Today is slightly more difficult than yesterday. It’s all in a different way, see, because I’m still sitting around while my reaction runs itself.
No, today I have hit a couple of obstacles.
The first was easy enough, albeit frustrating. We thought we had an unopened bottle of butyllithium. We don’t. So I went downstairs and ordered a new (unopened) bottle of butyllithium. Luckily, I’m only going to have to wait probably two days for it (counting today, and possibly part of Thursday?).
Now I’ve been asked to find conditions to separate this photochemically oxidized product from the solvent, which is toluene. Well, okay. I can look those up. So far, I have a set of general conditions that give me guidelines, and a reference that I can’t get but that FX possibly has. So that’s marked off the list.
The last instruction I have is to locate platinum oxide. If I can’t locate it, we’ll have to order it. I’m not sure what we’re using it for. I know it’s used for hydrogenation; I’m just not sure what we’re hydrogenating. So I went down to Gitsov’s lab, only it’s locked and I don’t really want to bang on the door. Not right now. Maybe later, after FX and I reconvene.
But I really want to find some, see, because it’s platinum. Let me try to explain: for 250mg (that’s like a quarter of a paper clip), Aldrich charges $50.50. That’s some pricey stuff. So I’m really hoping I can find it, because in the meantime, I’m not really doing much. I crunched some numbers, I found some conditions… I have to ask FX what constitutes a needle valve… or I could google it. Hey, sometimes I have good ideas!
I googled it, and I’m still not sure where to find it in here. I can’t even remember if I’ve seen it before. Oh well… I guess I’ll just ask him when I see him again. Hopefully I see him again.
So I just went and banged on Gitsov’s lab door, only the student in there has got ear buds in, so she can’t hear me. Since I didn’t want to disturb the entire floor, I guess I can put off that particular adventure a few more minutes. I don’t really know where to check for platinum oxide.
Okay. I gained entrance to Gitsov’s lab, and there was no platinum oxide to be found. I should check Giner’s lab… ugh.
All right, definitely just went up to Giner’s lab, and there was no one there. I decided against just letting myself in, and now I’m back here, waiting the remaining 27 minutes for this reaction to end and then I can make up a sample and run it on the GC. Then I’ll have absolutely nothing to do, which will be… almost no different from right now, because right now I’m being faintly productive by running the reaction. Even though I’m not doing anything.
Okay so a lot has happened now, I guess. Timing between paragraph breaks varies greatly. My reaction has finished, I ran it on the GC, the results mean nothing to me, and whatever they mean to FX has not yet been imparted to me. I began distilling off the toluene under a vacuum. Oh, and I ran into Giner, who has platinum oxide and is loathe to part with it. FX said he’d take care of it. Hahahahahahaha.
So now I’m distilling, which is rather like running the photochemical reaction because I’m not actually doing anything, but it is slightly more hands-on in that I have a little needle valve that I’m supposed to open if I see any bumping. There has not been any bumping, but it is a quarter to four and I still have something like 750ml to distill down. So… who knows. But if I don’t finish today, it’s not a big deal I guess because I can just finish tomorrow. FX has to go to the vet anyway. With his dog, of course.
Oops. Well, I forgot to post this when I got home, but I still have half an hour of today left. I’m out, then. Gotta shower, let the dogs out, and scoop up eight hours of sleep before heading out again.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Seventh Post
I’m sitting at my desk – MY desk! in a lab! – and trying to read a paper. Only, I guess I’m not really trying that hard right now because I’m clearly writing this.
Wow, seriously, the internet is so frustrating up here. I guess I’m not well-versed in patience with computers anymore because I’ve finally trashed that old ThinkPad from high school and bought this new laptop, which runs like a dream (although, one could extrapolate that any new laptop would run like a dream when compared with the old laptop). But I thought I’d look up a paper, almost just for the heck of it, and I can’t get onto SciFinder because I need an internet connection.
