I am suddenly feeling like all my free time is about to go away… and in fact it is. I started feeling a window closing this morning. After my talk with company #3 yesterday, it would appear that my work for them will begin to ramp up in early June. They also want me to come in once a week between now and then so I can work with the designer. This would be fine if I didn’t already have two other contracts coming up.
I still haven’t heard from company #2, and I don’t expect to anytime soon. They usually call a few days before they want me to start, and the current proposed start date is still three weeks away… which brings me to company #1. They called today. I start on Monday with them. I am happy, and somewhat relieved, that their schedule didn’t slip any further on the latest chip. I thought it might (I even scheduled some things next week because I was sure they would!). By not slipping their schedule, it gives me a chance to finish their chip before I move on to company #2. If company #2 shows up on time and I can get their chip done in a few short weeks, then maybe I’ll have no parallel effort going on at all. Wouldn’t that be great?!
Well, for a person whose time is running out, I accomplished very little “work” today. I read a fair amount, installed the latest version of “Dragon Naturally Speaking,” bought a Kindle (I’m out of shelf space for books!) and I went to lunch with one of my former teammates (good lunch!). It was great to see Kevin again. He is so happy now that he’s contracting, and it sounds like he has a few places lined up after his current six month contract.
One of Kevin’s possibilities is a contract with my former, former boss. I had given my boss a less than enthusiastic response when he asked me if I’d do the work, so maybe he’s seeking Kevin out instead. Kevin would be a better fit for him anyway. It could also be that he’s trying to line Kevin up to do the chip for company #2, since my boss is also contracting with them on a different project, and I didn’t give company #2 the sunniest of assessments on how long it would take me to do their chip.
Oh ya, my wife was home today as well, but she stayed in her room and I stayed in mine for the most part. We both had stuff to do.
Day 109 mood: Gaaah! One more day of freedom! My next day of freedom won’t be until I go on vacation in mid-July!