Monday, June 25, 2007
Heading South
It's official, I'm moving to North Carolina this year! I have to be there by mid-December or so, but I'd like to see the relocation happen sooner than that. I'll be putting my property on the market in the next couple of weeks, and the rollercoaster ride will begin (if it hasn't already)!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Durham, NC
Okay, so I haven't posted anything here since March. No season recap or review of my preseason predictions, no pics from my trip to Columbus, and no comments on hockey or baseball. As stated before, the blog has taken a back seat as I've been focusing on some other things.
As some of you know, one of those other things is a possible relocation to North Carolina. In November, my employer informed us that they are planning an expansion in the Raleigh-Durham area, specifically in the Research Triangle Park. They are not moving jobs, but they were looking for volunteers to relocate. I would keep my same job through this move, but would be working in NC instead of MA.
My situation with them is complicated because I'm not considered a "full-time" employee. I'll spare you the details, but since November I've been working with my employer to determine the parameters and implications of a possible relocation by me. Finally, in recent weeks, I've received some answers (some good, some not so good, but at least things are moving in a positive direction). At this point, I'm not certain to relocate, but I will probably know for sure within a month.
When told I'm thinking of moving to NC, one of the first questions people ask me is, "Have you visited the area?" Well, actually I hadn't. Even with months and months of research, there was no way I could commit to a relocation with my employer without having seen the area in person and spent some time there. Over Memorial Day weekend, I visited the Raleigh-Durham area for four days and four nights. It was a productive, enlightening visit for me, very interesting in many ways. After some initial disappointment with the area, I was fairly excited by the end of my trip.
Over the same weekend, a co-worker of mine was on a house-hunting trip there with her kids. I had my own agenda during each day, and she had hers, but each night we'd all get together for dinner and a recap of the day's events. She flew back a day earlier than me, so I had my fourth evening to myself. I'm a baseball nut, so I decided to check out the Durham Bulls, the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
As I was approaching the the Bulls ticket window, I recognized a face. It was a man, probably in his fifties, with his family. I looked once, twice, and then a third time. Who was this guy? It finally hit me, but I wasn't 100% sure. I walked closer to him and said, "Excuse me" to try and get his attention. No answer. He probably didn't hear me amongst the general pre-game din outside the park. I'll try once more, I told myself. "Excuse me..." I got his attention this time. "Are you Peter Vaas?" He had this incredulous look on his face, probably shocked that some stranger recognized him, but yes, it was him. "Hi Coach, I'm Jon (last name here), Holy Cross Class of '94. You were coaching at Holy Cross when I was a student there."
It was evident to me that Holy Cross is still something of a pain point for him, but he was very pleasant nonetheless. He introduced me to his wife and two college-aged daughters (one attends St. Mary's College in South Bend, the other will be a senior at Notre Dame this fall). After several minutes of smalltalk, including me explaining why I was in Durham, and him explaining the same (I'd forgotten that he is now coaching at Duke), we finally got in line for tickets to the game. He bought my ticket! We all sat together at the game and had a nice time. I sort of made up for the ticket by buying his wife a lemonade, which cost almost as much as the very reasonable tickets.
Coach seemed to be doing well. His wife said the family enjoyed their time in Europe, especially Barcelona. They've bought a house in a nice new subdivision just north of the most-populated downtown neighborhoods in Durham. It's just minutes from Duke. Mrs. Vaas said she hopes I'll relocate so she'll have someone to sit with at Duke football games! She might be getting a little ahead of herself, but it's good to know that if I do end up there, I'll have some new friends in the area.
By the way, the Bulls have a beautiful new park in downtown Durham, surrounded by a redeveloped American Tobacco District, full of brick walkways, waterways, patches of greenery, a block of bars and restaurants, and additional space for mixed-use commercial, retail and residential. A nearby warehouse district is also clearly on the upswing. Worcester talks about this kind of downtown redevelopment, and perhaps they'll attain it via CitySquare, but in my opinion they can only dream about enacting the changes that Durham, a city only 30,000 people larger than Worcester, has already achieved.
