I sadly have to change the name of the blog to "The Wynns - An American Family That Almost Lived in Sweden". I recently made a hard decision to resign my job with Hansoft in Sweden after only being there for 3 months. I did this a few weeks ago at the beginning of December because I made a ver difficult decision prior to my family and stuff being shipped to Sweden. But I have been holding off on talking about it until everything was in place and all of the necessary people were notified.
When I accepted the position, I was fully aware that it required quite a bit of travel, between 30 and 50%. What I did not anticipate was how hard that would be on me being away from Sarah and the kids. It was something that Sarah and I talked about quite a bit, but in the end we didn't think it would be that big of a deal, so we went for it. But as time went by, it was becoming increasingly difficult on me. Sarah had handled it very well, she settled into her own routines, and the kids were too young to really express their feelings. But I was having a harder and harder time thinking about being the father that I want to be while being away from the kids and Sarah that much. So I decided to make a really hard decision and quit that job before it became too hard to do so and I would have regretted taking the job in the first place. It was not easy, and I know that it hurt a lot of people, most of all the team of very hard working people at Hansoft in Sweden. But I had to put my family first and I still feel that I made the right decision.
However that still left us in a bit of a quandry, we had sold the house in Florida and I couldn't do anything about that. Very unexpectedly another oppurtunity presented itself that I really never expected. I was offered a really good position within Microsoft in their gaming division that I have decided to take. So now, instead of moving to Sweden, we are moving in the other direction to Seattle. We turned around a complete move in 24 hours and our stuff is now on the way to Seattle. It is a bit of a shame because we had sold just about everything anticipating moving into a much smaller home in Sweden, so wherever we move to in Seattle is going to be a bit bare for awhile. I will be starting that job in January after spending some time in Michigan for the holidays and a final trip to Sweden to wrap things up over there right at the beginning of the New Year. I will be taking a job as Lead Producer on the Gears of War franchise for Microsoft. I have always been a big fan of that game, and am really looking forward to having a chance to be a part of it.
It has been a really crazy year for the Wynns, a lot of things happened that I would have never expected to happen. We feel like we ultimately have made the right decisions even if we got there in a way that not everyone would understand.
Max's 4th Birthday Party
I got back into Orlando on Friday afternoon after 3 weeks of straight travel. I was pretty tried, but we had Max's birthday party planned for the next day, and there was a lot to do to get ready for it. We are planning on moving out of our house on December 3rd, so we had to have his party a week early. He is absolutely convinced that he is actually 4 now, we gave up trying to tell him that he won't actually be 4 for another week.
Max really wanted another Star Wars party. We went a little simpler this year mainly because of the move, but it was still really nice. A whole bunch of people showed up and he got a ton of presents, he was quite happy.
This year we had a cake made of Darth Vader by a local cake shop, it saved us a bunch of time.
Max really wanted another Star Wars party. We went a little simpler this year mainly because of the move, but it was still really nice. A whole bunch of people showed up and he got a ton of presents, he was quite happy.
This year we had a cake made of Darth Vader by a local cake shop, it saved us a bunch of time.
Max really like eating it.
One of his gifts was a gift card to Target. We had to do some shopping today and he carried it around in his pocket and kept picking stuff out at all of these stores and kept trying to use it to pay everywhere we went. This Hot Wheels set was one of the few non Star Wars gifts that he was pretty excited about. We happened to be in Target the night before and he begged me to buy it for him but I wouldn't because of his birthday and Christmas and everything, so he was pretty excited to get it.
Busy week ahead of us as we get the house ready to be moved and then close on it. I am off to France on the 7th, and will be heading back to Michigan for Christmas, not sure when yet.
Banking in Sweden
Quite some time ago now, I got all of our banking setup in Sweden. Banking in Sweden is quite different than the States, I think I mentioned this before, but that personal connection still exists there. I went with Nordea because my company banks with Nordea, so that got me some extra services and cheaper services that I would not normally get.
I set an appointment with my personal banker to walk through and set everything up. There is something that is kind of nice knowing that she is always available to help me should I need it.
The first thing I did was setup a simple Checking and Savings account. They of course don't really call them that, they are both closer to what we would think of as Savings accounts in America, but with no real paper checks any more there, a Checking account is obsolete. The only difference is that the Savings account has a high interest rate, but I am only allowed a limited number of transfers to and from that account each year. The idea is to encourage you to actually save money. Then I setup my internet access for the accounts which is important. Accessing your account on the internet is a bit of a pain. First, you have 2 different pins, one for the ATM, and one for online. Plus you have this extra device that looks like a calculator that you need to stick your card into, punch in your internet pin and then it returns a number that you then punch in to the website to login. So there is no real easy just check your account real quick, there is some prep time involved. It's nice to have real bank accounts now, I can do everything.
