decision to be made

when i returned to work last tuesday, i found out that our company had been acquired by a large dutch conglomerate with over eleven thousand employees, effective immediately. it certainly impacts my future in that i will not be able to reach v.p. status and become a shareholder/ owner since the new parent company is a publicly traded to-do, whereas before all of the v.p.s were the owners.

so, now i am at a crossroads and find it extremely difficult to decide how best to proceed: do i buy the house that i was planning to make an offer on in dallas, or do i chuck it all, take my year-end bonus [unless the giant dutch parent takes that away!] and move to one of two cities? frankly, i think i could be fine in either of the three cities: i know i have a good job, great friends, and a good standard of living here in dallas, and buying and renovating a house is exactly what a talented, young architect dreams of, but at the same time, i want to live in a world-class city [sorry, dallas!] and somewhere beautiful and exciting. san francisco is gorgeous, is the gay mecca, and the weather is my ideal, even though it is pricey to live there. chicago is such a vibrant yet friendly and personable city and one of my best friends lives there. so, do i start over, or do i not? this is where i toss it out to the universe blogosphere to be my crystal ball magic eight-ball and give me some advice...

in the background::and you tell me:a-ha