…Whee! It’s so exciting!!
Just think…I have a job, so now I suddenly have, absolutely free…
- health insurance
- life insurance
- disability insurance
- a vision plan
- a dental plan
- gym membership in a VERY swanky gym, complete with climbing wall 🙂
plus incidentals like travel assistance programs and othersuch.
Not only that, but the health insurance is WAAAY better than what I currently have…I’m paying $350/month right now for insurance with a high deductible and 30% copay, and suddenly I’ll have “free” insurance with no deductible, a 0-10% copay, and way better coverage for just about everything.
Which is to say, on top of actually having income, I’ll also be getting probably about $500-600/month in various kinds of insurance, and improved benefits. You really don’t think about those things until you don’t have them!!!
I was actually lucky to get individual health insurance at all while I was unemployed. I would never have been able to buy it if not for HIPAA (thanks Clinton!)–my knee surgery meant every private insurer turned me down for regular insurance. To get coverage, I had to invoke HIPAA, which forced them to take me, since I’d exhausted my COBRA coverage. I wound up paying triple the usual rate, but I had coverage. I’m extremely grateful for that. 🙂
Anyway, in addition to all those wonderful benefits, I now have loot! I have:
- Openwave Post-Its
- an Openwave pen
- an Openwave commuter mug
- and a very, very nice Openwave backpack 🙂
It was kind of funny…the HR person said, “Here’s your new hire package,” and handed me a backpack. I had no idea that the backpack was part of the new hire package (I mean, they’re not exactly standard–I had been expecting an envelope or something), so we had a brief moment of total confusion before I realized it was a freebie. But dang, I like being employed. 🙂
And the backpack is really cool. It’s black, heavy fabric, nicely padded–even has no-slip velveteen on the shoulder straps, so it doesn’t slip down off your shoulder–and best of all, it’s perfect for smuggling drugs, because it has so many pockets Customs couldn’t possibly search them all. I count ten pockets, seven of which are zipped-up pockets, and I’m still not sure I’ve found them all. I have no idea why I would need ten pockets, but this is clearly an upper-class, top-quality backpack, so it needs ten zippered pockets. 🙂
Clearly this is meant to show me that Openwave is one of the absolute top-notch backpack manufacturers in the world. And I wholeheartedly believe it. 🙂 Unfortunately, what they actually make is software for cell phones–but hey, as soon as they go into the backpack business, I’ll be right there buying. *grin*
(And that backpack is way better than an Openwave T-shirt, which is the usual standard.)
Anyway, I’ve just finished drooling over the employee insurance plans (I never thought I’d find myself drooling over an insurance plan), which allows me a few seconds to look at my other arrival! My fleece finally came back from Wooly Knob Fiber mill! It’s all washed and everything. I have a 13 micron merino (from Carol Bliss), some lovely kid mohair fleece, a gray Rambouillet fleece, and a bit of Romney lamb. Not much of anything, but very cool. Unfortunately, I’m not spinning at the moment, but it can wait. If I decide it can’t wait, I’ll ship it out to be spun up for me.
And, I finally heard back from the director of AIDS Lifecycle, and he’s willing to let me interview him! What a relief. I had been worried that they had suddenly decided to hate me for some reason (totally irrational), but it’s nice to know they don’t. 🙂
All in all, it’s been a very good day. 🙂
Tien
Mg says
My openwave backpack I got in 2004 is still flawless, right on my desk here. Highest quality backpack I have ever seen.