Wow, I guess I'm unemployed for the next couple of weeks!!!  It's so weird that I don't have any chores to do or early morning alarms to set for tomorrow morning. All I have to do is make sure I move my car by 8am for street sweeping tomorrow morning.

My last day at work was hectic! I came in at my regular time hoping to be able to get work done before my replacement came in an hour and a half later at 6:30am. Unfortunately, when I got there, I found streamers, balloons and signs making it impossible to get to my desk. I was told that I could not take them down, unless I wanted to die. I decided to try and clean out my replacements desk (she isn't going to be using mine), but that took longer than I'd hoped. Plus she arrived early! Then the day long food crammed party started. I haven't seen that much food in a long time! Plus the people! So many people!!!  I was touched that so many came by to wish me well, but I felt bad because just about everyone said that she has "big shoes to fill". She doesn't need to hear that on her first day! I told her not to listen and that she would be fine. I finally had to send her home so I could get some work done!! I'd hoped to be further along than I was!

Mid-morning was the time I had to go down and see Human Resources.  I took the high road in my exit interview and I hope I was able to wrap that part up with a little bit of grace. It's funny, they were surprised that I planned on staying the entire day getting work done. You'd think that after all these years that they would know me well enough to realize I'm not going to leave a load of work for the new person to handle. At least not on purpose.

I got most everything done in the end. Sadly, our IT dept was super-efficient and turned off my phone access early. I saw I had four voicemail messages, but hadn't been able to listen to them yet. By the time I got a chance, all gone and deleted. Plus, I couldn't look at the call history to let the people know I wasn't able to listen their messages.

I left later than my normal time, but that's ok. Saying my last goodbyes was hard. I was exhausted by the time I was hauling the last of my stuff to the car. Luckily, Sam was with me to help carry things! We made good time home and were up at EC early. Delicious margaritas and good food!  A perfect way to end my last day at work.

I can't wait for this new chapter to start. It's scary and uncertain, but at least it's a change.

Tomorrow is the day!!!  I found out that a party is being thrown for me at work and I still have tons of work to do before I leave for good.....to go to E.C. after work to have cocktails. :-) those of you who know the place I'm talking about should stop by and say hello. Get there early though, because we're planning on arriving before most people are even out of work and heading home when the joint gets crowded around 8:30-9:00pm. That way I have plenty of time to hydrate and take aspirin before bed, in hopes of not having a hangover my first day of being out of work.

I'll try and post during the day, but realistically, I don't know if I will have the chance.

My friend's husband gave notice the same day I did, but he since gave two weeks instead of three, TODAY is his last day at work.  We're going to E.C. to celebrate after work.  Next Friday it's MY turn!!!  YAY!!!

Yikes!  Time at my job is winding down.  Just over a week to go until my last day.  It's been interesting.....my boss hasn't been in the office since I gave him my notice, so he hasn't been able to look at resumes or interview possible replacements (not that he'll be able to replace me, LOL!).  He's due in tomorrow and wants to start seeing people next Wednesday or Thursday, which means that there's no way he will be able to hire someone and give me the opportunity to train them before I leave.  So much for giving three weeks notice so they'll have extra time to get that stuff taken care of, right?

I know I've said this before, but the outpouring of good will from so many different people has been amazing.  The best was when the wife of the man who brought me to the firm came by my desk and asked if we could talk in her husband's office  The conversation we had was so great.  For someone in her position to take time out of her busy day (board meetings, etc) to talk to me and say such wonderful things..... I have to admit that I cried a little.

Like I said, time is FLYING!  I'm getting excited (well, as much as it's possible for me to get excited).  I can't believe I'll have two full weeks off in-between jobs!  I don't know what I'll do to fill the time, but I'm sure I'll manage.  I've got a couple of things I need to do, but other than that, nothing.  I never thought that I would have this problem!!!!

And a Happy Belated Birthday to CBLMW.  I wasn't able to post that day, but I did do a "cheers" for you. I sent you an email about the job change, not sure if you got it or not.

It's taken years, but I've finally done it. I've found a new job and gave notice at work. I gave three weeks, which is longer than a lot of people would have given, but I really want to help get someone in to replace me.

