I suppose my daily complaints of living what most would call "normal daily life", are unwarranted. I spoke with a former co-worker who was laid off 2 months ago and is still out of work. He let me know that he put me down as a reference and asked that I put in a good word. In the past he was very open about his financial situation so I know that his money is beginning to run thin. I'm not sure what 2 weeks of severance per year of service is supposed to do in this economy. By the looks of things, it will take about 6 months to find a job in this area. I went to the mall to purchase a gift certificate for our secret Santa exchange at my job. There were enough people walking aimlessly through the mall that i took notice. Either we have a lot of "kept" women in this town or unemployment is thriving here. I'd venture to say its a little bit of  both. More so now than at any other point in my life does the reality of the impact of a bad economy seem real. My friends are jobless homeowners who are trying to not go into foreclosure. It is real. And as I sit at my $1,000 refurbished MacBook Pro, I think I'll be more cautious of what I complain about.

I need to get some rest. I have a lot of work to do this weekend.