I feel your pain.... and db programming (especially solo) can be VERY DRY work. I dabbled as a Coldfusion web programmer in a previous career.

when you hear of people looking for / out of work for over a year... it makes me thankful that i am employed (until the next time someone at work pisses me off)

During the implosion of the dot com era... i was unemployed/self employed (same thing) for almost 3 full years... it was very rough.

Especially since i was so close to cashing in 17,000 stock options in the dotcom i was a plank owner in (original team member).

I even slept in my car a few nights while i was "living" with friends for a few months at the worst of it... puts alot into perspective