I brought raspberries today, in a little Tupperware container, and in general, I just feel quite pleased with myself. I was getting a little stressed at the end of last week, but I haven’t broken the GC and I even know how to use it now, so basically I just get done whatever FX tells me to do, and when I’m not doing that, I’m trying to restore some order to this long-abandoned lab. Or possibly I’m blogging. Oops.
FX has gone for a run, he told me, and I’m to read this paper and get a GC and set up the UV lamp and get an NMR. So far I’ve done almost three of the four things… I haven’t finished the paper, and I hate to go downstairs and fiddle with the NMR if I can’t find Kiemle. I should get back on the paper. The NMR is not necessarily of the utmost importance, but if he asks for it, I try to get it done. Usually that technique works pretty well. Maybe I’ll run back downstairs and see if I can find Kiemle (or, you know, even get into the ICP lab and the NMR… sub-lab?).
I finished reading the paper, and it told me absolutely nothing, because its starting point was our desired ending point. You can’t always get what you want? But I’m going to ask FX if he happens to have a different article from the same journal, listed in the references. Hopefully the answer will be yes, and even more hopefully the paper will actually help with whatever it is I’m supposed to be finding. Actually, I’m really not sure why exactly I’m looking for this particular paper. I’ll have to look back at the old one and figure out what hole was there that he wanted filled.
I ran back down to the NMR lab just now… and had absolutely no luck whatsoever. I think it’s locked, maybe, or else I’m an idiot, because I couldn’t open the door. It would push partway in, and then something caught, I think, and I didn’t really force it. So I guess I’ll have to wait on that. I should run a GC on the toluene, then, because at least I’ll have something to show FX upon his return. I’m not really in a hurry. Today is very relaxed. I’m going to check… maybe today in the afternoon? But definitely tomorrow morning, to see if my chemicals are in for step 2. Which, by the way, I’m terrified of doing because this is a procedure that I’ve honestly never even come close to attempting, and it involves many dangerous things. Hey, maybe it’ll be fun. Acid doesn’t scare me anymore (disclaimer: that does not mean I’m not careful. I don’t like the idea of acid burns).
Okay, the toluene is now officially on the GC… so I have about half an hour to wait until it gets done. Today I at least remembered my mp3 player, which I did not remember on Friday, but I forgot my headphones so it doesn’t do me as much good as it could. I do, however, have it for the car, which we really shouldn’t discount.
Oh ho! My chemicals are in! Of course, I still have no idea how to do the next step of the procedure, but I will probably be doing it, oh, tomorrow.
Hahahaha okay I’m typing in gloves now. They’re pretty cute. They’re purple. I’m running samples on the GC and also a photochemical reaction that I knew nothing about until possibly Friday, mostly today. Of course, these things that I’m running are running themselves, in essence, so I’m just sitting around for another hour and fifteen minutes, occasionally changing whatever’s running on the GC.
It always gets difficult when I run things on the GC and I have more than one thing to run. Time management is of the essence, or something. But I think it’ll be okay… as long as this next sample I’m running actually shows what I need it to show. For the GC, I basically want a 0.1% solution, or 1 gram per liter. My original has 2 grams per liter, so I do a 2:1 dilution in the GC solvent (pentane). This means that the toluene peak is going to be huge, but it should also mean that I get a “regular” sized ionone peak. Here’s hoping.
FX is so cute sometimes. Today he informed me that beta-ionone is actually the smell of violets and was the original perfume in Elizabethan times. Then he was helping me set up the photochemical reactor (which consists of a couple of really cool glass pieces and a UV lamp and tons of aluminum foil) and he went to turn on the UV lamp to see if it worked. Prior to this, he had informed me that this lamp embodies the “don’t look directly at the sun” thing about three hundred times over. It will photolyze my retinas. Since I like my retinas, I’m being pretty careful. So he goes to turn it on, hesitates, looks at me and goes, “Don’t look… turn around.” He informed me when I could turn back around. For some reason I thought that was pretty adorable.
