super-structure

It’s a tired cliché of blogging: apologizing for not posting in so long. The excuses are always the same, and this is no different. There has simply been too much going on here take any time to write down [or type - ed.].

The Job

I started my new job at the beginning of January (before the move, for those keeping track of such things). I received a warm welcome (mostly all by e-mail) and did my best to get right into things. My position is sort of a new thing, though, and not personally knowing people I was working with made getting much traction difficult at first. I did fly out to Southern California¹ to meet a number of my co-workers and higher-up types. That proved to be a very good trip and I really enjoyed getting to meet all the people there. I feel confident that I made the right choice in this career.

Flying home through Chicago in the dead of winter, however, was incredibly dumb. In my defense, it was also not my choice to do so. I sincerely wish I was able to make my own business travel arrangements again.

The Move

As soon as I got back, it was time to try to finish packing the house, get a U-Haul van, and let the movers do their work. Of course, moving is never simple. This was off the scale, though. Despite the best efforts of many of our friends² and all of Angela’s hard work boxing stuff in my absence, we simply were not prepared for moving when the time came to do it.

I’ll keep it sob stories short, but after renting a second truck plus tow-dolly for Angela’s car and putting all of our gardening and power-tools on a mobile storage unit left in Richmond and not finishing doing touch-up paint in the house before leaving, we were still a day late in getting out of there. Fortunately, everything worked out just fine (as life does more than not, thank God). However, the last night laying on an inflatable mattress in our house I was so sick to my stomach I just couldn’t sleep. To be honest here, I think that night I got more planning for the remainder of the move than I had done in the weeks and months up until that point.

When we finally got it all packed up and were ready to leave, a sense of relief swept over me. That really seemed to pick up my spirits for days to come. I needed it, because it was a truly sad moment when we left our keys inside and locked the door of our old home one last time. We loved that house very much and had put a great deal of time and effort into it. In yet another bout of poor planning, I had packed my camera away somewhere in our SUV and never got a chance to take one last photo. I’ll make it up during our next trip up there, but I don’t think it’ll mean as much to me.

Then again, as painful as some of the other photos we did take there recently have been to look through, it may be just as well. It really feels like a part of us is gone. Angela and I hadn’t lived in a place for that long since our childhood homes (both of which are no longer in the family, either). Despite all of us being content where we’re at now, thinking about what we gave up — having those friends close by, a home we loved to be at, just living in Virginia — kind of hurts.

…The New Place

Though it’s taken us about three weeks, we finally feel like we have a nice home in our apartment. Though going from a home of your own to an apartment kind of sucks, it was nice to just call up someone to come fix leaky kitchen faucet — and not have to pay them. Ainsley made out great, with her new room being more than twice the size of her old one. It feels like most of that square footage came out of our bedroom, though! The best part though has to be the closets.

My God! Closets! Apparently, usable closets weren’t invented until sometime after our old house was built.

Even though the drive down was on a nice sunny day, the day we ended up unloading the moving vans into our apartment (and garage and storage unit…) was cold, wet, and windy. The movers were great, though; and Dave even drove down to help out for a bit. We got it all moved in and mostly all in the right places. Angela’s parent’s came down the next day and stayed with us for the rest of the week. That helped out tremendously. Angela and I were able to work while they watched Ainsley and we were able to unpack bit by bit in the evenings.

We’ve been unpacking ever since, it seems. However, at this point there is just one last small box of engineering books by the door that is waiting to make its way down to the garage. Otherwise, there’s little evidence of all the recent turmoil around our lives.

We’ve got some paperwork still to fill out and make it all official, but we’re Tennesseans again.

