Of Layoffs and Math Whizzes

You know that great recession proof job I got in November? I guess what's too good to be true, is too good to be true. You see the recession isn't what did me in...it was the FDA asking questions about a new drug launch that created a sudden delay in the launch. And we all know how quickly the FDA moves. So a few weeks ago 30 plus people got laid off. Then on Wednesday, it was the salaried people's turns. Yep I was one of them. I think the company got a bit over zealous in preparing for the launch and had to reverse gears quickly. Too bad. I was enjoying being back in the working world (although I will say, waking up at 5am and battling the snow storms in the dark was NOT enjoyable). So here I am back at home again after only a little over 3 months. This is probably early retirement for me. I am feeling kind of blah and unmotivated right now. They did give me two weeks vacation and two weeks pay which I thought was decent for such a short employment.

Thankfully things look pretty good at GE where Tom is employed. They have a lot of work coming up. Hopefully that will help them ride the recession. They are one of the biggest companies in the world and are so incredibly diversified. They got rid of their credit/banking holdings which was smart and tightened their belts at the plant in Norwich. And speaking of GE, Daniel will be meeting with three engineers there this afternoon. Two of them are mechanical engineers, one is a chemical engineer and he will be taken on a detailed tour. He still isn't sure which kind of engineer he wants to be, so this exposure will be a great education for him. He has written out a list of questions in anticipation of a fun afternoon. We are also starting to plan campus visits for the end of spring. He is looking at Clarkson, which is very close to the cabin. It's a gorgeous campus and a very fine engineering college. Other possibilities are the University of Rochester, SUNY Buffallo, RIT, RPT. He is considering doing a minor in math, a subject he loves. Where did he get that gene? Not from this family! I was terrible in math and his father isn't much better, however one of his uncles was a math whizz and actually has The History of Math, on his book shelf! Daniel is currently oscillating between a 99 and 100 average, so whatever college he ends up choosing, will surly be happy to have him (and maybe for free??? One can hope, right....).

And then there was the little incident this afternoon:




Fortunately Dan was driving the the beat up ol' truck when he inadvertently (read: was backing up too quickly) hit the garage door and maybe, if we are lucky, we can fix this door ourselves. The problem is there are cedar wood panels on it. And wouldn't ya know, we just had the garage door guy come out and service our doors last week.