A page turned.

Continental Flight 582 from Houston to Boston is on time, hurtling through the inky open sky on the way to the next chapter for me. Today I start with a new company that's stacked with some of my old friends. My first gig is doing a 2 week training course in Boston with a company called Systinet. My company will be partnering with them on a couple of gigs to implement their software. I think it will be great to get off the treadmill of being a software vendor for a while. Motive was a fun ride, but the time was right to make a change. If i had been asked where I wanted to go in January for training, I think Boston would be one of the last places to get picked, but then I didn't get asked.

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Knowing I'd be heading up to winter today, Charles and I went out in the sun and wind yesterday and spent a few hours on the motorcycles. We had a good ride up north and east of Austin, passed the old Celle community house, a ranch in Plugerville that has a few dozen head of zebra, and up to Weir to visit Chaz's parents. I hope I saved up enough sun and warmth to last through three cold Boston nights.

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One major chore that I knocked out this week was cleaning out the closet in the office. Its brought up a bit of a dilemma though. Throughout my travels and studies in the eighties and ninetys, quite a bit of old corresspondence has stacked up and is in shoe boxes in the closets. Old snail mail, photos, cards. Its all there. I haven't touched it in years, and I'm not quite sure whether I everwill; this stuff is an artifact from a time prior to the internet and this form of journalling. I'm sure kids doing foreign exchange studies abroad today aren't nearly as paper-based. Should I keep this stuff? Who's going to read it if I'm not around? Its probably on its way out, but I'll save if a few more months.

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Holiday season was festive despite having the slight detour with my dad's side of the family for my grandmother's funeral. Good parties, good food, and now plenty of excess to work off while on the road. The funeral was what we expected, a smaller affair. I think as a family we're glad to have made it through; Charles thought it a bit strange, as he's used to quite more elaborate catholic services.

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I've arrived in Boston, and a friend of mine from college gave me a lift to my hotel out in the Boston burbs. They're calling it a January thaw this week with sun forecast, along with temperatures around 45 degrees. Wheh! I'll wear my sweater.