Current (non frog) frustrations ...

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times ...

How some folks still feel that the status quo is acceptable, or even desirable - I will never understand.

So what do I mean by this? I am struck by the saying May you live in interesting times.

1) My job (nay, my company) went away at the end of July. For most of the people in the company the job ended at the end of April. I was asked to stay on another 90 days to "wrap things up". I was paid well and got some nice bonuses for this.

2) A job that would have used the knowledge I had from the previous job - plus would have been working from home, seems to have fallen through. Who knows how many steps would have been involved in securing a job with this new company, but I had apparently passed steps 1 (internal recruiter) and 2 (tech lead) and had been referred to the Hiring Manager. Then - complete silence. No phone calls, no emails - no answering enquiries from me. I suppose I'm better off for NOT having ended up here if this is how they treat people - but it's still disappointing.

3) I am working in an interesting situation now. I am working a contract job (for Robert Half) at a local company. I'm getting 25% more pay for 95% less work. The contract is for 6 weeks - and I finished the task I was hired for in 1.5 weeks. I've done two more tasks for them. Week #6 would be next week. You'd think they'd be interested in someone who can get the work done quickly - but I just don't think they have enough work around here to justify keeping me. We'll see how that works out - but I'm guessing I'll be working somewhere else. I hope. Soon.

4) The election. To put it mildly - I cannot take the idea of another 4 (or more) years of what we have suffered for the last 8 years. Things are looking good - but the thought still stresses me out.

5) The economy. This touches *everything*. My retirement funds are evaporating. Yeah, they *should* come back - but ideally I would be in a situation where I would be dollar cost averaging my investments right now (buying cheap) but because of situation 1, I am not able to. Also - assuming the contract position disappears (about a 90% probability) - what now?

6) Ignorance. I basically had to dope slap my mom (via email) yesterday. She knows better than to bring up politics with me, and she did anyhow. My mom grew up in the south (Arkansas) although she moved with her family north (Northwest Indiana) at a fairly early age. I think that because of how she was raised (the south) and where she lived (very close to Gary, IN), she is a racist. She normally hides it very well, but Obama is bringing it out in her. She's conservative to start, but now she's hysterical that Obama might win. I've received emails in the past (before I told her she better damn well quit sending them) comparing Obama to Fidel Castro. Yesterday I got an email saying how the current economic conditions are directly traceable to the Democrats. I answered (to the 10 people she sent this to) with an email showing how the situation is *directly* attributable to Phil Gramm - who would be McCain's choice for Secretary of the Treasury. Yes I know, it's not quite that simple. But it's certainly more accurate than what I received from her. I let her know that one more political email from her puts her on my blocked email address list. I hate being this harsh - but I've been pretty consistent in asking not to receive this crap.

I'll leave it at this - but you get the idea. The glass is definitely less than half full. Sorry, I really needed to vent ...

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