Bad subconscious! Bad!

I went on-staff officially at Northern Virginia Company yesterday. My benefits with NVC started yesterday. So what am I dreaming last night? That I had to go to the emergency room and my medical plan didn’t pay a dime.

Sigh.

Stupid subconscious.

But no more COBRA payments for me. And paid holidays again, and vacation time, and 401k, and, well, the very much missed feeling of actually belonging to the place I’m working. Temp jobs tend to wear on you after a time, especially when you’re working for a place you really like, but don’t get on staff due to company cutbacks (that happened twice) in the last two-three years or short-term contracting.

But all’s well that end’s well. NVC is a great place, and I’m working with a good team, and I get to use the skills I’ve built up over the years. I used to think that I’d wasted my programming degree from the Chubb Institute. Not any more. If you know how SQL works, you get a much better idea of what SharePoint is and does (not to mention even a simple blogging tool like WordPress).

I really am in a place that’s about the polar opposite of where I’ve been for much of the last couple of years, and not just in terms of income and security. Although that probably has a major influence on my state of mind. I keep thinking of that last line in the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka: “You know what happened to the boy who got everything he wanted?” “What?” “He lived happily ever after.”

Yes, it’s a much better frame of mind.

I can take Monday off if I like. I may just do that. My first paid holiday in six years.

Whoa.