Then, when the whole reaction was actually set up and ready to go (I taped foil all over the glass paneling that covers the hood), he let me know that we could tell that the UV lamp was on and working because we could see a little glow around the edges of the tin foil. “You should be okay,” he says, “as long as you don’t sit here and stare at it.” The best part is that he really was not even joking at all. I can’t help it. I think it’s hysterical.
So anyway, my sample is off of the GC now and it’s cooling down so that I can insert my next sample; it should be ready in ten minutes or so. I’m praying that this one works, because if it doesn’t, I’m screwed. Because I… well, I guess I could always just make up some more starting solution. I have a ton of toluene and of beta-ionone, and this actually doesn’t smell (well, I guess the toluene does, so that’s not strictly true). But I won’t really have time to run it again. FX wants me to call him around 5 or so. It’ll probably be a little later… 5:15 or 5:30, because it will take a couple of minutes to prepare the sample. I don’t mind staying a little lateish. It’s nice to have a whole lab to myself. It’s nicer than last summer!
I just put my corrected dilution onto the GC, and here’s me praying my brains out (my soul out?) that it works, because I don’t have any more of the original sample. But, like I said, no real reason to freak out. Except that I’m supposed to call FX. But other than that. Oh man. I guess you could say I’m a little antsy about this, but I have to find something else to occupy myself with because sitting there, glued to the GC is not going to do wonderful things for my nerves. And sitting here, talking about how I’m avoiding it for that reason is kind of circumnavigating the entire point, because it’s stressing me out. And I was doing so well with not stressing today, too.
My chemicals came from Aldrich today! Christina texted me and told me some packages were here, so I moseyed on down and took a look, and they were, indeed, mine. So that was pretty exciting. I have some chemicals. They’re sitting on the counter, because FX says that I don’t need to refrigerate them overnight. I wonder if that means I’m going to be using them tomorrow? Because we really haven’t discussed what’s happening tomorrow in any detail, except that the hood that I would be using is currently filled with deadly, blinding UV light. It sounds way more exciting than it actually is, I promise. I’m actually in absolutely no danger at all, and I’m sitting here with Rhapsody on shuffle, which is only minutely less cool than having my mp3 player on shuffle. But I guess since Brendan is usually in Donaghy’s lab these days, it’s basically the same as keeping my music to myself.
Ugh I’m so nervous about this sample on the GC. The numbers work. I just have to keep telling myself that. The numbers work. THE NUMBERS WORK. Ugh. I have to stop thinking about it but I don’t really know what to do instead. I just peeked. It looks very toluene-y. I haven’t seen any beta-ionone come out yet, so I’m not really sure… but it’s not time for it to come out quite yet, anyway. Also I’m nervous to call FX, because I am weird. And hate phones.
MAHAHAHAHAH YES. I may be going completely insane and laughing maniacally, but my solution worked. Eat it, you old GC (I’m laughing again now, because that’s kind of what the GC does, after all). I can make you work by sheer pigheadedness, and then laugh about it afterwards! And anyway, I wasn’t all that sane to begin with.
Okay, seriously? If EvergreenX asks me for information in order to connect one more time and doesn’t connect, I’m going to… well, there’s actually not much I can threaten. I don’t know where exactly to go to find a router to smash, or at least reboot. AUGH. STOP. It’s the most obnoxious bubble. I just print-screened it so that I can embed it in this entry, if I remember to. Hopefully that is, indeed, the case. Mahahaha. I’m still chuckling about my victory.
Heh heh. This was always here. Of course I didn't forget.
Made up that last sample, stopped the irradiation, it’s in the GC… I’m almost done. Woohoo!
DONE AND HOME. WHADDUP.
Wow, seriously, the internet is so frustrating up here. I guess I’m not well-versed in patience with computers anymore because I’ve finally trashed that old ThinkPad from high school and bought this new laptop, which runs like a dream (although, one could extrapolate that any new laptop would run like a dream when compared with the old laptop). But I thought I’d look up a paper, almost just for the heck of it, and I can’t get onto SciFinder because I need an internet connection.
