"What you talking 'bout Willis???!" Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus and he lives in OHIO! Well after the last 6 months of ups and downs of the financial industry and the situation with my work at WashintonMutual and the collapse of the company last fall, things have worked itself out for the better and we have received a great offer for a permanent position with JP Morgan Chase in Columbus, OH. So we will be required to move out of the city we've grown to love here in Seattle and head on out to Columbus to make a new homestead.  Fortunately, we have lots of flexibility and can move anytime between now and this the fall - so we'll take our time to get our house ready for sale and start to look around the city of Columbus.

I'm in Columbus this week and Norma and Mateo will be joining me later on this weekend to get a lay of the land and get a chance to see some of Columbus' neighborhoods. The company will also fly us out for a few more familiarization trips to get to see more of Columbus and do some house hunting as part of the move package. Needless to say in researching the city - the cost of living is very very cheap compared to the places we've lived in Seattle or L.A.  A house of our size would be half the cost with twice as much land and a basement in most cases. Gas is running about $1.60 a gallon, so driving to work won't be so bad since we've grown accustomed to the Seattle public transportation here (its great btw!).

So we're excited as we get ready to start this new phase of our lives and explore a place of the U.S. and the portion of the Midwest that neither one of us has had a chance to see.  So 2009 brings new opportunities, new jobs, and a new home - but things will still stay the same since it's our friends and family that matters most and we promise to stay in touch (and visit often!)