This is the entry I posted a couple of weeks ago regarding what was going on with Larry's job (for my friends who may have missed it, as it was posted in my deadjournal).

It was an interesting weekend, to say the least. Saturday was nice and quiet but I almost had a panic attack when I tried to pay with something online via my Mastercard and it was declined.

WTF?!?!

I called the nice folks at mastercard, who informed me that because my payment was late and a late charge had been put against my account, that it was now frozen until they receive payment, which I informed them I already mailed out - last Monday. The company base is in freaking Baltimore. The envelope had to travel less than 100 miles. Why is it not there?

They don't know and neither do I.

I became very anxious and panicky because this happened on Saturday night - we were all set to celebrate John's birthday on Sunday. And he wanted to have it at Dave & Buster's, which is no cheap place to go. It's worth every penny because the food is phenomenal and everyone always has a great time, but I was going to put the whole bash on my credit card and pay for it later. Things like this are acceptable to pay for with the child support since it was for John's birthday. Having just paid my credit card bill, I didn't have much money in the bank but I pulled out some to get John's cake and Larry gaved me some money too, which helped. My parents also always offer to kick in something for the kid's birthdays but I usually decline because as the parent I feel that it is my job to worry over the cost and I want everyone to have a good time. This time when they offered I had to take them up on it which didn't sit well with me, but they genuinely wanted to do it and I am so broke right now after spending more than I could actually afford on John's gifts...

what can ya do, y' know?

The cake turned out so well, which I was concerned about because we had to buy it from a different place than we usually do, but they had a design kit on hand with a skateboard theme and I have to say I was impressed. Not only was it tasty (oh boy, was it ever yummy!), it was so cool! It had two little skateboard party favors on it that were keychains and the bakery had created a little icing skateboard ramp and little icing fire hydrants and airbrushed the top to look like a street, with lines in the center and everything. We all absolutely loved it, especially John. I love attending to those small extras on the kids' birthdays; picking out the perfect cake design, finding the perfect gift. It all appeals to my inner mommy greatly.

Anyway, we all had a wonderful time at Dave & Buster's. I spent most of my time playing Skee-Ball and House of the Dead 2. HD2 is video game crack as far as I'm concerned. There is no just playing one game. I burned up a whole power card and had to get it recharged, then burned up half of another one before I was able to force myself to quit. I'm also the worst Skee-Ball whore in history so it took a titanic effort to pull myself away from that. My folks helped with recharging the power cards (D&B uses a credit system with recharge kiosks to keep the counter traffic down). Even so, the kids spent most of the money which is as it should be, and everyone went home happy. D&B gives tickets out for some games (like at Chuck E. Cheese), and I was really amazed by their redeeming area. It was four times the size it was when we went for John's birthday last year and they had some unbelievable stuff in there. DVD players. Watchman mini TVs with five inch color screens. So much Spongebob stuff I got all goofy just standing next to it. It was a pretty full day.

We got John some nice gifts, but I was really anxious for him to open the one I ordered from England. I was sure it wouldn't be here in time, but it got here on Saturday (John's actual birthday and the day before the party so - woot woot!!), which made me extra happy. It was an autographed picture of Ozzy Osbourne. To say my boy is a fan doesn't adequately describe how he feels about Ozzy Osbourne. He has every CD Ozzy has ever made, including all of his Black Sabbath stuff (certain members of my family think I'm nuts for allowing that due to the content, but fuck 'em, it's not hurting a damned thing and besides, I used to listen to it when I was a kid and look how I turn...okay, maybe they have a point), posters, the whole deal. He's a two-time Ozzfest veteran, an accomplishment he speaks of with the same pride and reverance with which veterans describe their days in the military. So he really, really, liked the picture. And I am really, really indebted to the people from whom I bought it, who got it here in time for my baby's birthday.

So in spite of the fact that poopface went off to Florida and conveniently forgot that he needed to pay his child support on time, which led to a serious credit problem, everything was perfect.

We got some seriously good news yesterday too. The facility that Larry used to work in (that's just ten minutes away from home), may be reopening. The company was bought out in 2001 by a company that promised bot to dismantle it, then did just that and sent people to their choice of California or Alabama. This would have been too far away from both sets of grandparents so Larry and I discussed it and decided together that it would be better for him to switch jobs than relocate (especially to Alabama - I mean, really - Larry spent part of his childhood there and loathed it). Ultimately the decision was his. It was after all, his job.

Unless you count Fort Detrick, which has been under quite a bit of scrutiny recently because some of the anthrax that was floating around the country post-9/11 supposedly came from there, there really aren't that many places for a scientist to do his thing around here. So he ended up in Baltimore, with a new title, two new projects that involve some seriously important new vaccines, a three hour commute (round trip), and some delightful job stress to go with it. The projects he loves. Dealing with the clients, especially the ones who are dragging their feet on the funding for the second (and most important), vaccine has been a real headache because they want it on the market as fast as possible and in order to do it their way, Larry and his group would have to let some important steps slide, which for the sake of safety they don't want to do.

