Okay, so, update. And yes, Ma, I am dizzy.

When I was at the previously mentioned conference for environmental professionals, I received a call while my phone was turned off. A message had been left for me by a head hunter, about a job I'd applied for in early 2009. I didn't call him back because I had a job.

But the next week my boss sent a couple of financial spreadsheets, and when I'd looked at them, I did call that head hunter back. A couple of interviews ensued, and my references were checked, and then I got an offer letter on the very same day that the company purchasing the lab had taken a good look and said they couldn't support me after all.

I told R I felt like a teacher's pet. Whose? he asked. God's.

I mean, wow.

So we're going to talk to the landlord on Sunday about buying this house AFTER ALL.

The new job is at a blending facility. You might think lab work is lab work, but going from a biodiesel manufacturer and glycerin refinery to a commercial lab was a big change. Way more external customers to deal with, and the whole dimension of what happens to the data after it goes out from me, using it to tweak the system and make decisions, was gone.

(Yes, I know the word "data" is plural. I'm trying not to be compulsive.)

Everybody except me is either laid off or switched to the new employer. The Memphis folks have expressed disappointment that I am not going back there, but they are keeping me on the payroll till the last second, probably; and if they don't the new folks want to pay me a daily rate to stick around till the new job starts. So once again I won't get a break but I AM NOT COMPLAINING. OH GOOD LORD, NO.

R is being kept by the new employers in some kind of function. Because he can fix equipment and do other things - he installed an eyewash station shortly after I started and was appalled by what we had, for instance - they wanted to keep him kind of part-time/on call; but it's already looking like working into more than that.

So. We're going to haul off and buy a Christmas tree today and be a little less tentative as we look around this house and think about things we want to change.

My coworkers are sad to see me leave. I am the best boss ever, evidently. Damini, who has loaded me down with bangles over the last six months (maybe I don't look girly enough to suit her), says she will go wherever I go. Life is just a series of meetings and partings, I reckon.