She's bigger than I am (the woman in the next office) and has some serious muscles. I could take her in a sneak attack, but can't just walk in and turn off her speakers.

In other job news, a couple of weeks ago I was in a class for some new software I have. I stopped by the office to pick something up and my boss snagged me to chew me out about a couple of things, one of which was because he didn't read the e-mail I sent him and the other was something that would make life harder for me and easier for him. When I protested, he made a point of telling me that virtually my entire salary comes out of the budget for our monthly magazine.

One week later our COO came in and told me that the organization will be outsourcing the magazine ... effectively eliminating my position. When I obviously looked panicked and asked if that meant I was out of a job she replied that they wanted me to stay on in a different role (running our web site). So ... schmuckface knows this is in the works and makes a point of letting me know that my income comes from the soon-to-be-phased-out magazine. Never gave me a hint.

So ... I still have a job, it'll be different from what I've been doing the past few years (I used to run the web site, so I'll have a learning curve but it's not completely new territory).

But! (insert evil chuckle here) soon to be ex-boss had wanted to keep editing the magazine on a contract basis, get rid of all the administrative stuff he hated but still be able to hassle me. Instead, it'll be completely outsourced after April 1 ... and he won't be involved at all. So he's given up a job that had some elements he didn't like and is going to have a SERIOUS reduction in income (not to mention losing all the benefits). he he he

edited for a smidgen of clarity

Getting by without a car would be really difficult here

Yeah, it would be impossible here at the moment. When we were renting the duplex in town it was possible, although not easy. But we're off the route here. They're just getting to institute a new regional bus service, but it's still pretty limited, and at the moment is slated to go from the town south of us to the town north of us without stopping here. I've been emailing them to encourage considering us, but since all the other towns paid for the privilege, and our fire station just shut down because it's $400,000 in the hole, I'm pretty sure my pleas are falling on deaf ears.

I know, Trudy, but Dave has joined under his real name, so even if I try to pseud, it'll be pretty easy to deduce.

Still, funny.

Hmm... my siblings and cousins have our real name. My "stealth," however, has more to do with not wanting random people to friend me after seeing me in a show. And I don't perform with any of those suckers.

Instead, it'll be completely outsourced after April 1 ... and he won't be involved at all.

I guess the lesson here is that if you hassle Toddson be prepared for a karmic bitchslap.

I think it was the combination of keeping me in the dark and the gratituitous comment about my entire salary depending on the magazine that did it (at least as far as I'm concerned).

Our mortgage is still worth more than our house, but not by a whole lot. We are lucky we got a repo, though, for 100k less than what was being offered for more fixed-up houses. If prices keep falling we may end up with a bit of time where we are upside down, but we plan on staying here for many more years, and things will improve. Plus our house is awesome with a ginormous yard in a lovely neighborhood.

And, as my DH pointed out last night, if we HAD waited for prices to go down more, we probably wouldn't be able to get a mortgage since he is self-employed.

we plan on staying here for many more years, and things will improve

That's the thing with buying -- if you're not planning on moving and can afford your mortgage, what do you care about the market value of your house? This is my renter's feeling, anyway.

I assume SF incomes are proportional(ish) with rents?

Ish. People in NY and SF spend a much higher percentage of their income on housing than the rest of the country. (~50% vs ~30%, IIRC.)

Which is what I'm doing now. In 2 months, once I move, it'll drop down to 37%(ish). The extra few bills will be nice, for sure, but I'm not only moving in with M, I'm moving in with M & Gary. However! Huge kitchen, back deck (with room for a garden), big sitting room, 14' ceilings.... YAYS.

Yes, especially now that they are building an arthouse multiplex cinema that we can walk to from our house. If we can get a Trader Joe's around here, I will never have any reason to go anywhere!