I waited a little bit to post, but that big Amazon layoff last week… Yeah, I was a part of that.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Recently I’ve been in a spot that was clearly an uneasy fit at best. So I assumed when there was another round of layoffs coming, it would probably include me.

But more generally I’d say Amazon and I have been drifting apart for years now, return to office has been a slog, I really wasn’t having a good time any more, and of course I’d been there just short of 20 years, and that is just a long time to be in one place. So maybe a change isn’t all that bad in the end.

I’ve got some runway before things become critical, so I’m choosing to take the optimistic view and look at this as an opportunity. First to just take a little time and decompress and give myself my own time for the first time in forever. Just for a bit. Some relaxing. Some work around the house. Some personal projects that probably won’t make any money, but I might as well give them a shot because I won’t have a better opportunity. Not for too long. Time will pass quickly. I’ll need to dive with both feet into finding something long term and stable. I know this.

My LinkedIn profile is up to date minus the most recent stuff from the last six months to a year. I’ll take care of that soon. But in the meantime, if you know me and can provide any references or leads, or if you just want to reconnect and chat a bit, now would be a great time for that sort of thing. I’d love to hear from you!

And I know some of my connections were also impacted last week. I’m happy to connect and commiserate with you too!

As for those personal projects…

The old projects are still going. My weekly current events podcast Curmudgeon’s Corner has been going since 2007. For any of you who don’t already know about it, give it a listen. Available any place you find your podcasts. My presidential election polling analysis that I started doing back in 2008 is called Election Graphs. I will be standing up the 2028 version over the next few months to be ready to go for real after the 2026 midterms. My fully automated Wiki of the Day podcasts have been going since 2017 as well.

But I have a few new ideas that have been in my head that I want to explore. I’ll share them here when/if I get them to stages that are beyond just ideas. Maybe some of them will get me some side cash.

But I don’t expect any of them to replace a full income, they will probably just remain side projects, so doing a real job hunt will of course be the main priority shortly. I want to explore more widely, not just things that are natural continuations of what I have done the last 30 years. (Although I obviously will look at those things, those are the most likely kinds of jobs, I just want to explore bigger changes too.)

Happy to talk to people about the personal projects or more off the wall ideas of what Sam should do with himself next too. Reach out if you want to chat!

And that is that! Thanks everyone!