<p>Today the other shoe dropped- we got the “official” e-mail that DH is going to be laid off and will be done at the end of May. I love how they don’t even call you in anymore to give you bad news- they do it by e-mail.</p>
<p>Good news is that we have some flexibility to move, and he did an interview in Green Bay Monday, and has a phone interview tomorrow for a job in Tampa.</p>
<p>PG, we did have the money but just not in liquid form at that time. </p>
<p>Of course my statement about reserve being in years assumed that DD’s school cost would be -0-.</p>
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<p>Best of luck to him…of course, if it was me, at this time of year I’d be pulling for Tampa!</p>
<p>Vderon, I am sorry to hear that - good luck to you and your family.</p>
<p>Dad II - why would you have ever assumed dd’s school cost would be $0? I mean, you seriously had expectations that a) dd would get into Harvard and b) it would cost you all nothing?</p>
<p>Zoosermom - nothing wrong with picking up garbage for a living. It’s an honest job that gets something done - which is more than you can say for many of the fluffy finance jobs on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Vderon–I"m very sorry to hear that. Will keep fingers crossed on the job interviews–it’s fortunate that you are able and willing to be that flexible – Green Bay and Tampa, quite a geographical spread.</p>
<p>Keep us posted how it goes, if you’d like to.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Missy, I’d love to go to Tampa. I almost fell off my chair when they requested an interview. We’d like to retire somewhere warmer, so we could get a head start now on being in a place that we would like to stay.</p>
<p>The kids are all out of high school except for one who lives with her mom, so that gives us a lot more room to move. I work from home, and my boss has already said she will keep me on wherever I go. </p>
<p>With jobs being so difficult to get, we are open to anything, and will be grateful for whatever job he gets.</p>
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<p>I know you will be, but I’ll cross my fingers for Tampa for you.</p>
<p>*I thought I was doing pretty well with the stress until this afternoon when college freshman D emailed me that she will need to buy Photoshop for an upcoming class art project and I snapped back: Photoshop is over $500!!! (except with more exclamation marks). I was not very understanding and I haven’t heard back from her. *</p>
<p>If she is at SPU, the computer software site affiliated with the school bookstore offers a student edition of Photoshop for $199.00, still expensive, but not any more so unfortunately than my daughter’s organic chem book.</p>
<p>Going back to OP in regard to stress, I take one day at a time. I am very happy every morning that I still have a job to go to, so I say “Thank you” and I do not think about morning day after, only the current one. In the evening, I am busy with my hobby (pottery) which makes me happy and makes it possible to listen to all gloom and doom on TV. So, my answer to current situation is to take one day at a time and be thankful for all good staff and keep myself very busy. Drawback - I am able to sleep only for about 3-5 hours.</p>
<p>maybe I should also give an update here. I survived the first round of reducation. Our department lost some head counts. Our director said we are relatively safe for the next round. so, happy days so far. </p>
<p>the best news is that we will be getting a bonus for 2008. How much will the bonus be is the current topic of discussion.</p>
<p>Dad !!,
I have to add that our whole department survivied the first round of reduction of 15% companywide. Although, I am 99% sure about no bonuses this year.</p>
<p>Vderon…sending good karma your way…may one of these doors be the right open door for your family!</p>
<p>bonuses? we don’t get no stinkin’ bonuses! :p</p>
<p>On the upside though- we have no children for three months-( except I was already teary at the garden nursery gift shop when I was looking at the trinkets to stick in a care package for D, and then blubbering at how much it would cost to send them to India!)</p>
<p>Good luck, vderon.</p>
<p>vderon- with your grateful and positive attitude good things will come your way.</p>
<p>Mailed docs to our tax guy today. It’s the earliest I’ve ever done it. But I figure that since I made about 20% less than I did the year before, I might have over paid taxes.</p>
<p>Vderon - some people find out they are fired when they can’t log in to their computer. IT usually get the list the night before.</p>
<p>Hey - there is nothing wrong with a fluffy job in finance, it pays the bill and the kids’ tuitions. Someone has to do it.</p>
<p>Oh - we are preserving my whole department’s jobs.</p>
<p>oldfort, you are right. I have heard of that happening. It’s just a bit of a kick in the a-s. He has been there 8 years. You would think that they could call him in for a chat.</p>
<p>Anyway, he heard from a company in Austin, TX as well. A long term contract working on a system for the state. I have noticed that there are a lot of government contract jobs out there right now (I am helping him look for jobs because I am an IT recruiter, so I know what he qualifies for) .</p>
<p>At least he is getting a response. We have 3 months before he is done, and 6 months before severence and free health insurance are gone. Hopefully we will be okay.</p>
<p>H was informed year ago that his plant would be closing end of 08. Was offered a job with a small consulting firm in our town, but was advised by the owner that he should wait until the plant closed and he could collect his severance pay and “stay bonus”. In the interim year, the economy tanked and that job offer and the other leads he was looking at before Christmas evaporated. Good news is that he got a year’s severance and has managed to figure out how to get through the computer/telephone system to collect unemployment. He also had the good sense to marry someone who makes more money than him and whose job has health insurance. Has a few leads locally and others not so local. My job seems secure but no raises this year, despite a twenty percent increase in earnings last year.</p>
<p>Oldest S stopped attending classes halfway through fall semester, failed one class and got incompletes in the rest. Decided to quit school fall of senior year. If he had passed everything in the fall, he would have only needed six credits to graduate. Decided he wants to pursue a career in Music, versus getting his engineering degree. We have paid for seven semesters of college, and have another that is a sophomore. The good news is that we didn’t borrow any of it. Bad news is that there isn’t any more money for him if he decides to go back someday. Priority needs to be getting younger S through.</p>
<p>Unemployment is putting stress on our marriage. I was angry that H decided to wait until now to look for a job. Now I have moved beyond anger and am just frightned as to what the future looks like. Each day things seem to get worse and worse. We’ll see.</p>