Out of the blue (green?)

Yay for free money!

... well, not exactly.

See, I quit my last job on 12/31/2010. This had nothing to do with closing the year out or a free holiday or anything; it was simply that my new job's healthcare started 3/1, and I wanted my COBRA to be in even month increments.

A side-effect, however, is that I technically finished out the calendar year. This means that, by the book, I qualified for my bonus. Now, I'm a realist: the old company was not thrilled with me quitting, even giving 3 weeks notice, so I placed the odds of getting my bonus as "close enough to zero that you couldn't slide a piece of paper between the two."

Well, an ex-coworker who is in the old HR department, who I'm decent friends with, and whom I've been helping with issues that have come up since I left told me a few weeks ago that she was submitting my bonus paperwork; it didn't mean anyone would approve it, but it was worth a shot.

It was approved. So, I'm getting an extra few thousand dollars that technically I earned but never expected to receive.

This means that, as of tomorrow morning, my credit card is completely paid off. By the time I get my next consulting check, I'll be $4k-5k in the black and *really* ready to move out.

Which means I need to ramp up my housing search faster than I'd expected - a good thing, yes, but now that it's really going to happen a little nerve-wracking. Oh, well, just need to bite the bullet and do it.

You know, it's a little odd when you've planned something for a year and it actually happens, ahead of schedule even. I feel like I've won a small pot in the lottery, but it's all been planned and arranged.