I'm moving to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. I'm quite excited about it, and believe it will be a good move personally and professionaly.
This is a big move for me. I've lived in the Twin Cities for 26 years, and while I am looking forward to forging new relationships, it does necessarily mean the end of a lot of current ones.
My company has an office in Phoenix so it is literally a transfer. I know a lot of the people in the Phoenix office, and I will continue to work with a lot of people in the Minneapolis office, but I won't be seeing them day to day. They threw me a southwestern theme party today, and gave me a new Superman computer keyboard and mouse (cool!). They seem genuinely sad that I am leaving. I am tremendously touched.
I am leaving my church, where I have been quite active. In a way, this might be good; in my new church, when I find one, I'll be the "new guy," and won't be expected to work so much right away. I can sit back and just learn.
I am leaving my parents (no, I don't live at home, but they live about 10 miles away). They have often said that they would like their sons to live in different parts of the country so they could visit. I'm just doing what I'm told! They are helping to pay for the move. I hope it's out of love, and not to get rid of me!!
I am leaving my running group, although truth-be-told, I haven't been going for about a year. There are a lot of groups in Phoenix, though. I can go with low expectations.
I am leaving my beer hall, the Groveland Tap (home of the Juicy Lucy). They don't know it yet, I'll tell them this Saturday. They are great, they let me watch track meets and the Tour de France on TV, even when there's a Twins game or pro football. I'm going to buy a couple of T-shirts and some of their beer glasses.
I am leaving my comic book shop. No disrespect meant to any of my other relationships, but this is the one where I was feeling the most guilt. My shop, Uncle Sven's, is literally a hole-in-the-wall, owned by Uncle Ken who runs it as a hobby while he lives and works in Detroit. He hires relatives to keep it open three days a week. He is operating at razor-thin profits; I suspect that he is actually running it at a loss, treating it as the cost of his hobby. But figure I spend about $2000 per year. If he is running at a loss, could he afford losing $2000 of revenue? But things have a way of working out -- Ken has decided to retire the shop after 24 years. He sold it to the Source Comics and Games, my second-favorite shop. It will be run as a satellite shop, sharing inventory with the main shop. It is win-win for comic book geeks in the 'hood. It stays open, keeps the Uncle Sven's name, Ken gets out, and I can leave without feeling that I have bankrupted one of my favorite stores.
