Change in the air...

So...yeah. It's been a while.

Sorry 'bout that, but you know, life happens. And in the life around our household, that has meant some serious soul-searching and decision making.

If you look closely, you'll see that the last blog post here was just before Christmas. It was around the holidays, as we were hanging out with family, that Patti and I began discussing "the future".

Relax. Loving Wife and I are as much in love now as we were sixteen plus years ago. No, the future was more along the lines of "what next". You see, last summer, we paid off our school loans, we had eliminated our credit card debt and we were saving our pennies. We started to talk about buying a house.

The looks that came out of that conversation could have been used to make all the negative emotion flash cards for pre-schoolers: shock, horror, dismay, fear. It seemed that despite very little in the way of debt and some good management of our finances, we anticipated it would take more than four years to save the cash we would need to put 20% down on a house here in the OC. And because of the short sale on the house in Vegas, there was no other way to qualify for a loan. We had to have 20%.

Oof. (more)



The average home price in Orange County? $516,000 according to this website. Anyone else got a hundred grand in cash lying around? Yeah, neither do we. And considering homes in the areas we were looking at were closer to 600-700k, and you can see our issue. Even if we did decide to save, by the time we could buy, the Boyo would be just a few years from graduation and we would soon be empty nesting in a brand new home.

So after about a month of discussions -- including with the Boyo -- we have decided to move back to Las Vegas at the end of the school year. Now, I know what your thinking: "big deal, you guys move more often than we elect presidents". True, but this time is a little different. This time...I am not going back to a job.

This is the part where you will likely need to retrieve your lower jaw from the carpet. Each time we have moved, it has ALWAYS been to a better paying job or a better job in the "climb the corporate ladder" sense. Not this time.

This time, I am going into business for myself.

That's right. AA is going to stop working for the man and try being the man. And if you are having a hard time believing this, let me provide some visual evidence: click here

So, yeah. Change. Kinda scary. But also more than a little exciting. I am going to have to work my ass off, but the good news is I already have some clients lined up. I also have the most wonderful, beautiful and supportive wife in the history of mankind. For the record: that helps.

But you want to know the cool thing? The thing I haven't really talked about with anyone?

It's been the plan all along.

Oh sure, there was lots of times where I thought this job or that job might be the one that smothered that nagging desire to work for myself, but that nagging little voice always fought its way to the top of my thoughts, time and again. And now, when we have no bills, Loving Wife has a dream job (that she will keep - Vegas is her territory!) and we will be moving to comfortable and familiar environs?

Yeah, its time.

So any of my hospital buddies from all the way back...I am available. Spread the word. Need a pharmacy consultant? I've got experience in spades. I've been in every corner of the country. I've seen every type of pharmacy. I've been in hospitals big. I've been in hospitals small. I've dealt with Joint Commission, CMS and the most god-awful healthcare overseer in the free world: the State of California. There isn't much I can't help with, because there isn't much I haven't seen or done. It's time to take seventeen years of knowledge and share it.

On my own terms.

I'll even give my friends a bit of a discount.

Thanks to those that still see the blog. I hope to be back more regularly, with a slightly different focus. I will also be returning to Facebook and may hit up some of you on LinkedIn.

I appreciate the support.

Cheers.