Hi Shawn. Ya, the economy is not doing as well as it could be in my isolated part of the world, too. This was a hard year. The partners who bought the company two years ago decided we could do as good a job this year, though we have 25% more customers, with 30% less experienced staff. The CEO that started the company just left to start a new one, and his replacement is ALL bottom line. He raised prices 70%, froze salaries, eliminated bonuses and 401K company contributions, plus cut some other benefits. I am hoping the company lasts eight years, but I doubt it. I investigated the new CEO on the Web, and he has a bad track record.
I imagine lots of people in the world have had, or are currently experiencing, similar scenarios where they are (Maybe not China, so much, as it is really kicking butt, economically). The custom I wanted is now not a good idea, so I will probably grab a used, special bass and call it quits on my collecting. I am still doing well, as reality has not crushed my dreams, just altered them a bit.
I am in a typing mood. Going even more off topic, I read a club thread a year ago, or so, about American jobs being replaced by outsourcing to overseas businesses. Kind of a minorly-heated discussion. I deal with this directly, as I am in technical support/customer services. One would probably expect me to be against outsourcing, but the opposite is true. I believe the world is becoming one market place and one job market. Now, if we can just remove the word market in that statement, we will all be better off. I am still pretty toasty from the insane season we had this year, but it is good to be back. Wow, the server sure is faster than it used to be! OK, I'll shut up now.
