As I also have the diversify and go with the flow mentality, I have spent my entire life learning. One of the subjects I got into (as soon as they were available in homes) was computers. From the humble Atari console to network administrator for a national pizza chain, there have been a lot of interesting twists along the way. And that is IT...information technology. There are hundreds of specialties within IT, just as in medicine, but I am more of a general practitioner with a special knack for troubleshooting and problem solving and tying together things that are only barely related to make them more functional. Those skills transfer anywhere, into any field, and I've learned enough of everything from CMM to CAD to legal to accounting to contact management software along the way to sit down in any seat in any office in any industry to be at least somewhat productive.

I really don't consider this adversity, except for the sudden and unexpected stop in both of our income flow. But I know my reserves will only hold out so long before I have to start selling things, and I don't plan to let that happen again if I can help it.

Brent, we'll figure out how to establish telecommuting and I'll be all over it...gas costs would eat up a bit too much of my budget.

And they are Italian, all related. They won't swallow their pride, they will suffer and find fault. That's what frustrates me. If you are good at IT work, really good, no one ever knows you are working on stuff and nothing breaks. It's only when you screw up that people notice, and then congratulate you when you fix it.