Wow, it's been a while since I posted. I never knew not having a job could make someone so busy. Or at least seem busy. I've managed to play some baseball on the PS3, run a bunch of errands, go to the coffee shop to write a bit, help film a short movie and shop for a fridge with my dad. And that's just the stuff I can remember right now. Today I've managed to get as far as installing the video card I ordered a coupled weeks ago. So far so good. No kernel panics yet. No exactly life changing, but something to do.

Day 2, 8:00 AM. And the call comes from an IT guy at "the company". Wakes me from a nice sleep. What he wants to know, what's so important, is, do I have a blackberry charger that I forgot to leave there. I mumble something about how yes I probably do have that charger but I have no idea where it is. He tells me to call him when I find it. Well, crap. Now I'm "awake". Actually only takes about 5 minutes to find the charger. But I don't have the IT guys number. So I call my pal Kevin, who I worked next to and have known a decade longer than "the company". He sounds sympathetic and tells me that he told the IT guy not to call right then, to wait til I would have gotten up. But you know how these guys can be. He was determined. To get that blackberry charger. Right f-ing now.

I still don't feel entirely bad about not being at "the company" this morning...

Day 1 (counting business days...) of unemployment is in the bag. Not bad, all in all. I managed to make $14 simply by cashing in bottles from my garage, so, at least I have that. Would have been more if I hadn't broken a few in the parking lot at SARCAN. I guess I'll have to start being more careful.

I also was just starting to watch a DVD this afternoon when one of my old colleagues from the job that shall not be named called. He had been asking me for some help with a proposal he was working on. Of course, being the nice hard working guy I am, I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with him, advising him on how I think he should proceed. I do wonder a bit how much of this kind of thing will come up. I'm a good guy, I think, but I have to make sure to balance that with the whole "they decided they didn't want to pay me to do this anymore, so..." thing.

Beginning

OK, it's pretty simple on the surface. Last Friday I was "let go" from my job. Terminated, fired, laid off. Whatever. In any case they had decided to go in the dreaded "different direction". Where does that leave me? Well, they gave me a bit of severance (not a lot, but enough I suppose). And my wife does pretty good with her job, so we really don't need to go into panic mode. This makes me a lot more fortunate than many people who have lost their employment within the last year or so. So I guess I'm pretty lucky actually. I mean, I got "released" from a job I didn't much like doing anyway. Most days I dreaded going there. And now I'm in a position to find something and someplace I like better. So I'll stay on the positive side and see the opportunities here. And meanwhile I can sit in my house and write a bit.