I brought raspberries today, in a little Tupperware container, and in general, I just feel quite pleased with myself. I was getting a little stressed at the end of last week, but I haven’t broken the GC and I even know how to use it now, so basically I just get done whatever FX tells me to do, and when I’m not doing that, I’m trying to restore some order to this long-abandoned lab. Or possibly I’m blogging. Oops.
FX has gone for a run, he told me, and I’m to read this paper and get a GC and set up the UV lamp and get an NMR. So far I’ve done almost three of the four things… I haven’t finished the paper, and I hate to go downstairs and fiddle with the NMR if I can’t find Kiemle. I should get back on the paper. The NMR is not necessarily of the utmost importance, but if he asks for it, I try to get it done. Usually that technique works pretty well. Maybe I’ll run back downstairs and see if I can find Kiemle (or, you know, even get into the ICP lab and the NMR… sub-lab?).
I finished reading the paper, and it told me absolutely nothing, because its starting point was our desired ending point. You can’t always get what you want? But I’m going to ask FX if he happens to have a different article from the same journal, listed in the references. Hopefully the answer will be yes, and even more hopefully the paper will actually help with whatever it is I’m supposed to be finding. Actually, I’m really not sure why exactly I’m looking for this particular paper. I’ll have to look back at the old one and figure out what hole was there that he wanted filled.
I ran back down to the NMR lab just now… and had absolutely no luck whatsoever. I think it’s locked, maybe, or else I’m an idiot, because I couldn’t open the door. It would push partway in, and then something caught, I think, and I didn’t really force it. So I guess I’ll have to wait on that. I should run a GC on the toluene, then, because at least I’ll have something to show FX upon his return. I’m not really in a hurry. Today is very relaxed. I’m going to check… maybe today in the afternoon? But definitely tomorrow morning, to see if my chemicals are in for step 2. Which, by the way, I’m terrified of doing because this is a procedure that I’ve honestly never even come close to attempting, and it involves many dangerous things. Hey, maybe it’ll be fun. Acid doesn’t scare me anymore (disclaimer: that does not mean I’m not careful. I don’t like the idea of acid burns).
Okay, the toluene is now officially on the GC… so I have about half an hour to wait until it gets done. Today I at least remembered my mp3 player, which I did not remember on Friday, but I forgot my headphones so it doesn’t do me as much good as it could. I do, however, have it for the car, which we really shouldn’t discount.
Oh ho! My chemicals are in! Of course, I still have no idea how to do the next step of the procedure, but I will probably be doing it, oh, tomorrow.
Hahahaha okay I’m typing in gloves now. They’re pretty cute. They’re purple. I’m running samples on the GC and also a photochemical reaction that I knew nothing about until possibly Friday, mostly today. Of course, these things that I’m running are running themselves, in essence, so I’m just sitting around for another hour and fifteen minutes, occasionally changing whatever’s running on the GC.
It always gets difficult when I run things on the GC and I have more than one thing to run. Time management is of the essence, or something. But I think it’ll be okay… as long as this next sample I’m running actually shows what I need it to show. For the GC, I basically want a 0.1% solution, or 1 gram per liter. My original has 2 grams per liter, so I do a 2:1 dilution in the GC solvent (pentane). This means that the toluene peak is going to be huge, but it should also mean that I get a “regular” sized ionone peak. Here’s hoping.
FX is so cute sometimes. Today he informed me that beta-ionone is actually the smell of violets and was the original perfume in Elizabethan times. Then he was helping me set up the photochemical reactor (which consists of a couple of really cool glass pieces and a UV lamp and tons of aluminum foil) and he went to turn on the UV lamp to see if it worked. Prior to this, he had informed me that this lamp embodies the “don’t look directly at the sun” thing about three hundred times over. It will photolyze my retinas. Since I like my retinas, I’m being pretty careful. So he goes to turn it on, hesitates, looks at me and goes, “Don’t look… turn around.” He informed me when I could turn back around. For some reason I thought that was pretty adorable.
