I just learned that my job is going to end in mid-July.  Our entire accounting dept. is going to be eleminated and it will be done from the mid-Atlantic (N.J.) region.  I was expecting it as there had been layoffs at our company all over the place.   I will be the last one standing as the staff's last day was Friday.  When I first interviewed with this company, I was asked if I would consider moving to N. J. in the future if the company needed me to.  I answered "I live in New Hampshire and you want to know if I'll move to New Jersey?"  They knew from the incredulous way I answered that my answer was no. 

Anyway, I was just watching "Ice Road Truckers" on the History channel.  People (truckers) haul freight from Fairbanks Alaska up to the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay on the coast of the Arctic Sea.  They are paid by each trip with extra money for overweight loads or overly wide loads.  They work approx. 2 1/2 months per year and if they hustle, they make $100,000 - 130,000 USD per season.  The problem is, the reason they only drive during this period is because this is when the waters freeze over.  They drive in blinding snow storms when visability is about zero.  Some of the roads are through mountain passes where the trucks have trouble grabbing the road, which is made of ice.  Some of the roads are paths in the snow scraped on the surface of the Arctic Ocean.  The camera shows the ice cracking while the truck is driving over it.  They have to get out of their trucks in 30 - 50 degrees below zero temperatures (farenheit) to check that the loads are still tied down.  I've seen trucks fall through the ice on this show, alot of trucks overturned on the road, halfway down mountian sides etc.  Not a safe job.

A & E has a program called "The Most Dangerous Catch".  It is also based in Alaska and is about fishing boats that go out into the Bering Sea to catch Alaskan King Crab, considered by many to be the best crab in the world.  The crew shares with the sales of the crab with the boat owner.  It appears that 3 weeks out into the Bering (they also do this in the Winter) can bring in a crew member $25,000 - 50,000, depending how many tons of crab they catch.  A bad catch can result in lower pay.  They also work in the freezing cold in dangerous conditions.  I have seen the crew on the boat using sledgehammers to try to knock the ice buildup off of the lines, the deck, the walls, etc.  The bad point?  These boats have some of the highest fatality rates of all types of jobs in the world. 

Instead, I think I will just take extra time off and spend 5 - 6 week in Thailand this year instead of my usual 3 weeks.  3 weeks was kind of rushing it anyways.  I will relax and just get a job when I get back.  I'm not worried as my unemplyment benefits will be pretty good and they last for around a year.  I just hope that when I get back, I can actually get a job in New Hampshire this time.  That way I will save on taxes as there is no state income tax (or sales tax) in New Hampshire.   

This is how I will spend my Summer Vacation.  I feel relieved.