Jobs and Vista

Dell will charge $99 more for XP instead of Vista. sm [2008-12-02]
When you pick your PC online it shows XP for 99 and no additional charge for Vista.

Upgrade to XP or Vista? Surley you already have XP? [2008-11-20]
If you don't its time you upgraded anyway!

I don't expect to be paid OT. I need access to jobs during my shift. [2008-11-14]
I have a line count to meet. If the system goes down or something happens causing me to not be able to have work, for 3 and 1/2 years, I was able to make up time on my day off.

Need advice about changing jobs. sm [2008-11-12]
I've been an MT for 33 years. I lately have been working with a vocational person through the rehabilitation services who is trying to find me a different job doing billing/coding which I have no experience doing although I have taken classes and I would eventually like to get into coding. I broke my wrist last January and now find it difficult to do more than 800-900 lines per day. I have an MT job now making 10 cpl as an IC. I'm doing okay, but no benefits. I also don't have a mortagage or rent as my dad owes the place where I live. I am single. I am 54 years old. I have been applying for full time jobs at hospitals and doctor's officessince July with no success. Ihad one interview in August for a part time (4 days a week)front office person at a medical office for $8 an hour.I live in a very rural area and some of these jobs I'm applying for involve traveling up to 1-1/2 hours one way. The vocational person is really pushing me. She thinks I should take ANY full time job with benefits even if the pay is low, like $8 maybe $10an hour which she thinks is a fantastic wage with benefits. She even suggested I take a job in a hospital 1-1/2 hours awayas a housekeeper just to get my foot in the door. She also suggested taking a temporary job and just not do my other job for awhile. In these economic times I think it would be foolish of me to give up a job I have for a low-paying full time job just because it has benefits. I think any new hire is subject to being laid off first. Plusthe expense of gas, clothes, food, etc. of working outside the home would further reduce my take-home pay. Plus you usually pay at least part of health insurance coverage anyway (I have no health insurance now though).I have emphatically told them I'm not giving up my MT position. Itold them I would be willing to accept a part time position just to get some experience in billing and coding. They just think I don't have confidence in my knowledge and I suspect they think I don't want to work. Let me tell you I have worked up to 3 jobs at a time as an MT and I'm not afraid to work. I just don't think now is the right time to make a job move and actually right now there are pretty slim pickings. I also really don't want to outside the home and work. Am I wrong? Any suggestions! Thanks for your feedback.

Changing jobs [2008-11-12]
If you are working now, I would recommend you keep that job. I don't know what you mean by taking classes, but if you have not completed a coding program and learned enough in it to pass an AHIMA or AAPC certification exam *right now,* it is unlikely that an employer will hire you for coding. Taking a job in medical records might help you break the ice at that facility, but taking a job in other areas isn't likely to help much. Any possible benefit from taking a housekeeping is so small and so unpredictable that it isn't worth losing the job you now have. This counselor sounds as though she doesn't have a good grasp on the requirements of the coding industry. Your best bet is to set up a study plan and work toward passing a certification exam in coding, then look for a job.

I work 2 jobs, one FT that takes care of [2008-11-08]
my taxes (I have extra held out), and also as an IC.

Jobs [2008-11-08]
No one who says they make MEGABUCKS will tell you anything at all about who they work for because of thefear of losing their own postions. Simple as that. Me? I'm lucky if I make 1,600.00 every two weeks at full time and that's pushing myself..

Nope. The last 2 jobs I've had do not offshore...nm [2008-11-08]
xx

Nonmedical Transcription Jobs? [2008-11-08]
Can anyone tell me any legit companies that provide nonmedical transcription? I think I'm getting burned out with the medical transcription industry, looking for something different. Thanks!

Overseas jobs? [2008-10-27]
Does anyone have any sources forinfo onoverseas MT jobs?! I have been Googling but haven't come up with a single MT position in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Costa Rica --only Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Dubai. Thanks.

The only "easy in" jobs are in fast food. [2008-10-23]
If you want a job in MT, you're going to have to work at it. That means doing what it takes to get an education that will enable you to get a worthwhile job, then going out and getting it.

Not many jobs out there now [2008-10-11]
Are any of you people aware of what is going on lately with the economy? College tuition itself is up 35% in the last 4 or 5 years and recent college graduates can't even find summer jobs let alone full time ones. Don't mean to damper your ambitions and change is definitely uplifting but the economy is close to depression proportions. Be glad you work at home and have a pay check. Now is not the time for a new career. I'd say keep your jobs you have now and weather the storm.

