Lettin’ the Cat Outta the Bag

I know, it’s been a while. Here’s the thing: I got a new job!

After almost four years at the firm I work for, I am moving on to a new job, in a new town. It’s still a lighting/daylighting/sustainable design job, but it’s in an entirely different setting for me: a national laboratory.

To say I’m excited understates things a smidge.

In a few weeks, I (and my co-worker) will be the new resident daylighting “experts” at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, down the road in Golden, CO. I’ll be applying my skills as a lighting designer and simulator, hopefully assisting research aimed at helping us bring light into buildings in more sustainable and useful ways.

I’m gonna have access to a supercomputer; can you say petaflop—oh wait, I JUST DID, beyotch! Ka-PoW!

I’m also going to become a commuter again. The upshot is that my posting frequency on this blog will likely increase.

Knowing I am extracting myself and my favorite-co-worker from an increasingly untenable work situation is one thing, but realizing that my career is not only intact but branching off into a new direction—a totally new direction—is just too good for words.

Yes, this means I am putting dreams of vet school on the back burner, but the burner is still on a simmer. After I ace Biology 2 in a few weeks, I’ll keep taking classes toward my vet school prerequisites, but the pace at which I take them will likely become even more glacial than it is now. I’ll keep going, I just may also mix in some thermodynamics now. And that’s OK.

It’s been a crazy month or so. I’m relieved to be able to let this out. Onward.

- Rob

P.S.
Here’s where I’ll be in a few weeks:

http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/