Company got screwed over. Had to take a 30% pay cut. Wife lost a great paying job with full benefits. She's only been able to find part time at minimum wage with zero benefits. Been withdrawing about a grand a month out of our retirement savings just to pay the bills.

The End.

Holy shit.

:(

Damn dude, I'm sorry. If I could help I would.

Dang. Sorry to hear man. Maybe go the freelance route to supplement some of that lost income. I know you're Solidworks, but here's some AutoCAD listings I looked into:

https://www.freelancer.com/jobs/AutoCAD/1/

Tell your wife to find a staffing agency. There's some really good ones that should be able to find her something much much better.

She's spent a year filling out applications, doing online interviews, and working with an agency. Bottom line is that companies aren't hiring 56 year old people for decent paying full time jobs with benefits.

Plank: I'm still employed by the company so I can't freelance right now. That'll be an option if I lose my job too.

File under "I sh1t you not": The phone just rang and it was a staffing agency asking for Linda. She's talking to them right now.

We had a family Christmas-present-wrapping evening. An exciting event the kids look forward to every year wherein we focus on how fun it is to give. And we listened to Sufjan Stevens' five Christmas EPs. Put up the (fake) Christmas tree, too. I don't think one can buy real trees in Japan (for Christmas). Such a great time!

I also added two albums to RYM's database today. They lacked Rachel Ries' 2007 release, Without a Bird, as well as Kishi Bashi's Japan-only release of his Philosophize! Chemicalize! EP, which, in my opinion, is a five-star album everyone should hear. :)

****ing Nips.

^Tell me about it. Christmas is a normal working day here...not for me, of course.