Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Haha, what a lame title!

Anyway, I left Microsoft. That's right. Friday, July 2nd was my last day as an IT Engineer at Microsoft Production Studios after 13.5 years of supporting the facility. Microsoft was my first job right out of the Air Force. It felt like a new chapter in life. Instead, it got turned into its own trilogy. There is no doubt in my heart that I loved that place. I loved it with a passion. I enjoyed being there. I've never been anywhere else longer.

Don't get me wrong... there were bad times. Downright horrible times. Some of those times are the reason I decided to leave, but that's not the only reason why. In fact, there were many reasons why I wanted to. There were also a lot of reasons I did not want to.

I have friends there. Genuine friends that I know I won't see as much anymore. Friends that I know will drift apart from me. That's the first hardest part of leaving.

The work I was a part of there is a close second. Celebrities. Game trailers. Sat hits. Broadcasts and events that were viewed by millions! Production Studios was the perfect place for me to support since movies, TV shows, music, video games, and live streaming are passions of mine.

"Where did you go?" 

"Where are you going?" 

"What's next?" 

Quite frankly, I'm tired of answering these questions. No, really. It's because the answer is always long. If I told you the name of the company I work at now, you probably haven't heard of them. Haha, I sound like an emo kid trying to impress people with my music tastes. But no, seriously.

I now work at ThriftBooks. *a single party horn and party popper go off* You see, why do I bother?

They're an e-commerce company that sells new and used books. They also sell Blu-ray and DVDs, music albums, and video games. Kind of like how Amazon started, but they're independent. Well, I guess Amazon was independent at one time, too, but you know what I mean. According to the ThriftBooks About page, "today we are the world's largest online independent used book seller, operating with state-of-the-art automation and advanced analytics in a safety-first environment."

Buncha nerds, I tell ya. So, they aren't exactly a small company, but they aren't a huge one like Microsoft either. However, they are growing. I know they are growing because the day I started, a bunch of other new people started, too. Since then, more people have started. There's potential here and I don't mean it in the sense that I will have more opportunities ahead of me to move up the ladder. Rather, I'll be supporting IT for a company during a time of proven growth. I've never done that before. It's exciting, stressful, and intense. My team has already put a lot of trust and faith in me, and I want to impress them.

Books and reading are the heart and soul of this company. You can tell just by walking around the corporate office and speaking with some of the employees. No one has asked me what my favorite books are yet. If they did, I'm not sure what to tell them. I don't really read. I mean, I read a ton everyday, but not books. It just usually comes in the form of online news, e-mails, social media, and Reddit. When I do read books, it's usually manga or comics. ThriftBooks sells those, too, but I can already see the judging faces looking back at me if I were to tell them that manga is all I read.

One of the company perks is free books delivered straight to your home. I can only imagine how giddy a proper bookworm would be hearing about such a benefit. That would be like me never having to pay for a video game ever again. Still, used books are incredibly cheap on ThriftBooks and the overall glowing reviews are a testament to how careful they are with their quality process. I was browsing r/books on Reddit the other day and saw tons of positive comments for ThriftBooks.

Want one of the Harry Potter books? 4 bucks for a hardcover. Want 2019's New York Times bestseller Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips? 5 bucks. How do more people not already know about this company?

Anyway, not trying to sell you on it, but I am excited to see where they take me. The IT team has already made me feel welcome and I look forward to the many challenges and support opportunities that lie ahead.