Jared Evans Global Microbrand

This twist on a famous quotation “Go west, young man!” is more fitting for me as I now move on to the next stage of my life.  This is a good time for me to say a few words about the changes in my life.

What is happening? Where are we going?
Heather and I are uprooting from San Diego and moving across the country to Washington, D.C.!   D.C. is on the list of top cities where we both wanted to live and we are both thrilled to make our way there.  D.C. offers us both plenty of opportunities for growth, professionally and personally.  With the large and outstanding Deaf community in and around D.C., we are looking forward to meeting more people and forging new friendships.

What are we doing in D.C.? 
The ball started to roll when Heather applied and got accepted at Gallaudet University.  She will start this fall and will be studying for her BA in Interpretation Program.  One thing led to other and Heather is now involved with a summer mentorship with Sign Language Associates.  Sign Language Associates is the oldest for-profit sign language interpreting agency in America, and from what we hear through the local grapevine, has a wonderful reputation for quality interpreting services and excellent internal support for their interpreters.

As a lifelong geek, I’m more than thrilled to continue in my field of expertise: Information Technology.  I have accepted a position with Viable, Inc. as Information Technology Infrastructure Engineer.  My main focus will be to make sure that all the network hardware behind the Viable continues to hum and run smoothly.  Viable is growing at a breathtaking pace, going from 6 people barely a year ago to more than 60 employees today.  It will be a wonderful challenge for me to make sure that the network resources will meet the rapidly growing demands of a young, startup company.

During my recent visit there, I was very impressed with the quality of staff and some of things that I was allowed to see. The passion shows in their work.  I wasn’t able to see everything but it’s apparent that they have a trick or two up their sleeve.  I will be able to talk about these in due time.

When?
Heather is already living in D.C. and on her second week of SLA mentorship.  All we have to say is “Thank god for the GPS unit!”  It has saved our butts more than a few times in the concrete maze that is D.C.!  It’ll take us some time before we know the city like the back of our hands.

I have returned to San Diego to get the rest of our things together and make the final trip across the country.  Within weeks, you’ll find me search frantically for air-conditioning machines as I fight off the sweltering D.C. weather.

Farewell to San Diego
It will be bittersweet when we leave San Diego.  It was here where Heather and I met (DawnSignPress where we both worked) and our relationship blossomed.  We will miss our frequent walks on the cliffs of Del Mar next to the Pacific Ocean along with the near perfect weather all year around.

The easy-going Deaf community on the west coast and DawnSignPress has been a great boon.  I was privileged to be able to meet and work with many great Deaf people.  They were instrumental in unleashing new concepts and creativity with international impact such as the emergence of ASL video blogging, genesis of DeafRead, and pushing for higher levels of discourses within the Deaf community.  The countless discussions that took place around the lunch table at DawnSignPress were stimulating, stretched everyone’s minds, and left us in stitches one too many times.

Looking forward to the future
We are eagerly anticipating our new life in a strange (but not for long!) city that we will soon be able to call home. 

D.C. here we come!