Sabbatical

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's 1999-2000 subscription season, announced Thursday, includes less of music director Esa-Pekka Salonen than anticipated, the addition of jazz and pops programming at the Music Center, and plans for acoustic improvements in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Carolyn Young-Nicola has a free year ahead of her. She hopes to read a decade's worth of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, get in a few workouts at the gym, visit relatives and spend weekends at the beach. The 52-year-old English teacher is not a lottery winner. She's a beneficiary of an embattled Portland School Board policy that allows her to take a year off to rest and rejuvenate--while still pulling down $36,000.

On a typical day in Silicon Valley, you can drive to Redwood City to swim laps at Oracle Corp., enjoy a massage at Octel Corp. and have your BMW detailed at Cisco Systems Inc. If you're really in a pinch, you can have the Sun Microsystems concierge plan your weekend of wine tasting and bed and breakfasting in Napa Valley.

The Grateful Dead is one of rock's most durable acts, having been together for the better part of 30 years now. The group's longevity probably is due in part to the various side projects its members have had to vent creative steam in more diverse directions. Singer-guitarist Bob Weir has been perhaps the most active member of the Dead in these ventures.

Taking a break from work to raise children or to pursue other non-career interests does permanent damage to a woman's earning power, two economists have concluded in a new study. Seven years out of the work force "costs you 10 years of wages" over the course of a woman's career, said Joyce P. Jacobsen, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

Apple Computer Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, harking back to the company's early days, is axing sabbaticals, ending cash bonuses for executives and reducing severance pay. Jobs, who has become Apple's de facto leader, announced the changes in an electronic mail memo to employees on Tuesday. The memo, signed "Steve and the Executive Team," also said Apple's board of directors approved more stock options for employees as an incentive to turn the company's fortunes around, Jobs said.

KABC-AM radio psychiatrist David Viscott dispensed his final piece of advice Monday night after 13 years as a regular call-in host, after announcing early in the show that he is leaving the station in order to pursue other career opportunities. "This represents a milestone in the career we've shared together," Viscott said to his listeners as he began his nightly 7-9 p.m. show. "Tonight marks my last program on KABC.

One hesitates to dismiss as trite something that's heartening and necessary, but the story line of an artist's return from drug-induced oblivion gets replayed so often that perhaps it's best not to make too much of it. That was clearly Steve Earle's approach Saturday at the Coach House, where he played his first Southern California concert since a forced four-year sabbatical spent bottoming out and recovering.

Sabbaticals are usually associated with the teaching profession, giving faculty members an opportunity to pursue a study interest and still retain at least part of their salary. * Now some companies are adopting that idea, offering employees of longer tenure a chance to work on a project, get involved in community service or take a break from the hectic pace.