When It's Time To Change.....

Change is a good thing, right???

I have to keep telling myself that.

I just found out yesterday that my team is going to be moving to a different office, out of the city and into the 'burbs.
Here's a little background, to catch y'all up:

I started working in IT (software testing) for company 'A' back in 2001.
In 2007, company 'A' was bought by a much larger company - company 'B' (complete with a Boogie, Woogie, Bugle Boy....Anybody?....Nobody.)
Even though I work for company 'B' - I'm still only supporting the systems for company 'A'. Until all the systems convert from 'A' to 'B' I'll continue to do my 'old' job.
In the past few months, there has been an effort (albeit VERY minimal) to integrate my teammate and I (there are only two of us who remain from company 'A') into the 'new' team. Basically, the goal is to teach us how their systems work and how things are done in the IT world of company 'B'. That's why I've been working out of a different office once a week for the past few weeks.
Are you still with me?

That being said, we're ALL (all the testers) being moved to a central location within the next 4-6 weeks. Just to make things more confusing, the place we're moving to - isn't the place that I've been working out of once a week for the past few weeks, but a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT place which I've never even seen. Nice.


As far as the commute is concerned, I'll no longer have to pay $4 a day to park and I won't have to shell out $223 a month for a commuter rail pass. Instead, I'll be driving 22.44 miles on what could be a very congested stretch of highway (actually a couple of highways).
Of course, if my hours stay the same I may be OK, but who knows?

There are definitely pros and cons to the entire situation.

On the 'con' side, I'll totally miss the people I've been working with and sitting near for the past few years, I'll miss all the reading I was able to do on the train, and most of all I'll miss working in the city. Everything is right here and if I needed to run any errands during the day or simply go for a walk it's all so incredibly convenient.

On the 'pro' side, I'll be saving a lot of money (over $3,000 a year) by not taking the train, my commute will be a lot shorter even with traffic, and I'll still have a job. :-)
I'm not going to worry about it. I spent the first 5 years of my 'work life' doing a very similar commute and I managed to survive. In fact, I clearly remember going into a minor panic about having to work in the city.
It'll all turn out just fine.

In other news (as if this post isn't long enough) - the two Cardinals that took up residence in the azalea bush outside our living room window are now the proud parents of a little, baby bird. It's so cool to watch the mother and father interact with one another, as well as the baby - and it's crazy how they keep a VERY close eye on the nest anytime were outside. They're always watching.
Bird parents are awesome.

Have a GREAT Tuesday!!!!

This isn't the actual bird couple that live with us, but they look just like them. :-)

I'm totally buying this for them....I hope they like it.