Arontius of Bygelswade

.....I'm staring at my lengthy list of 'go-dos' and am not motivated to get very many of them done, that's for sure. :-)

.....On Friday at work we had an interesting conversation with one of the Shipyard Management who was giving us a taste of the future at the Shipyard. The Shipyard was told that we were to live with a 5% reduction in the Total Operating Budget for the year and that we could expect another 5% reduction next year. Management is scrambling to figure out from where they are going to cut, so we can expect infrastructure maintenance and upgrades to take a hit, as well as overhead positions. We were surprised the week before with several major availabilities having their funding cut completely. The ones scheduled for this upcoming year are taking major hits to their budgets as the Navy finds alternative funding to make sure they happen at all. Several scheduled for FY'12 are on the chopping block all together. The Navy still expects to maintain its fleet size with little reduction, but I don't know how they are going to do it.

.....Right now two years of a pay freeze are already a done deal. A bill before Congress currently will extend that to a third year, and it looks like it is in position for an easy pass. Another bill just starting the rounds would make the pay freeze five years in length. It hasn't traveled anywhere yet, but everyone is watching it closely.

.....Another interesting idea making its way through Congress would reduce the number of Federal Workers coming into the workforce. Specifically it states that for every three Federal Workers that retire the government is only allowed to replace them with two. I haven't seen the particulars on that one yet, and don't know if it is going to apply to DoD or not, but the word on the street is that it will.

.....Retirement is also going to see some changes. Under current rules under FERS I can retire at 57-1/2. There is one piece of legislation that would overhaul those rules to bring them in line with the other major leg of FERS retirement, Social Security, and not allow me to draw on FERS until our mandated Social Security retirement age.

.....And, of course, ages at which we can start drawing on our Social Security are being discussed. But that one may have a difficult time passing as there are still a lot of Baby Boomers out there who are ABOUT to retire and are a major voting block. We'll see.

.....Fun times! Looks like I'll be at the Shipyard longer than anticipated. Suffice it to say that all the talk of government being in financial trouble is a more true than most would like to believe and will be affecting us all for a number of years. But it is not all bad. I have a job which is rather well paying, with a really decent package of benefits. I will hit my 24th year this July, which amazes the heck out of me. I haven't done ANYTHING for 24 years straight except live and play in the SCA. :-)

.....Under the current rules at 25 years I have to be retired if the Yard were to undergo a Reduction-In-Force rather than lose my job. There is a certain amount of wistful thought associated with that as I could conceivably go back to school and learn something interesting. Not sure what that would be though. I hope that I'm not at the point where I'm too set in my ways to start something new. Although TBT would have to rethink all of her strategies for the future and she might be cranky with having to do that. Understandably so.

.....I feel for friends who have no jobs, or jobs that barely make them a living wage. I am in no position to complain at all and do not presume to do so and will be extremely thankful for what I have, including my health.

.....And when I think that the world is falling apart completely, one of my weird friends ups and does something that just totally amazes me. I have a friend I've known for a large number of years who lives (normally) in Montreal. Two weeks ago she was invited to go and study local herbology and agriculture with a tribe residing in the Amazon. She had no clear plan of what she was going to do to take care of herself while there, or what she was going TO DO once there. But the IDEA appealed to her and so just, just, did it. Took all her money out of savings, put her stuff into storage, and after a series of adventures in the air and with local river traffic, has taken up residence in the middle of the Amazon rain forest, where she sends out regular Facebook reports. :-)

.....Now, some would call that foolhardy, with a stunning lack of planning, but I personally call that freakin' courageous as hell. :-) I look forward to her updates, and truly hope she finds her passion. I definitely plan to do some living vicariously though her. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.