A hard year on the horizon

Ahoy ahoy! I'm not dead!

I've just been out and about. For example, celebrating Lenny's first Christmas (version 2) in Germany. Then I flew back and had two more interviews in (wait for it) Portland and Albuquerque. And I got the Portland job. But it's in Albany, New York. Until it's in Portland. Although it starts in Portland.

Huh?

Well, I am going to Portland for four weeks of training starting Feb. 15... because my job and the Albany branch both don't exist yet. Then I'll come back to Austin, maybe for a week but no longer, then head to Albany full time for a few years. (Then full time in Portland is the plan.)

That sounds fine and dandy, we'll have some time to explore an area that's new to both of us, hopefully frequently visiting New York City, Montreal, Boston, Buffalo/Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks, and Cooperstown. Plus, Toronto, Philadelphia, DC, beaches in New Jersey, Ottawa, and Wilmington, DE, are all also within weekend-trip distance, if a bit further away. (Just kidding about Wilmington. Nobody wants to visit Delaware.) I think it will be fun to watch lots of lacrosse (UAlbany and Siena are both local and apparently good, Army and Syracuse are close, too), and I'd hope to go see an Army football game at West Point.

But that's a ways out, because Ariane and Lenny will be in Austin for the bulk of the year. She's determined to finish her degree, and I'm 100% behind her. I can't wait to be down here for her graduation in December. When she sets her mind to it, she can be Superwoman. I've seen it before - specifically Fall semester '08, carrying a full load and working every day while dealing with morning sickness and the insane exhaustion of the first trimester and Spring semester '09 taking a full load while having a rapidly expanding tummy and swollen feet. We're talking about the same woman who was ready to go to regionals last year just days before, you know, pushing a small human out.

There will be family in and out while school's in session, and I'll try to take some trips back here and there where I can, although I expect the work load to be heavy (but interesting). It's going to be hard for all of us for a variety of reasons. I miss them so much when they're gone, it's going to be nothing short of major suckitude to be apart from both of them for such a long total time, and I'm kind of worried that Lenny will forget who I am. By the time she's 1 1/2 years old, I'll have been away from her for something like 9 or 10 months. Makes me feel bad, man. But I know that this is for the best.

So what's going to happen with the ol' Kinderbloggen? I dunno. It's not like I've been typing up a storm here anyway. Life's just a wee bit more important. Maybe it will just become dispatches from south of Quebec (the location sounds more attractive if you can refer to it as "southern" and block out the long, cold winters with 5' of snow). Maybe I'll try to teach myself Mohawk or Quebecois French and post some donde esta la biblioteca-type entries. Maybe I'll post daily updates on how much weight I've lost (since I'm too lazy to cook and don't plan on having TV to distract me from working out) and how much I can military press. Maybe I'll just miss my wife and my daughter and come on here to bawwwwww! about it.

We'll see, but I've got no plans of going away entirely.