Then, when the whole reaction was actually set up and ready to go (I taped foil all over the glass paneling that covers the hood), he let me know that we could tell that the UV lamp was on and working because we could see a little glow around the edges of the tin foil. “You should be okay,” he says, “as long as you don’t sit here and stare at it.” The best part is that he really was not even joking at all. I can’t help it. I think it’s hysterical.
So anyway, my sample is off of the GC now and it’s cooling down so that I can insert my next sample; it should be ready in ten minutes or so. I’m praying that this one works, because if it doesn’t, I’m screwed. Because I… well, I guess I could always just make up some more starting solution. I have a ton of toluene and of beta-ionone, and this actually doesn’t smell (well, I guess the toluene does, so that’s not strictly true). But I won’t really have time to run it again. FX wants me to call him around 5 or so. It’ll probably be a little later… 5:15 or 5:30, because it will take a couple of minutes to prepare the sample. I don’t mind staying a little lateish. It’s nice to have a whole lab to myself. It’s nicer than last summer!
I just put my corrected dilution onto the GC, and here’s me praying my brains out (my soul out?) that it works, because I don’t have any more of the original sample. But, like I said, no real reason to freak out. Except that I’m supposed to call FX. But other than that. Oh man. I guess you could say I’m a little antsy about this, but I have to find something else to occupy myself with because sitting there, glued to the GC is not going to do wonderful things for my nerves. And sitting here, talking about how I’m avoiding it for that reason is kind of circumnavigating the entire point, because it’s stressing me out. And I was doing so well with not stressing today, too.
My chemicals came from Aldrich today! Christina texted me and told me some packages were here, so I moseyed on down and took a look, and they were, indeed, mine. So that was pretty exciting. I have some chemicals. They’re sitting on the counter, because FX says that I don’t need to refrigerate them overnight. I wonder if that means I’m going to be using them tomorrow? Because we really haven’t discussed what’s happening tomorrow in any detail, except that the hood that I would be using is currently filled with deadly, blinding UV light. It sounds way more exciting than it actually is, I promise. I’m actually in absolutely no danger at all, and I’m sitting here with Rhapsody on shuffle, which is only minutely less cool than having my mp3 player on shuffle. But I guess since Brendan is usually in Donaghy’s lab these days, it’s basically the same as keeping my music to myself.
Ugh I’m so nervous about this sample on the GC. The numbers work. I just have to keep telling myself that. The numbers work. THE NUMBERS WORK. Ugh. I have to stop thinking about it but I don’t really know what to do instead. I just peeked. It looks very toluene-y. I haven’t seen any beta-ionone come out yet, so I’m not really sure… but it’s not time for it to come out quite yet, anyway. Also I’m nervous to call FX, because I am weird. And hate phones.
MAHAHAHAHAH YES. I may be going completely insane and laughing maniacally, but my solution worked. Eat it, you old GC (I’m laughing again now, because that’s kind of what the GC does, after all). I can make you work by sheer pigheadedness, and then laugh about it afterwards! And anyway, I wasn’t all that sane to begin with.
Okay, seriously? If EvergreenX asks me for information in order to connect one more time and doesn’t connect, I’m going to… well, there’s actually not much I can threaten. I don’t know where exactly to go to find a router to smash, or at least reboot. AUGH. STOP. It’s the most obnoxious bubble. I just print-screened it so that I can embed it in this entry, if I remember to. Hopefully that is, indeed, the case. Mahahaha. I’m still chuckling about my victory.
Heh heh. This was always here. Of course I didn't forget.
Made up that last sample, stopped the irradiation, it’s in the GC… I’m almost done. Woohoo!
DONE AND HOME. WHADDUP.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sixth Post
Now, I promise, the novelty hasn't worn off. It's just that I started actually working on Monday and I've been so exhausted this past week that I don't have the energy or the brainpower when I come home to do much of anything but lie around and watch TV (whether actually via a television or via the internet is of little concern).
So today I'm sitting in the lab, and I would never be so flippant as to actually blog when I was supposed to be doing work. No, believe it or not, I am doing work as I type. It's akin to making ice, really, this "running samples on the GC" business. Basically I inject the sample and then wait half an hour. Since I haven't got much else to actually DO today, I'm running samples on the GC. And also blogging. What a deal.
