My coworker was let go today. She'd been with the company for about a year, and I actually got a hiring bonus for her because I referred her.

She'd gotten Covid a few weeks ago, and the illness/malaise/brain fog resulted in a terrible job drafting a file, leading to her team lead and manager rewriting it until midnight that day. Definitely not great. She'd had appointments that led to her work messaging looking like she was away for 3 hours, there was another file that wasn't good and required substantial rewrites, she left the office at 3:30 because she lives in a different city and was trying to avoid traffic at one end of her commute or the other... just a lot of small stuff that led to being reprimanded.

She chose to argue parts of the reprimand, and that led to a meeting today in which she got fired.

I think, and I told her this, that it's more about the fact that we aren't going to hit our revenue target for the second year in a row, and they are looking for ways to cut operating costs. Nevertheless, it's shitty for morale, and leaves the rest of us looking over our shoulders. That said, the company revenue cracked a billion dollars last year, and it seems pretty shitty to punish us for an unreachable goal set in HQ by people who have no idea how the grants landscape in Canada works.

I've had a couple of interviews in the past month. One interview last week was for a job I'd love to get with an extremely well funded cybersecurity startup, and I'm supposed to hear by the end of this week, so I'm on tenterhooks over here.

I did pick up a freelance gig that should bring in a grand and maybe lead to more work in the same vein, so at least I have that to keep my brain in the game. I think I'll make myself an 'employee' of Derek's company and bill as a subcontractor through that - all the tax info is already existing that way.

Happy Halloween!

I looked back at my last posting day - it was June when I got laid off. Apparently since then I've been having all the fun.

I had a couple more days of work after that, but from July 1 to Sept 15 I was just Mom. The weather was beautiful all summer, so VV and I swam at least once a day, but often two or three times. We went up to see my parents and VV's cousins a couple of times, including a trip to the beach (Lake Huron near Port Elgin) on a windy day with excellent waves. All the swimming in our pool turned VV into an excellent and strong swimmer, and she loved the waves, even when the difference between the peak and the trough meant she was well over her head.

We also went up to Derek's brother's family's cottage to see that side for the first time since January. They are in Toronto, which has always been the hotspot for Covid. In addition, Herb is a doctor so he's in and out of the hospital for work. We only stayed a couple of days, but managed to cram all the cottage activities in our short visit - kayaking, tether ball, hanging out in the tree house, watching a movie, playing a game (which VV beat her much older cousins at - go girl!), and having a fire with hot dogs and marshmallows.

We've been lucky to have low cases over the summer and friends who take the same precautions we do, allowing VV to have play dates with friends either in parks or at home on the deck (and in the pool). We got together with some adult friends as well, so D and I also have adult company.

School (grade 2) finally started on Sept 15. It's been getting better. Today has been the best tech day - teacher hasn't been kicked off at all! The kids are starting to understand where everything is and what the vocabulary for the tech things (tabs, closing windows, links, mics etc). However, the rules of the classroom (raising a hand, not leaving without permission) haven't quite translated to online learning yet. Vv was excited about online, but is now wishing we'd selected in person. However, cases have been steadily increasing, so we are glad we chose the online option. Not only do we not want to get Covid ourselves, but this lets us go and see Mom on weekends. My nieces went back to in person learning (no cases in their county at this point - they are very rural), and Mom is only able to see them virtually.

As for Mom, she's getting stronger (and getting her hair back). She walks an hour every day, still with trekking poles for safety, but she's visibly getting stronger and more stamina. She started getting her immunizations last week, and has immense sympathy for babies.

I've been applying for jobs and have an interview next week. I'm curious what the package will look like - I'd need at least 85k plus 3 weeks vacation to make it worthwhile. The health benefits at UoG aren't all that (though I'd get dental at 2 years which would make a big difference), but I'd get 22 days vacation in 2021, which industry just doesn't offer. My old job is hoping to have a grant come in by end of September that will allow them to hire me back, so I may have to make some decisions.