The latest version of ES does work with Vista. [2008-10-06]
xx

Does Express Scribe work with Vista? [2008-10-06]
xx

The first thing you learn about at home jobs is [2008-10-04]

Good jobs are tough to find [2008-10-03]
Before you jump ship, you might want to kee up your MT skills. This economy is going to make it harder for even new college graduates to make it. Professional jobs are really going to be tough to get even with advanced degrees, i.e. masters. Just think of going back to school and spending all that time and money and then finding that you were between a rock and a hard place with paying off loans and no job in sight. You hear of it every day.

So where is it that you are finding these MT jobs [2008-09-29]
that offer more than 6, 7, or 8 cents a line? I sure as heck haven't found them and have been told by past employers that I am a great MT even with only 3 years experience. I have many friends who are also MTs who made a recent change of employment to a service and we are all in that 6, 7, 8 cent range for lack of any other offer and wanting to be home and out of the inhouse atmosphere.

Check the MT jobs available. Nowadays 8 or 9 cents a line is considered good for experienced MTs. [2008-09-28]
x

I have 2 jobs. One is full time at a hospital, the other is for a urologist in AZ. sm [2008-09-24]
The urologist in AZ doesn't dictate every single day, so I usually can spread him out over the week. I work 8 hours at my full time job and then if there is work to do from AZ, I usually type until about 10 or 11 o'clock at night. If it all gets done fine. If not he doesn't worry. He is happy wiht 48 hr TAT. But since he is so good to me, I really try to get it back within 24 hours. I break his Friday dictation into chunks over the weekend. So with everything factored in, between the two, I usually type anywhere from 8-12 hours a day. But not 7 days a week.

Those w/2 jobs [2008-09-23]
How do you all do it w/o sleeping at the computer desk?! Did you just luck out and get one job to fill in when the other one is slow and the company is flexible? Or do you work 7 days, 8 +++ hours a day? Also, who knows of a good company w/o a bunch of esl's? It seems like most of the larger accounts have a lot.

How about QA staff from previous jobs? [2008-09-20]
Do you know any other transcriptionists? Those are the only two I can think of for you. I have always been IC and have had individual doctors to give, also, if that applies to you. Good luck.

Are there any hourly paid jobs as an MT? [2008-09-18]
I was wondering if anyone knew of a company that paid hourly pay. I am kind of getting tired of grinding my fingers to the bone to make a living . Thanks for your help. sm

I think MT jobs that pay hourly are few [2008-09-18]
and far between. Probably would have to go to an in-house hospital job. As for not having to still work your fingers to the bone, good luck on that. There would still be a minimum production expected even on hourly pay.

newbie jobs [2008-09-18]
I have to agree with the above although some big companies do hire MTs right out of school. It's hard though to learn without a mentor physically present. An in-hospital or better yet a clinic setting would be best. A multispecialty clinic would be ideal in your local area.

I quit looking, too. It's obvious there aren't ANY jobs [2008-08-20]

The MT that defends Indian MTs [2008-12-03]
that steal our jobs is jumping up and down telling someone else not to type for free. Ironic.

Dell will charge $99 more for XP instead of Vista. sm [2008-12-02]
When you pick your PC online it shows XP for 99 and no additional charge for Vista.

pricewatch [2008-12-02]
I bought my tower for only 250. It came with Vista, so I deleted that partition and put XP on. I then went and downloaded all the drivers and it's been smooth sailing.

I know. It is nuts. It's even [2008-12-02]
more nuts to read MTs on here defending poor little Indian MTs trying to steal our jobs. Maybe they'll see things differently when they get pink-slipped.

If it's ok with you if your health records [2008-12-02]
go to some filthy disgusting third-world country, at the expense of your own job and livelihood, be my guest. FYI HIPAA laws are only for this country. they can do whatever they want with your private health records. It's not just fires. The QA sucks, communication barriers suck, economic consequences of MTs who have lost their jobs BECAUSE of greedy Indian MTs,.... List goes on. Go ahead and be a bleeding heart, but don't be surprised when your job security stops beating as well.

