Hi Norm,

Don't let what's happening upset you too much. Everyone goes through bad stretches now and then. And everyone's been victim of mean attacks at least once.

Remember back a year or so ago when many of us were encouraging you to investigate your job options? Things didn't go as well as you (or we) hoped then, and it seems that things aren't dramatically different now. But you do have some leads on a new position - something you didn't have a few months ago. Things are slowly looking up!

Don't conclude that everyone is out to get you - doing so ends your control over things that you can control.

Life is hard sometimes. There isn't some great instruction book that some people have and some don't - we're all muddling through as best we can. Sometime's you're the king and sometimes you're the peasant in the dungeon. Sometime's you're the head of a Forune 10 company, and sometimes you're facing years in prison and millions in fines.... Life is like that. You've got to remember that the bad times are always temporary and tough them out until things get better.

Keep your chin up and get out and have some fun with your wife and child. There's a lot of wonderful things about life and family even in the worst of times.

You may not have been around at the time, but Richard Nixon gave some excellent advice in his farewell speech to his White House Staff in 1974:

"Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember; others may hate you. Those who hate you don\ufffdt win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself."

I'm sure he regretted not following that advice himself.

Hang in there, Norm. :-)

Cheers,
Scott.