This barely needs any introduction – we have followed along with LAMH on her years of classes, while working full-time, her graduation in May, her quest for the job in Houston, and her on-site interview last week. Well…
I just heard from lamh!
“Just got a call from Houston!
They selected me!”
I couldn’t be happier for lamh. Just one question – how many excited GIFs will be posted in the comments?
Baud
https://giphy.com/gifs/80s-vintage-excited-1PMVNNKVIL8Ig
FelonyGovt
OMG! I am SO happy for you! Congratulations! ❤️
JPL
Happy news indeed! Now hunker down until the storms pass through.
Matt McIrvin
HOORAY
Elie
Congratulations and all the best to you!!!!
Another Scott
Excellent! Congratulations LAMH!
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
Not like I’m surprised, or anything! ; )
BUT – YEAH!! and CONGRATULATIONS, LAMH!!
Sister Golden Bear
Congratulations! Well deserved!
https://giphy.com/gifs/olympics-shaun-the-sheep-aardman-xT8qBepJQzUjXpeWU8
Dan B
Congratulations!
Pleas remember us little people on occasion. :<)
opiejeanne
YAY!!! I’m so happy for you.
❤️???
opiejeanne
@Baud: That is excellent and portrays our reaction perfectly.
West of the Rockies
Hooray for you!!!
Boo to the Asstros.
Rob
Excellent news, lamh!
Anotherlurker
Congratulations! I am proud of you and very happy for all your hard earned success.
la caterina
Way to go LAMH! A damn good microbiologist!
Martin
That’s fantastic! All you need to do is pass the hurricane agility test and you’re home free!
RobertDSC-iPhone 8
Good. Wishing you the best in your new spot.
hedgehog mobile
Kermit flail!!!
Congrats LAMH!
WaterGirl
I asked lamh to pick the time for this post, so I imagine she will be with us on the thread soon. I suppose when you’re the guest of honor, you are supposed to be fashionably late? :-)
Baud
https://youtu.be/ZNKOt2k7Pm4?t=37
JCJ
Yahoo!
cain
Congratulations, LAMH! This is the start of a long and prosperous time for you!
lamh36
YAY!!!!
Capri
So nice to see good news. Congratulations and a big welcome from E.coli everywhere.
mrmoshpotato
?????????
Woohoo! Congrats lamh36!
SectionH
Wonderful news! Congratulations, lamh!
lamh36
@WaterGirl: Of course I was soo elated that I got sidetracked w/my workload so I was behind about 15min…lol
I’m here now though.
japa21
Fantastic!!!
MomSense
Congratulations! Now you can have a Houston jackal meetup when Immanetize visits Imm!
You really are a wonder, Lamh! So impressed and inspired by how hard you work.
prostratedragon
Just sit back and levitate for a while. Congratulations!
Just One More Canuck
Awesome news – congratulations!
Barbara
You so deserve this. Congratulations!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Congrats lamh!
HRA
Congratulations Lamh! I send my best wishes for you on this new job!
catclub
in the previous thread there was a mention of moral turpitude. I hope that being a juicer is not on that category for her new employers. ;)
Haroldo
Congratulations! New Job! Yippee!
WaterGirl
@Baud: perfect!
WaterGirl
The person at comment #23 seems pretty excited about this.
Wolvesvalley
Congratulations! All success in your new job!
surfk9
Congratulations! Sounds like your hard work is beginning to pay off.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Joe Biden called. He’s sorry he missed you. When I asked if he would like to leave a message, he said, and I quote:
That Joe Biden really is a people person. How does he keep track of everyone!?!?
MazeDancer
@lamh36:
Lucky Houston!
May it be splendid for you!
Yutsano
O frabjous day!/Calloo callay!/He chortled in his joy!
CaseyL
Yay, lamh!! Yippee! Yahoo! Mazel Tov! Congrats!!
WaterGirl
@MomSense: OT, should I be looking for an email message from you soon?
Mike in NC
Congrats on landing the new job.
lamh36
I’m excited.
