you know you are in trouble when you come into college for lectures at 1830hrs and discover the labs are stuffed with your day student counterparts. obviously they are under pressure too.

one of my colleagues at work is moving to Bern post redundancy to work there. We had a lunchtime conversation about the Bern bears. And then, whilst reading the NY times, i found this article on bears. you have to be registered, but hello, it’s the new york times. why are you not registered already?

right. lecture to get to. one minute late already. this lecture is on AI. we have a horrible difficult project to do for that too this semester. everything is horrible and difficult. *sigh*

there were notices of redundancy served today at work. some expected this notice, some knew for definite, some prayed they weren’t on the list, some prayed they were on the list. amongst the emotions there was resignation, shock, anger. anger at not being on the list even. or maybe disappointment is more accurate. some people are dying to leave. there was also panic i am sure for some. even though we’ll all leave with a package.

there are advantages to not being a homeowner and not having a mortgage. this advantage is crystal clear at lay-off time. today was an interesting day. everyone waited for their phone to ring i am sure. i certainly did. there are no guarantees. working on a particular project is not a guarantee.

then there was my annual review. what are my thoughts my manager asked? well, on the day i get my six week notification, a day i know could come in either february or may or definitely august, i will worry about finding a new job. the economy is picking up. where there were no jobs six months ago, now there are some. not 2000 boom levels but some. tomorrow is three months away. maybe longer. in the meantime, i continue to make myself as debt free as humanly possible before my P45 day. a day that is coming, but not just yet.

anyway, buy some of my stuff. i earn commission.

my apple mac performa dating from 1995 still sits in my parents house and is still a perfectly acceptable tool for emailing. if someone wanted to write a novel it would be a perfectly acceptable word processing tool. the apple mac from 1995 will never be thrown out. i still use it occassionally, although it is not very useful for browsing the internet what with its 14.4kb modem. but i remember fondly the exciting discovery that was apple’s eworld (sadly didn’t last) and it’s village centre. many an hour was spent chatting online on my apple performa. all of my ucc assignments were typed up on it.

recently my mother mentioned something about getting a “more up to date” computer. i am wondering how serious she is. as far as simplicity, ease of use and security go I can think of nothing better than a mac. if an imac was suggested maybe it wouldn’t take that much convincing. and look, just in time for chirstmas, a 20 inch flat screen imac.

i continue to covet a powerbook and kick myself being silly and not buying one instead of my current sony. a powerbook will be my graduation present to myself. meanwhile, imac convincing to be done. i will get to play with it when i am at home.