The outpouring of good will from other employees has been quite humbling. Fairly quickly after turning in my resignation, I started receiving phone calls from people in other offices, even those in other states. News definitely spread fast!

I made sure to meet with the man who brought me into the firm 14 years ago, before I went to speak with my current boss. I started out working for the president of the company and he taught me a lot. I wanted him to know how grateful I am for all the opportunities he has given me over the years. I have a lot of respect for him and his wife and it was important to me that he know that. We had a very good meeting and he was exceedingly sweet. His main question to me was "are you going to a good place?". Later in the day, he took time out of his schedule to come see me ask if it went okay telling my boss. I was touched.

I'm very excited about my new job. After all these years, I'll be returning to the land of the living! No more going to sleep between 7-8pm and getting up at 3:45am. I'll be able to go out at night and maybe even do stuff before going to the office in the morning. My new bosses look like they are going to be amazing. Through the entire process of interviewing (we're talking over two months), their main concern (apart from my qualifications of course) has been whether or not I will be happy. When we talked about vacation time, they asked if three weeks would be enough. I laughed and said that I wasn't used to taking vacation and they were aghast. They made it part of our agreement that I had to take at least two of the weeks. They even said they would make sure I took time off. How great is that?

I'm hoping that since I'm giving so much notice that we can hire a replacement and I can help get training done. I really want everything to go smoothly and that I'm able to leave with grace and no hard feelings.

Well, it's Valentines Day and I'm single (Again! But totally my choice this time.  REALLY).  I'd be glum about it, but:
 a) it's been a while / I'm over it and
b) I'm not sad because I'm going to Gallifrey!  Yay!

Hopefully I'll take pictures and post them.  No promises.

My day at LBCC was interesting.  I was supposed to go for the entire weekend, but I only went on Saturday.  It was my first comic book convention in over a year (since last year's LBCC) and I was hoping that by attending, it might get me back into comic books.

I'm so pleased that I was able to reconnect with someone important from my past, however brief our exchange was.  That alone made the trek up and down the crappy 710 FWY worth it.  It even made the uncomfortable chairs (my hips still hurt, but that might be because I'm old) and freezing cold rooms bearable (almost).  Seriously, I was wearing jeans, thick socks, Doc Martins, two shirts, a hoodie and a puffer vest and I was STILL shivering.  Still, it was all worth it.  Although, I wish I could have looked a little nicer.  I was dressed for comfort, not seeing someone I haven't seen or talked to in a few years.  Of course THEY looked amazingly awesome, which only made it worse that I wasn't wearing stilettos and a sexy ballgown.  Okay, maybe that wouldn't be right either.  I have no clue what you should be wearing in these situations, but being ultra casual doesn't seem like the best route to take to impress someone.

What else did I do at the convention?  I watched the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special (it was good), a RAW films thing (Lance Hendricksen, etc), sat through an uncomfortable presentation of "Grindhouse" films, saw the former cast of "Young Justice" show how much they enjoyed working with each other (the show was cancelled), another panel on animation and then a spotlight panel.  Apart from the Grindhouse thing (no offense to the people who did it, just not my cup of tea), they were all pretty good, especially the spotlight panel.  Some people are simply a pleasure to watch and listen to.

As I was driving home I had the news on the radio, trying to keep an ear out for traffic reports.  A story came on that gave me pause.  The reporter announced that Wanda Coleman passed away.  I don't know if you are familiar with her, but she was an amazing poet from here in Los Angeles.  I used to watch her on late night TV performing with Henry Rollins and Exene Cervenka when I was in high school, then I was able to see her perform live when I was in college.  She was electrifying.  I know I'm not a black woman who grew up in South Central Los Angeles with the same battles and struggles she faced, but she resonated with me.She was my generations Maya Angelou.  Maya Angelou without the pseudo intellectual barrier that seems to separate her from her readers.  People say they read Maya Angelou because it sounds good.  It makes you seem smart.  Wanda, on the hand...... if you said you read her, people expected to you to back it up.  What did you read?  Where did you see her?  What was your favorite part?  What's your favorite poem?  If you found someone who read her, they wanted to talk about it and share it with you.  How often does that happen in this day and age with a POET?  Rest in Peace Wanda, I'm going to see if I can dig up the video I have of you reading "I Live for my Car".  What a masterpiece.

It was a bittersweet day.