Randomness

[Kotik]

1.800 is not a lot, but considering something like that was my entry wage as a graduated Computer Scientist it should at least keep you afloat until you have another job and not in a situation that would require selling off your home...

[Weeble]

Kotik,

Our system is not designed the way yours is. Remember here individual states can do what they wish, we are a constitutional republic. Unemployment insurance here is intended to provide minimal support. In Michigan it is 20 weeks with a top payoff somewhere around $400 a week. The idea is for individuals to save for themselves. Our unemployment here is far higher than it has been in decades and this mess is lasting far longer than usual. I will not get in to the politics as this aint the place.

Alelou you are undoubtably in a tough spot. Good luck nice lady I will keep praying for you. Never forget that when God closes one door he opens another.

[Alelou]

I am really NOT in such an awful spot, Kotik, but thank you for your concern. We WILL be in a spot if I don't do something about it, but I have plenty of time to prepare and a cushion to help us cope if it takes longer to figure this out than I am hoping it will take. Compared to the many Americans who lost ALL their income suddenly in the recession or got stuck in the housing bust, we're still sitting very comfortably.

The reason this is happening is that I have been teaching on an adjunct (part-time) basis for the last four years, and before that I was a freelancer for a number of years. I suppose I might qualify for some unemployment as an adjunct, but I've never tried, since the compensation is minimal for such an enterprise in the first place and there's no guarantee of continued employment when you're working on a contingent basis. Many others in my position in the past had the chance to move up to a permanent position at our college, but thanks to budget cutting since the recession began, that is no longer happening. (And, in fact, I'd be pretty depressed if it had since the job is probably changing dramatically for the worse.)

My part-time work has been enough to keep us comfortably housed and fed because my husband has a decent full-time job with benefits. Without my income, however, we really couldn't afford to maintain the house or pay the taxes on it. We underestimated how much it costs to live in a nice house (which we could easily afford when we moved up from NJ because we made so much money selling that house), and also how thoroughly the recession would dry up my freelance income. And, unfortunately, once you're out of it for awhile it's pretty hard to get back in even when things pick up again.

So there's nothing too diabolical going on here, just some bad luck with the economy and the changing world of education and publishing, but most of it is the product of my own choices. I can't really regret them since I've enjoyed my winding road.

We can down-size and still live very comfortably -- and maybe even make some decent money with a real estate investment if we do this wisely -- or I can find a real job (which is what I'd really like at this point). We just have to accept reality and make the adjustment. Who knows, this could end up being the best thing ever.

I'm also going to self-publish a novel or two and see if I can earn ANYTHING doing that. (That is, after one more try at getting one published for real.) But I am highly unlikely to make any kind of living from that, not because my writing sucks, but because it's a terribly precarious undertaking for almost all fiction writers, self-published or not.

[lfvoy]

Is this something new? I certainly don't see any sign that the many part-timers at my college are being counted in that way now -- if we want insurance, we have to pay for the entire cost of it.

Small group is < 50 employees in most states (<100 in a few). And I'm talking about whether or not an employer is going to be subject to a penalty for not offering health insurance, not whether or not they're going to pay any part of the employee's cost.

I ran a projection a couple months ago where it turned out that one of my clients is [censored] if they do and [censored] if they don't. Last year's income after expenses? $600K, and that was with the owners not taking a salary...and it was the first time they'd run in the black in five years. Annual cost of 50% of premium on health insurance for their employees? $2.3MM. Annual penalty if they don't offer it? $1.8MM. What killed them was that they had so many part-timers that they qualified for the penalty even though they only had 10 full-timers.

At this point, they're making spin-down plans so they can at least go out of business decently versus abruptly shutting their doors. The economy over here is killing a lot of things. And $450 a week in unemployment? WHERE?! In 2011 when I was laid off, had I been laid off a week earlier than I was my unemployment would have been $330/week. But because of a change in the legislation, my award was only $300/week. That was the maximum allowable amount under state law. Thank goodness I landed another job, even if it was at two-thirds of my prior income...and my mortgage lender let me do a deed-in-lieu when I couldn't sell the house.

