It is yet to be announced to my co-workers, but I figured I’d share with t he Internets that I’ll be leaving my current position at my current company and heading over to another company to work with my good friend and colleague Jim once again.

Jim interviewed me in 2004 for a position and we ended up working together later on a rather difficult project. I was very glad he was there as we kept each other sane on a daily basis. I ended up leaving the company and Jim did earlier this year. He came to me with a position that was hard to (and not) refused.

I’ll be heading up a team of folks to write performance / load scripts that will run against various web applications so we can find bottlenecks. Basically, I’ll be a lead, get experience using more tools and technologies and I was given a sizable pay raise.

I’m excited about it and sad to leave my current company at the same time. I’ve learned a ton in the last eight months and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to my new role. The people here are the best and brightest I’ve worked with - truly an excellent group here. At the same time, I must do what I think is best for my career.

As we are heading to California next week, I gave my company roughly almost three weeks notice, but it works out to two weeks with time off. I wasn’t able to give a full two weeks at my old company and I wasn’t too pleased with that as I’m one to leave making sure the bridges are not burned and in very good working order.

Well, the bike to work was awesome. I felt great most of the day and I was able to walk up/down stairs after my legs forgave me.

When it came time to bike home, however, the weather turned pretty sour. I opted to snag a ride home from work and left my bike at work - thus ensuring that I’d bike home (which I’m going to do in about 45min).

I would have biked home last night but again the weather was pretty bad. That and I needed to pick up my car from the mechanics. It passed inspection but needs…

1. New Tires
2. New Brakes
3. Brake Tube Running to Calipers
4. Radiator hose (Leaking/seeping)
5. A/C is completely hosed - would be more money to fix than the car is worth

So yea, hopefully I’ll be able to tackle that soon. If not, I’ll just drop it off at the mechanics and be forced to shell out more money than I’d like for a car that could be dead in 2-3 years anyway.

Ithaca tomorrow and perhaps hanging out with co-workers on Sunday but I think we’ll play Sunday by ear as C and I haven’t seen much of each other as of late.

After telling folks repeatedly that I was going to start biking to work (for what…like 2months?), I finally biked to work. I cruised into the parking lot at about 7:20am after a 11.25mi ride (in 1:00:18). I felt pretty good. Sweaty and a bit muddy, but good. It rained a lot last night so had the chance to bike through about 1.3 billion puddles.

I also got to see a ton of ducks - lots of baby ducks and mamma ducks that were not to thrilled to see me biking up to their kids. One group was crossing the path as I rode up. I tried to go around them but the mamma duck turned and gave me a “Oh no you didn’t..” quack. So I waited a bit.

Overall, a great ride. I’m a bit nervous about riding home as I’m not exactly an Ironman like Alex (congrats again man!). I’m sure all will be well, however.

And now to stay awake and convince my leg muscles that going down stairs is no time to quit on me.

As promised, my loyal readers, here is the rundown (ha, typed ‘fundown’ at first..?) of our Burlington trip. And GO!

Thursday

Most of the day was spent getting ready/leaving/driving. We got into Burlington at about 7pm and hit up a pub for some great food and a fantastic stout/porter (can’t remember). We walked around a bit, went down to the lake (few blocks away - awesome) and got some fantastic milk shakes. Half of us finished them and half didn’t as we were all already full from dinner. After the milkshakes we headed to our hotel (Comfort Suites in South Burlington - fantastic rooms/facilities for cheap).

Friday

We hit up Lake Champlain Chocolates, Ben & Jerry’s and a couple others places then hung out in Burlington for a few before coming back to the hotel for a needed nap. We went to ‘The Skinny Pancake’ (crepe place) for a fantastic dinner and walked around the lake area / explored for awhile and got back to the hotel late.

Saturday

Our last full day in B-town (I think that’s what the locals call it…?). We went to Shelburne farms where we hiked around and came upon a huge barn/petting area. We got to pet some baby goats and were greeted by a ton of chickens before we even got to the barn. We resumed our hike after taking a look at how they make cheese and petting some more animals. We were looking for a trail that would lead us to the lake but after not finding it and getting worked up hiking around, we decided to scrap the idea and head back for a shower/nap/swim. We all met up again and walked around Church street (think commons area in Ithaca) and went to Lenguine’s (spelling’s off on that I’m sure) for an amazing meal. Wandered down to the lake again for some sunset shots, and then back to the hotel.

Sunday

Time to leave. Got up, checked out and drove into town where we planned on going to a specific restaurant and found it to be swamped at about 10am. We went to ‘Henry’s’ for some great breakfast and got to the lakefront in time to catch the ferry back to New York. The rest of the day was spent driving home and wishing it wasn’t time to go.

Twas a great weekend, great trip and we all enjoyed the city immensely. Still missing it.

Picures of our trip! Details to follow (if you are all interested that is…?)