I woke up at 3:30 this morning and realized that my project is ending in less than two weeks and I haven’t done squat to look for another job. That thought led to another and then I wondered if I want to stay in Seattle. I get calls and/or e-mails from recruiters all the time with job opportunities in cool sounding places and sometimes I wonder if I should move. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Seattle but I’ve already been here six years and I’m feeling pretty restless. To give you an idea of how restless, I actually entertained the idea of moving back to Columbus for an engineering job that pays six figures plus per diem (that goes pretty far in Ohio) before realizing it was pretty much in the same building I used to work in at Qwest. That was ok and all, but I’d get bored there in six months. And I’m pretty sure all of my friends have married and moved on.

So that leaves Colorado, Northern California and Alaska. There are lots of opportunities in Southern Cal, and Arizona (what’s up with that!?) but I’d get sick of the constantly warm and sunny climate after a single week so the pay would have to be astronomical (READ: $250k +) for me to even think about it. And that ain’t gonna happen. The Denver/Boulder market has just imploded since my days at Level 3 so that’s pretty unlikely. Northern Cal is so outrageously expensive that I actually turned something down that paid $68 an hour + per diem! Alaska sounds really cool until I think about all the air travel I’d have to endure to get anywhere else. I’ve sworn I’d not take a traveling job after the Level 3 gig.

So maybe I’ll stay in Seattle. The climate is perfect when it’s not summer and the job market is pretty good for my skillset. Why am I always so afraid to stay in one place?