Anyway, the dismantling of the original company accomplished two things:

1) put lots of wonderful people out of work

2) effectively killed a facility that ran smoothly, was cost effective and got things done on time.

It was rumored that the man who was in charge of the buyout was on drugs, and considering the decisions he made I don't think that sounds terribly far-fetched. He bought the company with the promise that it would never be taken apart. The original owners had spent millions in the five or so years prior to the buyout updating the existing labs in the Frederick facility and adding new ones and doing the same with the faciility in Gaithersburg, and they didn't want all of that money or effort to go to waste. They didn't just do experiments there, they manufactured a lot of product. If someone needed some cultures or practically anything else having to with DNA they got it through the Frederick facility after they made the business deal at the Gaithersburg facility. This was a multimillion dollar a year business and so successful there was often a couple of million dollars worth of product on backorder, a situation that was helped quite a bit by the renovations.

This is where the company that conducted the buyout shot themselves in the foot:

By closing down the facility in Frederick and redirecting the clients to buy from their existing distributors in California, they caused huge delays. Not just from the sudden redirection of orders, but with the sudden surge of unfillable orders. Backorder in the multimillions and not enough experienced staff to handle the sudden flow. Delays in this business are killer because the product, being biological in nature, has a rather short shelf life.

Eventually, the powers that be decided that this was quite enough, thanks ever so, fired the guy who was responsible for the mess and hired a FNG. The FNG has decided that the best way to deal with the problem is to reopen the facilities in Maryland and get trhe distribution centers up and running again.

The Vienna Boys' Choir is singing 'halleluia' in my head. Angus Young is accompanying them on guitar. Much joyous headbanging ensues.

In other words...

BOO-YA!! BOO-FUCKING-YA, BABY!!

We got this information from my father, who is the foreman of the maintance and cleaning staff at the facility, and he is good friends with those who are considered large and in charge out there. He verified this through several sources, including his bosses (who attend monthly meetings regarding these issues), before mentioning it to us.

Not that this has naything to do with the rest of the story, but that's how I met Larry in the first place. I was working on the cleaning crew and almost accidentally ran Larry over with a cleaning cart as he was coming out of the men's room. The situation was so goofy to me I immediately started laughing. Larry said he'd never met someone so overcome with mirth at the possiblity of running him down.

Anyway, according to the higher-ups, the facility is definitely going to reopen and the only issue is when. The place has been fairly well emptied out seeing as the equipment, a lot of which was less than two years old, has been sold to try to recoup some of the losses the company sustained by closing the facility. The cleaning crew is already there and still working (just in different buildings on the complex), but they'll also need new security staff.

But this is the really good part:

They're going to call the original employees back.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:: happy dance happy dance get down get down ::

This could not come at a better time. Larry will be with Cambrex two years in January and the job is so stressful he was already considering finding another job then. He has a seventeen year history with the other company. 17 years!! All positive. Getting back on with them should present no challenge whatsoever.

He'll be more relaxed, he'll be able to come home for lunch like he used to and best of all - he'll have more time with us!!!!

We don't know when, but we knew it's going to happen, which makes anything else that happens in the meantime more tolerable. Maybe Larry will be able to relax more and cut back on his meds soon. He didn't need such high doses before.

I feel as if there's something really wonderful to look forward to now. I'll be able to visit him at work with the kids, he'll have more time at home. We'll be together more. I loved that about his working so close. Things got really tough when he started working in Baltimore. It became more and more difficult to schedule things like doctor appointments and dental exams. Larry also got separated from a lot of his friends, one of whom ended up in Missouri, with one in Texas and several in either Alabama or California.

I've really missed him since he's taken this job. The time we get together is limited and seems all too short. Having him home for dinner will actually go a long way toward making us both feel better.

Because even though he sometimes has knucklehead tendencies I really do love him. We've clashed a bit recently but I think most of that was stress-related. I've been on meds which helped make me hyper-sensitive and mood-swingy and he's been so stressed out he's about to explode for the longest time. This will be a good thing. A very good thing.

I love his company and I need to be with him more. We have so much in common that we feel like two halves of the same being (sounds corny but it's true). Sometimes people lose sight of that or worse, lose the connection altogether and I desperately want to keep ours.

So anyway, this was a very long entry but it feels great to have all of this written out. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can write in here that the facility is back in operation and Larry's going back to work.

Words are insufficient to describe the anticipation and hope I'm feeling right now.

When he goes back there it will be like a homecoming.

I'll fix my typos later.

Too excited right now to care.