I had a bird once, a small breed of parrot called a Black-Headed Caique. She had some mood problems sometimes but she was more or less a sweet bird.
I had to give her away last year. Like most any parrot, her breed is playful and energetic and requires a lot of attention and company...and with me gone for two days at a time for work, plus school and other stuff, she wouldn't have been happy, and my parents couldn't really take care of her properly anymore.
Luckily she went to a really good home. I took her to a pet shop just outside of town, who's owners are pretty good 'bird people'. They actually liked her so much they decided to keep her for themselves. So she's got good people to be around plus a lot of other birds, so she's a lot better off. I was still sad for a little bit, though. When I was younger she always liked to nestle down in to my shirt for a nice warm nap when I was at my computer.
The thing to remember about parrots is that they're real picky about who they like. A dog or cat will usually take to almost anybody, but a parrot won't. Mine hated both of my little sisters, and never liked my highschool friends. And my dad had an African Grey for a few years that never liked anybody but him; the shop he bought him from was shocked and surprised when he was able to pet that bird. Not even the shop workers were able to handle him. You definitely have to make sure they like you before taking them home....they're really not a 'novelty pet'.
Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have a cat around. My sister has several and they're really good company it seems like...plus since you can house train them so easily and leave enough food out for a couple of days, it wouldn't be as bad with my work schedule. I dunno how they do with being alone, though.