That flight wasn't fun at times, but it wasn't exactly death-defying. I did, however, just miss getting clocked on the head by my own laptop. I had taken my laptop out of my briefcase and left it in the overhead because I couldn't fit it anywhere by me seat, and then fell asleep after take-off. The flight attendant opened the bin directly over my head and it flew out and hit her arm and crashed to the ground. I slept through it all, but she told me much later when I took it down to use it. It worked fine, the Dell POS.
As for Claire's job situation, thanks for the kind remarks. She is really bummed out and doesn't know how many times the ground will shift before Fall. There is only one open teaching job in her field open in the whole Bay Area. And Shelly, she is a Ph.D. and was formerly a professor, but she teaches high school now and prefers it. I do hope something works out because this is getting depressing.