Greetings from the road...

Well, by the time you guys get to read this, I should be the other side of Wichita, somewhere on Highway 54 headed towards my new abode in the Valley of the Sun. A friend I hadn't talked with in a while emailed Wednesday to see how things were going, to see when the move was going to take place, and to let me know I had enriched his life with my time here in KC. He reminded me what an effect everyone here in KC - friends, family, co-workers, random strangers I met in bookstores - has had on me. Sometimes, especially when you're about to move on, you wonder what kind of effect your presence has had on those around you. We don't tell those around us often enough how much they effect us, but I'm going to attempt to let you in on the effect KC and it's denizens have had on me. I'm leaving names out, because I would surely forget someone...

Some of you have provided me insight into new ideas or brought old ones into a new light; others have helped reinforce my own ideals. Some of you have provided the occasional thought provoking conversation or blog posting, while others have provided a constant stream of humor (sometimes, at my own expense). Some of you have inspired me to be better at what I do; others have outright enabled it. Some of you have provided two years of comradery, while others I've only know for a few short weeks or months.

No matter who you are, how well we know each other, or for how long, you've provided me with something I'll take with me as I move on to this next stage in my life. There are a few of you I wish I could have known better. In particular, one I wish I could have known without the pending move in the background...

One thing you always wonder when you're about to make a change like this in your life: is it the right thing? This move, I'm certain, is the right thing for me to do. As most of you who have read this site probably gather, I'm not a religious person but rather a spiritual one. I don't believe there's an Almighty up above acting as a puppet master to set us on a predetermined path, but I do believe if we make our intentions known, we can surround ourselves with events that will make those intentions come to fruition. Earlier this year, while saying goodbye to extended family from the panhandle of Texas, I was reminded that I always have a place to stay with them if I make it out that direction. My response was, "If I had a job, I'd be out there tomorrow." I went on to explain that the southwest is my home and where I want to end up. Within the week, through a "random" series of events I discovered the company's website that listed the position I'm now filling.

The hand of God? My internal servo-mechanism? An infected quantum field that had no choice but to follow my wishes? Just dumb luck? I'm not sure on that part, yet I know this is what I should be doing. I also know that you've provided me with a few new standpoints on life, and for that I'm thankful.

This site will still be here and provide what it's always has. Now it'll just be based a handful of degrees of longitude and latitude to the west and south.

Thanks for knowing me... :-)