HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OK, I hope to be getting settled back into a regular posting schedule now that the holidays are almost over. My life will also be taking on a little more structure next week as I begina new adventure with Ekhoff Ochenkoski & Polk Architects. Back to the regular workday schedule at last. Having a six week "vacation" was nice but, it's painfully obvious I need a regular workday to keep my sleeping schedule in line. For anyone who missed it, my former employers, Pearson & Peters Architects, thought it'd be cute to lay me off two weeks before Thanksgiving when we have a baby on the way. But I was not to be put off my these kinds of set-backs. Honestly, I had wanted to leave ever since Larry Bander had left the firm a year ago... But it hardly seemed like a time to be taking risks since we were planning a wedding, buying a house, and ultimately (though unbeknownst to us at the time) starting a family. So take the lesson, if you sit around wishing you could do something and you don't get off your but and do it, the universe is likely to give you a push... Take the hint. Seems to be if they hadn't fired me I'd be sitting there miserable with no raise, no bonus, and having to listen to the partners talk about their new plasma screen TVs and digital cameras after they explain why there's no money for the employees.... jeez.

In any case, EOP was my first choice for a firm... in fact I'd have left my old job for this one in a heartbeat if I were still there. They do really nice work, I know several people working there already (at least one is a former co-worker) and perhaps the greatest plus in EOP's favor is the polished professionalism of a firm which takes pride in their work. In many ways, that alone made them a first choice. A firm that puts some thought into the way they are perceived reveals more than marketting savvy, it reveals a genuine interest in their clients' thoughts and feelings. It makes it easy for their employees to take pride in their work. You just can't skimp on that.

Well, I begin a new chapter in my life on Monday... and I begin that chapter with a freshly painted nursery and a year's worth of weekend home-improvement projects under my belt. I'll return tomorrow with my new year resolutions! Everyone get out and have a great time tonight! Party responsibly, no ammount of pent up energy is worth dying for. If you have a pregnant wife, like I do, you have the best designated driver in the world... and if you don't, try to remember that there are pregnant wives out there on the road too. I expect to see everyone in my life back next year with nothing more than a slight hangover to complain about.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!