First the job... now this... and this... and this!

Multivector force equations

When you're in a first-year college physics and calculus classes, you learn about vectors — a directed quantity — and you can measure the forces exerted by and on an object. Using your knowledge of these vectors, you can determine various things like how long it will take an object to move from one point to another, how much power is needed to move an object, and how fast an object will fall due to gravity and how much kinetic energy will be unleashed upon the unlucky soul on who the object falls.

These vectors are usually illustrated in vector diagrams as arrows. The length of the vector is usually some indication of the intensity, or quantity, of the force associated with the vector. The direction of the arrow indicates the direction the force is being applied.

Vector diagram of a box on an incline

Vector diagram of Doran in life now

The above should serve to provide readers with a visual illustration of the metaphorical forces tugging at me.

What's next? The dog?!

In one way, I suppose my life the last couple days could be the first couple verses of a country song. First, I lose my job, then my house... What's next? My wife? My dog? My sanity?

No, I'm not pissed... yet. I'm actually quite at peace despite the hell my life is in right now. Christine, on the other hand, isn't doing so well. Well... she's not a basketcase or anything. She's not crying incessantly. She's just not happy. She's not content. She's confused and concerned.

What was this about losing the house?! On Thursday, after I discovered I no longer had a job anymore, I called Christine and told her to call our real estate agent and tell her to pull the house off the market. After all, there really was no longer a reason to move closer to work. Our agent brought over the paperwork to sign and took the “for sale” sign out of the yard. Of course, she didn't leave before peppering us with abundant warnings of the grim dangers of attempting to sell by owner.

At that point, we really weren't sure what we were going to do. Taking the house off the market just seemed like a smart thing to do.

On Friday, our agent called and told us she had an offer on our house for us to look at. Great. We looked at the offer. It wasn't terrible, but it gave us less than we were hoping to get out of the house. I was tempted to just reject the offer, but we counteroffered instead. Our agent figured out an asking price which, along with her and the other agent reducing their fees a little, would allow us to walk away with the equity we were hoping to get. I really didn't expect the potential buyers to bite... but they did. Our agent called me tonight and told me they accepted.

So... we have about a month to move. To where? I have no *&#?@! clue!

The work and the gory

Only Utahrds will get that reference. heh heh.

Iodynamics is going crazy right now. We've got work left and right. I'm probably going to get more income from Iodynamics this month than I ever did from About. If it stayed that way, that'd be super-cool. I don't know if it will. It COULD, but in this economy, nothing is certain.

If it were simply a matter of income, the decision of whether to do nothing but work the heck out of Iodynamics would be a tremendously easy decision to make. Unfortunately, it's not that simple (see second vector diagram above).

First of all, we need health insurance. Of course, getting laid off from About, I have the option of coverage continuation through their Cobra program where I pay the full premium for health insurance for up to 18 months or so. It's astronomically expensive. It's more than our house payment! It's almost twice what we were paying for Cobra continuation when I left Sorenson YMedia in 2000. The state of health insurance in this country is a joke.

We could go without health insurance, but that makes it difficult for me to get insurance again in the future because of my diabetes. Insurance companies like to see that you've been under the “maintenance” of an insurance company if you're diabetic.

Being diabetic also makes it very difficult (i.e. expensive) to get independent health insurance anyway.

And then there's the fact Christine is pregnant.

Oh wait... I've never mentioned that in a Fozzolog before...

CHRISTINE IS PREGNANT

Yes, it's true. Christine and I are expecting our third child... sometime toward the end of August. We don't know (yet) if it's a girl or a boy. Christine has an ultrasound scheduled for next week, but she's not sure if she'll keep the appointment because of our insurance situation... which takes us back to our previous topic...

The work and the gory (continued)

I talked to a health insurance broker today to see if there was anything we could do. She told me it was pretty grim simply because major health insurance companies won't insure anyone in the family if Christine is pregnant. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but that's, apparently, how it is.

So, it seems like we have two options:

• Pay the astronomical Cobra payments
• Get another job with benefits

So, we're exploring both of these options to various degrees.

Christine wants to get out of Cache Valley. It seems to me it may be smart to stay here for the time being because housing/rent is cheap. But Christine has a point that employment possibilities are better in a less... rural... area. It makes sense for me to stay in the area because of Iodynamics. Most of our clients are in and around Logan, although we have a growing number in the Salt Lake City area.

So, we're still not sure what we're going to do. One thing is certain, though... we need to find a new place to live.