Journal
Moving to Texas
20 November 2006 › 36 comments
I never was completely satisfied with the verdict surrounding the shooting of Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing, on the hit 1980’s TV series Dallas. So, I have decided to go do some investigating myself into the mystery of Who Shot J.R. My wife and I will be moving from the Boise to Dallas in order to be closer to where the events took place. I will be setting up a secret base of operations in the Addison, TX area as I scour the outlying countryside for clues.
Throughout my ongoing quest for truth, I will be working under the guise of Information Architect / Interface Designer at the prestigious web development agency Geniant. There, I will be laboring alongside other sleuths, while we “Create Agile, Real-Time Enterprises.” Amongst their ranks are the legendary Garrett Dimon and the fearless Jared Christensen. These two I already know via their association with the anti-crime syndicate 9rules, and I look forward to getting acquainted with the other brave Geniant superheroes as well.
I will sincerely miss the Design Services crew at Albertsons, but am also anticipating what the future holds. If you are a savvy web designer and / or hand-coding standardista who loves the great outdoors and aspires to learn more about fly fishing, then they might have a spot for you Idaho’s capitol. You would be working alongside famed fisherman Dan Bachman and design guru extraordinaire Hugh Griffith. Dan is one of the coolest bosses I have ever worked for, and I have learned great deal about design from Hugh.
I am excited about the Geniant opportunity, because of their cohesive workflow, and passion for web standards. So, instead of playing the part of Lone Ranger (pardon the Texas humor), I will be working amongst guys who are all top in their field. Here is a quote directly from the job description:
You will be working with extremely high caliber industry experts and you will be able to learn [from] as well as mentor your fellow partners.
I appreciate how they encourage mutual learning / teaching. In fact, once a month they put on Refresh Dallas, providing free pizza and beverages for all attendees. They give away knowledge you’d normally pay for at conferences – see this presentation by Mark Kraemer. It’s that type of commitment to collaborative open-source in which I feel privileged to take part.
By the way, if anyone else has made this trek before, I would be open to suggestion about the best way to get to Dallas. If at all possible, we would like to avoid driving through some of the larger cities like Salt Lake and Denver in order to just take the quickest and most direct route. Anyway, I guess that wraps up this broadcast. I’ll let you know how the J.R. mystery unravels.
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Justin Thorp
Brother, blessings to you on your new adventure. You are being prayed for.
#2 Matthew Pennell
Congratulations on the new job and the move, Nathan. I guess this means you’ve got a much shorter journey for SxSW next year, too!
#3 David Barrett
Worst. Covert. Op. Ever.
#4 David Barrett
On a more serious note, congratulations on the new job!
#5 Chris Harrison
Nathan, I couldn’t be happier for you. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity for you. I know moving can’t be easy. (Heck you’re a military brat, too, right? What am I saying… It’s old hat by now.) Congrats on the new job.
#6 Jon
Nathan, congratulations on your new position! I’m sure you’re going to love it there. Good luck in your journey and travel safe!
#7 Salazar
Be sure to visit Austin. Then again, maybe you shouldn’t. You won’t go back to Dallas afterwards.
Safe trip to you and yours.
#8 Matt Heerema
I am so staying with you at SXSW. ;)
#9 Alex
Welcome to the best country in our nation…
Things to know:
Drivers are aggressive, but still friendly, just be careful.
If you have a commute on 35 or 75, give yoruself extra time.
Go to “The Magic Time Machine” restaraunt.
Forth Worth has the better zoo, Dallas zoo is crap.
#10 justin
I can’t help you much with the drive here as I took the 10 all the way from CA to my new Texas home. Seems like a shame to be trying to take the most direct route here, I mean how many times are you going to be doing that trek? Enjoy some sites along the way. Cruise right down and see southern Utah and maybe northern NM, I hear the painted mountains are really something.
I don’t know what driving was like in Idaho, but if it is anything like California then you’ll be in for a real shock when you get here. As Alex said “Drivers are aggressive, but still friendly”... as a non-native Texan, I’d say aggressive is an understatement and “still friendly” is humorous at best. Be prepared for tailgaters and red light runners.
#11 Cody Lindley
:-(
#12 Tammie
I wish you the best of luck! (Although it is sad that you’ll be leaving this beautiful part of the country.)
#13 Dave Jimenez
Nathan,
We’re really happy to have you joining the team. I can tell you that your impression of the Geniant team is dead on. I’m lucky to be able to work with the people that I get to work with every day. As far as I am concerned, we’re now one brilliant person stronger than we were before.
As far as route is concerned, I drive up to Southern Colorado every year from DFW and on the way home we make the trek through the Wolf Creek Pass in Southern Colorado and then through Santa Fe, NM, through Amarillo and then down 287 into DFW. Just north of the Wolf Creek Pass is Durango, which is a beautiful city. You might consider that for a place to stop and sleep. Just some thoughts. This is not likely the shortest route, but probably wouldn’t be too much longer than the big city route when you take traffic into consideration, which will be bad in Denver no matter what time of day. Weather would also be something that you would want to consider, which I am sure you already are.
