ch ch ch ch changes.....

[caption id="attachment_1623" align="alignright" width="300"] All ready for my first day! Nervous as HECK I might add![/caption]

"Turn and face the change...."

The last month and half have brought a whole lot of changes, some happy, some sad, some both and some that are down right scary.  I am sitting and typing this up from the Best Western Capital Beltway in Lanham, Maryland.  As my mailing address is in a small town called "Binghamton, New York" - it raises a question of why on earth am I five and a half hours from home?

[caption id="attachment_1624" align="alignleft" width="350"] This weeks home-away-from-home.[/caption]

Well, about 6 weeks ago - around the time of my last blog post, I drove down here for a job interview with the Volunteers of America Chesapeake.  Around 4 weeks ago, they gave me a call and offered me the job as the Director of Information Systems for the company.  Needless to say, I accepted.  (The funny part is that I was out riding my motorcycle when they called - so I actually had to call them back! )

[caption id="attachment_1625" align="alignright" width="300"] I think I look much less nervous on day 2![/caption]

The last month has been busy.  At my old job at ACHIEVE, I have been doing my best to document EVERYTHING that I did, so that my successor would have a much better idea of what was going on as they came on board.  At home, it has been a whirlwind of packing things up - some to go to the thrift store/Salvation Army, others to go into storage and still more because we ARE going to need furniture/clothes/dishes even though we are living in a new place!  It has been (and will continue to be) a fantastic opportunity to get rid of a bit of the junk stuff we have collected over the years we have lived here.  It is hard living so far from my wife and children, but we talk on SKYPE every night, and I will be back friday night until sunday afternoon.

On the running front, I have done... Umm... Not much.  My foot has continued to bother me, and I have held out hoping the pain would finally go away.  I have given up on that now.  I figure if my foot is going to hurt, I am just going to have to learn to run with a foot that hurts!  With having done no real running since the beginning of April, I am starting from scratch.  It's a blow to the pride of course, but I made my bed - time to spruce it up and make it better!  Sunday night I hopped on the hotel treadmill and ran 2 miles at an incline of 2!  I repeated this Monday morning, Monday evening and Tuesday morning for a total of 8 miles in those three days.  Last night (Tuesday evening) I decided my tired legs deserved a little break and went to bed at 8:00.  unfortunately when I went down this morning, someone else was on the treadmill, so running was out.  I hopped on the bike and did 20 minutes there, and boy did my glutes notice I was doing something different!

Being away from my family is hard.  But living in a hotel room, I have no cookies, candy or other junk food around.  I have been able to watch my calorie intake easily, and had an easy time ensuring I get exercise.  Its a brand new beginning for work, a brand new beginning for living arrangements, and a brand new beginning for me and my health!

Next on my list of things to do: Find a place to live, get my family down here, rent/sell my house in NY, find a running partner or group here in Maryland and show the VOA Chesapeake that they not only made the right choice in hiring me - but the BEST choice!  Its an exciting time!