Today was my last day. All I did was attend an outplacement webinar I registered for (the company will pay for 3 months) and then I turned in my laptop, keys, badges and password fob. I left the office at 11:30 a.m. and hugged my old boss goodbye and told other laid off person I'd be in touch with her in late August, when we agreed to get together.

I was planning to say goodbye to the parking garage gate attendant (I am friendly with all) but she wasn't there. Instead a young woman who hardly spoke English was sitting in the booth. I told her I didn't have my badge, to wave in front of the scanner to raise the gate, becus it was my last day and I had to surrender my badge. She didn't understand, and i envisioned myself being stuck behind that gate forever. I repeated the same thing 3 times and then I think she still didn't understand, but just gave up and raised the gate for me. Why would they hire someone for a job who can't speak English?>>

I decided to go to Trader Joe's but even though I was on my way back by 2:15 pm, the traffic was already pretty bad headed eastbound. I had to take back roads home.

Note to self: NEVER venture out on Friday afternoon again. Not worth it.

So my spirits were lifted tonight because while I saw very little in the way of jobs I could apply for today (there is one, a temporary job), a Chicago area recruiter contacted me via Linked In about a Director of Marketing Communications position that sounded like a very good fit. Writing a wide variety of stuff, working closely with senior management, managing the PR agency relationship. I don't know the industry. I have never worked at the director level before but as we know titles vary from one company to another quite a bit.

There's just one big problem: location. This job is in Stamford, where I vowed never to even look for jobs, due to horrendous traffic and distance. As I remember from when I had a 3-month contract job down there in 2013, the commute was over an hour. I hated it. There ARE no good routes. Every road is clogged by 5 pm.

So I will learn about the position, anyway, but at some point early on I'll need to tell the recruiter I can't commute down there, at least not on a daily basis. I'd hate commuting down there period, but I suppose I could be open to a few days a week. Like maybe two.

I would LOVE to be able to tell the people at the bank, you numbskulls! You should never have let me go.

It felt weird to have the afternoon free during a time I should be at work.

I got my final paycheck today and was happy to see they included the one week of PTO (paid time off) I hadn't used.

I dropped my signed severance agreement in the mail at office so at some point in the ensuing weeks I'll get another check for $12,000, which will be a big help with day to day expenses in the months to come.

I had a phone conversation with a local insurance agent in town becus I wanted confirmation that my decision to stick with COBRA, rather than an ACA plan, was the right way to go. He agreed that since I've already earned too much money to qualify for any subsidy and based on the higher pricing of the ACA plans in general, that it made sense to stick with COBRA, at least for 2016. In November when open enrollment comes around, I could revisit that decision and, assuming my salary could be under $45K for all of 2017 if I find no new job, I could switch to an ACA plan with subsidies that would reduce my monthly premium payments to the $300-something range, saving me over $200 a month.

I TRIED to sign up for unemployment benefits but the online system wasn't recognizing my old password from 2013 and when i requested it send me a new password, it never did. When i tried to enroll via phone, it took forever to get thru the automated system, only to be told that due to high call volume, wait times could exceed 2 hours. I would have held, but it didn't give me that choice, saying "try back later" and then disconnecting me. I did try back later and this time got the option of getting a callback on Monday, which I set up.

We had some more rain tonight, which was good.

I have a ton of different things to do yet am feeling so scattered and disorganized. I have my daily planner but still, I need to get a handle on things.