I lost my job -- pop the champagne!

Um.....well....congratulations? What will you do after the last check runs out?

Okay.... good.... I think. Toasting you and your future Thomas! x

Hey, whatever makes you happy , so congratulations!

Thanks, littlek, Izzie, and Tai Chi!

After the last check runs out, I can keep my healthcare policy for a year and a half, and I have savings for a year. (More if I qualify for unemployment benefits, which I'm not sure I will as a new immigrant.) So I have enough breathing room to find projects that interest me, to pursue them, and to get good enough at pursuing them to persuade someone to pay me. What kind of projects? I haven't got the specifics worked out yet, but they'll be somewhere in the general area of physics, programming, and data networks in which I've earned my living for the past 12 years.

As an aside: if I could travel back in a time machine, I could smooch my 19 year old self for pursuing a degree in a field where the "just do what's interesting" approach to getting a job actually works. It always has up till now. (Knock on wood.) Talk about dumb luck!

As I was reading this there were visions of Stephanie Plum, Ranger, and Morelli running through my head.

Sounds like the makings for yet another good Janet Evanovich novel!

You don't happen to drive a '53 powder blue Buick, suitably dubbed "The Boat" or "Wide Bertha" do ya?

Will you have access to that healthcare plan even if/while you try out some other employment options? If so, go and have a fabulous time!

If you can hire yourself out as a contractor for a while - and still have benefits available - you should be able to really get ahead on this.

If you weren't happy - congrats and good luck!

(the visual of you smooching yourself is a bit mmmmmm something ... mebbe you could consider smooching someone else as a reward)

I bet you and Farmerman would have a grand ol time traveling the world together as he visits all his interesting rocks.

You could do the recordkeeping in a database you design for it while you both collaborate on writing both a novel for the humorous adventures and antics you two would be up to as well as taking notes for Farmerman's more studious scientific publications.

As you can probably tell from responses, many of us would be scared shitless. Congratulations on being prepared, grounded and optimistic.

Knowing it's a bump, not a thud... Your whole first post is just so... Thomas.

(smooches)

I know I'll probably embarrass myself no end -- but I didn't understand a single one of those allusions. Who is Janet Evanovich, and who are those figures and that car? (53 powder blue Buick sure sounds good.)



Yes -- the only change, admittedly an important one, is that I have to pay it in full. But it lasts until I find employment with a new healthcare plan, or until the year and a half is over. Whichever comes first.


Sure! Wanna volunteer? When did you plan to come to New York again?


I'd love to meet Farmerman and hang out with him, now that I have time to drive wherever in Pennsylvania he lives.


(Smooches back.) And thanks for the compliment!

I remember when I lost a certain job, my employer was OVERLY apologetic.. almost annoying.

It took me about 5 minutes to get over the "supposed to" type of reaction , and I landed into a feeling of freedom and excitement.

Enjoy your self.
I hope that you can find something that works FOR you and is exactly what you want to do

I almost forgot: Thanks for that bottle, Dys! Much appreciated.

Thomas, you really should have read Janet Evanovich before even considering a move to New Jersey! But look on the bright side -- now you have time!

I'm thrilled for you, Thomas. I hated to hear about you cramped in that job, you with such a fluid inventive analytic mind.
Excellent.

(oh, and a hug)

Sounds like congrats are in order then...!

I will -- and thanks for sharing that reaction. Maybe I'm not completely crazy after all.

I was planning to come to New York just before BPB's bday shindig - was going to try to convince you to travel along with me.

My plans are a bit wobbly today - the flight I'd planned to take back to Buffalo at the end of the journey was the one that crashed and burned last night. I'll get my flying mojo back - just not booking that flight right now.

Thanks for enlightening me about my ignorance. Which title shall I start with?

Thanks for the champaign, Osso!

Thanks for the congrats, Sozobe!

ehBeth -- sounds good. Perhaps I could drive you to Buffalo on the way back? Isn't that where the Niagara falls are? Or were they on the other end of the lake?

(Off to dinner. I'll be back in an hour or two.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Plum

Stephanie Plum is a fictional character and since 1994 the protagonist in a series of novels written by Janet Evanovich. She is a spunky combination of Nancy Drew and Dirty Harry, and - although a female bounty hunter - is the opposite of Domino Harvey. She is described by the author as "incredibly average and yet heroic if necessary."[1]

Evanovich claims the inspiration for Stephanie's character came after watching Midnight Run starring Charles Grodin and Robert DeNiro, adding, "If Mickey Spillane wrote Archie and Veronica, Stephanie would be Betty."[2] As the series has progressed, Stephanie has become more stable and responsible, and a better bounty hunter. "But truthfully," Evanovich says, "Stephanie has stayed the same more than she’s changed."[3]

As of July 2008, Stephanie has appeared in fourteen full-length novels, three holiday novellas, and a short story in a compilation of various authors' works.

Janet Evanovich admits that Stephanie Plum's character is inspired by her own, in both history and "similar embarrassing experiences." Evanovich says, "I wouldn't go so far as to say Stephanie is an autobiographical character, but I will admit to knowing where she lives."[2]

Like Evanovich, Stephanie originates from Trenton, New Jersey, the city where the series is set.[4] Stephanie grew up in the Chambersburg neighborhood known to locals as "the Burg", and - like Evanovich - attended Douglass College,[5] although Stephanie graduated "without distinction". The Burg is often portrayed in the series as a close-knit community, from which people rarely leave. Stephanie often finds former classmates and neighbors still living in the Burg, only a few streets away from their childhood home.

After graduation, Stephanie married Dickie Orr, then promptly divorced him after discovering he cheated on her with rival Joyce Barnhardt. Immediately before the first book, One For the Money begins, Stephanie is laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer, which propels her to blackmail her cousin Vinnie, owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, into giving her a job as an apprehension agent or bounty hunter. She originally hoped to find a secretary job at the Bail Bonds office but the position was taken, leading her to want the bounty hunter position. Before she starts working for Vinnie she finds herself pursued for being delinquent with car payments. Stephanie's financial situation is still rather perilous, partially due to her poor financial skills, and she often finds herself seeking alternate ways to earn money in order to pay her bills.

When the series begins, Stephanie Plum is single and living with her hamster, Rex, in an apartment building with predominantly elderly neighbors. She revisits her parents who live several miles away in the Burg for meals, "family time," and pineapple upside-down cake. While Stephanie finds her family stressful, they often give her tips or connections which assist in her job.