Glad I left Micron.

I learned from an unidentified source Micron Technology, where I spent a year as a technical writer, will be cutting employee salaries as part of its effort to stave off further financial injury. The chairman of the board, Steve Appleton, and the CEO, Mark Durcan, took a 10 percent pay cut on top of the 20 percent cut they already took. Sounds like true leadership, right? Hardcore going to bat for your employees? Going without so the people who help you out can get by a little easier?

No.

They're also cutting the salaries of anyone making over $60,000 by one percent. That's 600 dollars. Cumulatively, that's an insurance payment someone won't be able to make. That's five or six months of electric bills. That's 25 or so tanks of gas. Anyone making over $100,000 gets a five percent cut. $70-79k, two percent. $80-89k, three percent. $90-99k, four percent.

Maybe that would fly in Boise, Idaho, where the company is headquartered and the cost of living is stupid low. But Micron has one of its flagship, 300mm fabricators in Manassas, VA, right in the middle of the super-expensive Washington, D.C., metro area. Most folks there are tool operators, associate engineers and cubicle warriors who are barely cresting the $60,000 mark; beginning operators make half that, so thankfully they aren't affected. I know from living up here it's really hard to get by on $60k; in fact, I made less as a technical writer during my entire, painful tenure there. Rent is higher, mortgages are higher, insurance is higher, taxes are higher, groceries are higher... the list goes on and on. You need all you can get up here.

Micron has sent another big middle finger to its non-Boise crowd.

The right thing to do would be for the entire board to go without salaries and live on their accumulated hundreds of millions until this economy calms down. But no, they won't. Appleton could sell his planes and other six-figure-price-tag toys for some cash-on-hand, but no, he won't. Appleton's salary outside of options was $900,000 in 2006, or thereabouts. That would be $720,000 after a 20 percent cut, then $648,000 after the most recent 10 percent.

Boo fucking hoo. I hope Micron gets bought out by Samsung and then some major housecleaning takes place.

I think it may be over...

I sent back the assemblies with broken adjustors, and I'll get a full refund. My mother-in-law used to work for Berglund, a big car dealer in Roanoke, and we can get new assemblies for the Cadillac for a lot cheaper than most folks would pay. It can pay to have connections.

I'd like to be connected to the winning numbers in Friday's MegaMillions jackpot drawing. I can't seem to pull up the MegaMillions site to see what it's up to now, but it has to be close to $200 million. If the winner were to take the lump sum amount, then pay the taxes on that, it'd be around $90 million or so. That's nothing to sneeze at.

I play every now and then. I don't feel too bad when I find out I didn't win even $2, because the money went to schools. But it'd be nice to win a little something, to say nothing of the big prize. We could use some extra cash: this economy is sucking my family dry. With a 1 in 176 million chance of winning, the odds are against most everyone. But when it grows huge like this, tons of people play, and someone eventually wins.

I think everyone has his/her jackpot winning fantasy. Here's mine:

• Pay off every debt we have. Mortgage, credit cards, student loans, bookies (just kidding on that last one).
• Pay off every debt my parents, in-laws, sister and siblings-in-law have.
• Build our house on "the farm" in Hillsville, VA. Make it big enough to fill with people during the holidays, but not so sickly big that vacuuming becomes a week-long task. And it'll be run fully on solar panels.
• Start college funds and IRAs for all the kids in the family, even those not born yet.
• Donate a pile of money to religious organizations, and NPOs dedicated to finding cures for cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and uncommon diseases (like polycythemia vera, a mostly nuisance myloproliferative disease my father has).
• The indulgent part: new cars! For us, an '09 Ford Flex Limited, an '09 Cadillac CTS-V (yes, it's a Cadillac, but it's not like the one I have now, not by any stretch of the imagination), and something to commute in, maybe an Infiniti. I think we'd donate our current cars (it's $90 million bucks for goodness sake, how much more do you need?!). For my parents, some kind of station wagon for Mom, and an '09 Nissan 370Z for Dad... in roadster form, if it's available yet. Plus a '50 Mercury 2-door hardtop in "driveable dream" condition. For Kimberly's parents, an '09 Ford F-250 XLT Lariat 4X4 with PowerStroke Diesel for Ronnie, and an '09 Ford Mustang GT for Evelyn. And I'd buy every part Ronnie needs to finish his '70 Mustang Fastback and Evelyn's '69 GMC Pickup.
• Invest in gems and metals on top of different stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
• Finance Kimberly's ideas to start a line of baby clothing and open a professional theater.
• Start really working on my creative writing projects.
• Spend more time volunteering in the community and going on mission trips.
• Take Richard out to see the world.
• Would I keep working? I don't know. Seems like this hypothetical schedule is even crazier than the one I have now. Might not be time for "cubing."

