Southern Boy in ChiTown

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Aloha Means Goodbye

I think this is finally it. After two weeks of being very cagy, my Chicago boss (everyone at my company has at the very minimum two bosses, often more) finally announced my departure (within the company and to our customer) two weeks after I'd let him know about the offer and only one week away from my getting the hell out (and only 4 hours away from me getting the hell outta Dodge). No big sendoff for me since hardly anyone actually comes into the office on Fridays in the summer but I did have a chance to say goodbye to a couple of my customers that I have some respect for.

Thursday night was a little poignant - I had too much work to do to spend much time out but I did at least go for a walk along the river and up Michigan a couple of blocks before heading back to the apartment I was borrowing. Frankly I felt like the previous week was really my swan song as I had little time this week to do much other than buy another six pack of Heineken from Bockwinkel's and get back to work every night.

Friday I left the office around 12:30 - missed saying goodbye to the few people that were actually there but if I'd waited for them to come back from lunch I'd have been late getting out to Midway. It was all very, very anticlimactic, but that's been the case as I've left the last two accounts I was associated with, so I supposed that's par.

It's been incredibly nice being home this weekend and actually feeling like I was home. Stopped in at Woody's downtown this afternoon while J was at church and had a long conversation with a fellow techie (much cuter than me) about moving away and coming back home to Chapel Hill and what a relief that is and it's all true. Chicago was an experience that I will take many learnings away from, but I'm glad it's over.

I may post once or twice more from this address but for the most part I think we can stick a fork in it - it's pretty well done. I appreciate all of you that have read and left your comments. Most of you came over from my previous blog that I'm starting to rejuvenate, so I hope you will return to reading me there. If you somehow stumbled across me down another path, pop me a note at chitownsoboyatyahoo.com and I'll send you the URL of my other blog.

Thanks, y'all - and thanks to Chicago for being livable, fun and a decent place to spend a few months as long as one is on an expense account!

Aloha.

2 Comments:

  • Thanks for the stories. We've enjoyed them. As it happens, my brother just got a new gig that will require him to be up there for four weeks of training, so he might well be in touch soon.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:39 PM  

  • Welcome back to Chapel Thrillsville - Will

    ps. I hope you keep this blog up for posterity. I thas some interesting resonance for those of us in the tech field.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:38 AM  

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