Christmas come and gone

So it's January 5th now, and the holiday season is over. People are back at work and life goes on. Overall I had a good holiday, I spent Christmas and New Years at Mom's house in Oregon. I don't know when I'll be going back there again, but I think it's going to be a while. We had a difficult discussion while I was there about my future plans, and since then I've come to the conclusion that it's time to look for a different job. I've gotten to the point at my current job where I don't think I can grow any more there, and I feel like I've been trading water for a long time now so it's time for a change. I've put together a new resume and cover letter, so the next step is to start looking for a suitable position somewhere in the Bay Area. Finding the right position is going to be difficult I think, because I want to work a regular Monday to Friday daytime shift at the new job and those may be hard to find if I want to stay working in a data center somewhere. So I'll be trying to broaden my view with the positions I consider and apply to. I've got a pretty wide-ranging skillset by now, and that plus the certifications I've earned over the last several years hopefully will give me a shot at securing a good job somewhere. I'm starting the hunt today. I finished reading a Stephen King novel while on vacation in Oregon, and now I'm reading a book called The Wager (fiction) about a group of early 1800s sailors that shipwrecked on the coast of Brazil and had to survive some very harsh conditions. I haven't gotten very far into the book yet but it's been holding my interest pretty well. I'm also reading Dune Messiah, the second book in the Dune series. It's very political, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm reading it on a Kindle I got for Christmas, which is a neat toy. I think I'll be getting some good use out of it going forward. I'm also starting on a new diet plan this week. My mom is on the Mayo Clinic diet now so I had to eat what she prepared while I was in Oregon, and she convinced me to give it a try. I'm working my way through the food I have in the pantry right now so I don't have to throw anything away, so technically I'm not on the diet yet but I'm preparing for it now. I ordered a new bathroom scale from Amazon which will be here tomorrow, along with a salad shooter kitchen gadget. I'll be shredding a lot of vegetables soon with this new diet so I needed to get the proper tools. Hopefully I'll lose some weight with this diet, because so far with my regular diet and exercise regimen I'm not seeing much of a change.