November started with a great trip to Las Vegas with our exchange student Julia from Germany and her friend Asa (Osa) who is also an exchange student visiting from Norway. We stayed at a great place called the Meridian Suites about a block off the strip right south of Caesar’s Palace on E. Flamingo (250 to be exact). Very luxurious accommodations at an affordable (for Vegas) price.

Prior to leaving for Las Vegas on the 2nd of November we received an email at work that our boss and his boss would be visiting for one day (Tuesday) the coming week and we should all make sure we’re at the office and not telecommuting. This is usually not a good sign in these days of layoffs/outsourcing. On Monday evening an email went out from our CIO that there was a major restructuring process that would be taking place and many of our IT “family” would be impacted. Well, as I slept Monday night into Tuesday morning I had a dream of my interview with HR and my boss. This is also not a good sign since I often have dreams that eventually occur (except my death at 35) so I was pretty sure something bad was going to happen. Sure enough the layoffs started happening at around 9am and went up until 2:45pm with quite a few of my coworkers impacted, including me. Having been through a similar, yet worse situation years ago I wasn’t too shook up about the situation since the market is pretty good in Phoenix and I was starting to look for another job anyway. It still sucks, but at least I get a severance package and a little more time to search for the right position.

I’m in search mode now and have found a few that seem promising. There are many of us in Motorola around the world impacted by this latest decision to cut head-count indiscriminately (seemingly) so any good thoughts or jobs you could send our way would be appreciated.

If you happen to be on linkedIn.com and are connected with me and would like to write a recommendation for me I’d love it! If we are not networked and you’d like to link up with me let me know by clicking the link below.

Kisha has been traveling quite often with her new job at Auralog/Tell Me More and that has been going well for her. I’m very glad that she has found a job she likes and gets the opportunity to meet so many people around the country.

We look forward to a great November/December as we travel to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving and then to Spokane to visit the Meiers living up there. Then in December we go to Telluride over Christmas for some fantastic skiing/snowboarding. Look for the pix.

2008 looks like it will be a year of change and we look forward to the promise of a better job for me, great opportunities for us all and a country that wakes up and puts GW and pals in jail.

All the best to everyone.