Steph, that totally sucks. I'm sorry.

As for me, I am off work, which is nice because work has been UNUTTERABLY boring. I'm just grinding through a backlog of stupid small projects that are almost completely devoid of any substance, just paperwork that needs to be generated and filed so we can say we did it. Plus my standing desk isn't in yet, and the guys who sit next to the windows draw the blinds at noon every day so I am not getting much daylight. Bah.

So today I slept late, had some leftover pizza, started a load of laundry, and now I'm going to walk the dog and then go to the gym.

Meanwhile, I'm pondering painting my bookshelves. Right now they're all a pale yellow/cream shade, but I'm wondering how awesome it would be to paint the rear panels bright red or blue. Too much, or just fabulous enough?

There are people doing very interesting work these days where they take ordinary support cells from the (rat) brain, regress them back a couple of stages to an less differentiated state, and then coax them to develop into neurons, which are able to find a way to make the right connections.

Amazing things are on the way, whether we are ethically and emotionally prepared for them or not.

Tep, is there any way for this to turn into good news (i.e. a full time job instead of freelancing)?

They want someone in-house, and they're located in Chicago. I'm not saying I wouldn't move for a job, but I wouldn't for this job.

it wasn't specifically "vagina cells"

The article said it involved a biopsy of genital cells, so that's what I was going from.

Steph, that totally blows. Losing a gig now or soon incontrovertibly sucks. I hope you can find another gig in a timely fashion.

Fastest commute ever. Once I got into my desired lane on the freeway, I didn't hit the brake pedal once until I got back to surface streets.

They want someone in-house, and they're located in Chicago.

Ah, bummer.

Steph, that really blows. I hope you find a permanent gig soon.

Growing new organs is amazing. I think we'll be able to do it reliably in 30 years. Which will hopefully lie within my lifespan.

Steph, that really blows. I hope you find a permanent gig soon.

I still have the AMA gig, so I'm not totally out of work. But I was counting on this second one to be permanent, too. (I mean, again I get that the AMA gig isn't permanent as in forever; any job can end at any time. I'm not ignoring that.)

You won't have to print pdfs and rescan? Ok, only "bright side" I can think of.

I had a decent size to-do list for work this morning and I've accomplished them all. Not that they are 100% complete, more that I've done as much as I can and I'm awaiting responses from others. I blew what motivation I had getting this far and now I just wanna go read a book.

any job can end at any time. I'm not ignoring that

I've been in the same office at the same desk for 26 years now. The guy next door has been in the same office since 1973, but he did get a new desk in the early 80's.

We realize that this is practically unamerican at this point. Probably shows a lack of imagination on our part as well.

I've had a productive, onerous morning.

Went to H&R Block to hear about taxes. Turns out you have 120 days to pay after you file, so long as you warn them. So I'm going in next Friday to have the nice tax lady help with that call. We were going through an insolvency worksheet to see if we could tell the IRS that we were too poor to have to pay the extra tax, but the 401K I've been diligently paying into was sitting there with a nice bright "You can tap me for money!" sign on it. Plus we would have to contact every doctor to find out how much we still owe them. No, I'll take the hit, it's not worth it to scramble to get that information and to take the penalty on withdrawing from my 401K.

I'm also going to up my withholding at work, taxlady said I'm not having enough kept out, especially when a third of the lease payment is going to have to go to taxes. It's kind of horrifiying how much I resent having to give up chunks of unexpected money.

After that, to the bank to notorize the legal forms, to the Post Office to mail it off, then the doctor's office to drop off the state's annual "She's competent to drive even though she's a sickie" form.

And it's not even noon yet.