-=> Quoting Jim Casto to Robin Arnhold <=-
Hi, Jim,
 
 RA> And humming 'Take This Job and Shove It'?
 JC> 
 JC> Actually, the _job_ was o.k. It was the uncertainty of the whole
 JC> situation as there has been _massive_ "downsizing" in our business.
Right, and often 'downsizing' is in reality another word for 'let's fire
all the older workers so we can hire new, younger ones at half the
salary'.  One of the reasons I chose a state civil service job was
relative job security (another is that the state here is really big on
affirmative action).  Even if one's job is eliminated such as happened to
a number of employees when the Department of Revenue took over the
State Lottery Board a year and a half ago, one is pretty much guaranteed
another state job at the same pay range.
 
 RA> When our section chief
 RA> retired this time last year, he walked out the door humming 'So Long,
 RA> It's Been Nice to Know You' (and he moved to Mexico even though he and
 RA> Jeannette don't know two words of Spanish between them).
 JC> 
 JC> My Dad retired to Guadalajara and couldn't speak enough Spanish to
 JC> communicate with his cleaning service. However, he _did_ live in a
 JC> "non-Mexican neighborhood" and could speak, read and write Esperanto.
 JC> (Now there's a discussion for you...  Advocation of Esperanto as
 JC> the _universal_ language. )
 
I think Jim and Jeannette moved to a similar neighborhood.  They bought a
house next to a golf course and on the migration route of the gray whale.
Jim came to a retirement party for another employee a few weeks ago (they
spend their summers in Wisconsin), and we were asking him about the golf
course since he loves to golf.  He said he hadn't tried it yet, it was
too expensive.  I can only imagine this happening in a tourist area
(which that is not) or in an area where a lot of 'norteamericanos' are
living.
 
I think English is a better bet than Esperanto as a 'universal' language
since it is so widely spoken in the world already (thanks to British
imperialism in the past).  Esperanto is probably easier to learn for
somebody who speaks a Romance language, but other than the fact that it's
an artificial construct, it is based primarily in the Romance languages.
That leaves out a lot of languages.  Of course, one might say that
English leaves out more and is one of the harder language to learn, but
it already is widely spoken, which gives it an advantage.
Take care,
Robin
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
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