As the song goes, "Take this job and shove it!"

Well, peeps, I have an abundance of bad news to share. I must have done something recently to piss off whomever's in charge up there, as it definitely pours when it rains. On the evening of my DH departure for Japan, I felt my throat going sore. I jumped in with the Cold-Eeeze right away (they are these zinc loaded candies that are supposed to prevent a full blown cold or at least shorten its duration). But it was to no avail. The next morning my throat was throbbing and I felt generally crappy. I pulled myself together and went to work. But if I thought that getting a cold was the worst thing that could have happened to me, midday I realized how wrong I was. I was called into my boss's office where I saw him and the company's controller. I thought it had something to do with benefits or time off paperwork. But I was sadly mistaken. My boss informed me that my employment at the company was "at will" and that they no longer required my services... It's kind of a strange feeling - to get fired. I have never gotten fired before. So this was my first official "let go" experience, and frankly I didn't like this feeling. "Duh!" - All of you are saying now, I'm sure.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that surprised. Let me back up a little and tell you about this job I lost.
I have graduated from University of Michigan almost 7 years ago with a degree in Computer Science. I have been programming in a variety of languages and systems for 17 years. I have always loved programming from the first day of my very first programming class. But what I always loved about it was the process of being presented with a problem, then designing an elegant, robust solution for that problem and then implementing it - writing actual programs to carry out that solution. While in college, I worked on complex projects from writing thread libraries to designing web sites to creating operating systems and designing and implementing databases. The projects were interesting and challenging, and I loved it! Now, enter professional life... I guess, it's naive to think that in every day work life you'll get to do exciting things on a daily basis. But over the last 7 years, my professional duties have reduced to doing support programming and ONLY support programming. For those unaware of what that is, support programming is all about maintaining a system. My projects ranged from setting up printers to doing data dumps to adding columns to data reports to applying patches to the standard programs in the system (read "cut and paste"). I've started growing weary of this type of work when I was still working at my previous job for a large automotive supplier. I switched to my last job in hopes of doing something new and exciting again. Something that will utilize my programming abilities and challenge my creative mind. What I ended up getting was more support programming. Only now it was in a new unfamiliar to me system that I absolutely ABHORRED! The system was sooooo poorly written, so clumsy, so overburdened with tons and tons of code that could have been avoided, that it was pure TORTURE to get around in. My job for the last 10 months consisted of digging through hundreds of poorly coded lines all day long just to find the right spot to add a field, change a label, switch a logical flag or assign a variable value! I HATED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! In fact, I was so miserable and bored that my DH told me repeatedly that if I hate it so much, I can just quit. Moreover, about a month ago, I already started looking for another job. I really was getting to the point of not being able to be there anymore, as I dreaded that office and that work. Also, about a month ago, my boss called me into his office to "talk". He said he was getting the vibe that I was unhappy and inquired if that was true. I guess, my severe dislike for the job was becoming obvious. I felt that I had nothing to lose and told him the truth. That I was bored and wanted to do more of actual programming than cutting and pasting code patches and adding fields to spool files. He assured me that they didn't want to lose me and that they will get more interesting work my way... A month later I was fired. That teaches you folks about telling the truth to your employers. All your employers want to hear is how much you love being there. If you're unhappy in any way and they find out, you can consider yourself a goner. So that's the story. I might be freaking out a bit about finding a new job (natural for anyone, I think), but in truth, they really did me a favor. I, of course, would have preferred to leave on my own terms (which I was going to do the minute I had found smth else) rather than be escorted out of the building without an opportunity to even get my personal info off of the computer. Plus, it's definitely embarrassing and I have no clue as to what the management told the coworkers either. Oh well, I'll get over it. In fact, on my way home I had a thought about how I NEVER EVER EVER have to work in that DREADFUL system again, and my soul was filled with JOY! So, I'll thank them for this opportunity to take my time and pursue a meaningful employment this time, while collecting the unemployment checks :)
And hey, I can finally catch up on SOME SLEEP!

Your free bird,
H