No way I'm going anywhere near that thing. Not for like a year.

I didn't realize what it was (I thought it might be my w2. That was the second I opened,) opened it and just saw the huge -29% before I even read the top of the page. OUCH. At least I can spin it that all of what I lost, I didn't put it? (Employer matching.) Maybe? I know it doesn't work that way, but... I can pretend. Hey, I've got another 30+ years.

Yeah, Tom looked at his yesterday. Down 31%.

I've basically lost every cent I've put into my 401k this year. It's pretty fucking depressing.

I keep telling myself it sucks but not as much as for people my parents' age who are at retirement age right now, and just lost....a lot, right when they were getting ready to use it. My parents aren't doing badly, by any stretch, but both are planning on working an extra couple years now to hedge their bets and get to where they were planning to be.

Both of my parents have had a big hit to their retirement funds. My mom's put hers into perspective, though--a friend of hers lost just about everything when Enron went under, and there was no way for her to get any of that back, so she had to go back to work at the age of 67 (this was right after her husband left her after 50 years--Shirley's had a rough time of it).

Mom figures she'll just have to wait a bit for the market to bounce back some.

The decision to work longer is good for my dad; he started exploring options of a part-time retirement, and we were all afraid of him going into retirement cold turkey. This way he'll shed a lot of the responsibilities wearing on him but still keep busy (CRUCIAL!!!!)

Aieee! Someone just sent a draft spreadsheet I put together to the Godboss. DRAFT. I wanted to do a couple more iterations and checks. OTOH, at least the Godboss knows I'm working my ass off?

I think it's not a bad thing for Obama to get an object lesson in how sincere the Republican leadership is when they ask for concessions in return for "bipartisan" support.

Yeah, but it's not a lesson he's planning on learning, or any other Democrat for that matter. They are happy to "cave in" to "pressure" from the Republicans so that they can continue to vote in their own interests while giving lip service to voting in ours.

t /bitter

Sorry. I usually try to repress those kinds of comments.

I just saw a message from one of my DE friends on Facebook saying he was going to wait for the snow to melt rather than shovel because it's supposed to be 40 by 2pm. That's also a valid life choice!

Totally valid! I just had to back the car out downhill, and it kind of sucks on snow, and there's usually a car right smack behind my driveway, so... you see my predicament. I'm all about the let the sun take care of it method unless I have to, you know, go somewhere before noon.

Get lit: illuminated clothing lights up the night

Huh. Kind of pretty! I like the orange bikini top thing. And I didn't think I'd be down with fiber optic clothes.