I’m Going West

"Be prepared to accept a wondrous opportunity in the days ahead!" -- fortune cookie, April 10, 2006

I'm going to Seattle in late May to accept a position with Amazon.com's Direct Traffic team -- they're the folks who send personalized content to you by e-mail and on the web site. As always I won't comment on what I'm actually doing with the company; you'll have to read the wire stories just like everyone else.

It's been an emotional week as I broke the news to my boss and my co-workers in that order. At least in the early going, I was much more broken up about my departure than the people I was telling. It's very hard to leave a job I like doing and that I've done for more than three years right out of school. People seem to be pretty understanding. After all, my predecessor at CombineNet is now an Amazonian himself.

Things are going to be super-crazy for the next month. I have to either sell or arrange to rent my house; travel to Israel for the first week in May, which I've been planning to do all year; arrange to have all my stuff moved across the country; wrap up all my project work at work; say good-bye to everyone I've worked with; and train someone to succeed me in my various roles.

I also picked up the first knickknack for my cubicle today: a commemorative Terrible Towel with the score from Super Bowl XL printed right on it. Perhaps it's not the best idea to put it up on day one. ;)