Seeking illumination

It looks like I'm going to have to buy a 3' double-flourescent fixture. Sigh. The ballasts I bought to construct my own have always been cranky, and this year one of them has decided not to work no matter how much I coax it. New bulbs, but all I get is half-light, even after stroking, tapping, and jiggling them. It worked last year...

I think Home Despot carries 3' doubles, but they're pretty rare. Time to go hunting. I have all the trays crowded on the one shelf for now, but I don't have room to plant more without that second light. Maybe if I get one, though, I'll have one I can put on the timer, since it presumably won't need a tap to wake it up fully. Wonder how much it would cost to get two... hmm...

Tip: Never buy cheap fluorescent ballasts. They really aren't the bargain you're looking for. Move along.

( On the bright side... )

So that's the local green-thumb news. I have extra Sungold cherry tomato plants, as usual -- anyone want one in a few weeks?

Seeking gainful employment

On a more conventional note... I'm looking for work doing things that involve basic chemistry and the plant side of biology, such as water quality and other testing (air, soil, etc). I'd like a summer job at least, and if things work out I might take a semester off school to build up some financial resources. I am falling deeper and deeper into debt, and something has to be done... my mom, bless her heart, countered my moan of "I have no saleable skills, I have to get a McJob" with the suggestion that I get work in my field of study. Um, wait, I've had three semesters of chemistry and one of organismic biology, doesn't that grant some skills? Hmm...

What I'm looking for: basic labwork, sampling, and fieldwork, in the environmental and agronomic fields. What I have to offer: a year and a half of inorganic chemistry with skills in titration, devising and performing simple experiments, and stoichiometry (I can even pronounce it!) and equilibrium calculations. I've done water-quality testing with Delta Diablo Sanitation Plant and volunteered at DOW wetlands. I also have had a semester of biology which focused on evolution, taxonomy, and ecology (as opposed to cellular bio). Oh, and I'm headed into a career in plant pathology, so plant diseases are interesting to me. :)

If you see anything in the East Bay job listings, or know anyone in the field, let me know... I'm based out of Concord, so anything in Contra Costa is great, and anything a half-hour out is workable. I'm guessing that the utilities, the sewage-treatment plants, the park districts, and the Air Board are good places to look, but these jobs crop up in surprising places...