End of Year Update

It's been awhile since I posted but that's because things got busy for us. I interviewed for a job in August and didn't hear back so figured I'd hadn't gotten it. I'd been on only two interviews after sending out hundreds (no kidding) of resumes and applied to another hundred or so online applications through Monster, craigslist, ASU, etc.

I figured it was gong to be a bleak future indeed since we still haven't sold the house in Iowa and Alec took a huge pay cut with this job at ASU (but something is better than nothing, yes?), but I don't borrow trouble.

I wait until there is no doubt that trouble has found me and is pounding me into the ground. :)

Anyway, in early September I got a call from the recruiter who'd pre-interviewed me over the phone and arranged the physical interview and she told me that they wanted to offer me the job but that I couldn't start until their new fiscal year in October. Like that was going to make me say no?!

The company is Sage Software. They're UK owned and they produce software many of you may have heard of: ACT!, Peachtree Accounting, SalesLogix, and more. They're enterprise oriented (=medium to large size businesses) and I work on the SalesLogix (aka SLX) product which is a customer relations management software.

I'm the tech writer for all the documentation for that program, all of it's child programs and other programs that customize it (Intellisync, Visual Analyzer, etc. which are helper programs that make SLX more versatile). It's a steep learning curve and they were well into the development cycle for a service pack release when I started, with an RTM (release to manufacturer) of Feb 09 on the calendar.

I made the Beta date (in December) with no time to spare and am now tweaking to make sure that when we go RC (release candidate) this month that my stuff is in good shape. I'm busy all day and sometimes don't even realize it's time to go at the end of the day. I love it and the people so it's the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately, it's in Scottsdale and we live 45 minutes south. So, it's back to the long commute, but they offer the opportunity to telecommute a couple days a week after the probationary period so I can look forward to that.

Can I just tell you the fact that I have a job is great? Whew.

So, in the five weeks I had before I started work I painted nearly every room in the house, stopping only with those rooms I knew we were going to gut and completely redo. The bathrooms and the kitchen. It really only served to highlight the friggin popcorn ceilings but that's for another day.

Alec is doing well in his lab. He has issues of another nature there. Academia is so very different from bio-tech and big pharma. There is no incentive to update practices or upgrade equipment (esp since there's very little money to do so) and the grad students are only taught what their professors know. Depending on the professor sometimes that's pretty old knowledge.

Ian and Mac finished the semester with respectable grades after a tough start (3rd new school in 6 years). Both are in the upper 3.0s (something like 3.5 for Mac and 3.2 for Ian).

Ian tried out for but did not make the basketball team, though the coach asked him to manage the varsity team. We think he must have already had his team picked out but liked something he saw in Ian and wanted him around. There are only 3 managers for the varsity team. One is a senior who just transferred here this year and another is in a wheelchair and couldn't play but has great spirit. Ian's been having a good time with it but the schedule is pretty grueling. It doesn't leave a lot of time for him to practice driving so he can get his license in March. (!)

Mac has been keeping the home fires burning in World of Warcraft and seems happy that way. He's got friends at school but schedules and distance preclude hanging out after school. Fact of life in an urban area: you don't necessarily live in the same neighborhood as your friends from school and everybody's parents work and want you at home and no friends over.

It's just as well. We're all up and out of the house by 7am, the boys get home between 3 and 3:30 and Alec and I get home between 6 and 6:30. Ian and Mac catch separate buses at different times and Alec and I have different travel paths to work as well. So those schedules don't leave time for much after you factor in homework, dinner, dishes, basketball practice and/or games, etc.

Ian continues to be very involved in music. We found a brand new electronic keyboard with synthesizer features at a garage sale this last fall, so he's added that to his growing assortment. Our development does this huge weekend sale where every other house (it seemed like) clears out their garage and storage and sells it all. And let me tell you there was some good stuff. Note to my family: first weekend in November this is the place to find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

Mac has continued to hone his comedic skills. He really is a funny guy. Not sure where he gets it from but he's a quick wit and delivers an original line like a pro. I'm also not sure when he finds the time to develop his stuff, he must do it in his sleep, but he keeps us laughing which is a good thing.

We all continue to wrestle with the different weather here. It just did not feel like Christmas with 80 degree temps and no snow in sight. It's cooled off considerably since the summer and we have seen the temps dip into the 30s at night (it IS the desert after all), but it's just not the same. We really miss the snow.

So, we're headed out New Years weekend to a cabin in Greer, Arizona for a little snow fix. The boys will head to the slopes at Sunrise and ski while I curl up by the fire and read.

Then after a couple days of bliss it'll be back to the daily grind, which, truthfully, is welcome. The alternative is just too terrible to contemplate.

We're so thankful that we both have jobs after the nosedive our country's economy has taken. We're grateful we haven't lost anything and can pay for the roof over our head and the one that isn't. That we can take a trip to the snow and ski and that we're probably safe from all the layoffs that have happened and appear poised to continue to happen.

We're very happy with the outcome of the election (and yes, there are some pretty disgruntled McCain supporters here in Arizona... I work with some of them) and hold hope that things will get better for everyone... eventually.

We wish all the best to everyone in the new year and hope to see some or all of you at some point. We visited family in California over Thanksgiving and had a blast reconnecting with some people we hadn't seen in almost 10 years. The rest of you are next!

That's it from ClanSutherland for now. Hopefully I'll find time to post regularly again and yes, perhaps to finish the Iowa blog as well. I know some of you are dying to see the final pictures and it might be a little easier now to look at them. We'll see.