2005-07-07

Unlike the Garth Brook song, I�ve got friends in high places. Or rather, I�ve impressed people that have moved to other companies with my hard work, dedication, and the fact that I�m presentable. Don�t underestimate being the best dressed person in the office. If you back it up with hard work, well, doors are opened.

So,I�ve been offered a job. A very sweet job. A managing director job. Stock, signing bonus, corner office, and my own office assistant job. Not a hefty raise, but enough of one that it makes a difference. They want me to be in Salt Lake City on August 1st.

Yes. Utah.

I honestly can�t believe that I�m taking a job that will take me off the coast of this great country of ours. It took a lot of soul searching. It�s scary actually. I�m moving to a place I know nothing about, where I have no friends or family. I�ve never done that before. I�ve had a tough couple of weeks with it. I�ve been spending a lot of my weekends in San Ramon at my Aunt and Uncle�s house. They�ve enjoyed the company, and I�ve enjoyed it as well. Unlike the city with it�s enforced closeness the suburbs offer a different illusion of privacy, with the manicured lawns and the homeowners association of Blackhawk enforcing with near lethalness within their edicts of color, landscaping, and where the domestic help can park and for how long.

I�m not worried about the job. The job I will excel at. I�m worried about my personal life. I�m not one to approach people. I�m not one to get involved with things. I saw some missionaries the other day in Golden Gate Park and I felt like asking them, except the missionaries in San Francisco are always from Brussels or Germany and I don�t think they would have any clue what Salt Lake is like.

Last week I flew in for my final interview and I have to say that visually, Salt Lake is a lovely town. I was only there for a day though. I should have made arrangements to stay for a weekend, get to know the town. They were having this big Art Festival that looked interesting, although you had to pay to get in, which I thought was strange. And the downtown area is really very urban, with these giant green mountains just behind. It dwarfs the buildings. I also thought it strange that after the interview, and after the lunch (at P.F. Changs, which was nice but I would have honestly preferred a local dive. I�m always taking visiting clients to hole in the wall Chinese places and Deli�s, not because of the price, but because I think it gives one a more real taste of San Francisco) they presented me with the offer letter to take back with me. I knew I had nailed the job, that I was the person they wanted, they needed. But I expected a Fed Ex envelope to tell me so, not a legal sized manila self addressed and stamped. Perhaps it was a bit of a test. To see if I can adapt to this place, to see if I was going to be a snob. Or maybe I�m just thinking about it too much, and they had already made up their mind. They just wanted to hedge their bets with a meeting.

Regardless, they get me. I�m leaving on July 23rd, driving out and trying to find an apartment. I get two weeks at a hotel to find one, but looking at Craig�s List there seem to be plenty nearby with immediate move ins. The movers are expected on the 5th or 6th so I�ve got a tough deadline. It will be kind of strange, my apartment here in SF I got through a company, they pre-screened me, found out where I wanted to live and what I wanted and found me a place within days. I don�t think there is a service like that in Salt Lake, or rather, but then my meager skills at Google probably have something to do with that. So, now I�ve got my farewell party to plan.

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