I was standing outside, talking to my buddy as he loaded up his car with the last of his belongings from his cubical.
We shared a smoke, and I watched him drive off for the last time.
Standing alone, I felt a cold breeze at my back.
In less than five minutes, the sky turned into an orchestra of thunder and lightening. The streets flowed with mud.
When I left work soon afterwards, it was still pouring outside.
I looked at the parking lot and I realized that out of the hundreds of people I work with, I was the last person to leave. 
I have five weeks and three days left on my contract. This past year has been full of magic.

A fellow contractor got the axe yesterday. I'm going to miss him a lot.
It's pretty common for us contractors to come and go.
It can happen at any time and as a general rule it should be expected.
For me, contracting makes the most efficient use of the time we have here; if there's work, I work. If there is nothing to do, I play.
It's not like my fellow contractor did anything wrong. It's always difficult to say goodbye. But we'll bump into each other again.
We picked a high paying profession.
We knew we'd be travelling a lot. We knew we'd be changing contracts every year. There's always the chance that when we come in, all of the security codes will be changed, and we'll be out of work.
We knew we'd be giving up our rights of employment and we signed them away.
While the road, I've lost loved ones, forgotten what it is like to have a home, and I can't say for sure who I've become. Last year I lost my fortune.
I could never do this alone.
To contract nationally, you have to give up a normal livestyle.
It's an exchange. You trade familiarity for a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience.
And I've got to say, I've met some GREAT People along the way.

My Cubical Area - To some it may sound strange to actually enjoy their job, but me, I love mine. There is a feel of comradery here. There is humor, excitement, and a feeling of importance I get when I'm working in my cube.
Contractors generally don't get much attention on the job. We usually sit, read, code, test and document. Our contacts exist in the form of emails, instant messages, and word documents. But this contract is so very different. I actually understand most of the system at this point. That is because, to the people, I'm not just a body, I am a real, live person. And these people, no matter how far they get promoted, they know the system's nuts and bolts.
Today, an analyst pulled up a program by its number, moved through the code, and called it up by its server name (not so cryptic). There are over a thousand programs in the system I work with, and he had this one memorized. Many of those who worked on this system have been promoted levels beyond programming.
I will miss this place and these times.
From Becky, Jennifer and myself, I'd like to express a special appreciation to Jeff, Lonnie, Georgia, Cynthia, Cindy, Arden, Rob, Scott, Dave, the people at Ericsson, and all of the people that we've met in Pennsylvannia so far. Pennsylvannia is beautiful by itself. Add you guys to it, and it is my heaven. Too bad it all has to end.

 My first wife had Farrah hair.