The economy

I hear over and over in the news all the horrible things happening with "the economy." We haven't seen any issues relating to the economy, so are we just being blessed, or is the media exaggerating things?

As for the job-hunting market, we had no problems there. Paul put his resume on Dice and Monster and started getting calls immediately. In fact, he interviewed with just two companies and both offered him positions. He is loving his new job, and it was even better that it was so easy to get. In fact, as of last week we were still getting calls asking if he was available to consider a new job. (Yes, he's a wanted man. :)

As for the housing market (at least in Utah), Paul and I have been waiting for it to level off. The market took off like you can't believe shortly after we moved here, and it's just now leveling off. Paul has said for the past two years, "The market can't keep going like it is!" Sure enough, he's right. From what I understand, the prices of houses haven't really dropped, it's just taking longer to sell houses now. You wouldn't guess that from my neighborhood -- just in the last month we've had three new families move in so quickly that the families moving out weren't prepared on where to go. They had anticipated the houses to take longer to sell, so one family had to move into a temporary place until they find a new home themselves!

As for the airline industry, according to a good source (Hil & Lee, can I call you a good source?), there is a decline/layoffs/bad economy every 9 years. Lee has been a bit annoyed with this cycle, because it meant he would be trying to get a job with the big-shots right as it's the "lull." Seems pilots know this, so why don't the news media? Probably because they don't look for trends, just current stories. (Reporters are overworked and underpaid, so why look for trends instead of the easy story? :)

In any case, with Paul's new job that pays more and has cheaper, better health insurance, we are feeling rich. (Just as a little side-note here, I'm guessing our version of "rich" isn't nearly as much as anyone else's opinion of "rich" -- in fact, I still won't even buy my boys new school clothes. But we are being blessed so much that it makes us feel richer, I suppose. :)

We figure that as long as companies have computers (FOREVER) then Paul will be able to find a job no matter what the economy really does. Phew! :) We hope you're all faring as well considering groceries and gas prices are enough to make anyone scream! (BTW, in Utah we're still at $4.07/gallon. What's up with that?!?)