ABSILVER's World

My life all of a sudden is about looking for simple.. simple life and happy life. What is life and how to find contentment in a sea of complexity. We live in a great time of uncertainty and how do I navigate this challenging time. Thoughts of the evening 1) Election of Obama as president shows the greatness and evolution of the country I call home. Where just a short time ago, the thought of an African American president was unthinkable. Not only has he been elected, but the country holds its hopes on a new future on him. So, I am amazed at how quickly this country can grow. 2) At the same time... this country voted against my right to marry in three different and diverse states. Voters agreed that gay people should not be able to marry people they love. I have to balance the life of understanding how important it is that Obama was elected with the reality that for now I can not marry someone I love in many of the states of this country. I do feel very lucky to live in the

I sit here this morning contemplating the future. IBM just went through a round of lay offs, IBM calls them resource actions, and today I am safe. But many people are not. They have 30 days to find another position at IBM or they are summarily shown the door. When I started at IBM, there was a promise of full employment. Which translated to having a job till retirement and no lay offs. I think this was a bad idea. The branch I started in had many employees that were obviously watching the clock wind down. Then in the late 80's early 90's IBM went through hard times. And the first rounds of layoffs started. In those days, they would rank the branch of employees and wait for a call on Monday. What was the number and if you were above the line you were safe and below the line you were gone. The buyouts and support were quite generous compared to today, and if you were close to retirement you could bridge to retirement. I know some folks who bridged to retirement and are