Domestic Stuff

The Mrs. started her second and final year of grad school last week. She has three three-hour classes one day each week (with some time between classes to eat and such), just like last fall, and an internship (different place than last year) that she's required to be at 20 hours a week, which she's choosing to do in two 10-hour days. That leaves her weekends free, along with Mondays and Fridays. Much of that time is spent reading, researching, writing, and otherwise studying.

This is a rather aggressive schedule, but it's of her choosing. The college is about 20 miles away, so it's preferable to her to have to go to campus only one day a week. Likewise the internship is also about 20 miles away, but in a different direction, so it wouldn't be convenient to be there for part of a day and then go to the school for a class.

it's also made possible by the fact that she is choosing to go to school full-time and not work, in order to complete the program in two academic years. That's right, neither of us is working. Kind of funny, really, because her decision was based partly on the belief that I had job security.

But things are fine, actually. She qualified for loans, and is eligible to collect unemployment under a training provision (basically it says you aren't working or looking for work because you are devoting your time to furthering your career). I was fortunate enough to get a rather generous severance package, and I'm also collecting unemployment while I look for another job. I am paying for health insurance through COBRA. I do have to force myself to cut back on my shopping, which isn't easy but is necessary.

Life is unpredictable, and things happen when you aren't expecting them. But we don't have children and, perhaps most crucially, we have no long-term debt (her loan will be repaid after she graduates), so as long as we can meet our living expenses we're good. and the dog is getting very spoiled by us being around so much.