I've made the somewhat difficult decision to leave permanent employment and dive into the uncharted waters of contract work. While I've had a good six months back at work, I've been thinking long and hard about how best to move my career along. I've been spending a long time in the car to get to work, and being that far out makes it difficult to work more than 7 hours a day and get back in time to pick up Nathan from nursery. Working from home saves me at least an hour and a half in the car every day, which is really going to help me to be a bit more productive with my working time. I'll still do three days a week, but I can now do three full days a week instead of two and a half.
I've got my first contract lined up starting in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to the change. We've had a hectic summer with a bit of a garage conversion being done, but now that the study part is finished, I've got somewhere to work that isn't the dining room!
I've got one of the new Dell Vostro laptops on order - they seem to be way cheaper than the Latitudes, but I'm hoping that's just because they're a little bit more chunky, and not down to the cost of the parts! Still, Dell warranties are pretty good, so if it does all go pear-shaped, at least I can get it repaired. Having read how Dan's fared with his 64 bit machine, at least I have some idea of what to expect.