Help a fellow Ferrari owner relocate to the Rockies.

Hey gang, I could really use some FChat help. It seems there's no task too small for FChat so I figured I'd give this a try. Since graduating college in '94, I've wanted to get out west to the mountains. Unfortunately, the jobs I was offered were always somewhere else. I've been in Alabama the last 12 years, which has been fine, but I'm really not a fan of banjo music. After budget cuts and a loss of R&D funding, my company has placed me into a position that I isn't even in my field and it's time to find another employer. This time, I want to go where I really want to live. I don't really care which state, as long as it's next to the mountains. Colorado is obviously the most likely location given my field of expertise. I'm a physicist who's been working on space and defense R&D programs to develop radiation hardened optical components and systems. If anyone has any contacts in the optics, radiation effects or aerospace communities out west, I'd appreciate any networking help you could provide. Shoot me a PM and I'll send you my resume.

Thanks,
Richard

 

Richard,
I wish I could help more but I would advise you check out NM also. A friend of mine worked at Los Alamos and he found time to climb all the CO 14ers. But, as a former easterner myself, I agree CO is a special place. Hard to put a price on life style.

Dave

 

I know ATK has a big presence in Utah.

http://www.atk.com/

No contacts or other knowledge though. Good Luck!

 

Space Dynamics Lab is nearby where I live and I know a few people who work there. It looks like they have a possible future opening for an optical engineer: https://sdljobs.org/usurf-jobs/employment/positions?type=Full

 

Richard,

As a fellow climber, fellow Fchatter, and just relocated to Colorado myself I will help in anyway I can. We have a furnished basement you are welcome to use if coming to an interview or job hunt, I have a hanger at front range airport to store the toys until you get settled. PM me if you wish... Oh, I live about 10 min north of the airport (Denver)

 

I know a few ex-Lockheed Martin guys, I'll see if I can get some leads. Ball Aerospace might be worth checking out.

Your 328 GTB would be welcomed in this neck of the woods.

-F
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Thanks for all the input and encouragement gang! FChat can do it all. I have several applications in at Ball Aerospace in Boulder and I have a contact there that is putting a good word in for me. I've also sent in applications to several small companies in the Colorado area as well as a couple in Oregon. I've talked with the owner of a small tech company in Jackson, WY of all places about partnering on some proposals in the future (wouldn't THAT be a nice place to live!). I'll check out Space Dynamics Labs in Utah as well. I'm not as familiar with Utah companies as I am with those in Colorado. I know ATK very well in my dealings with NASA programs.

I spent my teenage summers in Alaska, and that put the hook in me. Since college I've been saying "some day" about getting out west. I'm tired of saying "some day". Today! Plus, if I fly off for one more climbing trip and leave my 7 year old son behind, he's going to stop speaking to me. He had his backpack loaded the night before I left for a British Columbia climb last fall and was heartbroken when I told him he couldn't come. My 9 year old daughter isn't too happy about being left out either, nor is my 4 year old daughter. Plus, one climb a year just isn't cutting it.

Anyway, thanks for the tips and I'll let you guys know how it's going.

 

Wow, exellent lead! That job is right in my wheelhouse of experience and capabilities. Thanks!

 

How about Boeing in Washington state?

 

UPDATE: I have a phone interview today with Ball Aerospace in Boulder. Wish me luck!

 

Hope to see you in the mountains this summer!

Dave

 

Good luck!

 

Ball. Yes.

Lots of high tech companies in Colo. Spgs.

Then there is the US Bureau of Standards in Boulder if you want to be a low-life sleeze job govt employee.

 

Well, the conversation went well I think. We talked for over an hour. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with me and this job hunt, I have 90% of what they are looking for, but that other 10% is a big part of the job. So I don't feel too confident that I'll get called in for a face to face interview.

In the mean time, I'm busy planning a summer family vacation to the Silverton-Ouray-Lake City area for camping, hiking, climbing and fishing. It's my sales pitch to the family on Colorado. This time next year, if I'm still stuck in this miserable NASA job, maybe then I can convince the wife and kids to sell it all and move out there.

 

+1 w/C. Spgs., close & personal w/the front range.
Check out the Telluride area (to hell u ride) while out in SW CO, my ole 'once in a while' stompin' grounds in the San Juans (noted for their mucho prominence). Great skiing, climbing, waterfalls, get away from it all, etc..

 

I got a call back from Ball. They want to fly me out for an onsite interview in the next few weeks. I need to do some technical review to prep. I don't want to have a blank stare after a question. I've been through that before and that's not a fun feeling.

 

Good luck.

Dave

 

If you move out here, that would bring the count of 328 GTB's on the front range back up to 4. It could have been 5 but Hardtop already unloaded half of the ones he owned and is getting ready to unload the other half.

 

You could buy it and keep the count up!

More importantly, Futureman coming gives me another potential sucker for my annual Princeton climb.

Dave

 

Actually, I thought Dave had sold his GTB last year. I thought I remember him listing on FerrariAds back when there were like 3 GTBs all up for sale at the same time.

Princeton climb? As in mountain climb? I'm all in.

My interview with Ball is scheduled for the 14th (a week from Monday). Hopefully, I can convince them the experience that I lack isn't something I can't pick up quickly.

 

I stopped trying to sell it during the winter but it is for sale again.

I'm trying to get Sherpa to be this year's victim on Princeton since he is a 14er virgin. AND, he's always making fun of my age since he is 26 years younger. I plan to climb Princeton once a year until I can't. (7 times so far). My wife has climbed it 3 and refuses to go again. There is a lot of talus hopping she does not enjoy. So I need more recruits.

Here is Princeton today from my house. Not much snow this spring but it looks pretty inviting, don't you think?
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Beautiful vista, but it looks cold in the shade.

If you ever get a chance to float around above the mountains in a small plane, do so.

As for Sherpa, he's not man enough, obviously. ;-)

 

Looks like fun. The only 14ner I've done is Crestone Needle. I've been climbing in Montana mostly the past several years, but last fall I went to BC and climbed with a former guide. He buried me physically on the first day, but I learned a lot about class 5 climbing.

Hopefully, things will work out and I'll be dragging the wife and kids out there this summer to stay.

 

I just don't think I have the fitness...

 

If your looking for some great events to attend, check out www.coloradocarevents.com. Colorado is a great place to live and lots of great car events!

Mike