I just got the call from my staffing agency; I will not be returning to DirecTV Broadband. In lieu of a severance package, I'm getting paid for the next two weeks - nice of them, I think.

It's something of a relief, really. It's depressing work, at this point. We were a great ISP, and our customers knew it - we've gotten some really touching comments about how sorry people are to see us go. It's nice to know we were so well-liked, but sad to know we're leaving our customers stranded. Management couldn't even come up with a smooth migration path (although they did at least come up with something), so most of our customers will probably be without service for a few weeks, and those that go along with the migration will then be stuck with a lame telco ISP that doesn't offer the nice features we did.

Anyway, to all the customers who supported us, thank you. To Wayne at VADI, you rock, and we all really appreciated your work. To the handful of smart people at DSG, keep bending the rules, and try not to get caught disclosing the “proprietary information” ISPs need to troubleshoot. To Kim, I really appreciate the way you've handled shutting down the company. To Dan in SMC, I wish we could have helped bridge even more gaps. To Todd, you rock, and I wish you the best in your next job.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's drinking to be done.