Unfortunately it looks like the light I was seeing at the end of the tunnel was just a train coming on full speed. At 7AM, when I got to work this morning, my boss handed my about a dozen new case files. Apparently the guy who had them had a melt down last week and resigned effective this morning.
So it looks like I need to keep my Alt position after all. One of these days I am hoping to make it into the big game. Sorry. (RL bites)