We made a trip down to Southern Utah to check out the area and get a feel for the layout of towns. We spent some time driving around St George, starting from the ORS office and working our way up St George Blvd. We then went down to Las Vegas and spent a couple of nights at the Excalibur. The sun was shining, but the wind was blowing like crazy. We still managed to spend a few minutes out by the pool. There was road construction going on across the street all night, and the jackhammer woke us up a few times. We went to some buffets, a wax museum, a shark tank, and to Margaritaville. We did not go in as there was a long line and the prices were pretty high, we are parrotheads and love the music of Jimmy, so this kinda a fun place to visit. We are planning to make a move down there (to Washington County) in August, before school starts so that the kids can start school in St George. We are going to try to rent a house there, and rent our house here.

The annual director’s visit happened at my office yesterday. He offered the information that there would be 60 lay-offs in my division. That makes 12-15 people from my office alone. I am number 8 or 9 from the bottom of the list of seniority. The director has stated that the lay-offs will not be based on seniority alone, but on performance as well.
Part of the stimulus package was given to the state legislature, but in a last hour bill, the money to be given to our agency was blocked. There were no strings attached to this money and so it has just been left on the table. The Governor’s office is working with our office to free up that federal money, even though the bill that blocked it is now law. If the money is released, I may still have a job on July 1st; if it is not, I will most likely be unemployed. On the positive side, there is probably a good market for collection agents right now.