That's 1 reason why I voted for Obama - [2008-12-01]
stay in this business is if the tax breaks are ended and the loopholes closed for companies that outsource what used to be good American jobs. Ending offshoring entirely would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. But it should cost less for companies to hire American workers at a decent, livable wage, than it does to send it offshore. Offshoring should be something they do in a pinch, not as a standard practice. Yeah, so what if they're making more money the way they're doing it now. Doesn't make it right. They're greedy and they're un-American when they put thousands of hard-working American MT's in the poorhouse, or out of a job.

Two years ago I got one through Dell by [2008-12-01]
calling in, they still had some available. They also have their own credit with no interest for a year if all paid off. If you can't find one and know a comp. tech. person, they can wipe Vista off and everything they have to do and install XP for you. I did check with STaples as I need a laptop and they would do it, but it costs like $400 more.

Well, [2008-11-30]
no matter who they were targeting, it happened, and it happened in a country where our jobs and livelihoods are going to on a daily basis, at our expense. No, these people didn't do anything wrong, my heart goes out to them as well. But seriously, I would not want my medical record file in a building when it burned down.

easy for you to defend those who [2008-11-30]
take our jobs, until you are the one who gets pink-slipped.

Hopefully my doctor's office [2008-11-30]
hasn't sent anything there recently. Well maybe their place of employment will have to close and THEY will have to lose THEIR jobs. Karma sucks...

ESCRIPTION INFORMATION [2008-11-29]
Just within the last 2 weeks, I was unable to pick and choose the reports that I loved doing inmy queue anymore. WHY? I wasn't sure at first. Then after 2 weeks, I finally IM-ed the trainer for our company and asked her, thinking SURELY she would know since she was the one who trained us in Escription to begin with,what was going on? I was told she didn't know and referred me to my immediate supervisor. Ok.. so I wrote her an email and she came back with the reason they did that was because the OLDER jobs were being missed and the TAT was in jeopardy (I knew this was a crock because most of those reports have dates on them that were dictated 3-4days earlier) and she said it was also because they weren't able to send us the STAT reports that needed to get through to a random Editor to do in ahurry. I knew THAT was a crock too becauseInever had a problem with them sending those in my queue as welland did them whenever they wanted me to. Okay.. so I deducted those2 replies as meaningless andwas still leftwondering WHY they did it. No one had an answer for me, but... lo andbehold.. this past pay period was a real eye-opener. I was given a WARNING letter by my supervisor because she said my production per hour fell short of my rate per line and they had to give me minimum wage (according to what itisin my state of course)and that 3 of those WARNING letters ina 6-monthpay periodwere cause for termination. Shesaid it was in the manual. I looked andfound nothing in therepertaning to any of that.This is actually what she emailed me: If after payroll is processed your lines per hour multiplied by your line rate is less than minimum wage, that is what puts you at minimum wage where our company, by law, needs to pay you at least minimum wage. It is possible that one can type 4000 lines, for example,in the pay period and not be paid minimum wage, so long as the number of hours they worked did not put them in a minimum wage situation, i.e., 80 hours compared to perhaps 40 hours. Okay so why didn't someone say this to me a while back and where in the manual does it say this? In any case, aside from being monitored after wondering WHY we can't pick and choose our reports, I started thinking back to the days when I made 9 cpl for editing for another company.. then I was talked into coming to the present company I work for now and was given 8.6 cpl because they were just starting a new Speech Team and I was excited to say the least.. I finally have the dream jobI wanted! Well.. thereagain, I spoke too soon and then my immediate supervisor, the one who tried soooo hard to get this going, was demoted to QA with a cut in pay because they wanted to do away with speech forever. Needless to say, she left.. I was the only one left on the Speech Team and DID stay at my rate which was fine. It was then that I left for a month to try another company and I found out they were worse. Long story short, I came back to present company and then ESCRIPTION came into play... 5.5 cpl.. well.. okay.. the platform is better and I think I can do okay.. then more people were hired and NOW it's 4 cpl. I am struggling every day to make ends meet. Even if you were to get 15,000 lines per pay period, that is only 600.00 BEFORE taxes.. that's still poverty pay. Part time, you need only 6,000 per pay period and full time at 12,000. You aren't making jack crap. My co-worker and I get picked on and singled out when we ask questions or challenge them about our pay and find errors in the way the ADJUST it for Escription. Yes, they adjust our pay and we just figured out that our PTO time isn't the 10.00 per hour as promised but they calculate it on the last 6 pay periods.. Didn't use to be like thateither.. it was always at 10.00 per hour. Back to the pick and choose thingee.. Yes, I think they DO keep thegood ones for the clique. It's likehighschool.. you are either with the IN crowd or you're an OUTSIDER and notgood enough to join the GANG.... it's sickening... I have looked high and low for a decent paying editing job out there and there is none to be found..There has to be a better way than this??