Yeah, I think that's about it. I may just pick up a ticket before Friday's drawing; you never know, but I do know you have no chance of winning if you don't play. Whoever eventually wins, let's pray s/he looks to God for guidance on how the money must be put to use. I'd hate to see such a blessing be squandered on golden teeth and Maybachs (dude, I looked those up on Cars.com... they lose their value quicker than Audis... that's not good at all).

whew retracted.

DAMN IT. The headlights arrived on time, but with broken adjustors. I am calmed down now, somewhat, but still mad. Will send back parts via UPS ground, and I expect to get the parts (not broken) this coming weekend.

Everytime something small goes wrong in my life - something small - it always mushrooms and becomes inflated to ridiculous proportions. Someone always doesn't listen, someone always doesn't update the system, someone is always speaking without knowing all the facts, and someone always assumes I have no idea what I am talking about. Nothing can be simple, and everything has to cost money I sometimes don't have.

I've got a lot to be thankful for. Doesn't mean bumps in the road piss me off any less.

Whew

Got the parts for the Cadillac from that supplier in Chicago. They'll be here before 5 p.m. tomorrow. It cost a bit, but that's OK. I'm predicting things are going to go wrong often with a 10-year-old American car.

I realized I didn't write out what the first part of my blog URL is (you can figure out the name of the blog). I am living in the city, but I am in love with mountains. So there you go.

I guess you could have figured that out on your own, too.

I am very stoked to see "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Apparently Keanu Reeves never does remakes, but he thought this was a "reimagining." We'll see just how Klaatu and Gort pan out in this 2008 flick. Kathy Bates as Secretary of Defense should be interesting. What I know for sure is the original, which came out the year my parents were born, is damn near flawless. Seriously. It's almost as good as The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" or a perfectly mixed margarita. I wish I had a chance to meet Patricia Neal when my parents brought her to the Buchanan Theatre and asked her about the role. Apparently my parents had a great conversation with her.

And when they brought in Father Mulcahy from M*A*S*H*, also known as Bill Christopher, my dad and he apparently talked to no end about canals. They now have a standing invitation to each other to go canal gawking. I don't know if that's what it's called, but it's appropriate.

Canals! To see canal enthusiasts talk about their passion, you'd think you were watching a 14-year-old boy learn Vida Guerra would be the main ingredient in his birthday cake. You should see my dad geek whenever something comes up about a canal. Buchanan was supposed to be the end of the James River Kanawha canal, but that was thwarted by the railroads. If you look hard enough, you can still find the building blocks of some canals in the brush and ailanthus trees off the side of U.S. Route 11 just as soon as you cross over the river.

As much as I want to continue writing (this is a very good thing... maybe I'll get back on that novel!), I need to do some dishes, then get Richard up and feed him some vegetable and fruit goo.

Slaintè!

OK, as promised

I'm Jeffrey Lawrence Davis, but you can call me Jeff. In fact, I would prefer it. Jeffrey sounds like some freckly kid with a messy PBJ in his face.

I'm 27. I'm originally from Buchanan, Virginia, a tiny town on the James River in Botetourt County, in the southwestern part of the state. I live in Gainesville, VA, now, 25 miles west of D.C., with my wife of two years, Kimberly, and our 7-month-old son, Richard. We have two cats, Simba and Amber.

I work for Allied Technology Group as a senior technical writer/information management specialist on a State department contract. It's a bonzer job: plenty to do and the freedom to do it as I see fit. Wifey works for Unisys as an instructional designer on the Army's radio frequency ID contract. We both have secret security clearance, but I'm assuming what she knows is probably more interesting than what I know.

Anyway.

I guess the most important thing to know about me is I'm a Christian. Better yet, I'm working on being a Christian. Jesus died for my sins; simple as that. I'm working on the rest. I think Maya Angelou said it best: "You're a Christian? You already got it? I'm still working on it." I became a believer a week after my grandfather died. In a fit of severe depression, I walked into a small Baptist church in Haymarket, and for the first time since his funeral, I was at the beginning of peace. So, I'll let you know more about that journey as I walk... but not everything, not at first. Sharing my spiritual views is new to me. It can be uncomfortable. I'm still inching toward a decent hymn voice.

