Well tonight is the last night I will spend here in Burnsville, in fact I only have a few hours left. I will be leaving tomorrow morning, hopefully by 6am, this way I will be able to make it back home by no later than 7pm. I already have everything in my truck except for my laptop, work laptop, camera, and a few things I will need in the morning. I plan on getting up at 5am and getting the rest of my stuff ready and leaving. I will need to stop off and get gas first though, and most likely go over to McDonalds for a quick breakfast.

I have to admit that even though I am very excited to be going home and especially to see Kylie; it does feel a little strange to be leaving. For the past 7 months Burnsville has been my home. I have gotten into a very comfortable routine here and I have enjoyed my job. Along those lines, I am also a little upset because as of right now I am returning to my old job. Though I did enjoy that position while I had it, one of my goals in coming out here was to move up to a new position at the end. I am sure something will turn up though, as Rick keeps telling me they are just taking their time with my position; after all I am not going to Denver like he is.

I guess I will just have to be patient, but for right now it’s time to go to bed, I have a long day of driving tomorrow.

So I found out today when my tour of duty out here in Minnesota is going to end. It turns out that my last day of work in Eagan is going to be Monday April 9th and I will leave here early morning on Tuesday April 10th. So that will put me back home in Michigan sometime later that afternoon or early evening. I am so looking forward to coming home and being close to Kylie again. The only problem is that I have no idea what I am returning to as far as work is concerned. I am told that I will have a position but no one seems to know what that will be. I do not particularly want to return to my old position, as I feel that would have been a failure to me coming out here, yet at the same time if that is all they have then i really do not have a choice as I have bills to pay and a daughter to take care of. None the less coming out here has been a very good learning process and I feel that I have learned a lot and developed skills that I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to develop. I just hope things continue to move in a positive direction and the sacrifices I have made to come out are worth it in the end.

For the past 4 months I have been living in Eagan MN in an attempt to both further my career and provide for my daughter. The time has been difficult for one reason and one reason alone, I am far from Kylie. Though I talk to her almost daily and am surrounded by pictures of her, I am not able to hold her. Though I knew this would be hard, it has proven to be much more difficult than I had anticipated. As my time here in MN draws near its end I find myself with many questions on my mind, the most dominant one being what next? Although I am told that I will have a job to return to in MI, when I ask what that job might be, the answer that I receive is “We don’t know.” I find this very disheartening, and yet I must go along with it. Yet I am also faced with another problem, this one being that MN is beginning to feel like home. And why should it not? When this is all said and done I will have been here for half a year, and being in one place that long will easily make it feel as such. The only thing missing, is my daughter. Yet I have found myself kicking around the idea of potentially staying out here, and admittedly it has a lot to do with my work. The following article is taken from the Thomson web site, and can be found here.

Thomson Looks to Expand on its Eagan Campus

$100 million project to add 2,000 jobs

Eagan, Minn. 01/24/2007
The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) announced today its intention to expand its facilities on the Thomson West Eagan campus to include a new office building and data center. Thomson expects the new office space will house 2,000 additional employees by 2012.

The expansion will add approximately 425,000 square feet of office and 80,000 square feet of data center space to the campus, and represents a capital investment of more than $100 million, to be paid over two years. The new office space will house technology, finance, service and other professional jobs in Eagan.

Thomson Vice Chairman Brian Hall said the company expects to add 1,100 technology and operations jobs to support growth of the Thomson West business, as well as additional positions that support pan-Thomson services. “The decision to grow in Minnesota affirms the importance of the Eagan campus and ensures that it will continue to be a critical center for Thomson operations in the future,” said Hall. “We think this is great news for the community, and for all Thomson colleagues who live in the area.”

“Thomson’s plan to add 2,000 good, high-paying jobs in Eagan is great news for Minnesota’s economy,” Governor Tim Pawlenty said. “Their decision shows Minnesota is an excellent place for employers to grow their businesses. We look forward to working with Thomson on their expansion.”

“For 30 years, the City of Eagan and Thomson West have enjoyed a long and successful partnership,” said Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire. “Thomson’s continued investments in Eagan enhance Eagan’s reputation as a technology leader.”

State Senator Jim Carlson added, “Thomson West has been an important part of the Eagan area for more than 20 years, and these are the very kinds of jobs that help to support the economic vitality of our area. We’re pleased that the company has made the decision to expand its presence here.”

“Going back to my days on the city council, Thomson West has always been a model corporate citizen,” said Minnesota State Representative Sandy Masin. “I am confident their investment will benefit the citizens of Eagan, residents of Dakota County and the state of Minnesota as a whole.”