Well, on the other hand, I would like to apologize. [2008-11-27]
I have been at this since 1979. The changes that have occurred over the last 25 years have been dramatic and mostly, they have been oppressive. Now, I know I will see e-mails stating that this is the greatest job in the world and who could ask for more than being able to stay at home and make a living. It is more than that. This is the only field where the wickedness comes out of coworkers to the point of disdain toward their comrades. I don't understand it. It is not like this in any other field. Mostly, the team work that is necessary for feel like there is a common goal (giving the client a perfect report in a timely fashion)and a common enemy (QA which dissect our reports, turning even the most seasoned MTs into self-doubting, defensive and trembling people who, of course, realize they are on the brink of losing their jobs). The past performance however perfect is wiped clean with one bad QA result. Supervision becomes god-like, determine how much income we will make, how well we will enjoy our work and how we feel about ourselves depending on their feedback and encouragement. There isn't much more to say about this job - it does pay well but comparatively speaking, after 25 years in the same field, you could say, we have not had a raise. Speed typing engines keep our production up to a level that gives us a decent wage. Say what you will about this job, but it is always going to have good and bad days. Over the years, our hearing will diminish, tinnitus from noise exposure, carpal tunnel from repetitive movements, the innumerable physical conditions which result from sitting still for such a long time (heart attacks at 50 have occurred to two of my comrades), isolation, depression. And it is not going to get any better. Trying to consider that I am working to help a physician perform his duties as he treats his patients is what I personally focus on. It helps to be fascinated by medicine. But, to the new MTs - I apologize for the bad and hope that the good makes up for it. I hope you realize that the patient is why we are here, so be sure that our report is accurate so that proper care is provided. The personalities in this field can be abrasive, and it may be that reason why they turn to solo work but again, that goes with it. Best advice is to keep to yourself, not gossip nor listen to gossip, type every report like it is the only one, and realize that the money, even 60 thousand a year, is far from enough to compensate us for doing a job that is so rarely appreciated by the CEOs, that our line count and bad QA score over a 30 day period can take us out of a job we have been in for 20 years.

cherrypicking [2008-11-26]
I need to vent. I work for a really nice company, have been with them for several years, and really like my work. Lately a couple of new people were hired, and it is obvious they are cherrypicking. Tough dictators get refused/sent back to pool. On our platform, we can tell when a job is sent back. If you are one of those people, why do you think you have the right to pick and choose your work and leave the crap for everyone else. it is only fair to take the jobs as they come. We will all get some good, some bad. Would you like the shoe on the other foot - you get stuck with all the crappy dictators? I am asking here, please do the work as it is assigned. Play fair, will ya? I have seen people post on this subject before but had never experienced it. Now I know why prior posters were so PO'ed about it. It kills the line count for the day, every day, while the new kid on the block is raking it in. Whoever you are, I hope the boss confronts you and assigns you all the junk for a while or fires your butt so those of us who have worked there for years can continue with the jobs we have loved for so long. You are ruining it for everyone else. Okay, vented. back to work. wonder what is in the pool now.

a few qualities I'd appreciate.... sm [2008-11-26]
1. Return emails in a timely fashion, same day. If you don't have a definitive answer for me on something, write me back anyway to let me know you are working on it. This way I won't continue to bug you, not knowing if you've received it/read it/deleted it/forgotten about it. 2. Don't continually tell your team how busy YOU are. We all have our jobs and we all have to get a lot done. When you tell me how overrun you are every day, I don't have faith that you can get ANYTHING done, and being busy' starts to become a whiny excuse. 3. Make yourself accessible. Don't tell me your phone extension and then always have it turned to the dead-end voice mail. 4. Don't tell me about your fabulous vacation unless I ask you about it. Company email is not the place to announce to the whole team your fantastic time off. Come back to work ready to work. 5. Keep it professional. Workers slack when supervisors attempt to be chummy. You will get taken advantage of if your team thinks you are buddies. I could go on and on, but that's a good general start.

