The Sausage Grinder

Yesterday was certainly a day of ups and downs. When I hopped on the scale in the morning, I discovered I'd reached my first real goal of my weight loss plan - below 300. It felt fantastic, and I know it was because I walked around a got a lot of excercise at the convention this last weekend. I stopped walking to work because it just got too damn hot (I would show up sweaty and kind of gross - the temperature itself, relatively speaking, is very nice). So I need to figure something else out for exercise, and I need to do it sooner rather than later.

Last night, I went over to Wolf's for some fine D&D playing. That was fun; a good chance to unwind a little after an otherwise stressful day.

It wasn't my job, although Wednesdays are traditionally my hard days at the office. Liz got laid off. Downsized. Let go. However you want to phrase it. The woman who hired her there had been downsized a couple of months ago, largely because her personality and the Big Boss's personality clashed. Liz, being a byproduct of the woman who hired her, was on the Big Boss's short list. In other words, we both saw this coming, but I don't think either of us expected it quite so soon. It's really not as bad as it seems, beyond the shock of being told "you don't have a job" and that being something out of her control; the position is being turned over to contractors, so Liz will be eligible for unemployment, and her insurance will run to the end of July, as will her pay (they are giving her two weeks severance - not a lot in our brave new economy, but it's a start).

The good news is, because we anticipated this, Liz was already looking for another job. In fact, she's had four interviews (!) at a PR firm downtown, and has been meeting regularly with a career counselor about other opportunities in other fields.

Still though, it's one of those things that really blows because you know these people were talking about you behind your back, sitting and planning that you would no longer have a job without including you, telling you, or even asking how that fits into your plans. That kind of power is pretty sickening, when you stop and think about it. And, come what may, it is going to be a fundamental change in her habits; she may not have to get up and drive to work for a few weeks. She will end up working somewhere else. Those kinds of changes can be a little daunting, but Liz has constantly surprised me with her adaptability - she is an extraordinarily capable person.

Whatever happens, this is really going to be for the better.