I exchanged emails with my friend Al the other day. We used to work together in Bangor for the FAA. That was twenty years ago. How time flies. Twenty years ago this month I hooked the largest tow-behind uhaul they'd let me put on a little 200sx datsun, packed it with all my earthly belongings, and headed east from Wyoming. This included my cat (spaz?), who spent the next couple of days hiding under the seats and boxes during daylight, only to emerge at twilight to stalk the confines of the car to the high pitch drone of a four cylinder being pushed too hard.

Pennsylvania greeted us with roads worn such that they set up a harmonic oscillation between car and trailer. At any speed above 50 things would start rocking so violently I thought I'd lose the trailer. So we bided our time in the slow lane, waiting for a friendlier interstate. The interstate that greeted us in Maine had a different problem. It was white with ice and I was nervous to be driving at any speed, yet cars zipped by at full speed without a care. I finally pulled over to inspect the road and found it was covered in a crust of salt, not the packed snow I'd been worrying over. Salt on the roads, what kind of place is this?

Finally I arrived in Bangor to meet my new boss and co-workers, including Al. I'd been told that they needed me to start ASAP, thus the hurried trip across the US in the middle of winter. Well, the only reason they needed that was to get me in to the closing year's head count and budget. I wouldn't be allowed to work on any equipment until I'd gone to a number of courses in Oklahoma, which wouldn't be for months. I eventually volunteered to PAINT things, despite my hatred of painting, just to fight off boredom.

All in all it turned out to be a great job and learning experience. A few years later I got a call about a job opportunity from my old Air Force buddy in Lebanon, one state over. "It's the music industry, Jer, just last week Laurie Anderson was walking down the hall and last year Sting played at our Christmas party!" Hey, how can you resist that? Another fun and interesting experience, even if the company went belly up within the next couple of years and there weren't famous musicians walking the halls.

Coming out of that job I met and married Faith, with whom I've shared innumerable adventures and love dearly. Now here it is, fifteen years later, and we have a new, zaney baby. I don't think I could have anticipated any of what would happen when I moved East, but it was all worth it, even the crazy and the bad parts.

Still, I'm ready to move someplace warmer...