2008

January

On the first day of 2008 I had PRK preformed on both of my eyes.  I spent 3 years thinking seriously about having eye surgery.  My decision to have PRK instead of LASIK was made when I searched LASIK on youtube.  One of the first results was a LASIK flap amputation.  No thank you, not for me!  Also when I had gone to the first two consultations at two well known LASIK places in town, both because of recommendations, they both had me feeling like I was at a car lot.  They just did not make me feel good.  I decided to go to the Casey Eye Institute at OHSU.  It cost me $150 just for the consultation, but what a difference!  They totally made me feel comfortable and they were being honest with me and not avoiding answering some of my hard questions.

PRK has a longer recovery time than LASIK, but I was 100% aware of it so it did not concern me much.  All in all, it was a good decision, but I do not recommend it to anyone without them doing a lot of homework first them self.  Don't just listen to the marketing people, and don't assume that everyone has a good experience with eye surgeries.  I am happy to tell people all the details, if they want to listen, but they can be a little graphic.  ;)

February

I left the country for the first time (Canada does not count) in February, I went to Israel.  So many people thought I was crazy for going, they could not get that I wanted to just go.  I still can not sum up my feelings about going in less than 2 hours (sorry for anyone that had to listen to me before I could get it down to 2 hours) so I am not going to drag you though it.  You can take the picture tour.  Summed up, I loved it.

March and April

My search for a new job started picking up the pace.  I got an interview for a company that I would have loved to work for.  Just applying for the job was nerve racking, as I did not want to mess anything up.  Once I got past the first phone interview, it got a little easier.  Once I made it to the in person interviews, I was having so much fun, if I did not get the job I would not have cared, the interviews were fun.  The in person interviews were tough.  They seemed to be asking questions about things that were not on the job description.  When I left, I felt that I had done OK, but not great.  After what seemed like 2 months (in reality it was 2 weeks) I got my rejection phone call.  I still had fun during the process.  Looking back, I would have been a good idea to have had a couple of interviews under my belt before applying for this job, but oh well.

July

After 6+ months of looking, applying, and interviewing for new jobs I finally had a couple of offers.  One offer was for a company in Tigard, making what I was looking for as far as pay was concerned.  The other being in San Antonio, TX making just a little more than I was currently making.  I found out that the place in Tigard was not a good place to work, and the place in SA had an amazing reputation for being a great place to work.  I now had the hardest decision I had ever made in my life to make.  Take the job in SA, move away from everyone and everything I know or wait and see what other offers I could get.

August

I moved to San Antonio, TX in August.  I left Vancouver, with what fit in my car on July 28, I rivaled the Beverly Hillbillies with how funny my car looked.  I took 4 days to drive down.  It was a fun drive.  I wish I would have had a bit more time, and even more so wish I would have had someone with me to enjoy it with.  TX is like a foreign country.  Nothing was normal.  I could not figure out how to get anywhere. I wanted to just start driving back about 2 days after being here.

November

For Thanksgiving this year I went to Houston to visit Linda and David Ling.  I had been in TX 4 months and still had not found time to go over and visit.  They are the only people I knew in the whole state.  It was a fun weekend.  I had been told that Houston was not that great of a place, but I liked it.  It was a bit of a reminder when I got out of the car at how much closer to the ocean they are than SA, the humidity was gross.

December

I went home to Vancouver in December for Jason and Andrea's wedding.  The wedding went off great despite the snow and the 20 degree temperatures.  My plans to see a lot of people were thrown all out with the snow.  I was still able to see many people, and overall I had a great time visiting.  It just gives me more of a reason to come back sooner.

And that was 2008 in a nut shell.  Hello 2009.