Let's see how THIS one goes...

Anyway, I'm walking to the deli, thinking about a coffee and a donut when my phone rings. It's the Account Manager for my contract company. It turns out that we've done such a great job getting the number of call tickets in queue down, that we're no longer needed. In fact, the count is so low, a lot of the people here don't have much to do, only the more difficult, long-to-resolve tickets. That's it.

I have half a day of work today and then it's back to unemployment, unless my company can find something for me (which I'm doubting).

I was just getting comfortable with this huge campus and was felt like I was just getting into the swing of things and now it feels like the rug was pulled out from under me. Again.

*sigh*

So, even though I had the appropriate background checks done last year for the NMCI job, I never had to take a drug test. In fact, I don't remember the last time I had to take a drug test - wait, I remember once - 1978. So, I had to drive off into an industrial office park in Elk Grove Village to find a medical center that specializes in that sort of thing. The odd/weird/unsettling/cool thing was that the, um, sample (when it was, um, ready) was put into a a thing that looked like a Mr. Coffee and the results "would be sent to the company within 10 minutes"! Cool! But it's still an odd little time going someplace to pee into a cup...

It is windy as hell outside. We've been getting some pretty bad winds over the past month or so, but, damn, these are bad today. It's also 75 degrees out there today - wonder if the two are related.

I know one thing that seems to be related - again.

Almost every year we have had White Sox weekend Season Tickets, we've noticed that the weather just sucks in the spring. It's not every year, but it seems that this is going to be one of those years. I mentioned the crappy weather we had this past weekend. This weekend is supposed to 52 on Saturday (and we have our first night game) and Sunday is supposed to be 46.

Great.

And so it starts again...

At least there's baseball to watch this afternoon...

The day was hard - Jonathan and I had some last minute deployments, orientations, and even some boxing of legacy machines to do. There was paperwork, agreements that these machines have actually been deployed, everyone agrees on the counts, the sign-offs completed. Then - gone. Again, everyone disperses around the country, the project officially closes...

...and the job ends.

Unemployed again, waiting for another project. Or another job.

With the team that we had for this project, even though it wasn't smooth sailing, I'd do it again. Maybe I can later this year - there is one project and potentially a second project later this year with different organizations on the base (one's with the Marines and the other the Naval Hospital). I don't know if we can wait that long without a steady income.

We'll just have to see.

Oh, the picture? Long story... We used to walk across the street to a fast food place for lunch a that had a machine that dispensed Happy Bunny stickers. I don't know why, but we got hooked on the stupid things. We used them as inside jokes, and we just had a crazy time with them.

I happened to see some little statuettes of some of the characters at a Sam Goody record store at Woodfield and felt this was the perfect goodbye gift for Juliet. She loved them so much, that she used them to give out to everyone (which I think was great). The picture is of the one we always said was her's: Let's focus on me.

Anyway, in case you didn't know, I'm a very emotional guy. Saying goodbye is really difficult for me... and I couldn't do it. I miss all of these people and I'm so friggin' sad that I'm not going to see them again...

Well, I started a new job yesterday. It's a 30% decrease in salary from my last fulltime job, or about 43% of what I used to earn in my life before my last permanent job before that. I had to take it - we're having financial issues so you take what you can.

On top of that, it's a contract job - as a subcontractor, to a subcontractor, to a subcontractor to the contractor of a project. A government project, Actually, a military project.

There's cool aspects to this, though. I'll be part of the world's largest desktop deployment in computing history - over 420,000 machines (though I'll only be involved with a local deploy of about 3,400). I get to write my own job description and build my own job and I don't have to code, or assemble or build or troubleshoot. It's mostly logistics among some major groups and the customer.

So, I'm not sure what I can say. Just that I'm employed, I have to drive about 40 miles one way, my hours have changed 3 times since I signed the contract.

I'm just not sure what I can talk about. One thing's for sure - don't expect any pictures!

Not much to say, except it was a great day. I know I've spent a lot of time here during my past unemployment periods, but it's still foreign to me. I still find myself thinking about things at work, but I have to keep telling myself to forget about it and them.

I don't want to feel too comfortable at home. I want to get back out there... after a short break. The White Sox have an afternoon game tomorrow... I feel the need to go to a day game...

I'm totally OK with it. I feel a big weight lifted off my shoulders. I have been unhappy for so long, that this feels good.

A new weight is taking its place, that of dealing with unemployment. I've been here before. The weight starts out light, almost imperceptible. It gets heavier as the days progress, but right now, just the difference in weights is a joy.

I'm a bachelor this weekend - Carol is going up to Michigan to Diane's house, so I'll be alone to decompress, which Carol says I should do. Just relax and we'll talk next week.

I'm fine with that.

And I'm feeling good.

EMPLOYED!