I completed my last day of work in California on Friday and it was a melancholy experience.  In fact, this whole week has been melancholy.  I feel like saying “goodbye” to coworkers and even places that I may never see again.  For instance, while driving in to work on Friday, I stopped at the local doughnut shop to pick up my last applefritter for my last commute on my last day of work.  That shop helped provide life sustaining sugar during my 3 years in graduate school.  In fact, that shop has been very instrumental in helping me store extra fat to protect against the long, harsh winters of Colorado.  In my mind, I said goodbye to the short Asian baker, as well as his shop, as I walked out.

I spent Friday morning throwing out papers, cleaning up my cubical, and boxing up all the junk I have managed to accumulate during the past 6 years I have worked at Lockheed Martin.  I amazingly have 6 boxes of junk…mostly textbooks I collected during school, most of which  I haven’t cracked open since I finished 2 years ago.

Saying goodbye to my coworkers, my desk, my building, my friends, my family in the area is a melancholy experience because this has been my home for nearly 6 years (as of February 2).  We’ve (or I’ve) contemplated moving since I moved to California, but it’s entirely different to be going through with it.  Packing, planning, house hunting, paperwork, more paperwork, uncertainty, excitement, fear, hope.

Last week I had a couple nights in a row of events – one night was a friend’s baby shower, the next night was another friend’s bridal shower.  Adelle is really in to going out with us, so while we were talking about our activities for the week, she let me know she wanted to go with me both nights.  I told her I would not be able to take her to the bridal shower, but she could come with me to the baby shower.  She agreed, and we went to the baby shower together.

She brought her own crayons and coloring book with her, and she ended up being the only toddler there.  And she was very quiet, did her own thing, and of course REALLY enjoyed the cupcake I let her have.  About halfway through while my friend was opening her presents, Adelle turns to me and says, “Mommy, I want to go to the baby shower.”

Me, “We’re here at the baby shower.”  Adelle, “No, I want to go to the bathroom.”  Me, “You need to go potty?”  Adelle, “No, I want to go the bathroom for the baby shower.”

I realized I should have explained the term baby shower – she was thinking water fun in the bathroom.  I explained the concept to her, and I think she now understands that it is a party where you “shower” the mom-to-be with presents.

Last year (2009), I made several lofty goals…one of which was blogging one time per week.  Apparently that was too difficult for me and I gave up after my March 7th post.  I have NOT made the same goal this year.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but I may be more active in my posts by not having a specific goal.

Big changes will be happening for us during this year.  First of all, we are moving to Denver, Colorado!  I’ve wanted to move there ever since starting work in California.  California has been very good to me (wife, child, family, marriage, school, work), but I feel ready to leave the state.  I interviewed for a Mechanical Engineering job with a different group at Lockheed Martin in late November and was offered and accepted the position just before Christmas.  I will start work on January 25th and we will be moving out ~1 week prior to that.  We are excited for the new opportunities, but will be sad to leave family and friends behind.

Another big change is that we are expecting another child in late July or early August!  Good thing we are moving because we don’t have room for another child in this place…especially after all the toys that Adelle received from Christmas and her recent birthday party.

One more thing I forgot to mention, the company will be moving us to Colorado.  It is a comprehensive moving package.  Movers will come in, pack everything, and ship it all to Colorado for us.  Thank goodness…because I really didn’t want to move our ~300-lb 36? tube TV down 3 flights of stairs, let alone the ~450-lbs of food storage under our bed!