Back in the USA

Well after a 9 months of living abroad and 4 months without flying home at all I am finally back in the USA and settled in. In fact after the last 3 and ½ years of constant travel I have been home a little over 4 weeks. That is the longest time I have regularly slept in my own bed since October of 2005. At first I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself. Actually I still don’t. I go into the office most days and get involved in what I can but until I get staffed on a new project things will be a little slow. However I have been able to start working on the house again.

Surprisingly there wasn’t that much need to adjusting to being back in the states. I guess I wasn’t gone that long. Driving on the right side versus the left didn’t cause any problems and in general things are easier to do in the States so if anything I have to get used to the idea that I can accomplish a lot more on a Saturday than just going to the post office. That was always the problem in the UK the store hours were short, it took twice as long to get around, and three times as long to accomplish anything once you got there. So I do find it a little amazing that I can go to the bank, Target, Home Depot, the Grocery store, and the post office all in a couple of hours. That same list of errands would take all week of my lunch hours in the UK.

Now working on the house again is probably the best thing about being between projects. Rather than trying to cram a lot of work in on weekends I can simply do a few hours a day. You can make a lot of progress just by putting a little time in everyday (thanks for that lesson dad sorry it took so long to take!). I am hoping that once RG is home and working we can focus on the house and get a bathroom added and redo the kitchen. Currently I am working on cleaning up the hallway upstairs (hopefully completed before the wife gets home) and then I will do prep work for the new bathroom. It is also very nice to work with my hands again. Even if sometimes I have to do chores I don’t want to.

As for work, well I am luckily still employed. I worked enough billable hours in the fall to make up for the last month and then some. So while I am looking for a new project and hope to hit the road again soon in the next few weeks who knows. I only control a part of my destiny at work. So for now I will just enjoy the routine of going to the office downtown, leaving early-ish, and going home to my own house so I can sleep in my own bed. Once I get staffed again it could be another 3.5 years without a break.