So very much to talk about….

This month has been difficult; at my “day job” (non-academic) I have survived 2 rounds of layoffs and watched many dear friends and colleagues lose their jobs the week before christmas.  The MBA in me knows why the company is doing it (if you can live on your cash flow right now you will emerge out the other side in much better shape) but I am convinced they are choosing where to make the cuts in a painfully short-sighted manner.  They cut 2 major departments, the six-sigma quality analysts (who could save them millions if people would listen) and are shutting down sites that, frankly, they will never get reopened because of their remote locations.  I am having a bout of survivors guilt mingled with relief; we aren’t financially ready for me to be unemployed.

I’ve also faced the fact this month that we aren’t going to be financially ready for me to take a 50% cut in pay (what I would take for an academic job) for a long time, and maybe never.  I make a comfortable living now, and frankly we are used to it; we like the stuff that money can buy, the lifestyle we have.  So can I or should I bother to write a dissertation to get a job we may not be able to (or willing to) afford for me to have?

On positive notes, I am teaching a section of statistics at the community college next semester.  I enjoy it.  My husband keeps reminding me that it would take only a little work (a few classes) to become qualified to teach Psychology as well and community colleges can keep me busy with those two pretty much forever.  I am considering it; my thought process goes like this:  If all goes as planned by the end of spring I should be done with my Comps, although getting that and my proposal done while working 50 hours a week and teaching a class are kind of iffy.  I could, however, take 2 classes per semester in psychology for summer, fall and spring while taking a 1 credit “continuous enrollment” in my program and have solid teaching credentials for a community college.  It would delay my dissertation by a year, which is no big deal since I can’t afford to graduate and change jobs yet anyway.  If I wait until fall to start those classes I can probably do my proposal over the summer and technically be ABD for that year as well.

We’ll see – no decisions yet.  Just ideas floating around in my head.

For today, it’s Christmas Eve.  I need to CLEAN!  We’re having 8 (out of 10) of our closest friends over tomorrow for Christmas Dinner and the state of disarray that we live with really won’t work for entertaining.  (I’m making Prime Rib; the thing is huge and it was EXPENSIVE!  But it will be amazing!!!)  I also have some errands to run (which I may do first – the cleaning is feeling kind of overwhelming right now.

Then tonight I’m making Duck with a Pomegranate Wine sauce and Mashed Potatoes for dinner; we have tons of cookies for desert.  Then PRESENTS!  (I still get excited like a kid about gifts, but we like to sleep in.  Since we have no kids, opening on Christmas Eve works for us.)

Enjoy your holidays!