Goodbye Merrick Towle, Hello Brightline

As I write this, I’m driving up to Harrisburg in the middle of a snow squall with my coworker Jannah.
We’re on our way up to Messiah Village (a retirement community affiliated with Messiah College) for a training. I helped Merrick Towle with a branding project, with one of the goals to introduce them to the world of blogging, and set up a WordPress blog for them. They’ve got a group called The Golden Mouse Club, which are tech-savvy (or tech-interested) residents, who I’ll be teaching how blog. Apparently a number of them are already prolific writers, and I’m really excited to read their stories!

Next week is my last at Merrick Towle. I’m very very sad to go. It’s been nearly 3 years since I took the job, and it has been one of the best jobs I’ve had yet. I couldn’t ask for a better boss, or a better set of coworkers. It’s probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made in my career. But God has a plan, and I’m definitely going to a really really good place.

I got an offer for a job in Alexandria that’s going to be much better for our finances, and also affords some really cool opportunities for growth too. On the 8th, I’ll be starting at Brightline Interactive, an interactive design agency. The founder, Erik, seems like a really really nice guy. Their office is really cool, full of vintage stuff like huge Cold War era TVs turned on their sides as end tables, interspersed with top-of-the-line Apple equipment, and even their own sound booth!
They do a lot of government contracts… one of the coolest things they showed me was this massive kiosk they did for the Air Force. They got this massive rear-projected screen set up, and then set it up so you could actually move things around on it by touch, a la Minority Report.
Erik seemed really interested in my Flash animation and illustration, and I’m really hoping to be able to get stronger experience with motion graphics with After Effects, Premiere and Motion. I’m taking some classes on my own, just because I’m really interested in it. I actually started up a kinetic type blog. I haven’t posted in a while, but maybe I’ll start it back up again.
I know what you’re thinking… Alexandria is pretty far away, but Erik said that after the first month or two, he’d let me work 2-3 days from home. My Mac at home is pretty powerful, so that could work out pretty well.

Now, Tamika is starting her lacrosse season, which always presents a challenge because we have only one car.
But, as some of you know from Facebook, I had put a motorcycle on layaway this winter, an all black Suzuki Intruder 800, and now it’s fully paid off.
I enrolled at Old Glory Harley Davidson for some motorcycle classes, and come Monday (Lord willing), I’ll be cleared to ride the bike! The classes are long (they take nearly the entire day for 4 days), so I’ve had to shut everything else down for a little bit. The bike will become my main transportation. I’m very excited to be riding again.

Nya and Arion are doing really well. Nya has become a really good conversationalist. Arion still isn’t walking yet, but he can stand on his own for a few seconds. That is, until he realizes he is standing, and sits down. 🙂 He’s been talking, though, and has learned a lot sooner than Nya did. He says “Thank you” every time you give him something.
Being home, Tamika takes lots of pictures of them, so definitely check out her new blog for more.