The One about my move to Monterey

Okay, I'm writing this in my Guesthouse in Carmel Valley on Superbowl Sunday and am wondering how I got to this moment in time.
  About 2 1/2 years ago it was approaching my 50th birthday and things were really strange. I wasn't very happy, I was thinking about my older brother's suicide 10 years ago as he approached his 50th birthday and kind of felt things were spinning out of control. It took me about 6 months after my birthday to get back on track and realize I needed to change some things in my life. I loved my kids and wife but didn't really love myself very much. My job was very stressfull and it took about another year for me to realize I wasn't enjoying my professional life.   When I finally took a huge leap of faith and quit my job without another one in sight..I felt a strange surge of self confidence in my ability to provide for my family and make things work, even in a down economy.

I got my first consulting gig in about 3 weeks after quitting my job and had a lot of fun out in a town north of Sacramento doing a turnaround consulting job. I met a lot of new friends and had some good times. It was strange living by myself  out in Yuba City with my family two hours away. It was the first time I'd lived by myself in almost 25 years and I learned to compartmentalize my life; I had my work life in Yuba City and my YC friends, evening trips to Roseville  and Sacramento, Movie Nights in the ManCave, and the daily soap opera at work. On the weekends I had my family life back in Santa Rosa; the weekends were fun and the money was good. Somehow I managed to get  about 4 ski trips, a trip to Dodgers spring training in Arizona, and  three trips to Las Vegas under my belt.  I also learned to be a lot more self-sufficient. When my laptop broke and had to be sent to Best Buy repair hell for 6 weeks, I dug through our garage and found my son's old computer case and spare parts and built a new computer as a weekend project. I'd never done that before and it was a major confidence-builder.

Soon it was time to leave the YC  and look for a new job, either consulting or permanent.  The whole time I was in  the YC headhunters would call me about 3 or 4 times per week and tell me about some "wonderful" opportunity located in some armpit of humanity. Salinas came up several times and I kept telling recruiters I wasn't interested in living in the central valley. Finally one recruiter called me and said " Don't think Salinas, think Monterey,  Carmel, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Santa Cruz. Hmmmm!?

So here I am on SuperBowl Sunday in Mancave 2 in Carmel Valley. Mancave 2 is a really cool guesthouse up in the hills of Carmel Valley and only about a 15 minute drive to work.

I'm exploring the area and really enjoying the quality of life in the Monterey Bay area. I still need to figure out how to get my Dodger fix up here... Next blog.. a little about the Monterey Bay area from a new resident's perspective.