...I'm getting depressed and probably treading on the edge of a political post here, so I'm going to shut up now.

[Kotik]

That really sounds depressing lfvoy

'Nuff sadness though. Today is "Dirty Thursday" in the Black Forest, the traditional start of the "hot phase" (read: Liver test) in the Carnival season. Here some impressions as the locals start the procession to erect the "Narrenbaum" (jester's tree).





Video: Schutz'ge Dunnerschtig in Lenzkirch, Germany

[Linda]

My eighteen-year-old grandson, Dylan, pasted this on Facebook from his Iphone on the bus taking him to U.S. Army basic training at Fort Lenard Wood:

"Wasn't sure how i felt about this whole thing before. But now i know i made the right choice. So bring it on, Army. Kick my ass."

His dad, my son-in-law, Jeff, Facebooked back: "They will be right on you as soon as you get off that bus." Jeff is a Navy Reserve veteran.

I Facebooked" "Go, Dylan. I see they haven't taken away your cell phone yet."

Then Jeff Facebooked: "They will."

That was the last of our conversation, so I suppose they are 'on him' now. He is there for 19 weeks because they will put him right into his military police training after basic. Then he is in the Army Reserve when he gets back to Wisconsin - they didn't have any full time Army positions for his specialty open right now. But he can take short term assignments that are full time and last for a few weeks each. When he gets back to Wisconsin, he plans to use his Army signup bonus to go to Milwaukee Area Technical College for a Criminal Justice two year degree. His ultimate goal is to become a police officer. In the past he wanted to be an actor, then a doctor, then an inventor (he won a national science award in middle school from a American Indian science and engineering association), but now he is going for what he can sink his teeth into right away. I love that boy! I didn't mind putting out $150 to help get him that cell phone.

[Kotik]

Comment deleted due to obscene language- Admin

[Linda]

LOL, Kotik, I'm broke after getting him that cell phone, no money left until next month for care packages to army recruits. Dylan is tough. But we are not sure we will be getting back the same Dylan we sent off to the army.

[Kotik]

I don't wanna hurt you Linda, but one thing I can tell you for sure - you'll never see the same person again. War does things to people....

[Linda]

It is not war yet. But it is training for war. He has to go through being pepper sprayed and tazered and stuff. And don't worry, you can't hurt me, at least not today. The family is being supportive today. If thoughts and wishes could be telepathically projected, many of Dylan's friends and family members are there with him.

I hope YOU feel better, Kotik. You sound depressed today.

[Kotik]

I hope YOU feel better, Kotik. You sound depressed today.

Yes. I sound depressed. Another youth delivered to the slaughter. I've seen too many of them die. Still can see ourselves shooting into a Somalian machine gun nest to protect an american patrol. Two hours later we learned that we killed five 14 year old kid soldiers.
Comment edited due to obscene language - Admin

[Cogito]

I've never been in the army, and I don't know many that have, but the ones I know strike me as extraordinarily level headed and self-reliant people. In the unlikely event that I got caught up in some James Bond-esque adventure, these are exactly the people I'd want on my side. And I'm reassured to think that people like this are standing guard and ready to protect our country.

I get the impression that the process of turning a raw recruit into a hardened soldier is a tough one - not that I'll ever know, because I'm certainly not soldier material - but I think being willing to make the attempt does your grandson great credit, and succeeding at it will be something to be very proud of.

[Linda]

Thanks, Cogito!

[Alelou]

And you're hanging pretty tough in the face of some brutal incoming, Linda!

Kotik, if I were an admin I'd put you on moderated status. Go get some help and stop taking it out on other people.

[Transwarp]

Linda,
My daughter did the exact same thing Dylan is doing. (She did Basic at Ft Sill and AIT at Ft Gordon, then went into the Reserves while going to school.) She is the same person now as before she left, except maybe a little more confident and self-reliant.

Dylan will be fine.