Goin' north, oh yah

At my monthly alumni association breakfast this morning, I sat across from a guy who came from Minneapolis to Utah County. He gave me the quick low-down about the Twin Cities...he liked it out there. To be sure, if I do end up moving out there, I have a cultural learning curve ahead of me, though.

So, will I move?

Don't know yet, but...

I got a call from the regional operations manager for the company that's courting me. I think we figured out the details and I'll be flying out there next weekend. She wanted to chat at the Denver airport to meet halfway, which is fine I guess, but I figure if I'm moving out there, I want to know something more than what pictures show you, so I'll invest in a rental car, a cheap room, and a road map and drive around the twin cities for a while and see what I see. Oh yeah, and I'll find out if I like the corporate culture. Bottom line: can I work for these people?

Seriously now, if after having lived in the South for almost 20 years, I have a touch of a twang in my speech, what will I sound like if I live in this part of the country? I'm fixin' to figure this out, oh yah!

I'm not sure how I feel about all this. You know, I've jumped on the first job that came along before and it was quite the learning experience, but I don't want to repeat past mistakes, especially if it means relocating halfway across the country to a place I've never really been. Neither do I want to be pigeonholed into an industry that isn't mine, unless I can truly use it as something that puts me into project management. I know 3M and American Express have large hubs in Minneapolis, so perhaps, this could still be a jumping off point in a couple of years.

Yeah, I'm happy that I'm wanted, but will this job close off other avenues if I don't like it? Lots to think about.