Close calls

The deer are back. Despite the broad daylight overcast but still bright skies yesterday afternoon, the first doe of the season jumped onto the trail in front me shortly after Smiths Switch. She stood in the other lane as I slowly approached, and then ambled off to the side of the trail. We eyed each other warily as I passed. I thought about stopping and snapping a photo, but I'm pretty sure she would have dashed away by the time I wrestled my phone from the pannier.

Now that I think about it, I should have quickly looked to my right to ensure that she wasn't a harbinger and several others were lying in wait to ambush me. I'll remember to do that next time.

Today's excitement was caused by a new facilities person who was busy changing out light bulbs along the corridors in the cube farm. He set up his ladder just outside my cube and I turned back to my computer. Seconds later there was the unmistakeable crunch of broken glass and a shattered compact fluorescent bulb lay right behind my chair. He apologized profusely and I scooted out of the way so he could sweep up the broken glass on my desk and carpet. I don't think I'll be hanging out barefoot in my cube for a while.

The story begins

Actually, it began nearly two weeks ago. I've lived in northern Virginia for over sixteen years and wanderlust is pulling at me. I've also HAD IT with the heat and humidity of this area. As much as I'd love to go home again, I don't want to deal with the heat and humidity of the south either. It pains me to think about moving north, mostly because of the lack of light during the winter months. My solution: mountains!

I started perusing real estate selections in the Asheville, NC on a Friday afternoon. When I got home, I shared my crazy idea with Scott. He brought up the issue of employment. I could, conceivably, telecommute and it's something that I've talked with Bossman about. Scott would have to look for something new...

He then countered with "What about Colorado Springs?" I perked up and replied, "We have an office building there!" We discovered that you'd have a hard time not spotting one of his employer's offices in Colorado Springs as well. I spent the rest of the evening poring over real estate listings and was VERY happy with what I found.

Saturday morning, the phone rang just as I was getting into the shower. Scott hollered up, "There's a realtor FROM COLORADO for you!" He took a message and, teasingly, told me "We need to talk..." I explained that I had to provide my contact information to register for the most informative real estate site. He was just busting my chops and chalked it up to my usual obsessive nature.

By Sunday afternoon, I was obsessing pretty hard. Scott had said that he liked the idea, but he would need convincing to move because he is extremely change averse. However, he began obsessing almost as much as me by that evening. We began discussing the move in earnest: how we'd get our stuff moved out there, getting the townhouse ready to go on the market, family visits and whatnot. We decided to take an exploratory trip in the spring of 2013 to make sure that CS was just as good in practice as it is in theory. If we loved it, we'll get our physical and financial houses in order and move in 2014.

On Monday, I asked Bossman about my moving to another office and he said that there's already a precedent in place: a gent from the Ashburn campus moved to the CS campus a few years ago due to illness and family issues. Over the course of last week, Scott researched the city, reading articles and watching videos about the city and surrounding area. As of last Saturday, he was ready to move RIGHT NOW. We've got to finish the house upgrades, though, and check out the city before we do anything too rash. We've got to keep our heads, which for me is pretty hard.