The two most interesting things that are going on right revolve around our house and my career. Our house is still for sale and our purchase agreement on the other house will end tomorrow night at midnight. Our plan is to let the agreement lapse, lower the price of our house and keep it on the market till the end of September. If we do get a decent offer, then we are going to see what is available and suite-able and then decide. If we don't get anything, then we will take it off the market and try again in the spring. If we take it off the market, we will likely do the flooring (carpet and hardwood) and we may fix the back patio.

My career is taking an interesting turn also. When I got laid off, I got a "temporary" contract doing development for a former colleague of mine; not my ideal role, but one that allowed me some breathing space while we figured everything out. The intent was that I would look for full-time work while I was doing the contracting. Funny thing happened though...I started to like the working my own hours from home; I enjoy the flexibility and the freedom. Not sure I can go back to 9-5, especially if it involves a commute. That, on top of a slow job market, has meant my transition back to full time work has been slower than expected.

The upside has been I am well on to my way to getting a two more contracts, both of which will be doing thing I like much better, like sales, pre-sales and business analysis. I am continuing to look for full time work but I am not sure how it is going to turn out.

Anyhoo, back your regularly scheduled programming...

The other day Christine commented that she feels like our place is finally coming together and I have to say I agree. Most of the interior issues are resolved with only either really minor things (light fixtures, etc) or some major ones that need some fiscal planning (W/D, new flooring, etc). And we recently made some major improvements to the back garden; we removed some ugly paving stones, shaped in a garden, moved some plants and put in some sod. The only thing left to do is weed and put bark mulch in and our garden will look great!

We are contemplating fixing up the back patio as well; it looks like the most cost effective solution will be to replace the crappy, ugly, broken, uneven paving stones with matching 10mm aggregate, remove the rotting wood spacers, acid washing the other two aggregate slabs, then sealing the whole lot of them. That will give us a nice, nearly new surface to work on and we plan on getting rid of the ugly awning and replacing it with something nicer and moving the awning to be over our sliding door. Then once we get rid of our patio set (we don't use it and it is hard to store) and get our new fancy, schmancy BBQ, we will have a calming place to admire our pretty garden and some space for the kids to play.

On the work front, both Christine and I are really enjoying me working at home. I am going to try to start work early and then take a break in the afternoon to spend time with the family (so Christine can take a break), then pick up work again in the evening once the girls go to sleep. I have also started working out again and plan on doing that two times a week. Working from home feels "right" to me and I really hope I can continue it when I become gainfully employed again. Regarding that, the contract I am on can be full time if I so choose, so we have no financial worries. It also gives me the ability to really find the perfect job (again), although I don't expect anything to happen until the fall as summer is slow and the American economy is lousy.

On top of all that, Christine's fitness business is starting to gain some traction and the girls are doing great, so life couldn't be much better!

Christine went to a Mompreneurs meeting tonight and during our discussion of it, it came up that I would be willing to act as a technical consultant to anyone at that meeting.

I have many qualities that make me an excellent technical resource (to paraphrase a friend):

• I always look for the simple solution
• I like to get things done
• I have phenomenal search capabilities

In addition, I keep up to date on all sorts of technical and industry news, which allows me to make quick and reasonable recommendations on a wide range of topics and issues.

I have a few questions about how to move forward with this:

1) do people need this? 2) if they do, who are "they"? 3) if I can find "them", are they willing to pay for it?

Sigh........

So you remember this post where I talked about how I loved my job and how I loved the company? Well it turns out that love like that goes from the honeymoon phase right to the divorce phase! That's right...I just got laid of from The Level!

As one might expect, I was a tad shocked at the sudden change...one day we are talking about my accounts and how we can move them forward, and the next I am given my walking papers! WTF?!?!?

I am quite disappointed on how this played out; I had great hopes for me at The Level. I have a million questions on how they let this happen, but none of that will help me now of course and it is time to move on.

Thankfully my social network came through, at least in the short term, so I have something that will keep me occupied for the next few weeks.

In January last year, I started at ACL as a Sales Engineer. I chose ACL because it is a mature company and a market leader with a very well respected product suite. Its products are very well supported and they hire very smart people that advertise, market and develop the heck out of the software. They had some cool technology in the pipeline that I was looking forward to learning, selling and supporting. Unfortunately, things did not quite turn out they way I had anticipated, and in May of last year I decided I wanted to explore my options.

However, I did not immediately begin to look for work. Instead I hooked up with a past acquaintance of mine, Emma Hamer, who had started up her own business. With her help, I went through an extensive personal and career analysis to help learn more about myself and figure out the types of companies and roles that suit my strengths and personality. During this time I explored several different industries and roles, including property development, law and retail sales. In the end, I determined that high-tech sales was the best fit for me at this time as it would require no additional education nor a large career change (which means a large risk).

We figured out that I prefer to work at small companies, where the roles are less defined and each person does what is needed to make the business succeed. I also need leading technology to maintain my interest, as I get bored really easy. And lastly, I wanted a sales role, not a pre-sales role. Once I determined all of that, I began to look for a fit. My main challenge was twofold: 1. I don't have much direct sales experience 2. I am unwilling to start at the bottom of the sales organization

You can see how this made things difficult, eh? I kept getting people say, "If only had more experience", or "Are you sure you don't want to start in an inside role?", or "I have this pre-sales role for you." Needless to say, finding a company that fit all those requirements AND one that would hire me for the role that I was looking was took some time. And in spite of all my contacts and networking, the company that I ended up with I found on a posting on T-Net! So much for, "It's who you know!"

I am extremely pleased to announce that as of Feb. 4th, I will be The Level's newest (and only!!) Account Executive! The Level is a young (3 years or so), small company with neat technology and a kick-ass customer list. They have a great view in Gastown and a great company culture, that includes the Tuesday Cook-off, where two people have to make lunch for the whole company, and Friday Beer Briefs.

I can't wait to get going!! I can't remember the last time I felt this good about a decision and this excited to start work!