Got some bad news at work on Thursday. The firm has been trying to deal with a serious cash-flow situation for over six months now - our suppliers are demanding payment a lot sooner, whilst our customers are dragging their feet in paying us - and the directors have been doing various things to try to aleviate matters, trimming costs as much as possible and reorganising the firm. But the shortfall has persisted, so now, reluctantly, they've asked us all to go to a three-day week effectively, working 5 hours instead of 8.5 hours. Needless to say, this means less pay. So some belt-tightening will be required, and I won't be doing much retail therapy for the next few months. This also means I won't be doing any 'Secret Santa' stuff this Christmas. Not the best way to end 2009, but we're hopeful that things will improve next year when the firm relaunches its website and services and attempts to expand into new markets.

In the meantime, I'm going to be installing Windows 7 Home Premium onto my PC at home this weekend and getting it set up with all of my CG / web / dev tools - with luck, I can use the free hours in the coming months to get my art on, sharpen my skills, possibly start selling some prints and work on being ready in case I need to look for new work...

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