Well, I’m back. Not only to this blog, but to New Hampshire. But let’s start with this photo I took back in October while camping under a full moon with the Pathfinders on my friend Ken’s farm.

A full moon lights Ken's farm

A full moon lights Ken’s farm


That was a 15 second exposure.

Anyhow, I had been working down in Virginia since May, commuting (by car) back home every weekend. I’d leave there Friday around noon and get home around 10:00pm. Then I’d get back in the car and drive back down on Sunday, leaving between 2:00pm and 4:00pm, and arriving between 11:30pm and 1:30am.

It was brutal. Those 20 extra hours of driving every week pretty much took all the spare time and energy I had, so blogging had to take a back seat while I was confined to the driver’s seat. We thought we might have to move down there, but the housing market here (flat) and the housing market there (insane) dictated otherwise. Also, I am still very much in love with New Hampshire.

I had intended to stick it out for a full year, but an opportunity came my way. A friend of mine from where I worked until last November was interviewing at a company in Manchester, NH, and while they were talking to him, he kept thinking, “they are describing Jim, not me.” And he told them so. So they called me and set up an interview. I happened to be on vacation that week while my parents and two sisters were visiting (they came to see the foliage). They had to head back on a Thursday morning, so the interview was set up for Thursday afternoon. The company liked me enough to make an offer, and the rest is history. I’ve been there for a week now, and I must say that I really like it so far (even apart from the much better commute). I’m back to doing digital signal processing work, which is really what I like to do best. I find it challenging, fascinating, and fulfilling. The company is small (which I prefer) and dedicated to work-life balance (which I value).

I do have to say though that I enjoyed the actual work I was doing in Virginia. I gave them my all while I was there and am proud of the work I left behind. I got to reconnect with a lot of old friends (we had lived there for 18 years), and I made several new friends too. Hopefully I can do a better job of keeping in touch with them.

But it’s good to be back.