Fall has returned, along with some rain here in Vancouver, signalling the end of what has been a great summer.  It was my first summer out here, and the first time I have ever taken school in the summer.  Although I had my moments where I was homesick, missing family and friends, I was privileged to have both my best friend (and his lovely wife) as well as my mom visit me.  Between these visits, school, work, and church commitments, summer just flew by.

So, now that Fall is here, most would expect that I have now joined in the hordes of students returning to school.  However, this year I have decided to take a well-needed break from studies.  Now, you may wonder why I would do such a thing when I moved out here specifically for school.  This brings me to some of the big changes that have been happening in my life.

The  biggest change that has occurred has to do with my work: earlier this summer Dave Saraiva, who I’ve been doing various forms of contract work over the pasta year and a bit, tossed me over a proposal for a new initiative for his (and his partners’) business.  The main idea around this is for me to join up with them to create some entirely new web applications for their company Lifeline Design.  What this entails is me working full-time, where I will focus on helping build this software, as well as continuing to help work on existing software.

The proposal fits in very well with my long-term goals, and I have enjoyed working with Dave over the past year, and I like the direction that their business is going and how they operate it.  After some discussion with Dave in sorting out the details, I decided this is what I wanted.  It’s a very exciting opportunity for me, and I’m glad to be able to work with them in an expanded role.

As to what this means for school in the future: after my break this semester, I will finish off my degree on a part-time basis, likely taking 2 courses per semester from here on in.  One reason I felt I was able to take the position with Lifeline is because I’m close enough to being finished my degree that I know I won’t quit now.  I was able to finish 3 courses over the summer while placing a large emphasis/focus on my work, so I don’t expect 2 courses to pose much of a problem.  As for now, I’m certainly enjoying the break…

Now, while work may be the big change, there are still a few other changes that are helping this Fall shape up to be super-exciting.  As I mentioned in my last post, I’m quite involved with the worship team(s) at my church, which will continue.  As well, I will be leading a small group for the Entry Level (ages 24-30) group, and I have joined the newly created leadership team for that group as well.   Finally, I’m currently in a Sunday school type class at church that is a pre-requisite for church membership, which leads to the last “change” happening…

As I’ve spent more time out here, and continued settling into my apartment (which met my mom’s approval, by the way), I’ve decided to make BC my “permanent” address.  I will soon be a member at my church out here, and have traded in my Ontario license for a BC one.  At least for the time being, I feel that this is where I belong.

On a closing note…now that I’m working full-time, I’m certainly hoping to make it home more than once a year.

P.S. For those of you of who are more technically inclined, I now also blog on Lifeline Design, so feel free to check that out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 11:14 pm and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.