I've been a bit pre-occupied with life lately

As reported before I have been seriously looking to leave Minneapolis. I sort of freaked out recently when I learned the Mall of America celebrated it's 25th Birthday; I remembered just getting into town and construction had just started. The catalyst for everything has been this last winter. I just can't deal with 6-7 months of cold weather anymore and I slipped and fell on icy sidewalks twice. I'm a warm weather creature by nature and would rather wear less clothes.

There have been so many reasons

why I stayed for so long, but the bottom line is fear of change. I'm not gonna go into it all except to say that it's easier to change the external circumstance and not have to look at one's own internal process. @stacyquast, my wonderful partner, has been instrumental in inviting me to really check in and reflect where I'm at and what I truly want. It's a process of undoing lifelong patterns. Suffice it to say there has been tremendous growth.

I applied for a new job

in Austin TX partly because it has a young and vibrant culture, its warm, close to Mexico, and fully accepting of letting your phreak flag fly. I'm so delighted that I got the job! I was offered the job last Friday and was stunned how good it was, I mean they're gonna pay to re-locate our asses, with all our crap, down to Austin. They're even paying for us to visit so we can find a house to rent. It's been a long time since that has happened so it feels pretty good to feel valued. There's also a kick ass salary with benefits. I've been working on contract for the last 5 years paying for my own healthcare (sometime going without) so that part feels pretty good.

While in Austin

this past weekend, I met up with @Roadscape and talked all things Steemit, among other things, while eating at this amazing place:

One thing I can say is that I'll never bitch about Steemit being slow or down ever again. Those guys work tirelessly on the back end making things happen.

I'm so excited about being part of the Blockchain community in Austin and can't wait to go to some Meetups. Everything seems so magical when you first get to a city! Cool coffee shops like this:

and..

Austin also seems dog friendly. I was saddened to hear that I missed the Weiner Dog races in a nearby city.

So the work continues into our Austin transition. I'll give my 2 weeks notice at work tomorrow, and start consolidating 25 years worth of crap I've accumulated. I'm not a hoarder by any stretch but I'll be busy on Craigslist trying to sell or give things away!

Stay tuned for updates!!