Mr Knowitall - thank you for your reply.. I am not subject to the 2 year rule per both my visa and my DS2019.
The date on my I94... hmmm it only has a stamp which says Admitted on Apr20 2008, Class Until J1 D/S. No dates.

My university seems to think it's ok to be out of status as long as I have applied for the change/extension, but they also say they have no experience with "working" J1 people, only studying J1. I can only hope that they are right.