Feb
18
Next Sunday JB’s traveling to Seattle. He’s spending the night there because he needs to be in Redmond Monday morning for new employee orientation. He’s not exactly a new employee at Microsoft — in fact, he’ll have accumulated a total of ten years soon — but it’s S.O.P. for all fresh hires.
It’s not at all what I thought he’d be doing, here in Eugene. Nor did he. He was happy working for Bowtech Archery, but you know how life works: curveballs. This one came in the form of an awesome opportunity to work at Perceptive Pixel, a company acquired by Microsoft last year.
He’ll be driving to and from Wilsonville on a daily basis, traveling about 180 miles a day. “It’s worth it,” he says, and I say okay. We support you. Because sometimes you have to put in sacrifices to go after what you want. Most of the time, really.
It’s another big change for our family, but I’m excited for him. He’s going to kick ass, just like he always does.
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Good luck to JB.
Congrats on having such an amazing
opportunity. It’s tough to be the support structure but if you have the same long term goals, it works. Best wishes to your family, but jb you are still picking up burritos on your way home if miss sundry needs backup. Also, pizza delivered is ok too.
Wow. That sounds like a big change. Very big. Good luck to all of you!
Between you and I, we just keep catching those curveballs and throwing them back.
Excited to see where this one takes you guys.
xo
90 miles one way? Holy shit. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how that is not gonna be a problem at some point. If for no other reason than wear and tear on the car and gas money, and time away….and shit you didn’t need to hear all that. Sorry. Hope this is the best job he’s ever had. Sincerely.
Is there a train? At least he could sleep the whole way?
Definite curveball!
I also hope there is a train, bus or some sort of commuting system he can use some days as that will become tiring very quickly.
Best of luck to his new job though! Maybe it’s a small stepping stone!
Wow, great opportunity, but what a commute! Maybe he can stay overnight sometimes so it’s not horrific?
Good luck to you, being on your own that much!! (Or maybe he works that much anyway and it won’t really make a difference?)
I did the same thing a few years ago; it happened to be because my husband lost his job the same day I received an offer. This offer came as a chance, I just went to the interview to “see what would happen.” The job was an hour and 45 minutes one way. Anyway, my psycho boss turned even more psycho and I attempted to work from home 1-2 days a week. This was on top of me traveling 1 week out the month. Basically after 5 months I was a stranger in my own house, we had a cooperative separation (the company and myself) and I once again became a stay at home mom while my husband worked for a start-up. Now, we are both working full time (I found a great job 30 minutes away – kids are both in school) and my husband runs his own business.
I used to stay overnight, try and work from home, and bought a VW to save on gas. But, the drive nearly killed me.
Good luck Linda, I’m sure all will be fine. With you at home he’s sure to be able to concentrate on his new gig and you can be there for the kids. It’s a win-win. I was not strong enough to handle it, nor could I keep that up forever.
You are an awesome example of the support and teamwork that is necessary to make a marriage work. But the fact that you’re posting about it…are you worried about other changes to possibly come? At least you’ll be forced to – I mean get the opportunity – to spend more time one-on-one with the boys. Maybe you can demand the lawnmowing chore in the future?
Love and support from this end.
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. But it is amusing that some high tech companies lack the ability to support employees working from home. Even MY employer can do that!
For all the naysayers – I commuted 2.5 h/day, every day, for 3 years (before kids). After kids, I got to work from home a couple days a week but still commuted 3 days a week for 2 years and then 2 days a week for another 2 years. And then last year (7 yrs into this job), I finally moved closer to work. Not easy, but do-able with proper spousal support.
Good luck to JB!!! But do tell him to look into some of those telework options as soon as he feasibly can. Any forward-looking company now realizes that telework is a viable option for many careers, and with employees expected (even if unofficially) to be “available” before 9 AM and after 5 PM, officially sanctioning distance work during business hours is a great way to maintain productivity and improve employee morale.
Congrats! It’s great JB is so excited about this new opportunity. My husband took a job with a 2-hour commute a few years ago. Initially, he agreed to work 4 days in the office with 1 day at home. He quickly gained the employers’ trust and became an integral part of the team, enabling him to reduce to 3 days in office and one day home. Today he only travels into the office 2 times per week. He’s doing what he loves, getting paid and getting paid a big city salary without the big city cost of living. Our only complaint is that we almost get to see him too much. Good luck with the changes!