I’m now waiting for HR. As I said before, the job is with my current employer. My current job is as an hourly bench tech with one of the company’s “Managed Hospital” labs. Along with the new city, the new position is as co-supervisor of the regional reference Microbiology lab Microbiology. It’s a “co-supervisor” position, because it will be me and another supervisor who has been there 3 years. But they all assured me, that it’s a CO-Supervisor position. Of course with my lack of direct personnel management, in that aspect it will be a “mentorship” relationship in the beginning since she has obviously been there for 3 years now, but in terms of duties, like hiring, firing, budgeting, coaching, etc, is an “equal partnership”. That’s a direct quote from the Lab Director and the Lab Mgr!
This is actually perfect for me, since I plan to be in the position 3-5 years with my ulitimate goal to be in upper Lab mgmt by the time I’m 50 (a little over 6 years from now!) with dreams of ultimately moving to Cali…unless of course I enjoy Houston so much, that I decide to stay and move up within the regional offices!
So I’m excited. Since it’s a transfer position, and not a “new hire” position, the HR process should be straight forward. Even with COVID, this process has taken a little over 2 months, which is pretty fast.
The most interesting thing is that this job is the SAME job that they attempted to recruit me for when I first applied to Quest way back in 2017. I literally came across the original email about the position from the recruiter at that time. But I wasn’t ready at the time, I just wanted to get away from my last employer because I didn’t feel I was gonna be able to move up. The original position was just for 1 supervisor, but after 3 years, they realized it was too much for just 1 supervisor. So, Low and behold 3 years later, I got the job that I was originally being recruited for anyway.
If ya believe in fate…there ya go!
Now time to plan the move and wait for salary negotiations!
Benw
Well done, Lamh!
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: I wondered who would bring out the color on this momentous occasion!
JAFD
Congratulations, LAMH, and good luck !
Keep cool, stay healthy, happy and hydrated.
Felanius Kootea
Congratulations lamh!
James E Powell
I’m no good with gifs, but I’m excited for LAMH and the new gig.
Celebrate!
VFX Lurker
Congrats, lamh36!!!!!!!!!! ✨?????????✨
geg6
I knew it! ????????
Miss Bianca
And just for lamh and WaterGirl…
My favorite excited gif!
KSinMA
Proud of you, lamh! Congratulations! Hope you’ll love Houston!
Jay
Lamh36,
????????
Mary G
Congratulations! About time we had some happy news!
Ken
Congratulations!
@Martin: The good news is that Marco is now a tropical depression, and expected to pass north of Houston. The bad news is that Laura is still expected to hit as a hurricane, though not near Houston.
frosty
Good news indeed! Congratulations!!
Auntie Anne
Congratulations! ?????????????????
Kathleen
@lamh36: Congratulations to you. I so admire your fierce, adventurous spirit and focus. I’m sure your beloved nieces are proud of their Aunti Lamh.
scav
Random excited noises and a complete inability at speaking gif! May it be everything you’re hoping for and more. They got taste, so that’s a good omen!
eta: ??????????
Bluegirlfromwyo
Congratulations! Not that any of us doubted the outcome.
geg6
@lamh36:
I have a couple very good friends in Houston. If you are looking for some excellent people to hang out with in your time off, let me know. They will take you under their wings. They would love you! And one of them is a biochemist.
SiubhanDuinne
LAMH ROCKS!!
I am so happy for you! The biggest hugs, the highest high-fives, and the noisiest shouts of joy! We all needed to hear this news!
Steeplejack
Congratulations to lamh! ??
H.E.Wolf
Congratulations!!
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Serendipity!
Kudos to you for knowing you weren’t ready before, and even more kudos for recognizing that you are now.
I remember when you were lamh34 – have you been here that long???
BruceFromOhio
Well done, and best of luck in your new role!
WaterGirl
Psst: Pro tip for anyone who may have something to celebrate, now and in the future…
if you have something to celebrate, we can’t put it up if we don’t know about it. :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
I will not derail this celebratory thread, but some day I’d love to know how to do coloured text.
gbbalto
Congrats and best of luck!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ll meet you one thread back, right now, if you want.
edit: see comment #254
Kent
Congrats LAMH! I’ve been in and out of this blog as I’m currently on a road trip with my daughter visiting colleges in California.
Could I ask your educational background? One course of study my daughter is contemplating is a program in Medical Laboratory Science which is offered at a few universities. It has been suggested as a decent career path with good prospects. Is that what you are doing and what your background is in? She is interested in molecular biology and research but not sure about the long haul academic grind and that seems a reasonable side path for someone interested lab work and life science
This program, for example, is one she is looking at in our back yard
https://depts.washington.edu/labweb/Education/MLS/index.htm
Dorothy A. Winsor
Congratulations! What good news.
