PowerComputing's final resting place, an abandoned Wal-Mart.The building was recently torn down and a new strip mall has replaced it.
Thirteen days after Apple pulled the licensing rug out from under PowerComputing, I drove up to the PowerMart location for the last time, resigned (or quit, take your pick) because I accepted a job in Raleigh with PSW, cleaned out my desk, erased my PowerWave 120 and said my goodbyes in an e-mail with Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye.” What remained of the management was cool though; they knew my grandfather was dying since I just returned from seeing him the week before. Besides, I wasn’t the only person jumping off the sinking ship nor was I going to stick around to turn out the lights.
It was a bittersweet departure. There were the obvious feelings of sadness for leaving: PCC’s efforts of the last two years going down the toilet, my concern over the fates of co-workers and my leaving Austin by the end of the week. Yet it was balanced out with a wave of relief: job hunting is a colossal, exhausting pain in the ass. I wasn’t happy with moving to Raleigh but I wanted to spend some more time with Grandpa before his life ended. He was good to me, especially with putting Brian and me through college, the least I could sacrifice was living in Raleigh in order to be closer.
Leaving seemed like the logical thing to do then. PCC would be flooding the declining Apple market with talent and I was in no mood to start over with the company that kept moving the goal posts when it was losing. The other variable was the loss of my Austin-based friends. Doc was in Japan. Gabe disappeared. Eiko moved to Houston. Sonia remained but would be graduating from UT soon, then moving to Europe to be closer to her future husband Philippe.
Thankfully, it has worked out since. The upside was leaving on great terms and not under a cloud. Good thing, for I was back at Apple within a year.