Chula Vista

Was up in Irvine for 3 days of depositions with my boss, his wife, and one of our lawyers. By the end of day two it was obvious our case was hopeless. We were sitting outside having dinner and next thing I know I'm lifting up my head having absolutely no idea where I was, who I was with, why I was there, etc. It took the others a few ticks to realize something serious was going down.

They settled me down while I kept asking a million questions. Took about 15 minutes before I was totally back. I don't know what might of happened if I'd been alone.

My neighbor and PC doc explained that the stress took over the animal portion of my brain and caused the logical part to crash - remember the dreaded Windows blue screen of death? Kinda like that.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Blank.

Fuck that sounds scary.

The Batlord

Man, **** mega-corporations. Nothing about them leads to anything good.

__________________

Chula Vista

"We committ to placing at least $5 in purchase orders with you annually in return for Exclusive Distribution."

This one sentence, if it have been included in our contract with the China factory back in 1998, would have been the difference between me having to take another 30% pay cut vs. a 7.5% share of a possible $20 million dollar settlement.

(We placed over $50 million in POs over the course of 17 years but because we didn't stipulate an expectation up front it's, by law, meaningless.)

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

The Batlord

I guess we can hope that the companies that screwed you paid more in lawyer fees than they got from being dicks.

__________________

Chula Vista

No doubt.

Both the China and US company hired HUGE firms with hundreds of lawyers worldwide while we worked with 2 local guys.

I mean, we did get out-lawyered obviously, which sucks, but their bills are going to be ginormous.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

rostasi

So what's next in your life?

Chula Vista

Consolidated a bunch of debt into a refi - reduced our monthy payment but extended our mortage out another 8 years. Keep skimming our retirement savings to make ends meet (We're both turning 57 this year so it's getting pretty damn close.)

Learning to live with Wall-Mart brand foods (UGH so much of their **** sucks ass) and cutting everything else to the bone.

I have a healthy 401K that I can cash out at a huge tax loss if the **** hits the fan. And if I do have a heart attack and croak, Linda's going to be fine for the rest of her life because of life insurance.

Other than that? Drinks are on me!

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

rostasi

Did you say that you still keep your current job,
but at a reduced salary? ...and, if so, is the handwriting
on the wall that it may be time to move on to something else?

Cuthbert

I'm guessing you had an ECG on your heart? Sounds like what I had a few years ago mate.

Hope you're ok Chula.