The first piece of news that we can finally tell everyone is: we’re pregnant! We’re about 13 weeks along or so, due in early March. Sorry, but we couldn’t tell that many people before telling our own parents! We are super excited!! And yes, we plan to find out whether it’s a boy or girl ahead of time, but we haven’t decided if we’re going to tell anyone (ha ha).
Next news, we made it to CA. Quite the interesting past few weeks, but very glad to be here. Don’t miss the humidity in MN at all. It still hasn’t sunk in that we now are going to live here, but I’m sure that will be more real once Matt starts work and we move into our apartment and make it a home. Here’s a rundown of what’s been happening, and what will happen:
Aug. 19: We get to hear the baby’s heartbeat at our doctor’s appointment (about 170 beats per minute). We tell Erin’s Mom and Dad they are going to be grandparents… the expressions on their faces! Everyone is excited.
Aug. 23: The packers (not from Green Bay) put all our stuff into boxes and put bar codes on each box. That night begins our homelessness as we move into a nearby hotel.
Aug. 24: The loaders put all the boxes on a 75-foot semi trailer to take to storage in CA. They estimated we had 4,000 lbs of stuff; the average house is 10,000 lbs. Really nice guy that drove the truck and oversaw the loading.
Aug. 25: Someone else shows up to put our car on a trailer. We start our American rental car ordeal (hmmm, how much should I say about this?!?!). Let’s just say we appreciate our Toyota even more now.
Aug. 26-30: We flew to Denver to vacation in Estes Park for a few days. Second American rental car. ;) Stayed at Aspen Winds, a neat luxury suites place run by a Christian family (thanks, Bennetts!). Toured Rocky Mountain National Park, and continued dreaming about the hopefully future day we will be able to live in the Colorado mountains. Matt calls his parents to ask if they’re ready to be grandparents—they give an enthusiastic yes!
Aug. 30-31: Stayed with Uncle Carl and Auntie Linda in the Cities, chilling out, with the 3rd American rental car. Made sure to eat at our favorite restaurants before saying good-bye to the Twin Cities for a while.
Sept. 1: We arrived in CA, picked up the 4th American rental car, settled into our temp housing—a furnished apartment (think 1-bedroom apartment meets hotel with less maid service) in Sunnyvale paid for by Microsoft. It was a long day, with many surprises, including the fact that Microsoft had reserved my plane ticket but never actually purchased it! So when I went to board, they wouldn’t let me on the plane. We called our relocation person and left a message, then called Microsoft Travel directly and they worked with the airline to get the ticket purchased so we could get on (they held the plane 10 minutes for us!).
Sept 2: We find out (for the 2nd time) that our car is set to be shipped to Bakersfield, CA (a long way from Sunnyvale; they were supposed to have fixed this) but is currently in the Bay Area. We frantically call our 2 contacts for relocation and car moving services.
Sept 3: They turned the truck around that was carrying our car and delivered it to our temp housing. Yay!
Sept: 6: Matt will start work at Microsoft, beginning with orientation that includes getting his laptop, explanations of benefits, etc. Erin will start planning the IKEA purchases for the new apartment (we will get to have matching livingroom furniture!).
Sept: 26: We will start moving into our apartment, a 1-bedroom with 713 square feet, black granite counters, cherry wood cupboards, washer/dryer, a huge walk-in closet and bathroom, and non-white walls (taupe, sage, etc.). Matt estimates it will be a 4.5-mile bike ride to work, which we plan to drive beforehand. The apartment is in a smaller complex, very modern and newly built, with a pool, exercise facility, and lounge with 700-disc DVD changer.
So, that’s a summary of our life. Many exciting and life-changing changes! Hope you’ll stay in touch with us!
Email addresses still the same for now.
Love ya all,
Erin & Matt
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
April Update
Hi all,
This is going out to a lot of folks because I don’t have time to write everyone individually. So I’m sorry if this is surprising or you don’t know enough details—email me if you’d like more clarity. Thanks for understanding!
