The End Of An Era

Today marks the first day without a job. I will certainly miss the folks from Textron Financial, Small Business Direct (as our group in Little Rock was called). Yesterday was sobering and filled with goodbyes, but several of us spent a fun time together at a few local bars. Everyone seemed a bit relieved it was over, having hung in there for the great severance and retention package. As I prepare for my next journey, contracting back to Textron's TBS group, I hope to be able to use some of the knowledge I've gained over the past five years.

If you look over at the sidebar on a left, you will notice the Unemployment Countdown timer is now gone. Maybe I'll start another one as the term of my contract nears it's end.

In other news:
In preparation for the new contracting gig, I decided I needed a mobile development platform. So I bought a new custom-configured Asus M6N laptop. It sports a 1.5 gHz Intel Centrino chip, 1GB of DDR333 RAM and a 5400 RPM hard disk with 16MB of cache. This should last me for several years to come. To protect my investment, I also purchased a Zero Halliburton Z5 aluminum computer attache case. The darn thing is bulletproof and has a gasket to make it water resistant and dustproof. Just the thing for a road warrior. Both should arrive this week.

Also scheduled to arrive this week is a new bed. For the past ten years or so I've been sleeping on an old futon I bought from my god-sister Julie for $50. It will be so nice to have a real adult mattress, complete with plush top (I didn't even know what that was a week ago). So look for a posting Wednesday morning after my first night's sleep in real orthopedic comfort.