The Eagan campus is the headquarters for Thomson West and the Thomson North American Legal business unit, and also is an important operations hub for Thomson. The campus has more than 6,800 employees, including 1,400 technology professionals and 800 attorneys.

The company expects to break ground on the data center in April 2007 and the office space in August 2007; the data center occupancy is planned for November 2007 and the office space for October 2008.

If I choose to continue my career with Thomson and wish to stay in technology, than Eagan may very well be a good place for me to be. But there is a problem with that, the distance from my daughter. I know that in the course of life we are required to make some very difficult decisions, thankfully I do not have to make this one, yet.

Tonight I returned to Minnesota after my extended stay back in Michigan. It is getting harder and harder to say good-bye to Kylie when I have to come back here. Being out here wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to be so far away from her. I just have to remind myself that being away from her will hopefully allow me to provide a better future for her.

I have had a lot more exposure to other people within the company out here than I ever would have had back in Ann Arbor, and I know that other people that I have not personally met have taken note of the fact that I am here. I have learned a lot of things in my time out here and though I enjoy my job here more than my previous position back in Ann Arbor, I hope that these next three months go as quickly as the last three seemed to.

In the mean time I will just have to look forward to my next trip back home. At this time I am not sure when that will be and I am sure it will not be as long as this one was, but any time spent with my daughter is precious. So I will just take it day by day, and try to learn and do all that I can to try and provide that better life.

In a few minutes I will be leaving to head to the Minneapolis St. Paul airport to return home for the holidays. Thanks to our successful contract negotiations Rick and I will be able to be back in Michigan from today straight through the New Year. In addition we won’t have to feel any sort of financial strain, as we negotiated in payment that will not effect our vacation. This is probably the best outcome of our previous negotiations, and I am very much looking forward to being home for almost two entire weeks. I plan on spending as much time with Kylie as I can, and in fact she will be spending the night with me tonight. In addition to the Holidays, Chris and Tracey were nice enough to schedule Delaney’s birthday party for the 30th, so that I could be home to attend it, so I am looking forward to that as well. This will be a well deserved vacation, and I am looking forward to it very much.

Negotiations ended today for Rick and I to stay out here in Eagan for another three months, and as it turnes out we will be staying. I am happy enough with the terms that we reached to say that I would stay, but like all things they could have been better. Basically I will be getting another raise, for the duration of the stay of course, they will continue to pay for my housing, and I will be receiving a bonus upon completion, in addition I will also be receiving a slightly larger stipend each month. In the grand scheme of things it isn’t really much, especially when I consider that this means i will have to spend another 3 months away from my daughter. I can only hope that the time will go by quickly.

On a side note however, I am leaving tonight to fly back to Michigan for the Thanksgiving holiday. I will be home for 5 days and 5 nights, not nearly long enough, but at least I will be able to spend time with Kylie, and that is what I miss most being out in Minnesota.

A few days ago Rick and myself were approached by our boss and asked if we would like to stay in Minnesota another three months, bringing our total stay out here to 9 months and 6 months respectively. As of this time neither one of us have fully made up our minds as to if we are going to sign on for another 3 months or not, as no formal offer has been made nor have we decided what it would take for us to stay. I myself have stated that i would have to talk with people back in Michigan, and that first and foremost I would have to make sure that everything was taken care of for my daughter. In approximately my boss’ boss will be coming out to Eagan from Ireland and one of his many meetings will be with Rick and myself to discuss this opportunity. While I know that this is a continuation of a great opportunity, I will have to see what offer gets put on the table because one thing I know for certain…I miss my daughter.

Its hard to believe that I have been out here for three weeks already. Some days the time seems to go by fast depending on what I have going on at work, and then of course others seem to drag on. But every day I have spent out here so far has had the same highlight, the same moment that is the best part of my day; that moment is when I hear my daughter’s voice. Everyday when I get home from work I call Tiffany to see how her and Kylie’s day went, and Tiffany always puts her phone on speaker so I can talk with Kylie. Sometimes she lets Kylie walk around with the phone and she just chats away with me. On the days I don’t get to talk to Kylie I listen to a voice mail that she left me and that helps me make it through until the next time I get to talk to her. I am glad the days seem to be going by faster than I had realized, hopefully the next two weeks go by just as fast, as my first trip back home is scheduled for the weekend of the 21st.

Work is going well, and regardless of being so far from Kylie I think it was a smart decision to come out here. I am meeting more people from within the company and getting more exposure to different things that I would otherwise not see. I do not think a day has gone by that I have not learned something new; how to set up structured cabling runs, assembling wright line racks, installing and mounting many different types of servers, and all kinds of network equipment. Hopefully I will continue to learn and continue to enjoy my time here.