I am cleaning the holy mother fuck out of my apartment. I don’t need to tell anyone what that’s about. I think a lot of people do that kind of crap when they’re avoiding the inevitable.

I want to thank everybody for all the kind words and indignation on my behalf. It’s been great hearing from ya’ll and being reminded of all the support that’s available for me.

I also want to say that corporate America is what it is and this kind of thing, while disappointing, is pretty much the way it works. Anyone who really believes slogans like “Our strength lies with our People” is fooling themselves. At the end of the day a corporate board has a responsibility to turn a profit for its shareholders–that’s the way this works. People are always disposable when the bottom line is plunging stock values and two quarters in the hole.

Do I think that’s good? Of course not. But I’m not taking it personally and I’m not even all that angry about it–except when I think about the poor planning on the parts of some upper management type folks that resulted in this venture’s failure to succeed. I think this package we were all working on is brilliant and I think it was/is filling a huge need out there. I also think management threw in the towel too soon and I’m afraid that they’re going to kill this service or re-package it so blandly that it will lose what made it so cool.

But mostly I’m just broken-hearted over having finally found a place in Atlanta where I was still, after more than two months, excited to be. I loved my co-workers and I dug the job. Getting laid off always sucks but getting laid off from something I really liked — well, let’s just say I’m still getting over that part.

So I’m cleaning.

For those who are wondering and/or worried about this sort of thing, there was severance, though since that’s typically based on length of service mine isn’t much. And I’ve still got a paycheck coming and I filed for unemployment. We have some savings and my tax return, which would normally go towards Tanya’s tax debt but we’ll cross that bridge when we need to. We’re not in immediate danger of drowning or starving.

I am interested in freelance, so some of you will get calls. Anyone who might want to throw something my way or make a suggestion or two, please do. I’m going to spend a few days getting my ducks in a row and then I’m off to Ohio to see my family. Most of them, anyway. I don’t think Emily is going to be able to get time off work this weekend so I will miss her.

And again, you guys are all awesome. I’ll write about something less maudlin next time but I can’t promise I’ll be as clever or funny as Odd Todd (thanks Christopher).