See you soon and travel safe. Tex-Mex on me when you get here.
Dave (The Geniant Enterprise Gateway Cat-Herder/Director)
#14 Ryan
Glad you’ll be closer!
#15 Robert
I swear, everyone cool lives in Texas!! That’s it, I am quiting and moving to Texas! heh
Congrats again Nathan!! Now, I can visit both you and Ryan when I go to Texas, whenever that will be…
#16 Larry Tomlinson
About freaking time you told the world! I’ve had to sit on this for how long?! :) And yes, I agree with David above…. it’s not really a covert op if you, you know, TELL where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing. :) Anyway, happy for you man!
#17 Mike Montgomery
The announcement!
Congratulations, best wishes and success for you and Olga, in the Great State of Texas.
Did someone mention SXSW?
#18 Yannick
Congrats on the new job Nathan!! Hope all goes well with the move and that you and Olga are happy there.
Peace and God bless.
#19 Andy Knight
That’s awesome Nathan! This sounds like a perfect fit. I love me some Texas. I’m already missing quite a bit of it, though certainly not the driving. God bless you on your new job.
#20 Nathan Logan
We’ll miss you here in the 4-season, low crime, wonderful state of Idaho. I’m sure your time in Texas will be awesome and educational, but we’ll look forward to getting you back soon. 6 months should be about right.
Seriously, though – what would it take to get you to stay? Name your price (and I’ll, uh, pass it on to Albertson’s).
#21 Matt Donovan
Dallas welcomes you. Maybe I’ll catch you at Refresh Dallas meeting.
#22 Lance Willett
That’s great news, congratulations on the new job! I’ll be living in Texas this winter too (Galveston area). Probably won’t make it to Dallas, though, it’s too far north and too cold for us Arizonans. ;)
I hope the new gig is all you wanted and more.
#23 Nathan Smith
Thanks to everyone for the congrats and well-wishing. Also, for all you Texas natives, I look forward to making your acquaintance. I should have mentioned in my post that Cody Lindley and Nate Logan are in Boise, so if you’re looking to move to Idaho, you’d get to hang out with those guys. I’ll miss them.
#24 Jason Beaird
Congrats on the new job, Nathan. Amy and I were just in Dallas (DFW) on our way back from San Francisco. Unfortunately our luggage spent more time there than we did. Our first flight was late so we barely had time to run from one terminal to the other on Sunday night. The luggage wasn’t quite that fast, so we just got our bags back last night. :)
#25 Luis Garcia
Welcome to the Geniant family! We are a small and tight family that always are striving to learn more from each other. Once you get into town, give me a call and I’ll buy you lunch.
#26 Garrett
Not much else to say other than, “I’m really looking forward to it.” We’re glad to have you on board for sure.
#27 Alex Tran
Is your wife still overseas? Maybe I missed that update somewhere. ;)
#28 Ryan Heneise
Welcome t’ Texas bro! Y’all’r still a bit up yonder from us, but I reckon we can git t’gether for some barbieque every now an’ then.
#29 David Russell
Congrats, bro! Safe travels to you. I’m in Texas more often than Idaho, so I’ll be looking you up. :)
#30 kartooner
Congrats man!
Now, promise me you’ll wrangle up some bulls for me, by bulls I mean CSS, uh, metaphorically.
#31 David Brooks
Congratulations. Sounds like a great deal. I hope all goes well with the transitions and whatnot.
#32 Nathan Smith
Jason: Losing luggage is never fun, but missed connections are even worse.
Alex: My wife got back to the USA on Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for asking, good to know people care. You can read about her 30-hour trip here.
Luis: I’ll be taking you up on that free lunch offer, definitely.
Ryan / David R: Yeah, we’ll have to hang out in TX sometime, BBQ for sure.
Erik (Kartooner): Yep, will be wrangling much CSS. Dunno about the bulls.
David B: Thanks man. Now that we’re closer to KY, you’ll have to visit.
#33 Mike Stickel
Well, well, well, I knew there was a reason I needed to stop by your site after unfortunately losing it in the great NNW cleanup of ’06.
I feel bad that I’m so late to the party but that is overshadowed by the happiness I have for your new opportunity. Congratulations Nathan. I wish you the best of luck.
#34 Mark Priestap
Congrats Bro – I know you’ll do very well. May the Lord bless you.
#35 PG
Nice site, beautiful design… so rare to find Christ on the web. Be careful in Texas. I know alot of extremely gracious pagans down there… heheh
#36 Niki
Yay! You’re in Texas and so are we. It’s good to have you in our neck of the woods Nathan and Olga! Hope to see you soon!