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04.28.98  All this time, I have been dying to write about this, but yet fearful.  Recalling back to journal entry: Where am I? dated 3.17.98, I noted how confused I was about certain things; more specifically, my employment situation.  I just was not sure what I wanted to be when I grew up.  And suddenly, I found myself all grown up and was not sure of the uniform I was wearing.  Does not make sense?  Well, guess how I must have felt.

Since that point of self-discovery, I have been on a more-or-less, mad, insane job, living location hunt.  Thoughts, ideas, resumes, late night shopping sprees of blazer, slack, white shirt and tie, newspaper flippings, web surfings, faxing, telephone calls, emails, and interviews became common place for about a month.  After the dust settled, a path has been paved in pencil: A tentative game plan some may call it.  Here it is -- Wander around the industry for a little bit (maybe even make a profession out of it), wait until Liz finishes up school, and head back to the Big Apple with head held up high and a smile.
 

BTW: Wander translates to placing myself in a state of employment where I temporarily sample different tastes of the software engineering industry.

How could I wander throughout the software engineering industry?  I could either take on temporary assignments as a contractor or a consultant.  The later sounded slightly more prestigious, hence, that is what I pursued.  After contacting a couple of firms, I found that I was given the opportunity to browse through their client list, with the support of personnel, and get assignments that way.  In other words, they accepted sponsoring me becoming a consultant as long as I found work through them.  Great! A win-win situation.  This is all fine and dandy.  But, just when I thought I could remove the entire interview garb and continue with my new life, comes the true test of patience.  I was to attend interviews with clients and hopefully nail down a project in a company that would be in need of my assistance.

Along comes the patience that I so desperately needed as I await these interviews to arrive.  One arrived, as a screening interview performed over the phone.  What turns out to be a lucrative opportunity turns out to be a loose set of job description requirements, and it basically metamorphosized to be me giving advice to an employer about how to better define the business needs.  Joyously, it was accepted.  He asked out of curiosity someone of that new position would cost him.  I informed him, and that was the last I heard from that client.  <Shucks>

Well, patience does have it’s rewards.  A week or so later, I went on an on-site interview at Kodak.  And, it looks as if May 11th will be my first day as a consultant in the Medical Imaging Department there.  And, thus will become the next phase of my career.

The next item on the list was to let Xerox know what my intentions are going to be in the near future.  This was not easy, seeing how I do not like to be the bearer of bad news.  Something about me being too much of a people-pleaser, but nonetheless, has gotten better over the years.  Also, I am the type of employee that keeps the peace and usually does not make waves.  This does not mean that I do not get frustrated.  Every person with values and a sense of self-worth gets frustrated every now and then.  Basically, I usually just keep quiet and work through the rough spots and head for the light.  Well, like I said, this is all theory and I believe that is how I am perceived.

I wanted my last day to be May 7th, so I could string out a three-day weekend.  Carefully calculating that out, it meant that I would have to inform my boss on April 23rd.

This was not as easy as it may sound.  After lunch, I gave myself a little pep talk and wandered over to his office.  He was not there.  I was just going to leave and come back later, but told myself that I should take care of this more assertively.  I reached over to one of his sticky notes and wrote, “Need to see you.  Please come by. –Peter” Left it on his chair and walked away.

I waited an hour yet there was no response.  I walked back over to his office and he was not to be found.  Looking down on his chair, the sticky note was still there.  I thought to myself that he must have been pretty busy and walked away again.  Another hour passed and I checked again.  Same thing -- no boss, sticky note still on chair.

Okay, I started asking around and found out that he was attending a demo in another building.  What worried me now was that I knew he was leaving work early today and was not sure if he was returning to his office. I figured I could just wait it out.  Another hour passed and I checked again.  Same thing.

Back in my cube, I looked at the time and it was now 4:30PM.  I went through the scenario in my head thinking about what I would say the next morning to him.  “Well, I tried to tell you yesterday, but you weren’t in… or …I know it’s only a week and four day notice, sorry, I am still leaving on the 7th.”  It was at that moment I was startled.  He walked in.

Well, I shook a little and told him the news.  Needless to say, he was slightly shocked, and it was understandable; remember, I am a no-waves-type-o-guy.  He asked if I would be interested in pursuing opportunities here, but I told him I kind of had my heart set on leaving.

Well, as expected, my boss has been very nice and supportive about matters, and our discussion of activities revolving around the following weeks have been pleasant.  One of the things that I owed Xerox was a letter of resignation.  Wow.  Guess that would make matters real.  And, there is a little ego boosting activity too.  I have never left a job that required a letter of resignation.  But, how was I to write a letter of resignation?  Once again, I hit the web, found a template that stated …. Blah blah blah (insert name here) blah blah blah (insert company name here)…  and voila!  Done.

As I look around my cubicle office, I start to notice that I have acquired many things over the years.  Estimating quickly, I figure I could fit things into about five cardboard boxes, totalling to about a hundred pounds.  Hmm...maybe lots of this stuff can be thrown away or given to charity.  Anyhow, the theory about how cubicle life is true.  Once I am gone, or we say, once the body cools, it is okay to go and scavenge the homeland.  But, I guess I am still expected to clean this up a bit.  Oh well. <sigh>

Well, wish me lots of luck in my final weeks as a Xeroid.  And, I will keep you posted.
 

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