Good luck to JB! Parts of my company have adopted ROWE (results-only work environment) where you can set your own hours & work remotely as long as you get your work done. You need to come or call in for meetings, but people love it. Maybe he could look into that so he could cut the commute at least a couple days a week…
Good luck to you! It’s a long commute, but one that you can kind of hit on ‘autopilot’ between Eugene and Salem since it’s just long and straight and traffic-free. I live in Wilsonville myself, and I love it here. If he needs recommendations for lunch places, I think I’ve eaten everywhere in town at this point. :)
Bravo to you both. No doubt you’ll make it work and kick butt. You could easily waste that much time in SEA traffic battling the clusterfuck that is I-5, 520, 405, etc.
Agreed that Seattle traffic can be the same timesuck as actually driving 90 miles. And I’m sure that all the issues raised by the naysayers have been considered. It sounds like a great opportunity, and who knows what further opportunities it may bring. Good luck!
Congratulations to JB on the amazing opportunity. Does he like books on tape? Those can make a long commute fly.
My 5 day a week, round-trip commute is 114 miles on Los Angeles freeways. It’s not ideal, but we all do what we have to do. I bought a Prius and a membership to Audible. I try to get the most out of my monthly Audible subscription so I only get books that have 20+ hours of audio time – I highly recommend Stephen King’s, “It” and my new favorite, “A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin. There are also some great (free) podcasts out there – My all time favorite is “This American Life.” And if JB likes comedy, have him check out the podcasts of Adam Carolla, Bill Burr and Jay Mohr.
Good luck to you and your family! I hope JB gets the opportunity to work from home at least some of the time so you don’t start feeling like a single parent during the week, because that can be a real strain on a relationship. Obviously you’ve already considered all the pros and cons, duh.
good luck to JB! I’m sure his previous stint at MS will translate into major upward mobility.
Oooh, What I want to know is if you can get a 82″ multi-touch display out of it (or even just the 55″ one). Wouldn’t that be cool? I REALLY WANT ONE (oops, those caps were by accident, but am searching the web for pricing info).
The drive is terrible, but the job sounds exciting. As others have said, another time to make sure you have your key values in mind and keep them solid even if there are other things you let slide.
These adult decisions sure are a game of get-something, give-up-another. I hope it works out for your family and for you personally in that you don’t end up shouldering too great of a burden.
My family is considering a move across to a new city across the country where we don’t know a ton of people. It is so scary and yet I really want to try it. My thinking is that you have to give it at least one year to see if it works. Two years is ideal to really get in the groove of things and get comfortable. So, it might be miserable at first but you’ll know soon enough whether it is sustainable.
Good luck.
Also, if finances allow, get some help, a student to play with the kids while you’re cooking or taking care of the house, or a playgroup where you can trade off child responsibilities. I know the kids are older, but I also know one of the big pressures moms who are bearing most of the home responsibilities (for whatever reason) face is not having any time where the needs of kids aren’t constantly nipping at your sanity. Some moms seem to handle it with ease, but I never could. My sanity check was grandparents, but without those paragons living nearby, I would have had to hire someone.
Congratulations! Life is a series of curveballs and I believe the happiest people are those who have the ability to adapt. You will!
I’m with the person who suggested audio books and podcasts – those things have saved my sanity for my hour-each-way commute every day. Unless he’s like my husband who is fine with sports and talk radio, in which case Mazel Tov!
Hey I’m late to the party on this one, first of all congrats on the new job oppt’y!! Second, you probably know this but the Amtrak Cascades train has a morning run, Eugene to Portland (there’s a Portland bus to Wilsonville), then an evening return run. Same train stops in Oregon City if there’s transit from there to Wilsonville. It’s a LONG trip… over 2 hours each way, which might be the deal-killer, but at least JB could sleep or work on the train (the Cascades have Wifi). Amtrak also has thru-way buses that go Eugene/Portland. In case you need a backup plan at some point.
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How are things going with JB working in Wilsonville? I remember that he was working on developing gun parts; does his decision to make a change have anything to do with the current weapons ban legislation/uproar? Hope things are going well.
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