What's it all about, Alfie?

Many years ago, The Day After was a TV-movie about the aftermath of a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR. It was a wild movie about living with the effects of the radiation, etc. Well, I feel a little like I'm living that movie right now at work.

The 'bodies' are starting to be cleared and the work assumed to be taken up by those of us remaining. The final tally was that more than half of the developers were cut and about a third of the support staff. In all, half the IT force was cut. Incredible. I'm trying to pick up work of two others that are already being requested by other divisions in the Bank, so it's going to be a quick and rough hand-off and hope that things work out. Not a lot of time to make a smooth transition as the two I'm assuming are going to be out by Monday. That gives me a few precious days to get things in order.

Forget that these guys are my friends, and also forget that management is now interested in pushing things forward now that their hard part is done... this is a very high stress time to be here. But I have to admit that it's still nice to have a job and not be on the street.

I'm trying to keep focused on the Big Picture... things are tough, but they've decided to keep me - probably because they can get more out of me than the guys they are getting rid of. Maybe it's a good sign, maybe not. It's just like The Day After... who's the lucky one - the one that survives the blast, or the one that's at ground zero? Hard to tell...

Well... it's almost done. The massive bloodletting started this morning at about 9:00 am - at least that's when I found out what was going to be happening to my group. Of the six of us, only two will remain. There are similar cuts in all groups in IT and Support. It's a blood bath.

I have to admit that I'm relieved that I'm not looking for a new job right before Christmas, but I'm also feeling terribly guilty about the great friends that I've made here that will be looking for new jobs right before Christmas. I guess it's better than it happening to me, but I still don't like what's happened.

I'm guessing that the management just wanted to hurry up and get it out of the way so that they could enjoy their Christmas and not have to worry about laying people off at the first of the year. There's also the finances of letting people go now as opposed to waiting for another month to pass, but I think that's not as significant a reason as the former. Also, this lets those that are staying come to terms with their plight and try to be ready to go at the start of the year.

Yep... it's a Red Tuesday allright...

This morning I was cleaning out a few development projects on barney and came across several things that I had forgotten I'd put on him before the power supply problems that he had last summer. Anyway, it was interesting to see the notes I'd made on a few projects I'd been working on. I also came across the notes I'd made during the interviewing I'd done after BankOne. Very interesting.

I ended up writing an email to an old co-worker about the project and the doc I found. It was a nice little trip down memory lane.

Aren't computers great for things like that?

It's just amazing how nice a little 4-day weekend can be. It's also just as amazing that a job with little to no purpose is a terribly boring thing and hard to stay interested in.

I've had barney back up for a week now, and that's made things a lot more fun - at least knowing he's up and there ready for me has helped the near total boredom of the job lately. This past weekend I did so many fun things with Liza and the kids... it's almost too bad I had to come back to work. I know it's all about making a lifestyle that facilitates the time-off, but still... it's hard.

So I come back to work and thankfully I have a little work to do, but I do it far too fast (like a hungry man's first real meal) that it doesn't last nearly long enough. But I am grateful that I had at least that little bit of really interesting work to do. Since then, I've been waiting on folks to get things done so I can do more work, but waiting is a slow and boring job.

Given the job market out there, I have to be grateful that I have this job at all at this time of year. And I am. But still... I can think of so many interesting things that could be done for no more money than sitting here takes, and it'd be nice to be able to do those things - if only as work that might never really be used.

There was an interesting Dilbert several years ago about the choice of doing great work but having no one recognize or appreciate it versus doing trivial work that's seen as the next best thing since sliced bread. It was funny to see Dilbert struggle with the answer (which he never gave). There's a lot to be said for being appreciated. Then again, there's a lot to be said for keeping your mind busy.

Right now, I'd really like to have an interesting idea to look into. I've been in this state before, and typically it's just worked through until the folks holding me up get around to doing their part, and things pick up for a little bit, at least. But I'd really like to have a passion to work on now. That's the real thing... boredom sucks passion dry, and the more you give into boredom the less likely you are to get passionate about anything.

Good enough. I need to stop being bored and start being more receptive to passion.