Austin - Austin, Massachusetts

My apologies for skipping a couple of weeks on my blog. Or maybe it has been a blessing for some people I don't know. A lot has changed in those two weeks. I went from being in my 20's and finding happiness with everything from work to my lifestyle to being in my 30's and not knowing what the hell I am doing (in a good way).

There has been a mixture of emotions during that time. I was running daily at my new townhome which both made me feel better emotionally and worse physically. I picked up a lot of video projects at work that I enjoyed thoroughly and gave me a sense of accomplishment at work for the first time in a couple of years. Then right before Duke's first football game I got an email from the University of Texas asking if I would be interested in a position with football there. Because I felt so good with things in my life I was hesitant but told them I would talk about it.

The next day I had two conversations and by night time I had a flight booked to Austin, Texas (not Austin, Massachusetts) for the next Tuesday to interview. Things progressed pretty well and meetings with everyone were good except the men's track coach who must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day. All in all it became a really good opportunity for me to advance my career. Two days after interviewing in Texas an offer was extended and accepted. It was an offer I couldn't refuse both long term for my career and short term for my finances haha.

Hook Em Horns!! This is similar to how Mack Brown and Texas made me feel.

Perfect timing right, I finally put the pieces together and then the puzzle falls off the table and I have to start rebuilding it. Not only did I have a week to pack up my townhouse which I still am renting in North Carolina, but I also had to squeeze in what little time I had to spend with my wonderful friends in Durham. Last Friday was a tough day for me. I am not good at saying goodbye but Duke was the first time since high school that I was in one place long enough to really build strong bonds with people so it made it that much harder. I got to where I could be myself around people in our office which is really just acting like an 8-year old kid half the time. I will miss the fun I had there - no doubt.

So on to Texas I headed. The good way to get over my sadness was a night of Brad Jones in Atlanta. Not only did seeing the big guy cheer me up but his family is equally as awesome and Bennett maybe the coolest kid in the world. My 21-hour drive over three days also gave me a chance to reunite with a former boss in Tuscaloosa for a quick lunch, a stop at a casino on the Mississippi River and a local hole-in-the-wall saloon in nowhere Texas that had $1.50 beers. Finally yesterday afternoon, on my 30th birthday, I arrived in my new city to start my new life ... broke and homeless but luckily with some family in town. My birthday was depressing at first when I thought about having to cancel my sweet reverse surprise birthday party I had worked hard to plan. But a singing phone call from a friend's aunt and a dinner with cousins helped make my day better and like Tim McGraw sang ...

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years
Or my line I added "In my next 30 years, I'm going to drink a lot more beers"

Now here I sit in the LaQuinta Inn still broke and still homeless but I know the future here at Texas will be a good one once I am able to get settled in. I just have to get used to this big city livin. There are class sizes at Texas bigger than my hometown and it takes longer for people to commute to work than it does for me to watch an episode of Friday Night Lights on DVD. But as Riggins and my man Tomko say ... Texas Forever.

To close this blog I would like to extend an invite for anyone and everyone to come visit me in Austin. Luckily I have plenty to entice people to come because if I moved to New Jersey than I don't think I could talk anybody into coming and seeing me.