VeniceRiley
@lamh36: If I had access at work, I’d put up a Kermit YAAAAAY FLAIL GIF FOR YOU!
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Pencil in November 3rd.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Great, heading there now.
Immanentize
@lamh36: WOOT!
We must talk about Houston!
Patricia Kayden
A big congratulations to LAMH!!! Very happy for you!!
WereBear
What a slog and now to celebrate!
Tazj
Congratulations on your new job!
banditqueen
congratulations lamh36! Thank you for letting us share this adventure with you (& for carrying us all with you across the finishing line). :)
raven
Great work!
lamh36
@WaterGirl: yes I have…LOL.
I’m actually now lamh43! Soon to be lamh44 in about 2 months…LOL
Yutsano
I don’t do GIFs…
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Whut?
Not to be a downer, but how do they offer—and you accept—a job without knowing what the salary is to be? Seems like that would be a big factor in whether you would want to accept the job.
Okay, back to unbridled revelry. ?
zhena gogolia
Congratulations, dear Lamh! I never really had any doubt.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: 10 year anniversary!
Unless you were something before 34 and I didn’t notice it.
CaseyL
@WaterGirl: Heh! Only because I don’t know how to do an embedded gif (or even if one can in WP).
Di
Timing is everything! Congratulations, lamh! I’m so happy for you.
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL:
I think only front pagers can do that.
Amir Khalid
Congratulations, lamh. This calls for a celebration.
Suburban Mom
@lamh36: Congratulations! The job sounds ideal, and I hope you enjoy Houston.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Callooh! Callay!
Frankensteinbeck
@lamh36:
Okay, yeah, that sounds like one damn fine promotion. Congratulations. It’s great to see good things happen to you.
HumboldtBlue
I saw your tweet earlier, congrats!
Kristine
Yea, LAMH! Heartiest hearties ??
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Wait about the RNC tonight? I’ve been so busy I’ve barely checked the threads. I plan to watch the Convention and mercilessly mock it!
Also knitting a cute baby sweater for blood pressure control.
lamh36
@Kent: yes. I have a B.S. in Medical Technology (some places calle it Medical Lab Science or Clinical Lab Science, it depends on the school)
Is a Bachelors Degree program, usually 2 years of pre-req and 2 more years of dedicated MT coursework.
I already had a B.S. degree in biology so I went through an acceleerated program at LSU at the time so 1 1/2 yr after getting my Biolgoy degree, I got another Bachelors in MT.
MT is a great degree for someone who wants to work in the clinical lab, in any capacity like hosptials, reference labs, physcian labs, etc. It’s an open degree. There are some dedicated programs for specialities like Forensic Science, but MT is a broad degree that allows for specializations if you become interested in one section of the lab (I am trained and certified in all area of the clinical lab, but as I’ve said I specialize in Micro).
On average, MT can make really good money coming out of school, and as they work and gain experience they can make even more.
Straight research, w/no MT degree, tends to earn less than an MT. It is truly a professional degree
WaterGirl
@MomSense: It was about your knitting etc and what we might feature and/or do? (trying to keep that vague, but does that ring a bell?)
Also, I thought you could do a thread where you basically live blog in the comments. The RNC starts tonight at 8 or 9, blog time?
Nicole
Congrats, LAMH!!!!!! Your new employer and the city of Houston are both lucky to get you.
Brachiator
This is wonderful news!!
Congratulations!
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Got it! I’m working on my first piece – took forever to get my yarn order
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
I’ll be in the comments!
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Got your Biden-Harris interview link(s) downstairs.
lamh36
@Kent: I think UWash has a great Med Lab Program.
I know they are a good reference lab. We actually use them for some of our specialized PCR specimens.
Suzanne
WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!
This absolutely made my day! Congratulations, lady! If anyone has earned this, it’s you!
Steeplejack
@MomSense:
Madame Defarge, I presume?
LongHairedWeirdo
Congratulations!
I’d include some celebration gifs, but I actively *DESPISE* animated gifs of that nature, so I’d rather give you a nice, clean, almost entirely plain text, CONGRATULATIONS! WAY TO GO! message to be more true to myself.
