RE: Hi!

[Kristin Byrnes <http://www.boi.hp.com/~kbyrnes>]

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From: 	Robert[SMTP:http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert]
Sent: 	Friday, March 08, 1996 10:52 AM
To: 	Kristin Byrnes
Subject: 	Re: Hi!

> > How do you like your new place?

>It's great!  It has a garbage disposal, washer/dryer, and a dishwasher!
>And the price is OK (not stunning).

Glad to hear it.  Brad and I are renting a house a few miles from work.  It's pretty nice.  We were planning on buying a house after a year, but now that we're getting married, we're going to put it off a while.  We want to have a nice honeymoon and that's going to put a dent in what we saved for the downpayment.

>Well, you may be able to move around later.  I know some QA people >who became
>programmers recently...

That is the plan.  And it may be happening pretty soon...  we're losing yet another person from our group.

>Why did you pick Idaho??  How is life there?  It must be great working at
>HP.  That's one of the places I had always wanted to work at.

This is where all HP's laser printer divisions are.  And since that's the area that Brad and I have experience in, it made sense.  Plus we had a contact here from QMS.  That helped get us interviews.

HP is a great place to work.  The atmosphere is _so_ different from QMS.  It's so much more upbeat and flexible.  Now I know that the problems I thought I had with my career were just due to a negative environment.

I used to think Idaho would be too cold for me.  I didn't think I'd like it here until we came for our interviews.   It was September and the weather was terrific.  It was in the 70s with clear skies and low humidity, while in Mobile it was sweltering and in the 90s.  And I liked it even better than California because it wasn't packed.  Now that I've been through a winter, I don't think I'll have a problem with the cold.  The winter has actually been as mild if not milder than those in north Alabama, though we had a little more snow here.

>You mean, the same Brad from Alabama that you had broken up with??  >Why the
>change?

Okay, I didn't remember if I'd told you about that.  We got back together last February.  (I had broken up with Mark from Chicago in November.)  It took a lot of begging and pleading on my part, but it was worth it :) .  Then in August we decided to look for jobs in the same place so we could stay together.  And then when we relocated to Idaho in November we rented this house together .

>Anyway, that's pretty exciting.  Almost everybody I know is married.  It's
>obviously a trend.

I was wondering about that too.  But I've decided that it's just that most people get married.  It's not a recent thing.  It has always been that way and it's just getting to the point that everybody around me is of marrying age or older.

Not too long ago I was anti-marriage.  Part of what changed that is that I met some neat married people (I had thought that when you get married you become boring and dependent).  Also, since we've been living together, things have been great.  I haven't had to give up much freedom and I think the advantages of having someone there outweigh what little I've had to sacrifice.  So I don't think that being married is going to enslave me or anything.

>Our roommate recently left, so we're looking for a roommie...  This place
>has 3 bedrooms and Noelle and I are using 2 of the bedrooms.

>I've still been looking for a job, but, being the picky person I am, I
>still haven't found one yet.

Well, I think HP has some sites in your area.  Cupertino and Roseville?

>I'm still not playing in a band.  My hands have been feeling a lot better,
>but I just haven't had time to do drumming again!

So what have you been doing for fun then?

How is Noelle?  Has she decided on a career yet?

Kristin

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian 
 because I hate plants.
                               -- A. Whitney