6 years, 9 months, and 24 days later...

(Cassi and I were going to just put up one post on this, but I read hers and didn't want to change anything, but still add my account.)

On January 6, 2003, I started my internship with Novell, under Neal Beckstrand (who Ryan also worked for during some of his intern days).  After almost a year, he offered me to transition to a full-time employee, and I've been there ever since...until today.

Tuesday morning I got a call from Neal, who emotionally told me that there was a layoff happening today and my last day would be October 30.  Neal has been an amazing manager to work for, and also a good friend, who always looked out for his employees.  During my almost-7 years, I've survived way too many layoffs, and I can't help but wonder if I'd still have a job if we were still up in Utah.  However, I know that we're where we are supposed to be.  I've felt good about every part of moving to/living in Mesa, for me and especially for my kids.  Now we just have to figure out the next step.

At first I was just in shock and didn't really have anything to respond with.  I took a couple minutes to ponder it in my office alone and start a job search before heading downstairs to break the news to Cassi.  That was one of the hardest things to do...not that I could hide it, but when the provider isn't going to be providing anymore, it's very depressing.  Not to mention that timing was possibly as bad as it could be, with things already tight, the job market pretty saggy and Cassi's birthday and Christmas coming up...the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint her or add any stress to our lives.

So, I took a deep breath and told her the news, then started calling my family to let them know, and then went back to work, since I still had about 4 more days.  I spent that time tying up loose ends and transferring stuff to the "lucky" survivors.  Luck is certainly a double-edged sword in that respect.  Thankfully, we have so much family so close and a great severance package that will keep us alive for as short a job search as we can possibly arrange.

Anyway, after the best first job out of college I could have hoped for, I have officially joined the Novell Alumni Group in LinkedIn, and am on to the Great Big Job Hunt of 2009.  Wish me luck (a prayer wouldn't hurt either)!