Seriously, *no animated gifs*.
But sincere and true congratulations.
lamh36
@Steeplejack: The call today was to tell me that I was the candidate they selected. Now it’s time for HR to contact me and give an official offer letter.
Same thing happened when I first got a job with the company. In this case, it’s considered a transfer, since I have the same employer, but since it’s going from hospital to reference lab, it’s closer to new hire, it’s NOT a promotion.
If you are the selected candidate, the next step is HR salary negotiations, hiring and salary are controlled by two seperate areas.
MagdaInBlack
Congratulations !!
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Congratulations!
Scuffletuffle
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Steeplejack (phone)
@lamh36:
Okay, concerns allayed. It sounded like a done deal before.
Congratulations again!
Darkrose
Congratulations LAMH! This is awesome–make sure you do something to celebrate!
Kent
@lamh36: Excellent. My daughter is applying there for fall 2021 admission. That is a program I have encouraged her to keep an eye on and investigate as an alternative to the traditional academic route of grad school and PhD, etc. She will have to chart her own course, but it seems a good option for someone starting in the life science who doesn’t want to do med school or nursing.
debbie
Congratulations!
Ajabu
Sorry to be so late to this thread:
CONGRATULATIONS LAMH!!!!???????
You Go Girl…
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
Ribuan terima kasih.
MomDoc
CONGRATULATIONS! We will have to do a HOUSTON meet-up once you get settled!
piratedan
Congrats! Well Done! Kick Patootie!
J R in WV
Totally happy for you, LAMH ~!!!~
So glad your technical progress is leading you to where you wanted to be.
Very good friend did a bio/chem degree while I was doing my BSCS degree, went to Duke working in a lab. Now (many years later on) she manages clinical trials for major pharma companies as a contract tech. So where you are going is not that far from her career path.
Best wishes in Houston, OMG the food there can be great!!
If we happen to cross Texas for some strange reason, we’ll attempt to get in touch with you to meet, eat and party in the name of Balloon Juice and progressive political activism.
dmsilev
Wonderful news! Congratulations, and best of luck with the move and the new job.
Eric NNY
Great news! CONGRATULATIONS lamh!
Uncle Cosmo
Good on ya, young’un. Do yourself proud!
narya
CONGRATULATONS!!
martha
Well today needed some GREAT news and I’m so happy for you lamh!
debbie
The local Fox station is screwing with my mind. Instead of any convention coverage, they’re showing The King’s Speech. I can’t wait to be disappointed when this turns out not to be true. //
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: You would know something about working full-time and going to school at the same time!
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Sama-sama.
Ann Marie
What wonderful news! Congratulations!
Steeplejack
@debbie:
The Fox network—separate from Fox News—is not covering the convention. According to my well-thumbed copy of TV Guide. (h/t zhena gogolia)
MomSense
@Steeplejack:
That’s my dad’s new nickname for me!
Emma from FL
Really, really late,but YEAH!!!!!!
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@lamh36: ???????? ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
debbie
@Steeplejack:
Well, that’s surprising, but good. I loved that movie.
Aleta
lamh, That’s wonderful!! I learned a lot from the way you wrote about the whole process and your decisions and preparation and plans. Thanks very much for showing how you did it.
hueyplong
Congratulations!
Raising a glass to you as we speak.
Ruckus
@lamh36:
Congrats!
A long road, well traveled, a great rest stop procured!
The Pale Scot
Ok, Watergirl, you said we could post Gifs, make it so!
Marcopolo
Congrats! Very happy for you. No go kick ass :).
bjacques
Congrats and welcome to my home town! Be sure to wander through the Immp’s campus (also my alma mater, Death From Above ‘85). It’s got a James Turrell installation too.
Houston, it’s an action town!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vyw6Cc_PfN4
RedDirtGirl
How exciting! Congratulations!!!!
NoraLenderbee
Yay!
Sab
lamh,
Congratulations. I am glad you are with the same company. There is an institutional memory there, people who know you, have worked with you and wish you well moving onward and upward.
Uninvited Guest
*insert Evangelion meme here
Josie
Late to the party, but Congratulations, and welcome to Houston.
