She got a job offer from the Capron Park Zoo (warning that their website isn’t real impressive) in the city of Attleboro, Massachusetts. We talked at length, and as hard as it will be for us to relocate, we have decided to accept the position. Now half our belongings are boxed away, in anticipation of me getting a job offer in the Attleboro area.

We feel that this is a really positive change that addresses a lot of our life problems right now. We are currently in a house we are renting which has some major problems. The house is also not in an area where we want to raise our kids. The house is located near the Westley Chapel exist on I-20, and I work and commute from here to Clayton county, which also has a notorious reputation. Kristin’s employment at Zoo Atlanta was on a contract which ended, and she was turned down for a full-time position several times. We also have student loans coming due, along with growing Credit Card balances. Living off one salary has always been rough, and this move gives us the chance to get out from under all of this financial stress.

Her new job makes an impressive salary that amounts to 30% more than Zoo Atlanta was offering, along with benefits, vacation time, etc. The area is also very near other major City Zoo’s including Providence, and Boston. There is plenty of IT work to be had in this area as well, both public and private sector. If I am employed at a major university in the area, I could get a Master’s Degree from MIT, Cambridge, or Harvard.

The hardest part of this move will be leaving my friends, and my family so far behind me. What is getting me through it all is knowing that many of you are on Facebook, Twitter, IM, and are just an email away. My parents are retired, and have an RV so I expect to see them more than I should :). I am really going to miss my brother, but we each have to go our own way in life. I’ll promise I will make many trips to see everyone as best I can over the years. Thanks to everyone who seen us off over the last few weeks – you will be missed.

I wanted to especially mention how much I will miss Clayton State University. It won’t be because of office politics, or programming, or Crystal Reports, and it sure as hell won’t be because I will miss the SWAN Portal. What has kept me at CSU for so long is the people there. I have worked several other jobs before and there are two distinct types of employers: those who want to maximize profit, and those who want you to maximize you. The HUB, and Administrative Systems are both the latter type, and has made me look forwarded to coming into work. I love my co-workers, and I enjoy our lunches, and our conversations that break up otherwise dull work. Looking at Facebook recently, I noticed that most of my current friends are all people that are connected to Clayton State, and most of them are through the HUB. CSU has truly been a wonderful playground at which to spend the last seven years of my life.

We will miss you all.