I went into this without prejudice, threw myelf actually, but it seems to get worse... [2008-11-26]
instead of better. I feel I got a pay cut with almost the same amount of work. Some jobs are great, then you get 3-4 that are heavy in editing and it ruins anything you got with a good 1 or 2.

Acusis has an office in Mumbai...sm [2008-11-26]
hmm....and that is where these companies want to send OUR records and OUR jobs

At my hospital, MTs were not part of the union, [2008-11-25]
so maybe that may be the case at your hospital, too. I wouldn't know that. Our MTs had to cross the picket lines if they wanted to keep their jobs.

True that works should insist on fair SM [2008-11-25]
compensation. However, strikes only work when the strikers CANNOT BE REPLACED. That's definitely not us, not now. To put it mildly! With our entire healthcare industry in economic crisis, it would be only too likely to push the industry to get rid of our jobs altogether. Many are arguing right now for shifting the money spent on verbal reports to other areas of patient care. Just BTW, our work would be eliminated practically overnight if the federal government were to refuse to pay Medicare compensation dollars for it. Something that could be done. Besides, let's face it, many people are still making a decent income because they've upgraded their skills to keep up with technologic change. Should hospitals be paying some people to spend at least half again as long to type reports as others can do them because they don't want to, or can't, add to their skills? Is that really a sensible allocation of our healthcare dollars?

Proofing Help Pleeeez! (long post) [2008-11-24]
I am 53,divorcee with 1 child in college, been MTing for 32 years. When I started out I was one of the best in my field, accurate, at my peak was making close to 50,000 a year, only one job and only 40 hours a week. Now, here I am going through menopause, working 12 hours a day (1 full-time and 1 part-time) and barely making ends meet. My production is at an all-time low, and I'm working on my 3rd or 4th job this year- I forget, it's been so many, for various reasons why they didn't work out. But, now I find myself, going into my third week of employment with this company, still in QA, making stupid grammatical errors, and leaving out words, that I am not aware of. I would like to say one of my problems is that this is a huge Children's Hospital with a lot of procedures, diseases, and terminology I have never heard of, but I cannot really say that, as most of my errors are gramatical, i.e. not putting comma or semi-colon where it belongs, leaving out it, and, but and they. I am beginning to feel they may not keep me. I am 1 pay check from being homeless, now jobless, already uninsured, as I could not afford the Cobra. I have applied for jobs completely out of the MT field, so far with no luck of being hired. I put in an application last week for a State Job with excellent benefits, paid by company, and although the salary is 22,000 to 36,000, if they call me, I am definitely going to take it. I figure I have 15 more years before retirement, and if I can tap into the retirement for the next 15 years, that would be a help, as I don't have any 401K to fall back on. Anyways, if you guys can give me some proofreading tips that will not take away from my production, I would greatly appreciate it. Most companies don't offer a training pay that would last at least 2 weeks, which would be a help. So here I am trying to make money, which is virtually impossible when you're training on a new account, new company, new software and everything. Help Guys.

Out of work now [2008-11-22]
That is great and fine for those of you who have a job, but mine was eliminated and not much out there for those of us who do not have high speed internet. Has anyone checked out Sologig for work? I know since I looked for a job on CareerBuilder, I get all kinds of spam. Am wondering if anyone really gets real jobs/work through Sologig. TIA

Sarah, I'd strongly recommend training SM [2008-11-19]
in a medical program in a community colleage, bypassing all the MT schools, and not aiming specifically for MT training. It seems likely that many those of us doing this work in future won't be doing THIS work precisely, i.e., transcription, but rather filling whatever future medical/clerical need evolves. It also seems likely that good-paying jobs will require a higher level of knowledge in future as mechanical dexerity (i.e., keyboard speed) becomes much, much less important. For that reason, going for at least a 2-year degree with a good medical knowledge base is recommended so you do end up with a decent-paying job as change progresses. If at that point you wanted to do at-home medical clerical and wished to start with MT, if at all possible it would be best to begin by getting a salaried position in a medical office or hospital to carry you while you developed experience. The learning curve is very long and flat, and much of the angst displayed on these forums comes from people who still aren't making a living on a production basis after months and months of investment. BTW, I read a newspaper article this morning suggesting that the current fiscal crisis could actually precipatate an overhaul of the medical system, forced by a desperate need to save money for patient care. I'm wondering if most of these nice long verbal reports could something the bureaucrats decided could be slashed. As I mentioned before on this forum, England went to the EMR, with doctors poking at the 1, 2, and 3, and A, B, C, and D, a long time ago.

