My President was speaking to me, keeping it in perspective and days off

When he thanked all of those people who took a pay cut so someone else wouldn't lose a job. Tomorrow I am off for the day. I took a 5% pay cut which turns out to be 12ish days a year that I don't work (since it will be difficult to take off 30 minutes each day a month or whatever I am just taking off one whole day.) I'm rather looking forward to it because it's the day before a bout and I want to run around and get things done (never mind I have a dentist appointment, need to pay some attention to my car, etc.) I am not a martyr taking the day off - nor for taking the pay cut. It needed to be done. We needed to balance the budget. We didn't want to fire staff - I couldn't imagine being able to do my work without them. I'd gladly take a pay cut to keep my staff. I would gladly pay more in taxes if it meant that everyone could have access to health care too.

And that being said, more jobs got cut in the Puget Sound area today. Starbucks and Boeing both are laying people off. My friend at Expedia just got laid off - they're laying off people in all the departments. However the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Equity law was signed today - meaning that you can't pay me $.78 per $1.00 you pay a man for the same work. It's a huge step for this country and I am super proud and thrilled to see it moving foward. There's even going to be a rally at the same place we have our bout on Saturday with WA Senator Maria Cantwell. There is going to be some powerful stuff going on for women on Saturday - this month already - this year.

Tomorrow I hope to fix my computer (so I can put pictures on my blog), go to the dentist, do some stuff with my car (I think it's an e-check year), take a nap, make food for our team dinner. It's going to be a nice day off. And I really don't mind that I'm not being paid.