I was working for this little company called Trailworks.com, burning through a mere 25 million dollars in the course of six months. They hit the ground hard sh

I was working for this little company called Trailworks.com, burning through a mere 25 million dollars in the course of six months. They hit the ground hard shortly after launch, laid off all their staff, then brought me and one dba back on contract to mothball everything. I quoted an extortionate rate and they gladly jumped on it. For the next 3 months, the phone would ring several times a week with recruiters offering progressively more ludicrous contract rates for new gigs. Times were fat, so I turned them all down. Mothballing complete, I turned down a new slew of dream gigs and hopped a flight to Thailand and Australia. 5 months later, tanned and grinning, I landed in the 'states and called up my recruiter: "Hey, remember all those awesome gigs you had for crazy contract rates? I'll take one o' them, thanks." "Uh... We don't have any more of those. Didn't you hear? We have some regular jobs for regular money, if you'd like." "oh." "Yeah. And you might want to check your eTrade account while you're at it..." Gotta say though, it was a fun ride while it was happening. Everybody knew it was too good to be true, but we were happy to party like it was 1999. Cause, you know, it was.