FX came in to talk to me a minute ago. I love when he does that, hahaha... he just comes and sits down and launches into some sort of talk or other and I just kind of keep up. Sometimes I hang on for dear life, but I was okay just now. Although now I have to run the pheromone that I ran yesterday again, because the NMR looked so good. The GC did not. So... I guess here we go, amirite?! If everything goes off sort of without a hitch, I'm hoping that I can leave by a little after 4:00 or at least quarter to 5:00, because I'm going with Mom and Laura to pick up Jon from camp. And we need all three cars tonight (not including my reverse commute home).
I guess today did end up going kind of fast. Funny how that happens... even on slow days, the day goes fast. Part of that is stress, because this job is worlds apart from last summer's job. Last summer I was doing a job that was not difficult, and in general, I had an awful lot of supervision and "here's how you do this". Here, I'm expected to have a fairly good working knowledge of an awful lot of things. It's almost like if I've been told once, I shouldn't have to be told again. So I'm doing pretty well, I think, but you know...
Anyway, the very exciting discovery of today (besides that I didn't break the GC) is that I can get SciFinder on my laptop as long as I'm on campus!! This means that I don't have to make it to the library before closing time (which, on Fridays, is noon). I just have to jockey for a license with everyone else in the building. But hey, I'd be doing that whether I was at Moon or sitting right here. Speaking of sitting right here, it's freezing in here. Justine was saying the other day that she didn't think they were using the air conditioning.
Well, let me just tell YOU, the airconditioning is undebatably on today. I had to go down to my car to grab my hoodie, that's how cold it is. And it's not even cold outside at all. It's very warm. It's very nice. It's even sunny! So hey, how about that. I can't wait to go walk outside in the sun and drive home even though I left my mp3 player in its charging base / speakers this morning so I can't have Mika. And I really want Mika. Boo. I guess Journey will have to suffice. Or I could do the Bon Jovi thing again.
So here's hoping that I just have to do two more samples (two more including the one that I injected five minutes or so ago). Then I could definitely leave on time... but I should probably get all of the papers that I had printed today kind of in order, so I'm not insane later when I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going on. But, uck, I just checked the tetradecane sample that I put on the column and it came out basically at the same place as the decane, which doesn't seem right at all. It should have come out a lot later.
Well, whatever, I guess. I can always run them again on Monday if he wants me to. He might not even remember about them. I mean, they're just for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the GC is actually working. I want to run this moth pheromone already! And then I'm all done for today. I feel sort of accomplished, because I finished the week and didn't drop dead from sheer exhaustion.
So today I'm sitting in the lab, and I would never be so flippant as to actually blog when I was supposed to be doing work. No, believe it or not, I am doing work as I type. It's akin to making ice, really, this "running samples on the GC" business. Basically I inject the sample and then wait half an hour. Since I haven't got much else to actually DO today, I'm running samples on the GC. And also blogging. What a deal.
FX came in to talk to me a minute ago. I love when he does that, hahaha... he just comes and sits down and launches into some sort of talk or other and I just kind of keep up. Sometimes I hang on for dear life, but I was okay just now. Although now I have to run the pheromone that I ran yesterday again, because the NMR looked so good. The GC did not. So... I guess here we go, amirite?! If everything goes off sort of without a hitch, I'm hoping that I can leave by a little after 4:00 or at least quarter to 5:00, because I'm going with Mom and Laura to pick up Jon from camp. And we need all three cars tonight (not including my reverse commute home).
I guess today did end up going kind of fast. Funny how that happens... even on slow days, the day goes fast. Part of that is stress, because this job is worlds apart from last summer's job. Last summer I was doing a job that was not difficult, and in general, I had an awful lot of supervision and "here's how you do this". Here, I'm expected to have a fairly good working knowledge of an awful lot of things. It's almost like if I've been told once, I shouldn't have to be told again. So I'm doing pretty well, I think, but you know...
