October 28th, 2011
Aerial view of HQ on PacHwy in Old Town
Some of you know that I was laid off on 7 October. If you don’t know, don’t feel bad. I was reemployed by 17 October. I think that may be the shortest unemployment window in the history of this non-depression. I should probably be on the cover of People magazine!
As I look back, the event was pretty uneventful. While I was out recovering from my surgery, the government contract that I was working on ended. I knew that it was going to end, but I thought that I was going to have a seamless transition to another contract and stay in the same job. (That happens a lot here in the world of government contracts.) But it didn’t work out. The specific job I was in here at SPAWAR (Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command) was abolished and I was left without a place to call my own. So, I boxed up my stuff and went home on 30 September. OMNITEC, my employer, was kind enough to pay me for a week after my layoff, so I was officially on their books through 7 October. That was a good thing because that meant my health insurance was covered through 31 October. Yeah…blah, blah, blah…no need to go into all those details…it’s boring to write, I bet it’s even more boring to read!
So, here I am (in the picture above, my building is the small rectangle below the big silver-roofed building at the very left of the picture). I now work for a small defense contractor, The Marlin Alliance, headquartered a few miles north of San Diego in Carlsbad, CA. It’s woman-owned and operated and I like it. One of the owners of the company was my colleague over the past year. In fact, she was the Malcolm Baldrige expert that I worked closely with and learned from during all the work we did to have SPAWAR in the running for a performance excellence award from the California Council on Excellence.
I am back at SPAWAR, but now I support the Director of Civilian Human Resources. She is also the Deputy Director for EEO for the whole SPAWAR claimancy. The SPAWAR claimancy includes the whole contingent here in the Pt. Loma/San Diego area; Hawaii; Charleston, NC; New Orleans, LA; and Norfolk, VA. The team is outgoing and fun and very dedicated to making a difference. I am hopeful that this position will last long enough for me to make a difference, too! The contract I’m included in is for 5 years, but Marlin needs to perform at a certain level to get options signed annually. I don’t have any doubts about that. I do have doubts about whether Congress will continue to have enough money to support the work we do. Of course, as long as this Command has civilian employees, they will need Human Resource support. So, that’s a good thing. I’m hoping it will be good for me! And, I get to put new and interesting things into my bag of skills and abilities. That can’t be all bad!
Til next time! 
