I could be back to Portland soon

My employment has changed somewhat over the last few months, but not really much has changed for my job. At the end of March, Unicom was bought by the Eschelon Telecom, Inc. We had learned a few weeks earlier that another company was about to buy out Eschelon. The new company was Integra Telecom. We had several months of meetings and announcements of the impending buy-out. The merger closed on August 31st, 2007. I am now an Integra Telecom employee working out of the Unicom office.
For a while it was a possibility that I might be able to stay in Bend and work for a local network and computer repair/consulting company call AccTech Solutions, Inc. This would have been great and would have put me right on track for doing what I went to school for. They would have helped me to get and/or finish my certifications towards becoming a Network Engineer. As it came down to it, they were in need of a Cisco Engineer, and I did not have those skills yet. They found someone that did.
So as it turns out, Integra has their support staff in Vancouver, WA. They told me shortly after the buy-out that they would have some openings there as things began to settle down. Most likely next spring. Last week I was told by my supervisor that they are going to need someone there much sooner, probably before the end of November. I told my supervisor I was ready to go whenever they would like. Living in Vancouver would be great. I'll most likely get a nice raise, and if I live in Vancouver, no more state income tax. (So kind of another raise) I'll be back close to family again and Ican keep up with all my nieces & nephews who I miss a bunch.
I moved back from Reno just in time for Shirey's wedding last time. This time I might have moved back in time for Rosanne's.
Other than work, nothing much has happened here. I did have a great Birthday though. Chris Angie, and Pria got here the Friday night before. We went out to the Roadhouse Grill and got to throw peanut shells on the floor. The next morning we ate at Shari's (I think) and went looking for a camera shop. Got to see quite a bit of Bend. We went and saw Tumalo Falls that afternoon. Angie took a bunch of, I'm sure, great pictures. We soaked our feet in the freezing cold water down below the bridge. Angie is the champion for leaving her feet in the longest. We got back in the Yeti and drove back to town and relaxed the late afternoon away.
We had some tacos for dinner at my cousin Randy's and then made our way to Pilot Butte to watch the sunset. Pria had fun running all around the top of it. Angie made fun of all the people using a flash when trying to take pictures of the sunset. We stayed well past sunset and watched as the lights of Bend began to come on. Angie took many more pictures. (I hope to see some when I'm back in town.) Back at the hotel we ate some snacks while waiting for my parents to get in to town.
They got to their hotel about 11 that night. On my drive home I decided to stop by. We talked and got caught up and then the next morning we met out at Jake's Diner for breakfast with Chris, Angie, and Pria. No one went away hungry.
Glinda and Keith got into town just as we were finishing up. C, A, & P had to head back so Chris could go to work. The rest of us went for a nice drive around following "The Lakes" loop. Got back that evening and drove to Redmond for my Birthday dinner. We ate at Madeline's Mexican Restaurant. Best Mexican food in the area. Glinda and Keith were just here for the day so they headed back after dinner.
I took Mom & Dad up to Pilot Butte but we got there just after sunset. I was a little cloudy which made a beautiful sunset. Dad started talking to a guy and he had their camera with all their pictures from their Alaskan trip. Surprisingly the guy went through all 240+ pictures. The next morning we went to church. The Bend Stake was being reorganized and Elder Scott was there to officiate. Afterwards we had some lunch and went to the High Desert Museum. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I would have enjoyed it better not being in my Sunday clothes, but it was a lot of fun. Definitely would like to go back again. Mom and Dad headed back after that. I made it over to Randy's for our usual Sunday dinner/movie night. Got a good night sleep and was back to work Monday morning. A busy weekend, but a lot of fun.
I'll be happy back close to family again. I'll keep you all informed of when that might be. See ya.