Piece work

As I said before, the work (as in work-work -- the business stuff) continues to flow in at a respectable level given the economic calamity falling about our ears. 

Certainly it's better than back in 2002-03, which was truly awful. Maybe having less experience and fewer contacts at the time meant less resilience to the recession.

In any case, the work is coming in, but it's definitely of a different type. Fewer big projects and more of the smaller, piece-work variety. I suppose it adds up basically the same, but it's a lot more grueling and a lot less satisfying doing lots and lots of little tactical projects instead of long-term strategic, programmatic stuff. It's just harder to get in a groove and be efficient.

On a longer project, the time and energy it takes just getting up to speed can be efficiently "amortized" over the life of the effort. It's a smoother kind of work curve, instead of a short up-and-down burst.

But I suppose beggars can't be choosers, and a dollar's still a dollar, whatever way it comes in.

I keep seeing all kinds of positive signs in the papers -- housing, earnings, jobs. Well, jobs are still being lost in massive amounts, but the rate of loss has slowed slightly. But all that stuff is pretty intangible compared to the stories every single day of friends and friends of friends getting laid off. I imagine the employment picture is going to lag considerably.

Which means head down, keep working, keep marketing, keep networking. Keep on keepin' on ...