Well part two must always be a happier affair and in my case it is. It sure helps that today was a serious move for ECU and I just bought a load of it the other day for .52 :)

My wife who has been off on maternity leave the past 5 months got called to her job for a 'end of maternity' review meeting. This by the way is the same company I was made officially redundant from in June. They asked her about the kids and our new house being built, how her maternity leave was, etc. etc. etc. and then told her that after 11 years of working for them her job was now redundant as well. My wife is not as 'outspoken' (read: loudly critical) as I was nor had the political issues I had, she was simply one of the most respected employees in the company. However, with our first born she was passed over for a promotion as she 'obviously couldn't travel with a baby' and now is being made redundant as she 'won't be able to work the unpaid overtime' as she's obviously breastfeeding. Now in the US or Canada that would be a total no-no... but here that kind of talk is acceptable.

The good bit is this... we're so HAPPY! We had grown to really hate that place and are so happy to see the back of it. After 20 collective years (16 of them very happy) it was hard to just move on when things went sour and the morale went south. Now we're out the door with some nice pay to boot. Add to that the fact that we can now spend the crappy European winter in Dubai and all looks pretty rosy! I was going there anyways for my new company, so this just makes it better as my kids and wife can join me.

Anyhow, sad for the others who were let go today as many of them not so lucky... with all this talk of green shots and the recession is over, I can tell you that it so isn't. This economy as we knew it is toast. As Lawnbowler so eloquently put it, everything we've been talking about is finally happening. I'm so happy to be among those of us here that have prepared for this day. Oh and a final word to the shorters who got burned today... I feel for you guys, really I do... :)

I think that may be the answer to the problem with Chithouse today, all the shorters flooding the boards with doom and gloom in total desperation to deter people from continuing to pile on their losses. Mystery solved. And peace reigns in Agoracom...