one among many

well, yesterday sucked. after 14 years, 6 months and 3 weeks I'm out of work, along with 3,299 of my closest friends. The last time I was RIF'd (October 1989) I was out of work for exactly 7 days. There (@ Novell) they announced the lucky names one by one, over the intercom. We figured out the pattern after the 2nd name (when our co-workers failed to return). This time, I got the news via a phone call from my manager, 1500 miles away. Guess I shouldn't worry about the 15 year Gold Watch.

There are many pundits out there who are documenting it, so far be it for me to out-pundit anyone. If you want the details, this is as good as any: The ups and downs of Sun Microsystems and then there's the slightly less rosy view: Michael S. Malone's Silicon Insider column of April 29th . This stuff is surprisingly easy to find: just Google for ["Sun Microsystems" 3300].

There's good news in this:
0) my spam just went way down;
1) my inbox is at zero (0) for the first time in years;
2) I won't feel guilty about taking vacation (maybe I'll go to Comanche Peak!);
3) I'll be able to do yardwork during daylight hours;
4) I can catch up on the late-night infomercials;
5) My work voicemail now says "Gene is busy." Yeah, for a very long time.

My generic advice? (economic, political, religious .. you name it):
Read lots, sift the chaff, retain what your gut tells you is real.

Pardon me, while I make some lemonade out of this lemon. Speaking of lemonade, Geoff Arnold reminded me to listen to The Diane Rehm Show. Ah, bliss.