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Our relocation to Cary, North Carolina is finally complete. Our furniture finally arrived last Thursday and we've been unpacking boxes ever since - and will probably be unpacking for a few weeks to come.
The move wasn't without it's stressful moments; first we closed 4 days late because my bank in the UK couldn't provide a piece of paper in exactly the right form for my lender in the US; then when we finally got that there was confusion over the new closing date - at one point we actually had the keys in our hand only to be told we'd have to give them back and wait over the weekend to close.
Then there was the delayed arrival of our furniture from California - we we're misled repeatedly by the moving company; on the date our stuff was supposed to arrive in NC, it turns out it was still sitting in a warehouse in San Jose (where it had been for 10 days). When the truck finally did arrive there was no local labor to unload it so the driver, Jo and I made a start - on the hottest day of the year (104 + humidity). I did a bit of research on the moving industry - some of the stories are pretty shocking. My advice to anyone trusting their possessions with one of these companies is to do a bit of research before hand - there are some good resources online - MovingScam maintains a blacklist, the FMCSA maintain statistics on all carriers so you can get a feel for their track record - look specifically for fines for overcharging, etc.
Anyway, so far so good - the kids are settling in and making friends already - we've hopefully seen the worst of the summer heat; once the house is sorted we're going to start exploring - a trip to the Outer Banks looks pretty appealing.
At some point I'll make my way over to Sun's Cary office (which is cycling distance) and I understand (from Dave) there's a monthly Sun lunch in Raleigh - if anyone in the area wants to meet up for drop me a line.
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The RTP area is truly a jewel. To give you some idea of how long the tech industry has been in RTP, IBM celebrated its 40th year in RTP back in 2005. Yes, IBM started operating in RTP the same year it released System/360, and arguably started the modern business computing era.
The area is full of smart, innovative people, and is in many ways has become a "new" silicon valley, Witness the rise of Red Hat, and the fact IBM moved its x86 server design group (including the old Sequent group) to RTP about 8 years ago. IBM RTP now does engineering for IBM's scalable x86 systems and BladeCenter. Cisco has a large presence in RTP as well.
The comments about summer flying delays out of the RTP are valid. But you can avoid the flying delays from RTP to Charlotte by driving to Charlotte rather than flying there in the summer months when weather may be a factor. This only adds about 1 hour to your total travel time (3 hr drive and 1 hr check-in vs. 1 hr check-in, 1 hr flight, and 1 hr connection). You can also choose an earlier flight to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms. From Charlotte, you can fly to just about anywhere (Charlotte is a big US Airways/Star Alliance Hub). Plus, since you have to make at least one connection to fly overseas, it opens up several flight options which means lower prices.
Speaking of Charlotte, it is emerging as the second largest U.S. banking hub after New York. Bank of America's main headquarters is there, the result of Charlotte based NationsBank (formerly North Carolina National Bank) buying Bank of America in 1998. Wachovia, another large bank, is also headquartered there. As Wachovia and BofA move into broader financial services, they are becoming IT leaders, doing many interesting things with their IT organizations.
You will have to get used to the heat and humidity, but the way to do that is to get out in it.
Posted by Mark on August 12, 2007 at 08:59 AM PDT #
"Cycling distance"? In Raleigh? In the summer? That usually means from the driveway into the garage :)
In any case, glad to see things are settling in. You'll really enjoy the area, it's a great place to live and raise kids.
Posted by Toufic Boubez on August 14, 2007 at 03:53 AM PDT #