Change, change, and more change

What a difference four hours can make. About two and a half weeks ago, on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, my life changed profoundly. I went from reading the economic news at breakfast to becoming an economic statistic by lunchtime. Of course the 17 jobs shed at my small company wouldn't even make the back page of the local section of the newspaper, compared with the headline-making catastrophic job losses at Caterpillar (22,000 jobs--sheesh) or General Motors.

But one of the thousands of jobs shed in the month of January, on that bone-chillingly damp Wednesday was mine. This event forces me to take stock and make (I hope) positive changes in my life goals, in my consumption habits, in my activities, in my relationship to my community, friends, and family, and in my career path. It's a journey--perhaps one that I wouldn't have chosen to make--and this blog-writing exercise is part of that journey.

Having studied history, I can't help but be fascinated by the larger historical forces at play in the Great Debacle of 2008, even as I am dealing with my own personal situation (update a resume, find freelance work, find a JOB. With health insurance.) Like Thucydides, even as I participate in these events on an intensely personal level, I'll observe and chronicled the experience. (Though if my blog postings actually survive through next year, let alone across the millenia, I'd be mighty surprised.) But I'll be sharing my observations about anything and everything in the coming weeks and months with anyone who cares to read them.

Anna
P.S. I confess that I never drank the expensive coffee drinks. I always helped myself to the free coffee in my warm office.