Today is day 1 of my new job and its looking good. Its just the boss and me. We go out to lunch today and while we are talking about our weekend, I mention the Penelope my bus and he gets surprised. He apparently has a Joker version of the 1985 Westfalia that his inlaws picked up in Germany back when it was new and drove around Europe before bringing it back and giving to him a few years ago. He wants to get it safe for his family to go camping in, but wants to update the seat belts a few other things.

I think the new place is going to be a good match

Its an architectural firm downtown that specializes in residential design. His name is Josh Cooper and his company is called JCC-Design Studio. So if anyone needs some design work done or just wants to talk construction/architecture, let me know. It seems pretty flexible and like its going to be a lot of fun. I'm actually excited for once to be in the field I'm in.

http://www.jcc-design.com/

I do sometimes feel like a fish out of water or like I'm standing in a field of dreams (other people's of course!). Architecture is kinda weird. I remember during school that all the other students were overly arrogant and kinda snobby. I was excited to be getting an education and I was being humbled in the process. I wanted to get out, do a good job and then come home. Well apparently these people expect you to live it every minute and it wears you out. On top of that, my last place didn't pay me hardly anything for working there (I think I could have made more as a city councilman!). I wanted to push forward in this career but it really had me considering other options. I have started back to school for a Masters in Engineering Management at UTC and I'm specializing in Construction Management. It was through that program that I got referenced to my new employer and he jumped on me.

I was considering leaving the architecture field for good and segue into more of the construction industry. I thought I could maybe find me something for the interim between now and when I graduate (a year and a half or more), but this guy has really made me realize it can be fun and about much more than handicap bathrooms, Dollar General Stores and pushing paper work. He has a sense of quality of life and watching him interact with his kids while they stopped by with his wife was awesome (how long has it been since you saw your boss lose a foot race to their two daughters?).

I feel good about where I am now. Its been almost 2 years since graduating and I'm finally at the point I wanted to be at then. I'm excited.

I don't think he needs an x-ray or MRI tech and I hope he never does...unless we need a consultant for a large hospital job. Based off of his current list of projects, we are going to be doing mostly residential for a while. But now, if you need some design work done for your house, or if you want to build a new one, we can do that!