I do believe that Dawn and I found a suitable apartment at last; it's a 2 bed, 2 bath townhouse with washer and dryer. And ample running-around room for Isis-kitty-- including a staircase. We already laid down a deposit for it and will get to look at it in a couple of hours. Fingers crossed.

I'm nervous about this for a couple of reasons. By doing this I am committing myself to staying in Tucson another six months, which is indeed very depressing. On the other hand, the more I think about it, the more I begin to see that this is probably the best thing for me right now.

Here, I have two jobs in two different areas of chemistry: environmental and medical/pharmaceutical, and both jobs are giving me invaluable experience with not only working as a chemist, but working with the EPA, FDA, GMP (good manufacturing pracitces), CE Mark (regulations for products sold in Europe) and Japananese regulations (whatever their version of the FDA is). And I really cannot afford to turn my nose up at such experience.

The job market for chemists is at an all-time low. And by some divine providence I was able to get TWO jobs in such a bad market. Having this experience will make it so much easier for me to find a better job and move out of here much more comfortably and confidently. It's even more likely I'll be able to find a job there before I move. And, who knows? The job market could pick up in six months (unlikely, but I can hope).

Also, for the fist time in my life I am beginning to feel the burden of being a female in the corporate world and it is damn, damn scary. I can honestly say that I've never felt at all out-of-place or less welcome as a girl-- not even when I was the only girl in comedy corner. But, there's this weird culture in Corporateland where everything is so cut-throat and when it comes to negotiating stuff like salary and benefits... the women are asking for things like laptops so they can do more work from home while while the men are asking for things like country club memberships.

From what I am observing, it seems the women are trying to find more ways to do more work and get paid less, while the men are trying to find more ways to do less work and get paid more. It's weird and confusing and I'm scared.

For the first time ever, this whole gender equality thing feels personal.

Right now I am listening to Morning Edition and am feeling nervous and worried.