We suffered a personal "Economic

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We suffered a personal "Economic Downturn" today, when my wife lost her job at Hellman Associates. They called her in, when she was headed out the door for lunch, to tell her that her "position was being eliminated". They handed her a box, and gave her ten minutes to clean out her desk. At least they gave her two weeks of severance pay, and her health insurance continues until the end of the month. So, after going out for lunch with her (our last meal outside the house for the forseeable future), I stopped by the University HR office to add her to my insurance, starting Feb 1. That's another $177/month out of our pockets for health insurance, at a time when I don't really want less pay in my paycheck. :( The good news is, she didn't want to work there anymore anyhow, she just hadn't found another job to leave it for yet. The company has been "restructuring", and they have far fewer staff than they did at this time last year. They've "eliminated" several other positions, and most of the other young employees had already fled the building, looking for more secure employment.

I realize that I'm used to working in the relatively cushy confines of a University, but they've really treated their employees badly. There were no annual reviews, and no annual raises. The company also stopped contributing to employees 401(k) plans, and didn't bother to notify the employees, we only found out about it when the statements came and the amounts were reduced. In the last month, the deductible on their HMO health insurance doubled, from $250 to $500 per year, and the employee-paid premiums went up by a significant chunk as well. Contrasted with my non-HMO health insurance, of which I don't pay a cent of the premiums, it's not a very attractive place to work, and I'm glad my wife doesn't have to work there anymore. I just wish this had been a bit more planned...

But, if you're interested in working for them, they do have a web page up where they're soliciting resumes.

So, yeah, I'm badmouthing them, but they just canned my wife, so you can't really expect me to be gracious about it, and hey, I didn't work for them. :)

We caught Kathy Mattea at

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We caught Kathy Mattea at the GBPAC here on campus last night, she put on a great show, and her voice is amazing. The first half of her show was all acoustic, mostly her signature hits, as well as requests from the audience. The second half of the concert was all Christmas songs, which, while nice, I didn't enjoy as much as the first half. I enjoy classic Christmas music, the songs we all know, rather than new made up "Jesus Rock" tunes, no matter how well they're done. Fortunately, Kathy did some of each, with a great rendition of Come, All Ye Faithful (half in Latin, no less) towards the end. After the show, we hung around the lobby, and I got a chance to talk to her a bit, since I'm distantly related by marriage to her husband. His (late)Uncle Ernie and Aunt Jo are my Great (late) Uncle Ernie and Aunt Jo (Jo is my maternal grandfather's twin sister). Anyhow, her husband didn't come on this tour, so I didn't get a chance to meet him, but we chatted for a little bit. She's a neat person, she has a quick wit, and seemed to be graced with an infinite amount of patience for all the people waiting for autographs. The guy in front of Holly & I was legally blind, and had some mental difficulties as well, but she handled him effortlessly, even helping him open his CDs, so she could sign the inserts, and never once hurrying him along. I didn't take the picture on the right, but I laughed when I saw it, as it's the same jacket she wore last night to sign autographs, along with the same sign, so it works well. I'm not sure how I feel about baby blue leather, however...