I'm glad that you took my comments in the context that they were meant.
I work an 80-hour week in my personal company taking care of my clients (fortunately a large number of those hours are from my home office).
Computer burnout can be intense, especially when the wife gets jealous that you spend more time with the computer than with her. I would recommend sitting down with your wife and setting up a budget and goals. The goals should be for 1 Year, 5 Years, and 20 Years. This will help to establish a vision and put you back in control of your career.
Also, if you don't absolutely love to program then you might need to reassess what career to would love to do.
Lastly, be thankful to God. It sounds like your current client helped you avoid the massive layoffs that a great number of people in our industry experienced. I know many folks that were out of work for well over a year - some two years.
I have heard so many stories of the CEO yelling and cussing people out. My time just about came on Wednesday, but I averted it by remaining cool. Still, I saw the ugly wolf snarling under the lambskin, and it used foul language.
Programming is my main skill, and I've been at it since age 9. The only other thing I could do would be to invent a new computer, but that's for the future... All I need right now is a break and I'll be fine...
Yes you are right about thankfulness. Ironically, this company contacted me just a week after I had been laid off from another position. I had worked with them before, and heard from them out of the blue. I was one of the few remaining unburned bridges (see above comments about the CEO's temper). The Lord does only good.
Thanks for your forthright and kind words.