Fear and hard choices

Preface: I've managed to have steady work for the past year, but for a year before that, I was (like so many) unemployed.

I have a good enough job - nothing special, but it pays the bills. The place has it's problems, some of them, in my professional opinion, are kind of serious. I'm in the temp portion of a temp-to-perm engagement. At this point I think, but am not sure, they'll convert me into being a permanent employee.

But, until recently, to my mind there was a really big question if they'd convert me. So, like any intelligent being in a world of 9% unemployment, I started shopping around, just in case.

So, of course, now it looks like I may have two different things to choose from:

1) Current job - work with good, pleasant people, but a fairly dysfunctional organization. Convenient to home. Won't exactly pop on the resume, isn't a major personal growth/learning opportunity. Isn't really interesting, or in a field that lights my personal fires.

2) New Job - don't know the people or organization beyond the interview process. Commute to downtown. Would look a darned sight better on the resume, is a major growth and learning opportunity. Is apt to be pretty darned interesting/cool, and is in a field that has a major place in my heart.

The pay scales are probably about the same. So far, this looks like a no-brainer. The difference is that Job 1 is a permanent position, while Job 2 is a six-month position filling in for a woman going on maternity leave.

My Lady, bless her heart, says she's confident that after six months, I'll find something else. I, however, don't share her confidence - the period of unemployment stung pretty hard. I'm outright scared of the risk, and find I'm having a hard time weighing it rationally.

I don't really like it, but I'm left hoping that one employer or the other will make the decision for me.