1. Orange County probably isn’t the most scenic part of California, to tell the truth. However, it did make a number of Arrested Development jokes suddenly make sense, so I’d say it was worth it.↵
2. I would be completely remiss if I didn’t give a huge thanks to Jason J. for driving that 26′ U-Haul giant down to TN for us. Just to tell you how much we trust him, we never gave a second though to the well being of most of our Earthly possession being in the hands of a guy whose never driven anything bigger than a family van. Also, Michelle and Robert P. were absolutely tireless. They gave up their whole weekend to help out and were in a good mood the entire time, which is probably what kept us sane. Kushal S. also came over to help pack things up. Thanks, guys.↵

As a result of our moving, I have taken a position of Senior Technical Writer with Bentley Systems, Inc. Specifically, I’ll be working with software in the structures group. In the past three years, Bentley has acquired several big names in structural engineering software: REI (STAAD), RAM International, and more recently TDV GmbH (RM). I think that a number of engineers were surprised to see this move by Bentley (at least I was), particularly given the perception that STAAD and RAM were major competitors. However, as I’ve learned a bit more about the company and what the direction of the structures group appears to be in, it has become clear that they have in place a remarkable suite of structural applications. What’s more, they are position themselves to provide software for virtually any structure type or size. Along the way of polishing the elements to build this toolbox, they are integrating all of them so they are better equipped to work in the future world of Building Information Modeling, which is the new hotness in the construction and engineering world.

So, let me back up a bit and explain how I got here.

Though I have to admit it felt at first like taking a long shot at the time, I sent out some resumes to some engineering software firms to gauge their interest in hiring a structural engineer to work remotely. I was pleased when two companies, including Bentley, were interested. I did my best to learn all I could about the positions and products of both (I have been a career user of the products now in Bentley’s line, though). After learning more about what they had in mind for both their software and this position, I realized that this was indeed the correct career path for me. To put another way, I believe that while both are excellent positions, I wanted the job I felt was not just a good fit for me but a great one.

It is a bit daunting to leave behind a career in design, but at this point it really feels like the natural background for the work I’ll be doing in the future, rather than a total career change. The knowledge in design and working in a consulting office will be indispensable as a technical writer as well as to serve as a liaison between engineering clients and software programmers; getting to talk to them about what they’d like our software to do and present to them how they can achieve that.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about being so apprehensive about total life changes. Well, when this job came together, something inside me clicked and everything just felt right. It’s not most people’s idea of a dream job to work mostly at home writing and talking about engineering software, but it kind of is mine. I’m genuinely excited about the work I’ll be doing as well as the company I’ll be doing it for; one that really seems to be providing a great set of applications and is moving the industry forward in terms of technology and how to benefit designers.

Also, for the first time in my life, being a nerd isn’t a social drawback; it’s a lifestyle and a marketable skill set.

First of all, let me announce what is probably the worst kept secret since we announced we were pregnant: Angela and I have made the decision to move to Franklin, TN (that’s near Nashville for you non-Tennesseans). We had been discussing the idea of doing so since July. When I say discussing, I mean Angela kept trying to convince me we should move and I kept trying to convince her we should stay in Richmond.

I caved.

Then, just a couple of days before she moved back to work, her company posted openings for her position in Franklin. She saw this when she returned from maternity leave and they said a transfer was possible. Instead of waiting until next year, as I had finally agreed to do, we would be moving at the end of this year. I felt like there was no way we would be able to move sooner and that this was the least I could do for my employer (I work for a fairly small branch office of a relatively small company, so it just seemed the right thing to give them as much notice as possible).

We’ve put our beloved Colonial up for sale here and found some nice temporary housing in Franklin, very close to Angela’s work. Angela of course has her job lined up to change over, although the application process for her to get a license in a different state is very long and complicated. It’s all in place now, though.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about what I’d be doing for work. I’ll expand on that more next week, though. I haven’t posted in quite a while and I wouldn’t want to sprain a thumb or something writing too much. For now, though, I’ll just say that it has been an exciting turn and it’s got me looking forward to all this change after all…

Ainsley? Oh, she seems to be growing by the hour. Of course, that was the one bit of change we were expecting.

It’s been a long month that went by really quickly. However, I suspect in a couple of weeks I’ll be longing for the good ‘ole days of July ‘07. I know that I’ve completely dropped the ball on writing on this site this past month. I really regret that as it’s only because way too much has been happening as opposed to just having nothing to talk about.

