First there was war, then SARS and now I'm at risk of being part of the 7% reduction in workforce (AGAIN). Nothing is for certain yet, but the lady processing my green card mysteriously dropped out of the Exchange listings with no warning, no handover of work, no good bye. Ditto for the guy who recruited me. What the hell is next? You know, high tech = large salaries but hard (really hard) work often goes unnoticed, loyalty is nil, and to the company you're just a "headcount". I think I need a job with a little less anonymity, a little more love and work days that end at 5:30pm, not 8:30 plus weekends. Burn out and frustration at age 27 couldn't be healthy. How am I going to last another 30 years? Is academia, perhaps, where I really belong? or is university politics just as bad? Is that possible? Does it matter so much when you get a fat pension and 2 month vacations and a whole slew of students who admire you? Well whatever...still need to pay the bills til I can find time and money to go back for more school anyways. grind grind grind...