Severance Period - Month 3 - There is Hope!

 The middle of August proved to be the most encouraging. I finally had interviews scheduled! They were with local businesses and not in Texas. Both companies are very popular in the area and I had peers at both locations.

One of the interviews was very vanilla, literally reading from a list of standard questions. It wasn't very personable and was a little discouraging. The other interview was very engaging and I felt very good about it.

I didn't hear anything back from the first company's interview, but the second one resulted in a second interview with the entire team. That second interview was even better and I felt very good about it after all was said and done.

As I waited, I prepped for my son going back to school. It was still up in the air if it was going to be remote or not and if he was going to ride a bus. He ended up becoming a bus rider and would be attending on site.

The Friday before my son started school again, I got a job offer from the second company and I accepted it. A huge weight off my shoulders knowing that as soon as my severance was over, I'd be working again. 

Knowing that, another dumpster was rented and another cleanup surge was done, this time getting rid of furniture and cleaning out my storage unit. I also finally got everything gathered for a yard sale over Labor Day weekend.

The first day of the sale went really well, getting rid a lot of the bigger items, but it fizzled out the rest of the weekend. What didn't sell, I packed up and donated.

Around this time, my nephew-in-law approached me about doing some work around the house as his hours had been cut. He had handyman skills and there was plenty to do, so I agreed to put him to work.

We started with the yard and trimming down some tree branches from over the roof and a couple of branches that didn't look very stable should a big storm come around. We put my burn barrel to work and got all of the yard waste burned off.

Then came the odd jobs around the house. I had new ceiling fans that I'd never put up and he took care of that for me. Our front porch had a few posts rotting out and we ordered new ones. This led to painting, which is still in progress.

As for me, I continue to re-organize the garage and kitchen. My sofa from storage came into the house and we needed a coffee table and ottoman to go with it. The storage cabinets in the mud room had gone with the yard sale, which opened up the mud room a great deal. I decided on a wall cabinet and will be moving the cat food and litter box there once everything is sorted.

I started work right after labor day and like most companies, we are still remote, so not being able to meet my new team in person and see the corporate office has been a bit weird. But, technology makes so much possible. I'm using virtual machines until my hardware that was ordered comes in. Lots and lots of Team meetings already and I've met almost all of the team.

I was put to work right away to save me from boredom and I'm loving being back to work again. The environment is better in some ways and needs improvement in others. Every company is difference and I'm adapting well. I'm hoping my presence will help bring some change in some practices as well as learning new technologies and a new industry. I've already learned new things about Teams and Sharepoint that I didn't know were possible and I'm highly encouraged by this.

So, for anyone that has lost work because of the pandemic, do not lose hope. There's another job out there. I was extremely fortunate to have a severance package and finding something new as soon as the severance ran out. I know for many, the circumstances are much more dire. Don't give up, don't lose hope! The world will never be the same, but it's adapting and a new "normal" will emerge as a result. Be resilient!

Severance Period - Month 2 (with 1 to go)

My best friend came to visit for a few weeks. I hadn't seen her in almost 5 years, so it was long overdue. She RV'd it with 1 cat, 1 kitten, and 2 dogs (which used to be ours when we were roommates).

We had trouble finding a local and reliable RV site, so we ended up modifying a power outlet in the garage as a 30 amp connector for her RV, hooked her up to the house water supply, and used the septic tank when the RV needed to be emptied. It worked out pretty well. :-)

Having her here resulted in catching up on a few shows that I'd been meaning to watch, but I usually don't because I end up reading a book instead. :-) A short road trip to Branson was done and we went to a very empty Silver Dollar City the first day. It was a bit disappointing as rides aren't fun when there's no one else there to ride them with you. The play area was also closed, which is my son's favorite part. Day two was a bit better by going to the water park. Many more people, but still not overcrowded. We spend a good 4 hours (no sunburns!) there before packing up and heading back home. A few days later, I got a little adventurous and we died my hair dark blue. It actually turned out awesome. I feel like a comic book character where the hair is colored black/blue. :-)

While she was here, my cleaning/organizing binge continued. Facebook Marketplace turned out to be a great way to get rid of some furniture and clean out the living room. Some of it is still there, but every little bit helps! The bathroom fixtures were fixed up so the shower head didn't drip anymore. More stuff was thrown away and the "garage sale" pile grew.

Soon after her departure and continued adventure, I set to work on my car. I had had a trailer hitch in the garage since about November. We finally had a "cooler" day and I took advantage of it to install it. A "30 minute" job turned into about 3 hours. Thankfully, my brother was around to help get it installed (those suckers are heavy!). If I had been in a proper auto shop, it probably would have taken about 30 minutes, but that's never the case at home! One challenge was getting the wiring harness hooked up inside the car. The paneling doesn't give you much room to work, but I swore myself through it. The second challenge was one of the bolts had a burr and just would not screw on properly. I ended up using an air tool to get it going. With that done, I could now order/use a wheelchair carrier to make it easier than lifting it in and out of the trunk.

