Life As Nick Starr

Well I’ve already arrived at the Apple store here at International Mall (iMall) in Tampa, Fl. Apparently the line is “officially” forming outside, but no one is there yet and I’m enjoying Apple’s free WiFi and these cumfy leather chairs from Leather Express in Tampa.

Once I officially move outside, which weather.com is reporting as 88, but feels like 96, I will be only updating from Twitter to conserve on battery power. I am adding the ability for Twitter to post directly to the blog (NickStarr.com) not here on Life As, so updates on my 30+ hours till the launch will be chronicled for you right on the blog and thru the NickStarr.com rss feed.

My direct twitter account is at Twitter.com/NickStarr if you want to be subscribed to my updates there.

As for my plans, lots of reading RSS, listening to Opie and Anthony, and maybe finally reading iCon Steve Jobs. So stay tuned as the next 30 hours are sure to be eventful.

Testing out my new 3.6Mbps 3G card from AT&T on my trip over to Orlando tonight…check out the stream over here: http://ustream.tv/channel/nick-starr

What does the future hold? So many would love to find out that answer for their own life, and that is what has me thinking now. Should I move, should I stay? Will I be able to find a job out there? Will things work out? What is the right move and when is the right time to make it?

Right now I’m working for the next 4-6 weeks as a consultant to a company in Clearwater working on updating their “database” aka excel spreadsheets into Access, and automating reporting. The pay is pretty good and I am getting around 40 hours a week. Should give me a larger buffer in terms of finances then I had before this position.

I recently sold a few things on eBay, and will be using that money towards travel expenses. With the rising gas costs, a trip across country is going to cost at least $350+ in fuel alone.

I’ve been given a lot of support in terms of moving out to Cali and the Silicon Valley area, but the job front hasn’t been as successful. I did find out that the formatting of my resume didn’t come through on Monster, so all of the apps I sent out looked like garbled text. I will be working on sending out a new resume in the upcoming days.

I’ve never been one to take such a huge risk. When I moved to Alabama, there was a family structure (my girlfriends) to support us, and when I moved to Portland, OR I knew I had a place to stay and finances weren’t a problem….although finding a job out there was next to impossible due to their horrible job market at the time. This is a large risk, moving to an area I barely know. There are a number of people that I know out there, ironically more there then here in the Tampa Bay area, but in the end I’m the one who has to look out for me.

It’s not like I’m moving to LA and trying to become an actor, my goals aren’t quite as grandiose. I’d just like t work for a company that I am going to enjoy the work, people, and environment. I don’t care if that is working for an internet company, Fortune 500 company, or even a small mom and pop place. I’d just like to be happy. I think the initial move itself will be a great experience, and I fully intend to blog/podcast the entire experience of driving across the country. Finding a job and security once I get out there is my main concern now.

As I said in the beginning, no one knows what the future holds…here’s hoping that whatever decision I make, it turns out to be the right one.