Tuesday night we had a little snowstorm that left about 3-4 inches on the ground. I wasn’t able to get the drive cleared before work yesterday morning, so I planned to take care of things as soon as I returned home.

I was rolling though the subdivision at about 5:15pm, and I noticed that almost all the driveways in my ‘hood had been cleared already. I thought to myself, “damn, how did everybody get these done so quickly? didn’t anyone have to go to work today?”

Um, apparently not…the Michigan unemployment numbers came out yesterday, and it’s not pretty: 9.6%

That’s about 1 in 10 people out of work. Those numbers don’t even take into account people like myself, who are working but not at their full capacity. They also don’t count people who have just given up looking for a job at all.

And then, there was news this morning that the Big Three automakers are extending their holiday shutdowns well into January of 2009. My money is on at least one of them not calling back a huge number of workers, probably Chrysler.

Me? I’m just hanging on. I’m trying to remain hopeful about my most recent job lead without obsessively checking my phone and email. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the temp agency could find me something to do after this gig officially ends on January 14. Because, well, the unemployment benefits fund here in Michigan is in the red, too.

It takes a lot of focus and strength to not panic about things here in Michigan. It’s rough here. Ow.