Madeleine
Hey hey hey!!! This is great! Congratulations lamh!
Salty Sam
Congratulations lamh!, and Godspeed.
(as a former native Houstonian, I’ll just wish you great luck and ample fortitude dealing with the sauna that is summertime there,,,)
Steeplejack
@MomSense:
Spot on! Enjoy the convention.
sgrAstar
Great news, Lamh! So happy for you. We all knew you could do it.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
?
laura
Congratulations! You earned this and deserve heaps of praise and accolades! I hope you have lots of opportunities for safe celebrating and whooping it up. Wishing you great success in the role of supervising and developing your staff. ???⚗???
Don’t let HR try to keep you at or below 5% on the salary by designating this as a transfer. Hoping you get a well deserved double digit bump in the wage with annual increases til your next great leap forward.
tokyokie
Congratulation! I hope you don’t start or move until the storms in the Gulf are gone.
dnfree
@lamh36: Congratulations! May you love the new job and have a lon* and happy career.
WaterGirl
@The Pale Scot: I meant to say LINKS to GIFs. Oops!
Seriously, you wouldn’t like it if everyone could post those. The site would slow down considerably, and with all that flashing and jumping, we would lose people whose eyes/brains can’t handle all the movement.
Sorry to disappoint you, though.
NoraLenderbee
OT: Wonkette doesn’t seem to be liveblogging the RNC.
randy khan
Great news! Congratulations!
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Inquiring minds want to know what that unlabeled thing from your freezer was.
randy khan
@NoraLenderbee:
Understandable. They couldn’t pay me enough.
Kayla Rudbek
Congratulations!! And check the flooding records/history for wherever you move into (my brother-in-law who lives there is I think still working on trying to get his house elevated and repaired from the floods on Memorial Day 2015 and tax day flood 2016)
Danielx
Wonderful! Some good news for a change!
Jean
Congratulations, LAMH! I have followed your journey to Houston and wish you every happiness in this new position and environment!
There go two miscreants
Congratulations! Have been following along with the saga and glad there is a good outcome!
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for asking. I figured I’d volunteer it on some thread or another tonight.
The very small one was as I hoped, a 3 oz portion of a cooked ribeye steak. That was yummy! I popped that under the broiler for a minute to warm it up. A friend had dropped off some fresh-picked sweet corn, so I had that, too. And some gazpacho.
The second one that was about the size of an italian beef sandwich, I was really pleased with that one! It was a prime filet that I had bought but had forgotten that I had chicken thawing in the fridge, so I put the filet in the freezer uncooked.
But I had clearly waited too long before I put it in the freezer, because it was pretty ripe when I opened the package, so that went into the garbage. SAD. $18 worth of sad, so sad to the second degree. oh well.
At least my little bit of steak was good!
Felanius Kootea
@LongHairedWeirdo: This is the right video for that.
Spanky
Just arriving to the party as folks are starting to leave, but I did want to add my congrats.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Geminid
Congratulations lamh36! I hope Houston will be a happy place for you.
rikyrah
Yeah lamh????
Elizabelle
Wonderful news, lamh. And — completely unsurprising.
Hope you find a new home soonest.
Obvious Russian Troll
Congratulations and good luck!
Odie Hugh Manatee
As hard as you’ve worked to build your career, you’ve earned every bit of this success! Congratulations and best of luck in your new future!! I hope your relocation goes as smoothly as possible for you.
:)
stinger
Congratulations, lamh! This is excellent news!
TomatoQueen
Late to the thread, but congratulations on this most well-deserved and well-earned achievement.
Laura Too
Such happy news! Congratulations! And kudos for preempting the CONvention! :)
Mandarama
I’m late too, but so happy for you, lamh!! ☺️
LongHairedWeirdo
@Felanius Kootea: Frankly, I’m just glad *someone* caught it. When I say “no celebratory (infinitely repeating animated) gifs”, I *mean* it. If’n you doesn’t trust me, you deserves what you gets!
But I gotta admit, if you’re going to replay an old joke, pumping it up to 11 is a good way of doing it – me ‘ats off to you!
burnspbesq
I wouldn’t wish Houston on my worst enemy, but I’m really happy that you got the job.
Come visit us in Austin some time.
The Lodger
Late as usual, congratulations Lamh!
Origuy
Congratulations!