[Mick]

Tomorrow, I have to submit a "dollar one" budget in which every single line item will be questioned and will need to be justified.  In other words, they want be to get to about 70% less than my original budget.

That sounds awful.  I went through that in the great recession and ended up adding my own name at Round 4 because I had an outside offer and adding my name saved two of my reports.  None of that sounds fun and the conversations that follow with folks you hired and mentored are even less fun.  I suppose the good thing is that after round two no one is surprised because the reasons are obvious.  Best wishes, Mick.

Thanks. I also have to lay off three more people. And my 14-almost-15 year old dog died.

Unfortunately, I'm not kidding about any of that. Might explain my crankiness over the past few weeks.

[Mick]

Tomorrow, I have to submit a "dollar one" budget in which every single line item will be questioned and will need to be justified.  In other words, they want be to get to about 70% less than my original budget.

That sounds awful.  I went through that in the great recession and ended up adding my own name at Round 4 because I had an outside offer and adding my name saved two of my reports.  None of that sounds fun and the conversations that follow with folks you hired and mentored are even less fun.  I suppose the good thing is that after round two no one is surprised because the reasons are obvious.  Best wishes, Mick.

Thanks. I also have to lay off three more people. And my 14-almost-15 year old dog died.

Unfortunately, I'm not kidding about any of that. Might explain my crankiness over the past few weeks.