Since my last post, as most of you Vagrant Cafe forums folks may know, I've learned that my position was eliminated. I'd like to thank Governor Mike Johanns for his dislike for education in Nebraska and our executive director of the company for being the biggest idiot to ever wear a tie. This is how stupid the guy is: one of my co-workers who also was relieved of her duties was standing in her cube, cleaning it out. Just minutes after hearing the news, she was still a bit stunned. The Executive Director walks by and asks her how her day is going. Then again, he never really was good with knowing who worked in our area of the company, so I suppose it's not much of a surprise.
I'm not really bitter--I'm actually glad to be moving on to what I'm sure will be better things. On the other hand, it's nice to be able to vocally call things for what they are. The man misappropriated grant money from the federal and state governments and the private sector and (though I'm on too low of a level to be instrumental at all in this happening) he is about to be taken to task for it by people he didn't know well enough to be good to.

AAAAAAAAAAAAnyway, I do see all this a good thing. I have a good severance package and can take my time getting back into the workforce. I get to focus on school and writing, at least a little bit, for a little while.

Today is my first official day off work. I've managed to do a couple loads of laundry, dishes at both my place and my girlfriend's, run some errands, get some bills paid, and work on some vagrant cafe type stuff. Also I'm getting some great time with Flannery, S.'s cat. She likes my apartment a lot because it's got a lot more space for her to run around and explore. Right now she's wandering around on my dining room table. Well, she was. As I typed that, she hopped down and came over here to look out the window (which is a wonderful hobby we both share). She just wandered across the keyboard, onto my barstool, finally hopping on my lap. She left the following comments:

56666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

Yes...she IS an evil kitten. I don't recommend falling asleep near her. She'll decide it's time to play and start nibbling. But she's my pal. 43333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333. Yes, more comments from the Flanz. I think I'm going to have her start writing record reviews.

I have to admit...I've never really been a cat person. Flannery is different, though. She's nuts, that's for sure. She's not the typical "I hate everyone" type cat, even if her playfulness usually takes on a rather sadistic tone. She likes attention and affection, yet isn't a brown-noser, either.

All right, on to something besides the kitty.

One more comment on the work situation. Despite my being happy about the whole thing, I've already started becoming That Unemployed Guy Who Rants About The Government. Last night, S. and I were flipping through TV stations and on a news program, they showed GWBush talking about how we're in Economic Recovery and he will lead us to even greater economic times. I sputtered for a while and then went back to whittling wood.