All good things must come to an end.

[Walker]

Well, today is my last day at my job. I'm moving to another job within the same company. This company is so huge (+/- 45,000 employees) that moving within the company is like taking a job with another company altogether. I think my job is one of the best in the company and has always suited me perfectly, until the last couple of years. Now it's time to move to an inside job and be proactive with my health. The winter days of -35 degrees, when it's too cold to even snow, and the summer days of +35 heat, when I shouldn't have been outside working, have taken thier toll on me. There's plenty of young guys out there that want to do my job. They can have it now...I'm going inside where it's warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
It's still a sad day though. I'm going to miss the crazy bastards I work with. Every single one of them is nuts and that's the only thing that made it bearable some days, I swear. They're a good bunch of guys, and we've grown quite close over the last 6 years.
Oh well...'eyes on the prize' and all that crap.
Monday is a new day, in so many ways.

[SharonBell]

Hey Trev--

I sympathize with your sense of loss and know what it's like to leave a job you love. In retrospect, I have found that these changes have given me opportunities I wouldn't have had. So, good luck and remember, there's another door opening. Hugs! 

[Ed]

Sorry to hear that you're giving up something you love doing, Trev.  I hope they give you an office with at least one opening window - dunno about you, but I can't work in a room without having the window open.  It's an alien concept for me to think of enjoying my job - I've always loathed it, so from that point of view at least you've had that all this time

Good luck in the new department

[Walker]

Thanks you guys, I'm going to be fine with the new job, I think. It's not exactly an office job, but it is indoors and that's important, apparently.
There's a good chance I'll be getting a position that allowes me outside everyday to work in the field, but indoors, if that makes any sense. It's the best of both worlds so I've got my fingers crossed.
Even then, I'll still miss these crazy buggers I work with. Just now, we've knocked off early and we're all having a beer to *celebrate* my leaving. And no, we don't have a boss here. We don't see our boss for weeks on end because we run the show here without him. That's another thing I'm really going to miss.
Oh well. Out with the old and in with the new.

[doolols]

Yep. Look forward, not back. Hope you adapt quickly to the new regime. I did something similar a few years ago - I quit a lots of hours, lots of international travel, lots of responsibility, lots of pressure, lots of money job to take on a 9-5, easy-peasy fixing computers job in schools. It was strange, and difficult to adjust, but it's great. The loss of money isn't so good, but I love the relaxed environment. And I can go home when it's time to go home, jobs finished or not. 

[canadian]

I'm kinda glad you're doing this for yourself, Trevor. Just keep thinking about how horrific it is out there in those cold winter months! Yeah, it's hard leaving such a great bunch of co-workers and plunging into so much newness. But, knowing you, there's gonna be a whole new crowd of interesting people eating out of the palm of your hand!

Best of luck, buddy. Flirty I can't wait to get together with you & your wife in a few weeks.

[Walker]

Thanks a lot, all of you. You're such an encouraging bunch, I love that.
Gerald, I've always felt that true progression means less work and more family, not the other way 'round, so I admire you for making a move like you did. I'll bet it's been worth it in ways you hadn't even imagined. I'm kind of expecting/hoping for the same.
Donna, Melinda and I just can't wait to take you and Flirty to our secret Thai restaurant. It has a really great patio overlooking the bay, too. We'll make reservations for outside if it's a nice day. I'm really looking forward to that.
Thanks again, all of you. Your words have made me feel much better, which is likely why you're all writers.

[doolols]

So, update please: how's it going? I guess it's kinda strange at the start, but hopefully, by now, you're getting into the swing 

[Walker]

Well, after a week it seems okay. It's quite a bit different than I'm used to, but that's alright. The people I'll be working with seem like a good group. They were very welcoming and pretty curious about the job I performed before, as it's something very foreign to them.
I think it's gonna be just fine.
Boring, but fine.

[doolols]

Good news! Stick with it 

[Ed]

How's it going now, Walker?  I guess you must have settled into some kind of routine.  Is this the reason you've put a few pounds on, do you think?  Not as active as before.  What was it that you did - I dunno why, but I thought you were a land surveyor

[Walker]

Hi Blunt, I was a cable repair technician with the phone company. It was all outside work, often filthy, in the worst weather. Sometimes in a pit in the ground and sometimes up a pole, but always very demanding and techical. I loved it-- It was challenging work.
My new job is actually going very well and I'm liking it more all the time. I'm a 'Central Office Technician' now, which is definitely inside work all the time, and much less demanding, physically, but technically there's a mountain of stuff to learn. So, anyway, it's going very well. Thanks for asking 
I'm sure that being in a less physical job has contributed to my gaining weight, but I also blame food. I was actually replacing my nicotine addiction with food, for a while, until I caught on that's what I was doing and curbed that action. Now I'm losing the pounds, slowly but surely. I hope to be back to my former size very soon, except this time without a ciggy in my hand.

[Ed]

Wow - yeah, that must be a radical change of routine for you.  Dunno if it's the same there, but over here there are power cables and phonelines on the same poles in a lot of places.  They're gradually separating them now, because a couple of telecom guys were killed backalong.  Quite a dangerous job, but I can see the attraction - not so much in a hole, or the weather, but in the change of scenery.

I wonder if we lose the wanderlust as we grow older?  When I was young I always wanted to be moving along to the next place or the next thing, but now I'm not so bothered.  I feel like I could maybe settle for an office job now - a bit of comfort and all that

Glad to hear it's going well.  Dunno about you, but I thrive on learning new stuff.