Life in Guelph Ontario Canada

I remembered last year when Microsoft approached me and offered me the position of being the Team Leader and Spokesman for AdCenter International. Reason why I remembered it again was the position would see me based in Hong Kong and while being in a high profile position with Microsoft had its advantages I really didn't want to move to Hong Kong.

My gut feeling on Hong Kong was it has too much of a corporate environment and that everyone was just there to work and make money, so I politely rejected their offer and somewhat forgot about working and living in Hong Kong. Now being back in Hong Kong for a few days I see that I made the right choice and my gut feelings where correct.

Happiness, I learned along time ago doesn't come from money or the endless pursuit of what money can buy, for me I found that happiness comes from having strong relationships and a sense of belonging to and contributing to a better society.

So what about my gut feelings on Guelph, well I let you in on a little insider secret, I didn't take the position in Guelph for the money, it was one of the lower offers I had just looking at the cash, but my gut feeling on Guelph and the company I will be working for far out weighed the long term value of the other offers.

My gut feeling on Guelph is 90% really good as I think will be a city full of people that love the small town/city atmosphere and have a good sense of community. I also think that its a city with a lot of culture that is easy to experience as the size and the locals make it easy to interact with everything/everyone. Also really excited about the fact that its less then an hour to Toronto so while living in Toronto doesn't interest me at all, being able to go up for Raptors games and other events at the Air Canada Centre is really a plus.

The 10% of my gut feeling that is a little off is based on the large university crowd in Guelph, while this could be a good thing it also could be bad. I am hoping that the University of Guelph attracts more laid back/small town type people as that last thing I want to do is move into a non-stop party town with wild discos, but so far it looks like its more the cafe type crowd, which is great!

On top of the 90% positive feelings towards Guelph I have to say that I have a 99% positive gut feeling toward my new corporate environment. The company really seems to care not only about me but all its employee's, which is really important. I have been with companies where they'll pay me a good salary, treat me good with perks and benefits but then totally take advantage of the majority of the staff.

Thankfully from what I have been told and from the employee blogs I could find, I hear nothing but good things about the company, the staff and the senior management. So either they're really good at propaganda or I am in for a really nice place to call home.