Change is here! We came back from a recent trip with a surety that our time at CHAMP is over. We will be leaving CHAMP by May 6. We will continue as employees, but will work part-time remotely. Dave and Deb are fine with this (we told them last August we’d be leaving this spring/summer, when the current product is done). We will work for CHAMP from wherever we are for 10-15 hours/week at an hourly rate. The PDA product we’ve helped build is now in beta testing, and seems pretty stable.
Why are we doing this? For one, it’s time for Matt to move on to new professional challenges. We’ve grown a ton at CHAMP, but he needs to work with more experienced, passionate developers using the latest technology. Me, I’m ready to stop being a manager and just be a wife. If I get bored, I’ll pick up a job doing something non-computer, like working at a greenhouse or coffee shop. I still like working on websites, but spending 8-10 hours a day staring at a screen is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
When we gave our 2 weeks notice, our co-worker who worked on our development team and was learning support also gave his 2 weeks. So this week has been a bit frantic as we start a recruitment process. It will probably also mean I will be working 20 hours/week instead of 10, but such is life. I’m just excited to be working remotely and starting the process of leaving CHAMP. We’ll also get a new toy: a cell phone! That way we can check email from the road and, if we have to, provide support to CHAMP customers. Crazy what technology can do these days.
Our immediate plans are to drive to Reno, NV to visit Matt’s parents; after that we’re not sure exactly where we’ll go (CA? CO?). Wherever we go, we will be gone for the entire month of May and possibly the first week in June. We plan to return to MN in June, and decide what the next steps are from there. We may continue our travels, working part-time, for a while; or we may decide Matt is going to apply at Microsoft in Seattle. We just don’t know right now, and that’s ok. :) God is sovereign over every situation and transition.
We’ll be keeping the house, and have friends mow the lawn and water our plants. If there’s anyone in Mankato who would like a new house plant, let me know! I seem to have accumulated several, including some from work. I don’t care if they die in your care either!
Well, I now have even more work to do than before, so I’d better get to it! Have a great rest of the week. Hope to hear an update from you if you get a chance.
Erin & Matt Young
This is going out to a lot of folks because I don’t have time to write everyone individually. So I’m sorry if this is surprising or you don’t know enough details—email me if you’d like more clarity. Thanks for understanding!
Change is here! We came back from a recent trip with a surety that our time at CHAMP is over. We will be leaving CHAMP by May 6. We will continue as employees, but will work part-time remotely. Dave and Deb are fine with this (we told them last August we’d be leaving this spring/summer, when the current product is done). We will work for CHAMP from wherever we are for 10-15 hours/week at an hourly rate. The PDA product we’ve helped build is now in beta testing, and seems pretty stable.
Why are we doing this? For one, it’s time for Matt to move on to new professional challenges. We’ve grown a ton at CHAMP, but he needs to work with more experienced, passionate developers using the latest technology. Me, I’m ready to stop being a manager and just be a wife. If I get bored, I’ll pick up a job doing something non-computer, like working at a greenhouse or coffee shop. I still like working on websites, but spending 8-10 hours a day staring at a screen is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
When we gave our 2 weeks notice, our co-worker who worked on our development team and was learning support also gave his 2 weeks. So this week has been a bit frantic as we start a recruitment process. It will probably also mean I will be working 20 hours/week instead of 10, but such is life. I’m just excited to be working remotely and starting the process of leaving CHAMP. We’ll also get a new toy: a cell phone! That way we can check email from the road and, if we have to, provide support to CHAMP customers. Crazy what technology can do these days.
Our immediate plans are to drive to Reno, NV to visit Matt’s parents; after that we’re not sure exactly where we’ll go (CA? CO?). Wherever we go, we will be gone for the entire month of May and possibly the first week in June. We plan to return to MN in June, and decide what the next steps are from there. We may continue our travels, working part-time, for a while; or we may decide Matt is going to apply at Microsoft in Seattle. We just don’t know right now, and that’s ok. :) God is sovereign over every situation and transition.
We’ll be keeping the house, and have friends mow the lawn and water our plants. If there’s anyone in Mankato who would like a new house plant, let me know! I seem to have accumulated several, including some from work. I don’t care if they die in your care either!
Well, I now have even more work to do than before, so I’d better get to it! Have a great rest of the week. Hope to hear an update from you if you get a chance.
Erin & Matt Young
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