Oh yeah, the Bulls lost, 2-0, to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies' AAA affiliate. Lefty prospect J.P. Howell pitched for the Bulls. He has good stuff but was wild on this night, hitting three batters. Outfield prospect Joel Guzman has an athletic frame, but lacks polish at the plate. I think he has a long way to go. Justin Ruggiano could have a future as a spare outfielder. No one on the Lynx particularly stood out to me.
As some of you know, one of those other things is a possible relocation to North Carolina. In November, my employer informed us that they are planning an expansion in the Raleigh-Durham area, specifically in the Research Triangle Park. They are not moving jobs, but they were looking for volunteers to relocate. I would keep my same job through this move, but would be working in NC instead of MA.
My situation with them is complicated because I'm not considered a "full-time" employee. I'll spare you the details, but since November I've been working with my employer to determine the parameters and implications of a possible relocation by me. Finally, in recent weeks, I've received some answers (some good, some not so good, but at least things are moving in a positive direction). At this point, I'm not certain to relocate, but I will probably know for sure within a month.
When told I'm thinking of moving to NC, one of the first questions people ask me is, "Have you visited the area?" Well, actually I hadn't. Even with months and months of research, there was no way I could commit to a relocation with my employer without having seen the area in person and spent some time there. Over Memorial Day weekend, I visited the Raleigh-Durham area for four days and four nights. It was a productive, enlightening visit for me, very interesting in many ways. After some initial disappointment with the area, I was fairly excited by the end of my trip.
Over the same weekend, a co-worker of mine was on a house-hunting trip there with her kids. I had my own agenda during each day, and she had hers, but each night we'd all get together for dinner and a recap of the day's events. She flew back a day earlier than me, so I had my fourth evening to myself. I'm a baseball nut, so I decided to check out the Durham Bulls, the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
As I was approaching the the Bulls ticket window, I recognized a face. It was a man, probably in his fifties, with his family. I looked once, twice, and then a third time. Who was this guy? It finally hit me, but I wasn't 100% sure. I walked closer to him and said, "Excuse me" to try and get his attention. No answer. He probably didn't hear me amongst the general pre-game din outside the park. I'll try once more, I told myself. "Excuse me..." I got his attention this time. "Are you Peter Vaas?" He had this incredulous look on his face, probably shocked that some stranger recognized him, but yes, it was him. "Hi Coach, I'm Jon (last name here), Holy Cross Class of '94. You were coaching at Holy Cross when I was a student there."
It was evident to me that Holy Cross is still something of a pain point for him, but he was very pleasant nonetheless. He introduced me to his wife and two college-aged daughters (one attends St. Mary's College in South Bend, the other will be a senior at Notre Dame this fall). After several minutes of smalltalk, including me explaining why I was in Durham, and him explaining the same (I'd forgotten that he is now coaching at Duke), we finally got in line for tickets to the game. He bought my ticket! We all sat together at the game and had a nice time. I sort of made up for the ticket by buying his wife a lemonade, which cost almost as much as the very reasonable tickets.
Coach seemed to be doing well. His wife said the family enjoyed their time in Europe, especially Barcelona. They've bought a house in a nice new subdivision just north of the most-populated downtown neighborhoods in Durham. It's just minutes from Duke. Mrs. Vaas said she hopes I'll relocate so she'll have someone to sit with at Duke football games! She might be getting a little ahead of herself, but it's good to know that if I do end up there, I'll have some new friends in the area.
By the way, the Bulls have a beautiful new park in downtown Durham, surrounded by a redeveloped American Tobacco District, full of brick walkways, waterways, patches of greenery, a block of bars and restaurants, and additional space for mixed-use commercial, retail and residential. A nearby warehouse district is also clearly on the upswing. Worcester talks about this kind of downtown redevelopment, and perhaps they'll attain it via CitySquare, but in my opinion they can only dream about enacting the changes that Durham, a city only 30,000 people larger than Worcester, has already achieved.
Oh yeah, the Bulls lost, 2-0, to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies' AAA affiliate. Lefty prospect J.P. Howell pitched for the Bulls. He has good stuff but was wild on this night, hitting three batters. Outfield prospect Joel Guzman has an athletic frame, but lacks polish at the plate. I think he has a long way to go. Justin Ruggiano could have a future as a spare outfielder. No one on the Lynx particularly stood out to me.
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