1 week to go

I thought I’d join the “blogosphere” once-and-for-all. I am actually appalled that I just used the term “blogosphere”. This is a term that I have heard repeatedly on list-servs and internet fora for several months, and is generally used by pedants trying to intellectually one-up the rest of us. It seldom works, as the proverbial “rest of us” either don’t care or simply chortle at the poor sap that thinks that the “blogosphere” is a valid episteme.

But I digress…

In just one week the moving van comes that will take our stuff away. Not by itself, of course, we’ll have to load it (incidentally, if you have any free time on the 1st or 2nd…). But it’ll eventually take our things to our new house in Columbus. I am terribly excited to move, optimistic and enthused about this next stage in our lives, and devastated at the thought of leaving the life we have here.

Leaving here, I’ll be leaving the University of Utah. This is a bigger deal than one might think, mainly because of my relationship to the school. I have worked at the U for 6 years. And not just any type of work, but in the Department of Public Safety—first as a security officer, then as a police dispatcher. For the past 6 years, it has been my job to serve and protect this university, its buildings, its people. And I am VERY good at my job. I have been told, either directly or through not-too-subtle hints, that I would be the next dispatch supervisor if I were not leaving (our previous supervisor was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident in June). This causes me some real heartache, because I am so vested in the campus and the university as a whole—and I’d love to stay here...kind of (more on this later).

This University is also my Alma Mater. I managed, quite miraculously, to complete 2 degrees here in just 4 years—while working full time. My wife would want me to point out that I also graduated cum laude in both majors (in the top 5% of my classes). But there’s more to it than that. Somehow I always knew that if I went to college at all (which seemed unlikely until about 5 years ago), I’d go to the University of Utah. My brother went here; my Grandfather went here, various uncles, aunts, etc… When I first moved out here in 2000, it was to try to get work at the Pioneer Theatre Company on campus (but not really related to the U). I have countless friends, colleagues, and mentors here. I will REALLY miss this place.

Earlier I mentioned that I’d love to stay here. This is not really true. I hate Salt Lake. I hate the climate—both meteorogically and politically speaking. I hate the way that everything here is hyper-politicized and polarized. I hate that people care what religion I am. I hate that my football rivalry has to run religious lines, and that just because I detest BYU as a school, some believe that that hatred extends to the religious body that governs the school. I am ready to leave here. I just wish I could take all of my friends and family members with me.

I am VERY excited to become a part of The Ohio State University family. I look very forward to the quality of education there and the tradition. I can’t wait to go to a school that has money, in a state that prioritizes education over all else. I am excited to have my kids go to school in a public school system in a state that cares about quality enough to pay for it. It will be so fun to explore Columbus with my kids, and with my wife. I am so optimistic about her new business; I just know it will work out great!

So why does knowing without a doubt that we are doing the right thing not make it hurt less to leave?