Anyway, the very exciting discovery of today (besides that I didn't break the GC) is that I can get SciFinder on my laptop as long as I'm on campus!! This means that I don't have to make it to the library before closing time (which, on Fridays, is noon). I just have to jockey for a license with everyone else in the building. But hey, I'd be doing that whether I was at Moon or sitting right here. Speaking of sitting right here, it's freezing in here. Justine was saying the other day that she didn't think they were using the air conditioning.
Well, let me just tell YOU, the airconditioning is undebatably on today. I had to go down to my car to grab my hoodie, that's how cold it is. And it's not even cold outside at all. It's very warm. It's very nice. It's even sunny! So hey, how about that. I can't wait to go walk outside in the sun and drive home even though I left my mp3 player in its charging base / speakers this morning so I can't have Mika. And I really want Mika. Boo. I guess Journey will have to suffice. Or I could do the Bon Jovi thing again.
So here's hoping that I just have to do two more samples (two more including the one that I injected five minutes or so ago). Then I could definitely leave on time... but I should probably get all of the papers that I had printed today kind of in order, so I'm not insane later when I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going on. But, uck, I just checked the tetradecane sample that I put on the column and it came out basically at the same place as the decane, which doesn't seem right at all. It should have come out a lot later.
Well, whatever, I guess. I can always run them again on Monday if he wants me to. He might not even remember about them. I mean, they're just for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the GC is actually working. I want to run this moth pheromone already! And then I'm all done for today. I feel sort of accomplished, because I finished the week and didn't drop dead from sheer exhaustion.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Fifth Post
Why hello, new blog of mine! The novelty still hasn't worn off - even though I failed to blog yesterday. Let me try to think of notable things that happened yesterday.
Well, I went to the dentist. And not just any dentist... a shiny, brand-new dentist! Because I had garnered the illustrious title "brand-new patient" for myself, this first visit was rather costly. They like their x-rays. The good news, though, is that I don't have any cavities, so I don't (or, rather, my parents don't) have to hand out any more money for another six months. My next appointment is January 5, 2010, at 2:50pm. I can't believe we're already scheduling events for 2010. I feel so old. I saw a little kid wearing a "Class of 2015" t-shirt the other day. I wanted to push him down.
Except I didn't, because that would be quite irresponsible of me, especially as someone who claims to love little kids. Then again, I work with 3 year olds in Sunday school (most of them are 4 by now, and we're getting ready for a new crop in August... the 3 year olds are not nearly so functional in the beginning of the year as they are by the end) -- but they never wear "Class of 2023" shirts. Oh, ICK. Excuse me while I go puke and feel ancient.
Anyway, I approved of this dentist. I just felt like everyone was friendlier than they were at the old dentist; I mean, of course they have to be, because I'm new, but still. And I just felt more comfortable, probably because the dentist was not the father of my former best friend. It's not that we ever fought, we just drifted. We started drifting even before we graduated. I don't think she even signed my senior year yearbook... and somehow, I don't even care.
The dentist actually asked me if I ate sugar. I was kind of floored by that. No one has ever told me that my teeth are THAT clean. I mean, really. So I said, "Uh, well, I eat sugar, just... in moderation." Because I am always ever so eloquent.
I came home, I'm pretty sure I sat around a lot, I vaguely remember driving somewhere but maybe that was just the dentist. I beat Sra Pento at Typing Maniac again because I am just that competitive, and she actually acknowledged her defeat and then I felt horrible about it. So, while I'm not exactly hoping she beats my score, I want her to reclaim her own competitive streak. Type! Type!
I watched SYTYCD with Laura. We were pleased. I don't understand why the general feeling for Caitlin seems to be vehement dislike. I actually like her quite a lot, myself. I thought she danced that weird alien thing really well, and I don't understand people who say she can't hold a character throughout the piece or whatever.
I mean, I'd like to see Melissa, who has had three routines heavily based on classical training - you know, ballet/jazz training - in jazz, pas de deux, contemporary, and samba... which is like Latin JUST this side of ballet. When Melissa impresses me with something like Samba/Cha-Cha/West Coast Swing/Hip-hop, MAYBE I'll reconsider my first impression of her.
