On March 1, the team leads were called into a meeting and made "official." We now had a company recognized job title. With that title came a 10% raise above our base salary. Satisfaction on our part was so very short lived as on March 3 a nasty rumor started circulating early in the morning. We were getting information from divisions located in Texas that the news has already been handed down.

SBC Telecom was "streamlining"its Telecom division and consolidating it with the office in Dallas. In addtion to over 1000 employees in Dallas being let go, the Tampa Customer contact center would close, leaving 437 employees without jobs in a matter of days (myself included.) It was a day of great sadness as this was the "best of the best" crowd that came from everywhere. There was alot of crying, and even though it wouldn't be made "official" until Monday, most people packed their desks up that day. On Monday, March 5th, A staff meeting was called at 10:00 am to make it "Official." We were closing. We were told that we would be given time to gather our stuff, and vacate the building. The severance letter referred to us as "surplus."

Having been stunned by a promotion and a release in the same 7 day period, I decided to take a break. We were given a really nice severance so I took a month off from work. I was called in Mid-April and offered a job with Alltel Communications, a cellular company based in Arkansas. I would be working in their Tampa Contact Center as a customer service representative. The idea of this was so hard as I had been acting in a supervisor capacity for quite some time now. The training was 4 weeks long and on May 25 we moved out to the "live" floor. For those of you who have never worked in a call center service environment, imagine a HUGE room with desks crammed on top of each other, with lots of people and lots of phones. Now you know what my office looked like. Its a total Art Deco design with lots of primary colors and lots of windows.

In July I started dating a guy I, once again met on the internet. He hurt me really bad, but I really enjoyed the time we spent together. He was a handsome guy and had a personality that would make anyone want him. I don't harbor hard feelings anymore as there has been an apology, but to make a long story short, he was dating someone else at the same time he was dating me and forgot to clue me in on it.

I think the first scene I saw on tv on Sept 11 will forever be in my mind. I turned the tv on and was just sitting up on the couch as the second tower fell. I at first thought I was just seeing things until I called Paul and he said it was real.

Around this time, Jamie (my friend girl) and I had been tossing an idea about getting an apartment together. We found a place we both like at The Landings at Cypress Meadows and preparted to move in. We moved in to the apartment officially on October 13, 2001 along with Tabby and Tigger.

A few words about Jamie. She is a wonderful person and for three years was the only person I had to confide in, cry to, and enjoy the company of. Her only downfall is, when she is dating someone, she has issues dividing her time up. She totally forgets you exist, ignores you, and doesnt call you back.