Damn That Punxsatawney Phil!

I don't think I can take six more weeks of winter. I say that every year. HA!

So what's up? I'm having a slowish day at work, so I can peek in and say hi. Yesterday late afternoon we got word that the director of our department got the ax. She had been here for 31 years and crawled her way up from nothing. My company merged with another in October, and we know the big layoffs are coming. We believe our department, which has nothing to do with the actual business of this company, is a target for being turned contractor. The reprographics department went down last year. This means we will stay at our desk and do the same job, but we won't work for the corporation any more. We will work for some other company. Our wages will stay the same, but the benefits suck. So, everyone is speculating by the water cooler.

Meanwhile, my online classes are going fine. It will be just my luck that when I finally decide to go back to school, I will have to work for a different company that won't pay. Can you get a student loan when you only go part time? I use every spare minute for school work. (except for right now.) I often stay after work to get things done. The on-line aspect is very convenient for me.

Joe and I had a fabulous time when we visited Hudson a couple of weeks ago. The B&B was glorious, the innkeepers were fabulous, the town was fun, we discovered a great bar, the Red Dot. We were disappointed with the antique situation. There were tons of places, but they were way too high end for us. We are used to paying NJ/PA prices, but here we saw New York City prices. Hudson is on the train line from NYC, so there were many city-looking people there. I don't know how to explain it, you can just tell. They are way hipper than you in some intangable way. It was weird because there are plenty of other people in the town that look rather unprosperous, locals I presume? I wonder if they ever clash with the city folks? I'm going to post some pictures.