As most of you know, my life over the last 9 years has mostly occurred with me living out of a suitcase 4 to 5 days out of the week. I have been looking for a new job for a while; however, I will finally have an offer letter waiting for me when I get home this evening.

The job is exactly what I've been looking for. I will get to see my wife and children just about every night (still about 10% travel, but it's much better than 95% travel!) and start to have the appearance of a "normal" life. (those of you that know me know that I am far from normal... and love it. )

I actually did some calculations last night. I have spent approximately 1400 nights in hotel rooms in the last 9 years. How sad is that????

I hope to start the new job in about 3 weeks. Now comes the interesting part. We are moving south. The job is in the Charlotte area (and leaving that damned snow blower behind). The wife and I are extremely excited about it. My 4 year old daughter isn't sure what's going on, but she knows that we will be getting a new house, she'll get to see daddy every night, and she gets to take all of her Barbie and Disney Princess stuff with her.

During the last 9 years, I have spent countless hours online in chat rooms and forums (Pixies is the best, by far). I always had a rule, though. I would not let the online stuff get in the way of my family. That's why I rarely have any posts on the weekends. I'm using that time to be with the family. With that, I doubt that you will see me around much after the next few weeks/months. I have dreamed about the time that I can spend the time strictly with my family and I am going to do just that. At least for a while. Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to convince my wife to let me take pics of her one day. Then I'll introduce her to this wonderful site.

Sorry for the extremely long post. I've come to look at you guys as sort of an extended family. The ones who are there when I can't be with my wife and kids. I wanted you all to know what was going on with me.

Thank you for sharing yourselves with me and letting me share myself with you. This is a great community. I will miss it, but I have a feeling that other things will be occupying my time.



- Mike

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