This is my first real post on my newest blog.  I used to write on michael-peacock.com and on a few other blogs, but work became pretty demanding and I didn’t feel quite like making the time to sit in front of a computer and write in my spare time. That’s probably because I spent much of my workdays in front of the very same computers that I would blog on. You can do that when you telecommute, FYI.

All that ended last October when, after more than 15 years with the same employer, they decided that my services were no longer required, so I was “separated” from my position.  That’s the word they use now. Not fired, nor let go, nor laid off. If your position costs too much, your employer may decide that a separation is in order. One might not often see comparisons to a shaky marriage in a relationship between an employer and employee, but when that relationship ends, some of the parallels come into stark relief.

So what’s an unemployed IT geek to do? Find a new job is still number 1 on the to-do list, though I am not going to hold my breath on that score. Yesterday marked my 4 month anniversary of not working, and while it was nice for the first couple weeks, it stopped feeling like a vacation months ago. I know I’m not alone, and there are folks out there who have had it much worse than I have. I salute you all.

I found this list of reasons why unemployment sucks, and I have experienced many of them already. While I don’t want to experience all of those items, I think one thing I can do as an unemployed geek is go back to writing. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads this. This is my blog, and it’s going to be part of my strategy for coping with being unemployed.