I'm Mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore (OK, yes I will because I have no choice, but whatever).

I try to keep overly personal stuff - especially whining - out of this blog. But since 90% of the people who read this do in fact know me, I'm going to diverge from my normal policy for a post and allow myself a moment to recap what has been going on around here.

The reason Noe and I uprooted our life in Michigan and moved to Connecticut was because the pharmaceutical company he works for closed their Ann Arbor labs. At the time I was a contracted worker at that site but had already taken a new job. The company offered Noe a job in Groton, CT and bought his house for the appraised value, paid for a moving truck, and several months later we were out here.

It was a hard transition. I am sure most of you know from reading this blog that I have built up a certain amount of affection for New London itself, and I do enjoy the monthly or so trips two hours north or south to New York City and Boston. But coming from a happening college town, southeastern CT was a hard sell for us. It was much harder for us to find things to do and even when we found them, we did not have as many choices on how to do them. I essentially gave up tennis and didn't find a soccer team until two months ago. It took Noe that long to find a tennis league. It appears that you can't see a movie after 9:00 PM. We're limited in our choices of restaurants. (I won't go on about these things, because the point is we got past them - but they sucked for a long time and some still kind of do.)

We did - and do - love our house. We paid WAY more than we thought was an acceptable price, but it was about on par with Connecticut in general (there was major sticker shock the first time we looked at houses out here). We eventually made some good friends that we spend a lot of time with.

Now, the same company that moved us out here has laid Noe off, and not for anything performance-related. Just part of general downsizing. Which would be depressing and discouraging at any time or place but is especially so when you moved 750 miles and gave up a house and life you really liked to get here.

Even worse? There's no jobs anywhere right now but there definitely are not any for a pharmaceutical chemist in this area of the state. And it's not like I make enough money to support two of us.

So essentially, it looks like we get tasked with trying to find two decent jobs in the midst of what is turning into the next Great Depression; we get to sell ANOTHER house we both like for way less than what we paid for it; and we will probably have to move right after we finally got to a semi-decent quality of life out here.

Awesome. Suffice to say, I have been in a terrible mood for the past week and a half. I am not even depressed about the job stuff - I am just mad. Mad that we went through this whole process. Honestly, I don't know why Noe's employer didn't just give all the Ann Arbor employees severance when the closed the stupid site instead of relocating 800 of them only to roughly that amount of people a year later. Classic move on their part, yes, but nonetheless extremely irritating.

I'm not even worried about us, per se; I am just livid that I have to A) give up my house and B) do this all again. Even if we end up moving back home - and let's face it, with Michigan not exactly being a hotbed for economic activity, who knows how likely that is - it is still going to be a long, drawn-out, pain-in-the-ass process.

So please forgive me the lack of blogging, hanging out, and general pleasantry over the past couple weeks. I have not been the most fun person to be around. And I promise I will not turn this blog into a rant on all that is wrong with my life. I've accepted it; I'm getting over it (well, not really, I'm still pissed beyond belief but able to conceal it publicly at this point); and I am fine. You do not need to worry or send "it will be OK" messages (although I did appreciate them).

It is what it is. I'll keep you posted on what we're going to do.