First of all, and most importantly, Angela is doing fine. She is currently staying the night in the hospital, but there is no cause for alarm. Her blood pressure is a bit high and she has a couple of other signs of a very mild case of pre-eclampsia. Ainsley is almost at full term, as of this Thursday (37-40 weeks is considered full term) and the doctor has indicated that she may be delivered early, although not technically pre-maturely, due to this condition (which goes away essentially immediately after giving birth). While pre-eclampsia can be dangerous to both my girls, this case is not particularly dangerous and we have a very easy fix: Ainsley is simply going to come earlier than late August. Like I said, Angela is doing just fine and no one should be worried at all; just excited that our daughter is coming a bit sooner than expected.

Angela has continued to work, though she’s been instructed by her doctor to not do anything else outside of work, ever since she’s had the elevated blood pressure (for a few weeks, now). This has led us to both make some sacrifices around the house, as I’ve been working a lot lately. That’s not gone over really well with her, but she understands. Both mom and daughter are doing well (I just left the hospital where we could hear Ainsley heart thumping away).

Okay, now that you’re up to speed on that situation, I’ll explain why I’ve not been explaining all this sooner. One of the other two engineers at my office has moved to upstate New York to open a branch office for our company. This is really exciting for him and it’s a great opportunity for him and the company. However, this has increased my work load somewhat. Add to this that the most complicated building structure I’ve worked on to date is currently in it’s final stage of design, and you can understand why I’ve been working a lot lately. Fortunately, I work with some really wonderful people who understand that when I need to go to the hospital for Angela, I’m fully expected to drop everything. My boss is going on a week-long vacation in a couple of weeks and so our other co-worker has agreed to come back down from NY for several days to help out during that time. Like I said, really great people. So far, our clients have all been equally understanding, as well.

It’s currently raining and thundering like mad outside the house right now, which is fine because I’m not really concerning myself with watering the poor, neglected lawn these days. I’m lucky to find time to come home and show the dogs some attention. It’s going to be like this for a while, I’m afraid. I’ll try and make some time to keep everyone posted with what is happening in the future, though. Certainly, you’ll all know when Ainsley arrives.

Okay, so this is turning out to be more of a bi-weekly thing than anything else. I don’t recall ever promising anything — as who would I promise it to?

Five things that have been on my radar ‘o fun over the past couple of weeks:

1. This is a great music video by a formerly-not-known-to-me Brit indie Bats for Lashes. I like the kind of creepy, haunting sound of the song which matches perfectly the Donnie Darko inspired video imagery (via BoingBoing).
   
2. Angela and I have been watching Judd Apatow’s “Undeclared” via Netflix. It’s not nearly as good as "Freaks and Geeks” but still better than your average comedy. Most of this, by Apatow’s description is due to the fact that the really good stuff that goes on at college can’t be shown on network television. True, that. Anyone wanting to go see Knocked Up, please give me a call.
3. Last night, we went to see Son Volt at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Last week was Big Head Todd & the Monsters. Two really good bands. Frankly, I didn’t have too high of hopes for the Son Volt show as the “reunion” of that band feels a lot like Jay Farrar cashing in on the relative success of the band as compared to his solo career (especially last month’s new album, which I found disappointing). However, I really like Farrar’s songs, be they Son Volt, solo career, or Uncle Tupelo – all of which got some play-time last night.
   
   
4. Per everyone-I-know’s recommendations, I read the late Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s "Slaughterhouse Five" recently. Well, after having read the book, of course the next thing to do is see the movie (no, not really – I think it’s a shame that the general notion seems to be that the highest status a novel can have is to be made into a film). So last weekend, I watched the 1972 movie based on the book. I was fairly pleased with how it got portrayed and apparently, Vonnegut was, too.
5. Last, but probably the most important, Angela and I really enjoyed the baby shower our friends Holly and Meg threw for us at also-friend Jessica’s house. It was great and we were simply amazed at how generous our friends are. We clearly have no idea what we’re doing with this whole baby thing (apparently just like everyone else, knowledge that has kept us going). However, in addition to the really great gifts that everyone went out of their way to get us (and mail us, too!), having people to count on is a big deal. Thanks, everyone.