Are you affected by the current economic meltdown???

[slang]

I'm working on next gen hip implants and business is good here, for now.

The mood is up here because this is supposed to be recession resistant at the very least.

Overtime and extra money for outside vendors and services is still available but requires much more paperwork.

Current national economic trajectory will bring even this very well run, cash rich corporation to cut jobs and shifts, IMO.

Until then life's pretty good. Once things slow down here I'll be taking another sanity break. That may be for a few years this time as the job market declines.

[chrisinhouston]

Originally Posted by slang

I'm working on next gen hip implants and business is good here, .

When my mom died last year I was tempted to ask for the hip transplants back from the crematory. I broached the subject and they said it wasn't too uncomon. Didn't know what I would do with them but I bet they would make great fishing weight for deep water fishing or a nice mantle piece keep sake.

[slang]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Do you work for The Faux Hip Company?

No. Here's the Link.

Faux News is tuned in to every wide screen TV in the cafe as well as the coffee stations. I like that.

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Hips-R-Us

There are a few companies that make hip implants here as well as knee implants. This town might be named Hip-R-Us. That might be more accurate.

Originally Posted by classicman

Sounds like things are all Hip-itty do dah for you slang.

So far my life is not directly affected. That doesn't mean that it's all cookies and ice cream.

Most Americans would cringe at my overall lifestyle. It's low. I'm cheap. My temporary living arrangements here are not in a hotel or even an apartment. I rent a room in the (finished) basement of widowed woman's home who "did all the right things in life" but yet now is cleaning houses to survive until her home sells. That probably isn't going to be anytime soon.

At the end of the day at the office I come back to the room to sleep. There is effectively no social life. Social activities cost money. My goal in life is to collect money so that I can spend endless quality hours with my wife in the Philippines. No TV. No beers with friends. No hoarding guns and ammo.

Gold goes in this bag. Cash goes in that bag. Filling those bags are my reason for being here. To collect money to go back where my wife and friends are, Manila Philippines.

Before this money meltdown people would often cautiously make fun of my car. It's old and ugly as sin. That's precisely the way that I want it. Too ugly to fuck with. Worthless. Possibly even a bio hazard of sorts to a burglar.

People with nice cars with big payments don't hassle me much any more. In fact there is a steady cadence of people in the office here that come to me with items they would like to sell. Why? With very few exceptions everyone here is cash poor. Probably house poor and stock poor as well. Debt poor. That's more accurate.

So yes, while the checks are still rolling in and I'm working in a pretty cool environment, it could all turn on a diime today. I know that. Nothing in life here is guaranteed.

Originally Posted by chrisinhouston

When my mom died last year I was tempted to ask for the hip transplants back from the crematory. I broached the subject and they said it wasn't too uncomon. Didn't know what I would do with them but I bet they would make great fishing weight for deep water fishing or a nice mantle piece keep sake.

That's the first time I've ever heard of someone wanting to keep an implant of a loved one.

My first reaction is that those implants that we have installed into cadavers and brought back to the company here smell so bad you would never want to take it back.

These implants that you are talking about have gone through cremation though. That process would eliminate any foul odors or possibly creating new ones.

It's a very interesting question. How often to family members keep an implant of a loved one?

Let's see what the hips team here has to say about that.

[glatt]

My wife is the board president of a preschool. It had to shut down about a year ago for building problems and staff problems. It reopened 6 months later, just before the crash, and they have only about a 10th of their previous enrollment. The kinds of people who used to use the school now have relatives watching their kids or other arrangements. Each month, the school just barely makes it through. But it's holding on.

I still have a job, so I can't complain. But at my employer, we quietly instituted a hiring freeze last month. Also, a big part of my job is to bring in temporary employees and contract workers and then manage all the administrative crap associated with them. Since November, I haven't brought in a single new temp. We still have several temps from before then, but are slowly getting rid of them. In the summer, I was managing over 100 temps and contractors. Now we're down to about 20.

But I still have my job, and with 18 years under my belt here, I feel fairly safe.

[slang]

Originally Posted by slang

How often to family members keep an implant of a loved one?

Let's see what the hips team here has to say about that.

You asked me, I've asked the pros here.

The answer is no, they've never heard of any family member keeping an implant.

But the mortuary would be in possession of the body and the implant and what may happen to either is not any concern of the implant manufacturers.

Chances are good that someone might chose to keep the implant for it's scrap metal value although even that would be small. Say $25 on the high side.

Messy business to recover that small amount of cash too.

Any implant would be most valuable to the maker of that device or possibly their competetor. The wear characteristics of the parts might be of interest to either one.

[barefoot serpent]

Originally Posted by slang

I'm working on next gen hip implants and business is good here, for now.

The mood is up here because this is supposed to be recession resistant at the very least.

Overtime and extra money for outside vendors and services is still available but requires much more paperwork.

Current national economic trajectory will bring even this very well run, cash rich corporation to cut jobs and shifts, IMO.

Until then life's pretty good. Once things slow down here I'll be taking another sanity break. That may be for a few years this time as the job market declines.

I dunno, ZMH is getting crushed and SYK is only slightly better. I think lots of folks a putting orthopaedic surgery on the discrtionary list.

[slang]

Originally Posted by barefoot serpent

I dunno, ZMH is getting crushed and SYK is only slightly better. I think lots of folks a putting orthopaedic surgery on the discrtionary list.

The current downturn is going to affect me sooner or later as it will with most of the people working in Ortho products in Warsaw.

There was big talk last summer and fall that there would be an increase of jobs here because the market was up on the boomers need for knees and hips. I've not heard a single word of that boom materializing since Nov 08.

Within this local area there's a bit of arrogance about the stability of the demand for bio products through all economic downturns of the past. On the rare occasion that I'd bring up the reality of an impending depression....or worse, people would chuckle nervously and tell me that I'm crazy.

As we see the trillions of dollars adding up in one bailout after another it's becoming more possible in the minds of many here that they will indeed feel the great pain of the times ahead of us.

Passing through the town one sees much the same situation as the rest of the country. Hotel business is down, car dealerships have gone broke and moved out, there are "for sale" signs on the lawns of countless homes and there is a general downturn in activity here.

Will the demand for hip and knee replacements remain strong considering each costs say, $20k+ (implant and surgery)? I don't know. My guess is that it will not.

It's just me talking here though. Only time will tell us.