The last day of June 2001, Mr. and Mrs El Gee boarded a plane bound for Dallas, Texas. The purpose of the trip was two-fold: Find a new home to relocate the family to (courtesy of Mr. El Gee's employer at the time, Ericsson) and to get Mr. El Gee settled in the corporate apartment so he could start work the following week. The trip started off on a rocky path with a cancelled flight to Atlanta (the first layover), a shuttle ride to the next closest airport (1 hour away) to catch the next available flight (6 hours later), a late arrival to Dallas (midnight instead of 5 PM), confusion regarding where we picked up our keys to the apartment, the inability to gain entry to the main gate of the apartment complex, and the difficulties finding our unit in the complex.
About 2 AM the following morning, after being up for about 23 hours, we were in the place I would be living in for about 4 weeks solo and 2 more weeks with my family. We did not even inspect the unit until the next day...we just unloaded our personal things from the car and crashed in the master bedroom...I am not even sure we brushed our teeth or took off our clothes.
That is how the first 23 hours went. The next five years were nearly as chaotic with so many things happening my head still spins when I think about.
We had a little trouble getting the house ready to be sold and it took a little longer than we thought (5 months) to get the house sold. While Ericsson and EDS (the company that handled my relo) made things as smooth as possible, it still was not perfect...but what is?
We were able to move into our new home on schedule, but move day we found that someone had vandalized our A/C unit, requiring a service call that the company almost did not accept on our insurance, but we talked them into it eventually. The movers in Texas (Allied Van Lines) were less than courteous, damaged 3 pieces of wood furniture, walked off with at least 3 tools of mine (they 'lost' theirs...that should have been a clue), and complained that the A/C was not running. Heck, we had water for them, had the house all ready for move in and stayed out of their way... a little Texas heat for some Texas men should have been a walk in the park (Okay, it was 100 degrees outside and there was no breeze...)
Then September 11th came around...just 2 months after I started my new job and just 1 month after we moved into our new house. We were wondering if the world would be the same after that day and we soon realized it would not. The day after the Twin Towers fell, the power went out in the neighborhood and several people freaked out. I remember looking into the sky and finding it odd that there were no planes visible for a couple of days. That is odd because where we live at least 5 planes in a 120 degree arc are visible at all times. It was eerie. 9/11 was my generation's Pearl Harbor. It was a date that will be remembered for a very long time. I plan to make a post later on this in greater detail.
Our house in NC finally sold and we were happy. I screwed up a bit on my taxes for 2001, but corrected it the following year. Our first tax return was huge by my standards and it allowed us to pay off most of our debt (sans car and home) and start all over.
Ericsson went through a round of nasty lay offs in March 2002. While I did not lose my job, I lose my office and my position. I ended up working the front line again, but with the same pay. This was an awakening for me. Moving down the ladder made me work a lot harder, with worse hours (nights, weekends, and holidays...something I had not done in years), and for a boss who did not understand customer service or IT.
My father died a month later in April. It was not a surprise, but it hit me hard initially. I grabbed a flight along with my son to Pennsylvania and drove from the airport in PA to my mom's house in WV 2 hours away. A connecting flight to the tiny local airport was out of the question. The funeral was punctuated with my half-brother's wife answering her cell phone during the service (turn it off, PLEASE!) and some revelations regarding my father's personal life (he had been married 3 times, not 2 as my mom and I had thought). I found that the "adopted" cousin I had was not really adopted...he was my blood cousin. I need to make contact again.
Ericsson went through another round of layoff's but it affected mostly management. My boss was let go (along with several of his cronies) and a new guy (who is my boss today) took over. Two of the guys on the team who had been given team lead duties were demoted back to crew and handled it about as poorly as I did. One of the guys (who is a good guy, he just is not supervisor material) and I had a run in with each other while he was my TL. I made a mistake and instead of taking me aside and correcting me properly, he ripped me apart in front of my peers. I tried several times to take the conversation into the War Room, but he insisted on being public. While what I did may have not be the Christian thing to do, I gave him an earful in front of everyone else. He was very upset and embarrassed. I was not given any reprimand for that...I had warned that if I was, I would go to HR and file a complaint for the way things were handled in the first place.
In September of 2003, Ericsson decided to outsource IT to $Major IT Service Company. The transition went well and while the benefits were not as good as Ericsson's, $Major IT Service Company made up for it by increasing our pay to make up for the amount lost. Most of us that were moved over (about half the IT force) figured this was a very short-term change. We figured once $Major IT Service Company got everything organized, we would be let go. My job remained the same for about a year and then I was given a big project to work on and that was something I enjoyed.
Also in 2003 we bought a van for my wife (she picked it out) and sold our Honda to our son. We traveled to WV and San Antonio in it and it was a great travel van.
In the Autumn of 2004, I attended Promise Keepers and rededicated my life to Christ. It was a huge moment for me...one that I will not forget. The event was held in Dallas and had some great speakers, music, and comedy. I began to take my faith very seriously and thus another major change in my life
2005 brought another major change with my son joining the National Guard. He finished Basic Training in the summer and went back to school in the fall to finish out his senior year. He did not do very well in school, but managed to graduate. He moved out the eve of his 18th birthday and we have seen him off and on.
2006 has been pretty eventful so with my wife and I and even one of our dogs having had surgery. Our son is in the process of being deployed to Kuwait and we are already beginning to worry.
A lot has happened in 5 years.
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