Many thanks to Bitter for filling in this afternoon. I did not want to announce this before Annual Meeting, but here goes:
- My company is liquidating. Everyone’s last day is Thursday, except me and a few other key people. I will be retained to handle the liquidation until the end up June, and then I get a generous severance package. But that’s conditional on me staying until the end of June. I have planned very well for this, so I will be fine. But it turns out liquidation is actually a lot of work, at least for now. I’m not quite ready to begin a job search yet, but will once my termination date is within a month (can’t leave before termination and keep the severance, and don’t want to tell someone I’m not available until July.)
- I’ve been thinking and now am leaning quite heavily toward a rebranding of the blog. This won’t mean much to regular readers. Same old crap, just with a different name and theme. Links will still work, and all that. Same archives. Same URL will still work, though there will be a new one registered for the new name. I will begin to take ads. Reason I’m seriously considering this is because I do need another source of income to help defray the costs associated with keeping the blog running, and because I’m really tired of explaining the name of the blog to people, and having people look at me funny when I tell them my blog’s name.
Other than that, don’t expect much to change. I’m not begging for money or jobs yet. This company has been rocky for a while, and as SayUncle will tell you, I’ve been worried about my job for as long as I’ve known him, which is going on four years now. I’ve planned well. Things will work out.
Best of luck to you! Newish reader but I enjoy your blog very much.
Best of luck to you Sebastian. I was downsized myself a few months ago. Welcome to the club.
At least now you will have more time to go shooting.
Generous severence?
Take the month of July off and travel the world! You don’t get chances like this often. I have almost had the chance twice, but they won’t let me go. And I ain’t leaving without the generous severance.
It’s not that generous :)
Good luck. And I love the blogs name…
Good Luck!!!! And the blog’s name rocks!!!!!!
As a lurker, I never questioned the blog’s name… but I just did. And of course as I click over to comment, I realize I had never noticed that “about the name” link either…
Condolences and prayers — and also best wishes, that bigger and better things, professionally, will come for you out of this.
I would not have brought it up before, but yeah, a name change for the blog would be a good idea.
This has become a pretty prominent blog and a lot of people come here to get (what we might think of as roughly) the NRA line on things. It needs a less tongue-in-cheek and less easily mocked name.
This has become a pretty prominent blog and a lot of people come here to get (what we might think of as roughly) the NRA line on things
My opinions are my own. NRA’s positions on things are quite often different from mine.
While your opinions are your own, I haven’t seen the NRA weinermobile on any of your posts. … ;-)
Been there, done that. Still haven’t received a single unemployment check either. Was supposed to start the new job today, but paperwork slowdowns pushed it to next week. Glad to hear you at least got notice as well as the chance to stay around for a while.
Preparation is a good thing. My wife and I are Dave Ramsey disciples, and at the time of me losing my job we were 45 days away from being debt free. Now, we’ll just be 45 days away from being debt free from the first paycheck that comes in.
At this moment, we’ve not even touched savings. We’ve been able to pay off everything from budgeted monies, and the lack of stress from financial issues has made the unemployment *almost* like nothing more than an unpaid vacation.
You’ll do fine, and I’ve been tempted to change the name of my blog many times myself. Never do though. Hard to rebrand yourself, you know ;)
There are jobs in Boise! At worst, maybe someone flies you for a job interview!
I like the blog name. Your Google rank will probably drop a lot if you change the name.
One step closer to “professional blogger.” ;)
I’ve never thought of this as a voice for the NRA or anything like that. If you started giving away free magazines or knives with every RSS feed subscription, then maybe.
If you consider moving for a job, I’m not sure if moving to, say, California would be a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, the gun laws are terrible, but on the other hand, you’d have twice as many gun laws and dumb politicians to write about.
If you started giving away free magazines or knives with every RSS feed subscription, then maybe.
But then people would start to complain if they didn’t get their ugly hat quickly enough. :)
A couple of thought from the *ol m,an*, who calls himself that for a reason.
I was downsized in the mid 1980s. The biggest mistake I made was not to take a week or two to relax, destress and enjoy myself, because once I got the new job there was no vacation for a long time. “Common wisdom” said to jump into the job search, because *if you didn’t do it right away you wouldn’t get started again* (or some BS like that). It’s a tougher job market out there now, yes, but that week (or two) will help you get ready for the search. I also expanded my look beyond the “burgh; although I had everal good offers, it gave me the option to decide that I really *did* want to stay here. Even all these years down the road I remain convinced that I made the right choice.
But I also know that you will do well. Just a feeling……
About the name of the blog: I vote to keep it. I had so much fun telling folks I met at the NRA convention about *Snowflakes in Hell*, that it as worth evry moment about it. They asked me what it meant; I told them *I have no idea at all* but added *it’s a good blog*..
Good luck. My company has been in bankruptcy for over a year and every week is a new surprise. Living under that is not easy. In fact, surprise changes kept me from Pittsburgh this year.
I hope all works out. It sounds like you are at least prepared.
I’ll say a prayer for you guys. By the way, I’ve always liked the name of your blog (it makes people think about what it relates to, so it involves people). Also, when you have “off-topic” posts like the flash-mob at Wanamakers, I can send a link to people who aren’t so liberty-savvy, and they can “ease-into” the blog without flipping out a name that’s more overtly RKBA.
Also, I’ve always thought the sharpness of your logo, and the overall cool, easy-to-follow, easy-on-the-eyes color-scheme and design of your blog has made it one of the best on the web, just because there’s no eye-strain or busyness that too many websites think they have to have. No weird white on black background. No highway-orange gif flashing in my face. (And I know you won’t go for a Flash-powered site!) Beware of how you feature your ads; they can become an eyesore fast.
Of course, it’s your blog. If the make-over doesn’t hit the spot, you can drop it in favor of the old name, and before you can say “New Coke,” we’ll pretend it never happened! (Just kidding!)
Good luck!
Thanks! Actually, that’s not something I had considered. But the new name will be somewhat ambiguous for those not plugged into the gun issue. At least the one I’m considering now. That might change in a week.
Good luck, God bless. Will be following closely.
One more vote to keep the name. I know it doesn’t count but…
Good luck in the job search. At least you got a severance package; when my old job laid me off after 18 years I didn’t get a severance or notice; near the end of my shift they told me it was my last day.