Peter in Manhattan

Bright

brother gets a raise

My brother works for a software company that specializes in IT development for large companies and handles projects with huge price tags. Being a wizard at computers who is fluent in an array of coding languages, he has always been a shoo-in for lucrative IT jobs - he got his current job even though he didn't have a BA and is still in his 20s, and now he can afford to own a motorcycle while living in Mahattan (not on the Upper West Side, though).
Around Christmas, my bro got a present that took the whole family by surprise - a 30k raise, just 5k shy of my own yearly salary. I really can't explain why that happened, except to say that a crazy amount of money is still being exchanged in the IT world, in spite of the recession. (Around the same time he got the raise, my mom, a part-time professor who lives in California, lost a huge chunk of her income in a flash, when the university she teaches at, beleaguered by budget cuts, cancelled most of her classes - which turned out to be a blessing in disguise; now she's looking for work in the non-profit activism sector.) At this point, my brother's salary is even bigger than my dad's, who has worked at a large defense contractor for over twenty years. All I can say about that is...Wow.