Well, it’s happening. I’ve quit my job today. Well, I put in my resignation. I interviewed with another consulting firm, a smaller one here in Atlanta, and they came back with an offer of a 15% pay increase. I told them that I was looking for a 25% increase in order to move, and sure enough, the next day they came back with the full 25% offer. I was shocked, but apparently I did quite well in the interview, so I must have made a good impression.
So this morning I called my manager and told him the news. He wasn’t upset and wanted to know if they could make a counter offer, but even if they did come back with a 30% salary increase, I don’t think it would matter. I pretty much told him as much. It’s kind of handy that I am on the bench here, so Friday will probably be my last day. I figure that I’ll take a week of vacation and see how things go.
Hmmmm…I’m going to look into some vacations

Last week was the first week where I wasn’t working on a project in close to a year. I’ve been hanging out at home and at the office, waiting for something worthwhile to come down the pipe that I can help out with. So far…nothing confirmed, but there is talk of a 4-6 month project down in Fort Lauderdale, so that could be pretty fun, considering how Melissa’s parents live down there about 15 minutes away from the project. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, as I have a 1:30 call today to talk about things.
On other fronts, I interviewed with a smaller consulting firm to see what they would offer in salary. I got an offer back that was 15% higher than what I am making. I was pleased that I got such a good turn around from them, but at the same time, I wasn’t pleased with the number. I’ve thought about this a lot, and while it may seem that I’m being greedy, I really have to look at the economics of things. If I go and take that job, I’ll HAVE to stay there for 2 years or more, because if I don’t, then I’ll have no job tenure anywhere, and that’s bad on the ol’ resume. So if I were to take a 15% increase, I will be stuck making 4-5% increases on top of that. If I just hold out where I am for another year or 6 months, I’ll be able to make the 25% jump that I am looking for. This afternoon, I have to give them a call at 4:00pm to discuss the offer and see if they won’t bump me up to where I really want to be. If they do, it’s going to be a sad day here, as things are going very well, and I’m actually very happy with the outlook on things at my current job, which just shows me that if there isn’t a major financial insentive, then it’s not worth it for me to leave a sure thing.
I think the count down is officially on…. Melissa and I are going to be moving out of Post Lindbergh at the end of May. We’ve already started to look around and have found some nice stuff in the Virginia Highlands, which is a nice bar laden area in Atlanta. We’ve been looking at getting a house or a townhouse, as both of us are sick and tired of apartment living. We have a neighbor downstairs that’s just obnoxious. I’ve had the cops called on me while I was sitting in the apartment, alone, playing video games at a low volume. When I opened the door for the cop, he appologized to me, telling me that he had sat outside listening for 5 minutes and didn’t hear a thing, so it was obviously a crazy person reporting it. That kind of shit is irritating. Hence the looking for a house or townhouse.
I’ve come to the conclusion that my new 540i…..is not the car for me. I am pretty sure, after replacing all the gaskets in the engine, that there is STILL an oil leak. It may be the rear main seal, but I’m not 100% sure. I looked the other day and it hadn’t dripped oil, so perhaps it’s done dripping. That’s my hope anyway… Either way, I posted it up on Craigslist and am hoping to have it sold sometime in the next month. Maybe I’ll even take a little bit of a loss on it, but honestly, at this point, I’m pretty tired of dealing with the stuttering, the stalling, and the general abuse that’s it’s given me. Maybe I’ll look into getting an M3 or a TT or just something fun to drive.
Anyway, it’s almost time for my 1:30 call, so I’m going to get on there.