Flashes of Panic

Clearly I didn’t get my point across terribly well in the last post. I’m not close to any financial edges. I know everyone means well, but the point of the post was to explain some small changes in the site, not to indicate any kind of privation.

Perhaps some background is in order. I am a flinty old New Englander, and one of the characteristics of that type (aside from general reticence, dry humor, and impatience with incompetence,) is strong independence, which translates into an allergy to debt. I’ve held paying full-time jobs, often with extra work on the side, since finishing college the first time. In that time I paid off a car and my college debt, both significantly ahead of schedule. With the debts paid off, I’ve been plowing money into savings. Between that good support from the University, I expect I will finish a Masters without debt. If I keep my belt tight and don’t waste any time, I might finish a Ph.D. without debt, but that’s a bridge I don’t even know if I’ll want to cross.

I’m not yet in a position where I need to cut things out. However, I have considered what to cut, should it become necessary. Yes, I can find a way to cheaper hosting; I’m already discussing an alternative back-channel. Yes, it may be possible that I may be able to host on University servers, or co-locate a cheap box of my own in their data center. I don’t know that, so I proceed with what I do know. Yes, I’ve considered shedding the car; however, that’s beyond the scope of this line-item. Yes, Julia, I’ll come for dinner, but because I enjoy your (plural) company, not because I can’t afford groceries.

This is a tiny little thing. I spent more money flying to California for a track meet last month than I do on this site. I earned more writing three stories in one day than I spend on this site. The difference is that the track meets pay for themselves, at the end of the year.

I don’t talk about things much, sometimes big things. This can lead to people interpreting small signals as signs of big icebergs. This one isn’t. I do appreciate your concern, though.

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