[This is purely a personal post .. not to be held accountable for 5 mins of your lost time if you continue reading :)]

Mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve 2011: We are headed to NYC to enjoy some time off. My wife’s on the phone, even though we’re driving through the WV mountains with spotty connectivity. On the call is the Dean of a Graduate School, negotiating the details of an impending job offer. Wife hangs up with a big smile, having bagged exactly the terms she was hoping for. She was just finishing up her long-winded road to a PhD in Psychology @ The Ohio State University. Surely bagging just about every Teaching award at OSU had to count for something. Yes, a coveted Assistant Professor position @ The Allegheny College was now guaranteed. I am a very proud hubby indeed ..

So, it was apparent that 2012 would bring on a family move. After considerations of commute time & city amenities, we decided on Erie, PA. Yep, right by the lake. Let’s break down a little what this means, with few photos to end …

• It’s a step closer to nature & a quieter life. Hard to get deers in your backyard and a bustling mall 3 minutes from home.
• We have gotten ourselves a small condo amidst lush settings.
• The gorgeous beaches & outdoor life offered by Presque Isle State Park are a stones throw away.
• The other day, we decided to go for a little drive after lunch. 1.5 hours later, we’re on the Maid of the Mist @ Niagara Falls!
• Now, to be fair, we might get the brunt of lake-effect snow; but we’ll take it in our stride!
• More precious family time …

Now, what happens to my work & community involvement? No, I’m not giving up coding to open a restaurant just yet! I’ll continue to work for Sogeti, since my client has graciously agreed to some remote work. So, I’m in the process of building my ultimate home office where no sunlight shall enter; yet bytes shall sustain through 360 degrees of LCD! With some work from home time, I would have more energy & opportunity to devote myself to driving our MSFT Mobility efforts, which takes no trivial time. So, hopefully a lot more fun times coming up in Windows Phone & Windows 8 development with my rather talented colleagues! And more blogging, writing or arguing on Twitter :).

Now, as for Columbus OH, I guess I love our local developer community & being around some of the sharpest folks. So, I will be driving down twice a month for the weekdays .. yep, Extended Stay it is. No cleaning – get that? Most months, it will possibly be the odd weeks, so that we can keep organizing The Windows Developer User Group meetups/hackathons and the mad dash to end for M3Conference. So, if you are hacking stuff or playing games or need a hand moving? – Give me a holler when I’m lonely here in Columbus!

Adios!