On Moving and Working and Origins

Jean Sexton muses:

Many of you know that I moved to Amarillo nearly two months ago. I had never lived outside North Carolina in my entire life, so moving to Texas has been quite an eye opener. I naively thought prices would be nearly the same for major things such as car insurance, food, and utilities. There’s been sticker shock on some of it, but I’m still happy with the move.

There’s also been the change in climate. Many of my allergies have vanished for now, because fewer of the things I’m allergic to grow here. My weather sense has gone somewhere east; I don’t have a feel for what will be happening anymore, so storms surprise me. That should change as I get more used to the land.

Retirement has not been “retiring.” I’ve been working fairly close to full time since I arrived in Texas. It’s been interesting as ADB and I have been defining my job. We knew there were things I would do when I got here, but we are discovering more tasks that I can take on and free up both the Steves and Leanna to do more job-specialized tasks such as game design and accounting.

I am taking on more marketing duties and trying to learn more as I go. Hailing Frequencies is moving to my side of things. Rangers and convention support are also moving to my side of the office building. I’m really excited about it. I want the world to know about our great games.

Origins Game Fair was a chance to let more people know about us and our games. I loved giving away our postcards and meeting all sorts of people. Some were currently playing our games, some had played our games long ago and were interested in getting back into games, and some had never heard of us. Some had brought children and were buying them their first miniature to paint. Others decided to try Federation Commander or to get back into Star Fleet Battles.

The booth was quickly set up due to the F&E guys descending upon the van and unloading it in one fell swoop. Ken Burnside helped Steve Cole and me set up the booth. As usual, the F&E crowd made sure I had food and drink (Dan Knipfer was instrumental in arranging that) throughout the con. Colleen Knipfer and Charles Chapel spelled me in the sales booth at times and Charles made sure I got my first Origins swag (purple dice). Bill Stec created a true “Purple Pen of Perdition” which Steven Petrick tried to hide as he was worried about it being used to thump unruly Steves. (Bill also ran several ACTASF demos.) Ryan Opel made sure I had a proper throw rug for Texas -- a lovely cowhide! Thomas Mathews, Roger Rardain, and Mike Filsinger helped with making sure that Steve Cole got where he needed to be. And as we closed, the entire Knipfer clan helped us pack up, letting us leave in record time.

It is that feeling of family that refreshes me for the year. If I get tired or frustrated, I remind myself of the SFU family that needs me to do my part and I can carry on. Many times members of my extended SFU family offer words of encouragement or post something that will make me laugh. I am glad that I moved so that I can do better work for ADB and serve our customers even better. I thank you all for being the special people that you are.