It's been a while since I've posted. There have been a few changes, but nothing major just yet. The biggest news is that my company formally announced a merger agreement about a month ago. I had been keeping my fingers crossed for a while, and it finally became official at the end of Feb. It's still business as usual for now so I don't have a good handle on when I'll be booted out the door, but it's looking like mid summer.

The other development is that, over the past 6 months, I've been leaning more towards leaving NY. My first choice has always been San Francisco, but I'm not excited about the prospect of re-establishing myself in a new city, so it's looking like Houston as the forerunner. Also, if I were to move to a new city, I'm sure I'd still face the same issues as staying in NY (i.e., feeling like I should be closer to college friends, family, etc). So the tentative plan now is to ride out the remainder of the job and then start the process of moving back to Houston.

Before I start looking for new employment, however, I want to take time off to do some extended travel. So far on the list are - Australia, New Zealand, Africa. I obviously haven't ironed out any details on specific cities, areas, time frames, but that'll depend on when I start traveling. So for anyone out there that feels the need to get out of the States for a while, drop me a line and I'll let you know any plans I have once I figure it out.