The Mandelbear's Musings

Not a stunningly good day, though I did manage to finish paying bills, and had a couple of good conversations with pocketnaomi, who always gives me something interesting to think about.

At work, I now have a tentative schedule and sense of direction for my current projects. That's good; I tend to drift otherwise.

Also at work, we had a meeting about cost-cutting; I had the feeling that our budget was cut only a couple of weeks ago. Many of my coworkers are young enough that they haven't been through a belt-tightening exercise like this before. Apart from the 4% salary cut, there isn't much that affects me directly. I was expecting anywhere from 2% to 5%, so that wasn't a surprise. There was a 20% reduction in the travel budget, but since my favorite conference, OSCON, moved from Portland to San Jose this year...

I was also expecting an enticing severance package for anyone who offered to leave (and felt bad because I wasn't in a financial position to take it). I didn't see that; I'm guessing it's because two managers (who were in such a position) got there first.

Times are bad. I do need to do something, probably involving either the web, writing, or both, that will bring in some extra cash. Magic wands and pots of fairy gold are both in short supply these days.