« Disability and How to Vote (USA) | Main | Blogger Con III »
August 9, 2004
Happy Birthday, Dad
I called my dad at his work today to wish him a happy birthday. Found out that he and his wife are planning to move to Grass Valley in October, and work part-time by telecommute. Problem is, he's not sure he can get his computer set up correctly. He says he can barely use it for what he needs to. I offered to help him set it up, if need be. What's the point of having a sysadmin for a daughter if they can't help with your (windows, unfortunately) computer.
So he's on-track for his gradual retirement, although I can't really see him stopping work completely. He's too wrapped up in his profession. Still, like many of his generation, he has everything he needs: property, retirement income, and healthcare. Too bad I won't have that kind of setup - even when he eventually dies (in about 2 years), his wife and her kids will inherit what's left, not my sister and I. Plus, if he's smart, he will have spent most of his assets enjoying life.
At 43, I am still renting, staggering under a load of debt that keeps increasing because of usurous interest rates, and bouncing from contract to contract with a shattered illusion of potential success, waiting for yet another job to be handed to a young male, an H1b, or offshored to India. That's what I get for not picking a stable field like wastewater treatment. I had been in a somewhat stable area, environmental engineering, until I became unable to do field work, and the bottom fell out of the industry because of the Republican Contract on "with" America in the mid 9s.
Posted by ljl at August 9, 2004 12:4 PM