Order of Operations

I punch a bunch of numbers into my phone calculator the other day and got a rather weird result. Weird only because I totally forgot that my phone understood orders of operations and did not just calculate from left to right. This should not be ground breaking information as most devices are programmed in this manner. I only bring this up because I also forgot the order of operations as it applies to my life.

I recently accepted a job as a Software Engineer, my dream job. I however forgot that there were other parts of the equation that really needed to be considered. First of all I really liked where I was. The work was interesting and the people were totally awesome from the day I stepped in the door.

I've remarked to my people at home many a time that "this will all pass" and "they're being nice to the new guy." I figured that once the new guy shine wore off I would get the dirty looks and the sharp tongues. I waited and waited and waited to get down to the business as usual but it never came.

I dreaded the day I had to resign. For the first time in my short existence it was real difficult to leave a job. This was perhaps more difficult than when I left Kodak at the end of college when everyone around me was pink slipped. That time was more tragic because guys who were with the company over 20 years were being let go but it was expected given the hardships of the company.

The next problem is that my dream job is in New Jersey. As I understand it currently my choices are as follows:

1. Drive to Jersey 1.5 hours everyday with a possibility of a 2 plus hour drive in the winter

2. Take a 2.5 hour subway to path to bus ride to Jersey daily.

3. Move to Jersey

Choices 1 and 3 will cost about the same. Choice three would also mean that I would essentially have a weekday and weekend home.

It's all a bit much for me. As of today I now have 12 day to have all of this figured out. I've essentially wasted two days doing housework for a place I may not be officially in within 2 weeks.