These shorty contracts are what I have been doing, but they take me away from my family too long. I keep looking for something local without success. I was debating the other day wether to apply to a 3-monther way up in Minnesota. The car, motel, and family visits would take a huge chunk out of the net. I should probably apply for such just to keep the gaps in my resume from growing too big.

If they paid big, it might be worth it, but they pay sh8t considering the personal expenses associated with contracts. I think this industry is increasingly for younglings and non-familied people.

The growth of blue collar specialty trades seems to be pulling them past tech. And, one gets stability. They may be highly boring, but the stability and locality may be worth it. Blue-collar trades are protected either by unions, or are consumer oriented such that there are no big lobbying efforts to flood the field with cheap docile migrant foriegn labor.