Closing up shop, part 2

So it turns out that I was reading my letter wrong. The job I have here is being eliminated because the corresponding job in Sticksville is technically a new position. But yes, they want me to move. But my boss told me privately that the people planning the move had asked him, "Do you really need this extra position, or can we get rid of it in the move and save a headcount?" And he told them, "Yes, I really need the position in order to take care of these and those tasks, and what's more I really need Hosea Tanatu to fill it." So that was nice to hear. 

I discussed it a little bit with Debbie last night. She asked where my thinking was, and I said so far I had kept busy enough I couldn't really tell. (She smiled.) But I added that mostly I have been having two thoughts.

1. Rationally, I remember that my last job hunt took a year and a half. And it's reasonable to suppose that it will be harder this time because I'm almost 59, with plenty of visible grey in my beard. And the economy sucks right now, so it's a hard time for anybody to look for a job. And there are a lot of technical tools that other people in this line of work are familiar with and I've never bothered to learn, so on paper that makes them more attractive. And a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And so on.
2. Emotionally, I really don't want to move to Sticksville. And I have a largely emotional hunch that one day our whole business unit will sink, probably sucked down into the depths by the Sticksville plant. I have no hard data for this. But emotionally, I just don't want to move.

Then I thought a bit and remarked that so far I have detected only one additional thought bubbling up into the mix, and so far it has been a quiet one. It's just that one of my recurring fantasies has been that when I finish "what I'm doing now" (whatever you count that to be) I run off to Timbuktu to do something totally different. (See for example this post here.) Is this a chance to do that? I suppose it might be.

I wonder if anybody is hiring in my line of work in Timbuktu?