FREEDOM!!!!!!!

Well, it is FINALLY here... the LAST DAY AT IBM!!!! Oh the many daydreams I've had about this day. This was way better!

Apart from still having to do a ton of stuff all at the very last minute (how else could it be) the day was quite frankly wonderful. The first half of the day I spent working (shocking!!!), then I went to lunch with my old manager which was great fun and then I tried (but failed) to completely format my Stinkpad (for the uninitiated - IBM Thinkpad, my work laptop). After realizing one cannot format the C drive without a Windows CD, I started uninstalling pretty much everything on there, just to make it unusable. Then I started it in safe mode and started deleting all I could get away with on the C Drive. There is nothing left on there now that would be easy to recover. Did you know that you can't just go and delete the entire registry??? That's so weird.. I was hoping I could delete the registry too but I guess that didn't happen either. Sorry, got sidetracked into techie mode here...

Once done with that, I brought my Stinkpad to the replacement for my manager (she wasn't in the office today but it needed to be given to someone to lock up - beware the terrible IBM thieves!!!) and that was that, as they say.
It was 3pm when I started doing my "rounds". Three floors of people I needed/wanted to say goodbye to. I planned to be out by 4. At 5.30 I finally left!!! But oh, how much fun that was. To be able to walk to everyone with a big, fat grin on my face knowing I'm finally happy. As opposed to running around, feeling aggravated about everything under the sun and exchanging complaints left, right and center. Bliss!!!
I feel terribly sorry for some of those left behind though. Everyone with one or two exceptions, said how unhappy they are and how they envy me for leaving. For some, who have family and kids, leaving isn't an option. For others, insecurities about finding another job and other issues keeps them rooted to the spot.
Either way, I AM OUT and for the time being that's all that matters. It was great to see how many people appreciated the help I gave them, and how many seemed to genuinely like me! So with a lot of "Keep in touch"es and "You've got my email"s I finally made it out of there!!!

The best part of the day? When going out for lunch there were workmen working on the side of the building - taking down the big "MRO Software" sign off the top of the building and replacing it with an IBM one. And I realized... I will never have to come into work in the morning to see IBM on the building. I will have worked all days in that building while it was still in MRO's name. Isn't that cool???
It's a sign, don't you think??? ;-) HAHA, get it? It's a SIGN! LOL

I'm celebrating right now by eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's - probably not a good idea since I'll be visiting the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont tomorrow. Yes, big trip.
Off to Canada (Montreal) for one reason only - to get out of the US (because I'm losing my legal status here as soon as my job ends) and come back in as a visitor so I can pack things up and finally take a hike on October 2nd. And the road will lead me past Woodstock, VT where they make Ben & Jerry's (yummy!!!). 10 hours driving in one day - should be very interesting. More interesting will be to see if they let me back into the US!!!! LOL I'm sure everything will be fine though... I'll post again when I'm back and have more to tell!

Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!!! (apart from the God bit though!)