Wrong.... [2008-11-18]
As an IC, you treat each voice file as a job that you decide to take or not on a daily basis. Any MTSO requiring a shift is fraudulent. They can't have it both ways. If they have work that requires an MT work a certain shift, then they need to hire employees. As an IC, I have a right to take or not take work on any particular day, which in fact I do on a daily basis with a company that knows THE TRUE MEANING of IC. Many MTs are accepting IC jobs and making it their full-time job (as if they are an employee/but have no benefits) and then claiming there is no work. As an IC the MTSO does not have to provide work to you. As an employee, the MTSO must provide the work or pay you downtime as an employee. An IC is abused in this field on a daily basis. Did you know that most ICs work for more than one vendor? Most ICs do not put all of their eggs in one basket, which is why it is wrong for an MTSO to require full-time hours for an IC when in fact an IC names their own hours. Sorry to stomp on your toes here, but I can already tell you are an MTSO that likes to abuse ICs.

Keyboard Opinions - Avant versus Kinesis [2008-11-18]
I am faced with a decision between these 2 keyboards, both with pros and cons. I would like to take a survey to see what everyone's opinion would be. I strongly prefer a programmable keyboard, as I would like to change some of the keys around to suit me, but will I regret not having an ergo keyboard in the long run? Will I like the IBM clicky type keys? KINESIS FREESTYLE KEYBOARD http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/freestyle-solo_690x375.jpghttp://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/solo-v3-10-blk_690x306.jpghttp://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/solo_us_legend.jpg It splits and tents.Delete key is on left side (which I love) All other function keys are in the wrong place for me.Quiet low-force tactile membrane switch10 function keys on left Keypad separate purchase2 year warranty60-day money back guaranteePrice: $124.15 with the options I chose AVANT STELLAR KEYBOARDhttp://www.lonestarkeyboards.com/Avant-Stellar-Programmable-Keyboard/productinfo/KB%2D00%2D1001/(click on additional images for close up)I actually went to the manufacturer website (http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/stellar.htm) but they didn�t have any large photos so I went to a reseller for larger images. Straight keyboard Can program any key to another function. Mechanical click/tactile key switches like the old IBM keyboards 12 function keys on left that can be reprogrammedKeypad built in2 year warranty30-day money back guarantee Price: $189.00Macro programming featuresPS/2 interface but can buy PS to USB cord (I find this a little odd)Programming software not compatible with Vista but can be programmed through the keyboard This is from the sales rep I spoke to this week:Have you ever heard of Northgate OmniKey keyboards? We purchased the rights to the keyboards when they went out of business. It is like typing on an old IBM keyboard. It is a loud click, you know when you hit a key. A lot of customers say they make fewer errors and I personally agree. I have had my Avant for a little over 10 years and I type all day long. I also have one at home. It might help for you to listen to this review on our website: http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/menu.htmClick on HEAR OUR INTERVIEW ON Lets talk Computers. Avant is VERY reliable. We sell to a lot of medical transcriptionists, writers, gamers, call center operators, etc. People that type 8 hours a day 5+ days per week. Our keyboards can really take a beating. What'cha think?

that's why I started school - [2008-11-17]
I am driving myself crazy here... I have no social life because even if something is going on, I have to sit here and wait for jobs to download one by one so that I have some kind of income for the day - my boyfriend of course does not want to stay home and just sit, so I end up being home by myself all the time... My income is so horrible lately that I don't know what I am going to do. Going now to take to the people who financed my houe and explain to them the situation and just hope and pray they will work with me for a couple of months. I will be graduated from accounting with an Associate's degree in December and hope to high heaven that somebody has some money they want counted then!!!!

Well, shoot. quit! A recession's a great time to SM [2008-11-17]
go back to school anyway, like Amanda. I've forgotten some of the exact quotes I've read, but various economists have predicted that, because of the ongoing technology revolutions, people these days should plan on having to retrain for new jobs approximately 5 times during their lives. And they weren't talking about a little brush-up now and then either, but throwing in the towel and moving on. So how about having some fun figuring out what you should have done if you could go back and do it all over again, and then going for some version of it? Since your family won't miss your income, if needed, you could spend your very last months in this field piling up tuition money to move on to something better.