I set an appointment with my personal banker to walk through and set everything up. There is something that is kind of nice knowing that she is always available to help me should I need it.
The first thing I did was setup a simple Checking and Savings account. They of course don't really call them that, they are both closer to what we would think of as Savings accounts in America, but with no real paper checks any more there, a Checking account is obsolete. The only difference is that the Savings account has a high interest rate, but I am only allowed a limited number of transfers to and from that account each year. The idea is to encourage you to actually save money. Then I setup my internet access for the accounts which is important. Accessing your account on the internet is a bit of a pain. First, you have 2 different pins, one for the ATM, and one for online. Plus you have this extra device that looks like a calculator that you need to stick your card into, punch in your internet pin and then it returns a number that you then punch in to the website to login. So there is no real easy just check your account real quick, there is some prep time involved. It's nice to have real bank accounts now, I can do everything.
Have to toot my own horn
A few stories hit the internet about my new job and it resulted in my receiving more linked in requests from old colleagues than I would have ever guessed. I suppose people really read these things.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=26052
http://www.hansoft.se/news/43/89.html
It hasn't helped my Google ranking, I'll have to work on that (just kidding of course). I am wrapping up the end of a very long 3 week tour, then I get back to Florida for a little over a week. The house is getting moved on the 3rd of December, and then we close on it on the 4th. Then I am off to France for a week, back to Sweden for a couple of days, then off for another week of travel before heading back stateside for the Holidays. After the Holidays, the whole family will go back to Sweden together finally. Be sure to check out the new widget that I added to the right, it always tells you where I am with all my travel, and tracks how many miles I have traveled since taking the job in Sweden.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=26052
http://www.hansoft.se/news/43/89.html
It hasn't helped my Google ranking, I'll have to work on that (just kidding of course). I am wrapping up the end of a very long 3 week tour, then I get back to Florida for a little over a week. The house is getting moved on the 3rd of December, and then we close on it on the 4th. Then I am off to France for a week, back to Sweden for a couple of days, then off for another week of travel before heading back stateside for the Holidays. After the Holidays, the whole family will go back to Sweden together finally. Be sure to check out the new widget that I added to the right, it always tells you where I am with all my travel, and tracks how many miles I have traveled since taking the job in Sweden.
Pre-Game at the Magic Game
I mentioned before that we got to do something really cool the last time I was in Florida to see the family. When Sarah and I attended the Black Ties and Tennies Charity event for the Orlando Magic earlier in the year, I had won a bunch of chips playing poker. Those got turned into raffle tickets and then during the drawing, we won the oppurtunity to have the kids participate in the "High Five Squad" before one of the games.
So the Magic were really cool and gave us a few options for while I was going to be in Florida and let us pick which game to go to. We decided to go see the Magic play the Phoenix Suns mainly because I wanted to see Steve Nash play over some of our other options. They gave us 4 really good tickets to the game, along with letting the kids be on the court during pre-game and high five the players.
We got there early to pick up our tickets and meet with the Magic staff. They gave us a backstage tour of the Arena and took us by the locker room. Then we sat courtside and waited a bit while the Suns did their warm-ups while they told us the night would work. Even though the thing was supposed to be just for the kids, they let Sarah and I do it too which was really nice of them.
So when the Magic came out for the warm-ups we walked over and stood on the court while they did their shoot around. Marcin Gortat (the Polish Hammer) came over and talked to Max and Ella a bit who were standing a few feet away from Sarah and I. Not sure what they talked about, but it was pretty funny to watch 3ft tall Max next to the 7ft tall Gortat.
So the Magic were really cool and gave us a few options for while I was going to be in Florida and let us pick which game to go to. We decided to go see the Magic play the Phoenix Suns mainly because I wanted to see Steve Nash play over some of our other options. They gave us 4 really good tickets to the game, along with letting the kids be on the court during pre-game and high five the players.
We got there early to pick up our tickets and meet with the Magic staff. They gave us a backstage tour of the Arena and took us by the locker room. Then we sat courtside and waited a bit while the Suns did their warm-ups while they told us the night would work. Even though the thing was supposed to be just for the kids, they let Sarah and I do it too which was really nice of them.
So when the Magic came out for the warm-ups we walked over and stood on the court while they did their shoot around. Marcin Gortat (the Polish Hammer) came over and talked to Max and Ella a bit who were standing a few feet away from Sarah and I. Not sure what they talked about, but it was pretty funny to watch 3ft tall Max next to the 7ft tall Gortat.
