biodork

:lol: I wasn't going to give away the full extent of my nerdiness, but when I see RPG I automatically think Role Playing Games. :blush:

My goodness, man, your mom AND your (soon-to-be) ex-wife are both bipolar?? That's rough. Yeah my mom does IBM based RPG programming... I have no idea what that is, but I guess she said it's an older programming language that isn't widely used anymore so it's difficult to find jobs based on that experience alone. She was making a hefty salary for a number of years but managed to squander it such that she has zero savings or retirement, which is very frustrating from my standpoint because that probably means my brother and I will be left taking care of her once she's unable to work (or she'll be working well beyond standard retirement age). But, I'm still happy for her that she will be able to avoid losing her apartment and I can only hope she takes this as a wake-up call to become more financially responsible in the future. I hope everything works out with your mom so she's able to have her own place, for both your sakes!

I gotcha covered; they come in rolls of 500 or so and we'll never use them all! (c;

I'm happy to report that my mom's interview last week went well and she actually just started working again this past Tuesday in her field of expertise, which is a huge relief. (What a difference a week makes!) The lack of programming jobs is crazy... the guy who hired her said that they'd received 1000 applications from all over the country with people willing to relocate if hired because those jobs are so scarce. Thank goodness things are looking up for her, and I wish the same for your mom, CSB. At least if she does move in with you, maybe she can help care for your son?

:clapping: Happy (early) anniversary!

Sorry to hear about your friend, Eleven. :( My complaint: my mom has been unemployed for 6 months now, and because of having moved to a state with much less generous unemployment benefits, she just found out her extended benefits will be about 1/4 of what she was previously receiving (which was already just enough to get by). If she doesn't find another job soon things are going to get really bad. Hopefully something comes through because I'm supposed to go out there for a visit in a few weeks and I don't want to contribute to her already stressed financial situation. She had a positive phone interview today, so fingers crossed that the in-person interview next week goes well.

It may be a mess down here, but thankfully my house is nowhere near the water and the creek did not come up high enough to flood my boyfriend's house (although it was a lot closer than anyone expected). And it's nice to finally see the sun again after a weeklong hiatus!

LOL - Central PA at its finest. Thankfully Devon Seafood is further away. ;) That intersection is still closed, and even where the water has receded the road is pretty beat up.

This video was shot around the corner from where I work... I've never seen anything like it. http://www.abc27.com/video?clipId=6230301&autostart=true Hopefully the parts of NY and VT that took it on the chin last week will be spared this time around.

lol guess I get last dibs... I never went to bed last night and it's time to go back to work in about 3 hours. :wacko: Gonna be a long day. See y'all next week!

Yikes - sorry to hear about your cousin's family, weave. Hopefully everyone is safe and they have good insurance!

Yeah, it was pretty wild. Also ironic in that there were several banners advertising Manayunk Kayak Tours.

The Philly area got hit pretty hard with flooding, too -- a friend of mine took the attached pic (the white line behind the brick building is a fence around an outdoor patio). My power was out for almost 30 hours but fortunately not much flooding around here.

My boss is in England until Christmas. It's not quite as awesome as it sounds because there is still plenty of work to be done (and fortunately for her, I don't really require supervision), but it is very nice not having to worry about her stopping by for an impromptu meeting in the middle of my day. :thumbsup:

LOL nice.

Yikes - don't know how she waited so long, bladder infections suck! Definitely not good to let those go. I hope she gets better soon (and learns her lesson).

There are more of those than I would like, that's for sure. I made the trip in about 1 hr 10 min. back in March, but I was flying. Don't know how I didn't get a ticket that day, haha.

Nope, I'm in the Harrisburg/Hershey area, which for some reason people around here refer to as "central PA" even though we are nowhere near the center of the state. Baltimore is only about 1.5 hrs drive if you go the speed limit. B-) I actually worked in downtown Baltimore for about a year, but now just go on occasion to hit up Inner Harbor or visit friends down that way.

:lol:

We just ordered a new chemical at work called E-64, and after this place all I can think of when I see it is Eklund. :doh:

Government funding for scientific research, or the lack thereof: http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Science-Funding-Fallout/biotechniques-320428.html

Correct - here ya go: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/se082311a.html

Normally there - I work in a research lab in the Cancer Institute. Haven't made it to the park yet this summer, but I'm planning to go in the next few weeks. You're right; this would have been a perfect day, weather-wise!

No, the Med Center. How crazy would that have been to be on a rollercoaster during an earthquake, though?? Probably better that than getting blood drawn or surgery. :sick:

Yeah we felt it here in Hershey, PA -- the whole building shook for a few seconds, kind of surprised nothing fell off the shelves. We thought it was construction at first (there's a new building going up behind us), but it was never that strong before. Pretty wild.