Glamcookie, it's only 3 hours or so to Columbia from the Triangle, NC. My dad's family lives in Columbia and my parents live in Raleigh, and they make that trip all the time. Out of the two states, I think the Triangle is your best bet for a welcoming community. Many of the larger companies/institutions include sexuality in their EEO policies, and some do offer health insurance and other benefits to same sex partners, including a couple of town governments. I think the Triangle also offers much more diversified employment possibilities than anywhere in SC - tech companies, government and non-profits, large universities, etc.

Man, I am shilling hard for a place I don't live anymore.

NC is an "at will" state. You can be legally fired for breathing in the wrong key if your boss feels like it.

yeah, a lot of states are--but they can't fire you due to religion, etc--or gayness if that's protected. Now, usually you can't prove that, but...

Here is your moment of levity from my workplace (apologies to anyone who already saw it on FB):

A coworker is talking to a guy about some goats he bought from a breeder in Washington, so all this starts out as overhearing 1/2 of a conversation:

"Who has herpes?"

"The goats have herpes?"

"and your dogs have herpes?"

"how do you think the dogs got the herpes?"

(facepalm)

hivemind question: is there another (non-mythological) example of a large all-female fighting force besides the Dahomey?

Amazons

oops, largely mythological

The internet is telling me there's not enough historical evidence to support the existence of the amazons.

The Kyoshi Warriors!

What do you mean, they're not real?

The Kyoshi Warriors!

When I was trying to remember the Dahomey this was the first name I came up with.

I have a second-hand amateur diagnosis question. My mother is having severe pain that started in her right hip, but not seems to include her lower back and down the leg. The first doctor gave her pain pills and said she should go to physical therapy -- this to a woman in so much pain she was having trouble walking to the bathroom. He sent her to an orthopedist who decided, given her age and osteoporosis, that it was a hip fracture. He did a scan just for that a week ago Thursday, and Mom met with him Monday for the results. There was no fracture, so he scheduled her for a lower back MRI Thursday, and she gets the results Monday. In the meantime, a woman who is normally reluctant to take pain medication is knocking back hydrocodone like there's no tomorrow.

I'm thinking slipped disc or vertebra fracture. Any other theories? I'm getting all my information from my mother and sister, who are not good at getting information from doctors.

Ginger,

Does her pain stop above or below the knee? Does she generally have full range of motion?

I have back pain that includes my lower back, hip, and thigh. I went to physical therapy and it really helped. It would help more if I did my exercises more faithfully.

That pain initially was incredibly painful. I had to take a daily muscle relaxer just so I could sleep. I don't think I took pain meds beyond advil, but advil barely cut it. I remember driving to physical therapy and I was sweating and breathing fast to deal with the pain.

Most of the thigh and hip pain was from my back and affected sciatica, etc.