Dude, we're moving to Abu Dhabi

I’ll take “Shocked and Awed” for $1000, Alex.

 

My artistic partners in Corporatetoolz.com casually informed me two weeks ago that they will be moving from Nashville to Abu Dhabi.

 

I’m not kidding.

 

Nashville to Abu Dhabi.  That’s like trading in your used Ford Ranger for a Carnival Cruise Ship.  It’s like looking in the mirror before work and thinking: “Hmmm….should I wear the blue tie or the space suit?”

 

Ok, I’m being over-dramatic.  Their move makes perfect sense.  My friends are architects and there are incredible professional opportunities in the UAE.  By contrast, the current real estate/credit crisis in the US has made life incredibly difficult for architects. 

 

Why wouldn’t they bounce?

 

Call me old-school, but I’m still not completely used to the idea that someone I know (not named Indiana Jones) would move to Abu Dhabi for work, let alone make the decision to move across the world quickly and confidently.  It wasn’t that long ago that the thought of moving from Minneapolis to Milwaukee was enough to induce panic attacks.  After all, leaving a city meant losing touch with that city, as well as all of the people in it.  Not so any more. 

 

We have all read about how small/flat the world is becoming, but sometimes it takes an event like this (close friends moving to a place I first heard about when Garfield threatened to banish Nermal there) for the message to sink in.          

How far would you go for work?

Comments

[downbeats]

I wouldn't move for a job at this stage in my life. I'll be staying here in the city where I am regardless of where I'm working indefinitely unless my personal situation radically changes
(which I sincerely hope it won't).