Rick, I was looking out for my future. I have been on two interviews with a potential employer, one in their South Carolina facility and one at their headquarters in Arkansas. I love my current job as a Systems Engineer dealing with the development of hybrid electric powertrains as well as helping to develop equipment and controls that will ultimately allow diesel engines to operate as cleanly as gasoline engines, and thirdly developing some of the fuel cell components, but I have to face the facts. In the next couple of years I will be entering the fourth quarter of my career. I would like to make it through that fourth quarter with a stable company. My current company is in bankruptcy and due to overcapacity in the auto industry, they have a history of laying off older employees. Consequently in the next 12-24 months, even if the company makes it through bankruptcy I may get laid off anytime after that. The company that I am interviewing with has no layoff and no mandatory retirement policies. On Monday I met the Chief Mechanical Engineer. He is 83 years old. He told me he may retire next May, but he is unsure if he will go through with it. I may not want to work until I am 83, but I would like the opportunity to work until I am at least 65 years old without some manager high up in the company deciding I am too old/cost too much without even knowing what contribution I make to the bottom line. Is that too much to ask?

It would be nice if I could take that same beautiful byway on a bike next time I visit Arkansas . Maybe I will get the opportunity...:xf

Fred