With the hot weather back in play, I focused on the house. First room to tackle was my office. I had a second monitor to install and I had family pictures in there for a project to digitize all of them. That didn't happen, so I packed up everything and decided to re-arrange the office completely. That took about 5 hours, but I'm very happy with the results. The room is much more open, the wires are much better managed, and all the nooks and crannies got a good cleaning/vacuuming. I've got a new drawer organizer coming that will help reduce the desk clutter that had built up over the years.

In the quiet times, I continued the job hunt. There was one job interview with a local company that I felt went well and hoping a second interview is forthcoming. Several other remote positions have been applied for, but no responses to them yet. I simply keep trying and hoping to have something lined up before my severance period is over.

Taking life day by day and keeping up with my home projects is making my outlook hopeful. :-)

Severance Period - Month 1 (with 2 to go)

On February 27, 2020 my company announced a layoff (a.k.a. displacement) of 330 IT Staff and moving to an outsourcing company. Some were laid off that day. The rest were given 90 days to transfer our knowledge to our replacements. In the first week after the announcement, I went through the anger, depression, and resolve stages. I had been with the company nearly 6 years and really thought it would be "the last company I will ever work for." I decided to make the most of it and simply do my best to make the transition as easy as possible. The next three months were of diligently documenting my job, how I packaged software, my patch management process, managing ticket escalations. I even went to the extent of making "immediate Zoom meetings" and recording them to explain some of the more complicated tasks I have done over the years.

To say the least, the knowledge transfer was painful and challenging due to lack of skills, knowledge of the tools, bad network connections, and in some cases, a language barrier. Our counterparts were not prepared for the amount of knowledge that needed to be transferred. We also started working remotely in mid-March. I found that this made it a bit easier to get documentation done as there were little to no distractions. Regardless of the circumstances, I did my part to the best of my ability and have no regrets on the outcome.

My initial thought right after the layoff announcement would be that "this is the time to relocate". But then, COVID-19 happened and delayed that plan. I job hunted, but, at the time, it was half-hearted because I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay or relocate. We started working remotely in mid-March. By May, my work from home routine was set and it was working really well. My last day was May 29, 2020. My severance would last me 3 months, so there was no rush to find another job.

Once that last day happened, I decided, if anything, I would get my house in order should I decide to actually move or not. The house has been lived in for 29 years. My father worked out of the fairly large garage for mail order services. He passed away almost 5 years ago and I had not done anything except shift things around in the garage. Without having work as an excuse, it was time to get things done.

My younger brother and I started clearing out what we knew would be trash or junk into the driveway. We tore down a small fenced area in the backyard that was no longer needed. We loaded up my trailer with the fencing. We went through all the shelves of cleaning, lubrication, and solvent bottles my dad used for his business and put them in their own boxes to be taken to a recycle center. We stacked up the cans and cans of paint that was saved from when the house was being remodeled about 10 years ago. I separated latex vs. oils and popped all the latex ones, filled them with kitty litter, so they could all be dried out. My older brother came over and started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets to help identify a lot of the parts and pieces and if they were worth keeping or not.I scheduled a 10 yard dumpster to be delivered a couple days later.

When the dumpster arrived, I started it filling it with everything from the trailer and what we had piled up in the driveway. In two days, it was half-full already. We tore down shelves and cabinets that were no longer needed. My nephew, niece and her husband helped out over the next few days. My older brother had friends interested in some of the equipment and they came by to take it and help move some heavier things out of the way. By day 4, the dumpster was already full and we still had stuff to throw away. Thankfully, the dumpster company was willing to empty it and bring it back. I still had 3 days left on the rental.

My feet aching from the multiple trips in and out of the garage, three new shelving units were installed, a workbench cleared and relocated, a heavy metal cabinet was emptied and moved. We were now able take down everything from the loft in the garage and go through all of that. A good chunk of it was empty boxes saved should they needed for shipping. It ended up being two truckloads of broken down boxes that I took to the recycle center. There was even a third row seat that came out of a minivan we hadn't owned for 20 years. Only a fraction of what was in the loft went back up, mostly holiday decorations. We were again able to completely fill the second dumpster by pick up day.

In the aftermath, the questionable chemicals were disposed of properly and another family friend was invited to see if he wanted anything we were able to find/salvage. Three more fairly large items were taken out of the garage as a result.

I'm now at the point of organizing the piles of stuff we are keeping or putting up for sale. Aside from all that's already been done, I still have a storage unit to go through as well. A third dumpster will likely be needed.

A few days ago, my best friend arrived in her RV. These last few days have been actual "vacation" days since I stopped working. This weekend, I will get back to finishing up the garage and tackling my storage unit. There will then be a yard sale. Whatever doesn't sell, I'll give away or throw away.

Once that it is done, the job hunt will be my focus. It's been almost a month already and I'm ready to start working again. At this point, I'm hoping for a remote position. I'll be attending webinars and training on AWS and Google technologies and maybe manage a few certificates.

This first month flew by. The next two will probably go even faster. :-)