"BoulderZ" (BoulderZ)
12/12/2014 at 13:28 • Filed to: None
7
0|
"BoulderZ" (BoulderZ)
12/12/2014 at 13:28 • Filed to: None | 7
| 0 |
Thank you, Opponauts, for the support, camaraderie, and entertainment over the last 3 months! I was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It wasn't unexpected given the company's performance, and I was happy to have survived the first few rounds and make it out while there was still a good severance program. I had started there in 2000, so it was a good run. The money, time-off plans, and benefits (outside of the health coverage, which was terrible) had been great. I had even enjoyed the times with lots of travel, over 50% a couple of years.
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As much fun as all that was, though, I'd always wanted to be in the science research agencies, foundations, or academia rather than in the corporate vendors supporting them, no matter how scientific/technical my positions had been. Last Friday I got an offer on my dream job. It couldn't be a better match if I'd written the job description myself. My new coworkers are some of the best in the field, in addition to being really nice people.
In looking around a bit, I had figured that swapping corporate-world for science-land was probably going to mean a sizable pay cut. I was fine with that; not trusting US employers, we have always lived well below our means and saved aggressively. A funny thing happened, though. I had not accounted for the pay-depressing effects of how my previous employer was doing (and managed) and the pay-boosting effects of 13 years of experience and publications. No, no there is not a pay cut at all and the health insurance and care are much better. I even gained a few days of sick/vacation/holidays.
Car related? You bet. The job search work was taking all my time, and severance doesn't last forever, so things like track days, tires, parts, and upgrades had all been put off. Even maintenance parts and work were deferred when possible. What can I say, we are very "frugal" family. It sounds better than "cheap". So, first thing I did this week (after turning in a raft of paperwork to my new employer), was to go buy a set of wheels and winter tires for my wife's car. Momo Winter Pro's with Nokian Hakkapellita R2s. This should be much better than the worn out "all season" tires that were on there. Now we can start shopping for new warm weather tires as well.
Next up? New track wheels and tires for the Z. I'm tired of trying to get trackable tires that are also street legal and fit on 15" wheels with zero offset. The Yoko's were perfect, and now they're discontinued. A set of 16s or 17s will open up a lot of options for track, and I can keep the 15s nice for shows and driving. One open question is when to buy the TIG welder and build a custom multi-purpose trailer whose uses will include tire and gear hauling to the track behind the Z.
We'll see where it all goes, but we won't go nuts. We'd like to "retire" (travel? hobbies? back for the PhD, perhaps?) sooner rather than later, and we feel paying for college is part of the cost of having a kid. I suspect we may need a new roof on the house in the next 5 years. Those are certainly more important than an Aston Martin; but, I'm not sure by how much.
For now, I'm enjoying the couple of weeks before I start my new job. There's a lot to do, between the holidays, projects, and preparing to work full time again. On the way home from the tire shop this week, I stopped by the grocery store to get some steaks for a celebratory dinner. I parked the Z out in the emptier, less crazy part of the lot as usual. When I came back, it had made a friend! A similarly minded Porsche owner had parked their Boxster next to me in the spirit of safety in numbers. I took it as a good sign and couldn't resist grabbing a quick phone pic.