It's now been a decade that I've been employed post-uni. I moved away from home, then moved back into town. Had a couple kids, and fixed it so I'd have no more. The move back home was taken with some trepidation because I had interned at the gov't contracting company I was getting hired at and had some coverage issues that caused me all sorts of heart-ache and stress that I found I just didn't like very much. However, this place is about the only well-paying tech place in about a 30 mile radius, so for lots of family reasons I decided to take the job. And need I mention gov't = very political work environment. When we moved back, both the spouse and I were working at the same place, and although I've always thought it's one farked up management mess; I've lived with it for almost 7 years now.

 So this past spring, in what had been a gradually escalating battle of authority, the spouse decided to leave the company because he has places he wants to push his calling, and he wasn't ever going to see that level of decision-making here. See, we also shared the same management structure as well; and although he didn't let loose with the cannons of injustice at the exit interview, when he showed up the next Monday at the prime contractors with oversee authority of his old boss, I'm sure some people just weren't very happy. I know I'm not very happy - he is now based out of our home instead of out of an office (Q_Q). So ever since he left, I've kind of been waiting for the boot to fall on me, if not out of retaliation, then out of neglect. When you are covered by contracts and 6-weeks of coverage isn't a bad term in this economy, to be neglected can mean career death. And that's partially what I'm looking at now; job-loss through coverage neglect and a massive re-organization that is causing all sorts of distracting corporate buzz.

 So I'm stressed, having a hard-time sleeping (solo), and it feels very unfair to be unloading my stress on the spouse who has tons more work stress than what he used to; although I must admit I still do off-load the bathroom cleanings to him. Because of the whole situation, I'm really not expecting to find I have coverage in a month or two, so here is my tentative plan.
 1) Force them to lay me off vs. just furlough (gogo 8 week salary for my severance package). Firing me would be hard because I've not ever had any corrective actions taken against me; it'd just be a legal nightmare.
 2) Move health-care over to my spouse. He is working for a company based out of DC, so my plan was better for local PA coverage.
 3) Get Oracle Certified, collect unemployment, possibly take a foreign language and enjoy summer with the kids.
 4) Search for either a telecommuting job, or in the very real case of us having to move to DC, maybe something based out of DC.
 5) Profit! Well, not really, but I know I have a very real possibility of getting another gov't contracting job. I just sure as hell hope that getting Oracle Certified allows me more flexibility for telecommute vs. an on-site job; my current company has a lot of telecommuters on the payroll; and I'd really really rather not move to DC.

 In the face of this adversity, I can think of no other plan, but I need a plan to live through the stress of the coming weeks; I need to think ahead on how I want to handle things, else I am a wringing bundle of nerves. This job has never been good for my stress levels; but this new level of stress is pushing me to my limits. For conversation's sake, anyone think of anything else I can add to my plan? Anything else I should flesh out more?