I'm also a liberal. That's right, a li-ber-al. SNAP. I am a tree-hugging, pro-tax, pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-regulation liberal. Nothing will ever change that. This country needs to move forward. Liberals and pre-idiot Republicans moved it forward, and conservatives generally held it back. That trend continues today. I am elated beyond language Barack Obama will become President Obama on January 20. We have to be patient with him because BushCo (thanks Mark Morford) ruined everything it could for eight years. But he is the right man for the job and I am proud of my country for electing him.

I think the most significant thing that's happened this year is becoming a father. I can't describe it other than my life is changed forever. All that I work for, all effort I exert, every dream I dream will be for my wife and children. We have one now, and we'll have another whenever the market perks up and we can sell the condo for somewhere with a lot more space.

Anyway.

That's all I've got time for right now. More later.

My head hurts from all this wall-banging

The Crapillac did not pass inspection. Great. Just great.

I need two new headlamp assemblies because the adjustors are bad and the headlamps are shaking around in the buckets like cafeteria jello. It's highly unlikely the adjustors can be found on their own.

I found a place in Chicago that will sell the assemblies and ship them to me for $129 each. My father-in-law may have found the parts cheaper on eBay; we'll see.

Funny enough, one of the head mechanics where I got the car inspected worked at the Cadillac factory at the time the Catera came out. Apparently they all called it the "Caterrible." He said it's a tank of a car and quite safe (which is the main reason we bought it), but the issues you don't see on the surface will drive you nuts. He proceeded to rattle off a distressing list of things that can and probably will go wrong with this car during my course of ownership.

It's times like this when I wish I was a kid again, with no money and virtually no responsibilities. Or at the very least, in college and surrounded by friends, intelligent conversation and loads of New Castle Brown Ale. But we've all got to deal with these things, and somehow realize they are minor bumps in the road.

Bottom line: if driving the car won't kill us, we'll keep it and drive it until it dies. It is safe, and I feel fine putting Kimberly and Richard in there and driving long distances. Sure, I'm a car guy and I wish it had a lot more power and a lot more luxury ($35,000 new and no CD player or sunroof? Criminies!), but our money has to go elsewhere now, and this Cadillac will do fine for now.

I'm hoping if I stop calling it the Crapillac, it'll stop malfunctioning and being a headache factory. Nice car, niiiiiiiiiice caaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr, coochie coochie coo.

I promise I'll write my big introductory blog sometime soon.

The Second Post (BEWARE: Extreme Creativity)

I hate waiting. I'm currently sitting in line at Piedmont Tire and Auto, hoping to get our Crapillac inspected and avoid a fine for an expired state inspection. Last thing we need is another expense. This car will pass, even though I'd like to light it on fire and toss it in a swamp. Our Nissan Murano, on the other hand, desperately needs new tires before it'll pass inspection.Cheapest place I can find for that is CostCo; $604 for four 18s, mounted and balanced. Fantastic.

We were hoping to replace the Murano this year with an '09 Ford Flex Limited, but since we're upside down on our mortgage and virtually no one will work with us on refinancing, we'll have to wait a while. The Murano will last as long as we need it to, but this Cadillac is a turkey: the transmission slips, the gas mileage is poor for a car with only 200 horses, it's rear wheel drive and the stereo is lousy. But it'll pass inspection. We bought it for $3000 from Kimberly's uncle, needing another four door car to fit our new baby. It's not too awful a car, but my family deserves better.

I hate waiting for the government bailout to work for people who actually need the help. Now, total disclosure: together my wife and I make a huge pile of money... well into the six figures. But throw in a $3000/month mortgage payment, Richard's hospital bills, credit cards, stupid high HOA and condo fees, utilities, and whatever unexpected expense du jour comes up, and you're left with very little lubricant to work with.

What puzzles me is all these banks have hoarded their bailout cash to buy other banks and line their golden parachutes. They all seemed to be eager to lend so everyone would have more money, including responsible, middle class adults such as myself, but they aren't fixing their situations with payments from responsible debtors. They're like 11-year-olds who just got credit cards in the mail by mistake.

I'm hoping that with Barack Obama at the helm next month, these bailouts will have a healthy dose of common sense in their actual text. Such as, lend this money, do not hoard it, you Grey Poupon assholes.

But until then, I can only wait. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I tend to vent and sound rather negative. More on the vastly more great things in my life later.

First Post

It's been a long time since I blogged. It was probably my undergrad years, which is nearly 10 years back. Sheesh. That makes me feel old.

I'm not really sure why I'm doing this... maybe to make sense of things and see if people think I'm succeeding.

I'll post something more detailed later today, perhaps while waiting on the car inspection before picking up my son at daycare.