I think that, although I didn't particularly like Vitolio (he came off as really entitled, to me), he was kind of sabotaged by the memory of less-than-dynamic dances with Asuka, and the same went for Karla, although I liked her okay. I'd have been fine with any of the boys going home, really... because Kupono just doesn't impress me, ever. And Phillip has had hip-hop for 50% of his dances? What is that? Slam the kid with contemporary so Jeanine can shine in her own element instead of in his!
Anyway, enough of that. Laura and I were punchy last night... I told that stupid story about heading into the boys' bathroom at my own highschool again, about six months after I'd graduated.
You know, the one where my bladder was about ready to explode so I slipped out just as the applause for the last song in the concert began, and slipped into the bathroom without bothering to read the signs. Of course, when it was so much more spacious than I remembered it being - because of the urinals mounted on the walls rather than the space filled with stalls - I completely panicked. I couldn't decide whether to just enter one of the stalls and go and possibly hide there until EVERYONE was gone, or whether to try to make my escape quickly.
I finally decided to just leave, after kind of false-starting in either direction twenty times, and I listened at the door, praying that most people were still in the auditorium, applauding or talking or something. I exited, took a deep breath, and looked up... to see Mr. Avellino, the executive principal, staring at me very distastefully. "WHAT were you doing in there?" he asked.
I brushed a lock of hair dampened with panic-sweat out of my flushed face, grinned weakly at him, and attempted to infuse my reply with all the brightness I could muster: "I was just asking myself the same thing."
He was not amused. "I asked you a question. What were you doing in there?"
Good night, I honestly have never wanted the ground to swallow me as much as I did in that moment, praying that he didn't recognize me as the All-State flutist, or the National Merit Scholar, or the girl he'd handed some awards to at the ceremony the year earlier and been photographed with several times. I looked at him sheepishly and said, "Well, I accidently went into the wrong bathroom."
He was still staring at me with that general air of disgust, and I basically ran for it, excusing myself with a mutter that could have really been anything. I realized later that he had thought that I had been engaging in unsavory activities with a member of the opposite sex in that bathroom. And then I was even more mortified than I had been when I'd actually been standing there facing him down.
So I told that story again... and cried with laughter. It's nice when you can laugh things off, even if it ends up just coming with time.
I think today I'm going to Salsaritas for lunch -- hooray!! I've been craving that goofy taco pizza for probably a month and a half now. It's been a long time since I've been there. Jon has to sell an ad for marching band or something to them, and it's a good excuse to go. Jon's a very convincing salesman. Other than that, I plan to read all day because I have so much lame fiction to catch up on!
Well, I went to the dentist. And not just any dentist... a shiny, brand-new dentist! Because I had garnered the illustrious title "brand-new patient" for myself, this first visit was rather costly. They like their x-rays. The good news, though, is that I don't have any cavities, so I don't (or, rather, my parents don't) have to hand out any more money for another six months. My next appointment is January 5, 2010, at 2:50pm. I can't believe we're already scheduling events for 2010. I feel so old. I saw a little kid wearing a "Class of 2015" t-shirt the other day. I wanted to push him down.
Except I didn't, because that would be quite irresponsible of me, especially as someone who claims to love little kids. Then again, I work with 3 year olds in Sunday school (most of them are 4 by now, and we're getting ready for a new crop in August... the 3 year olds are not nearly so functional in the beginning of the year as they are by the end) -- but they never wear "Class of 2023" shirts. Oh, ICK. Excuse me while I go puke and feel ancient.
Anyway, I approved of this dentist. I just felt like everyone was friendlier than they were at the old dentist; I mean, of course they have to be, because I'm new, but still. And I just felt more comfortable, probably because the dentist was not the father of my former best friend. It's not that we ever fought, we just drifted. We started drifting even before we graduated. I don't think she even signed my senior year yearbook... and somehow, I don't even care.
The dentist actually asked me if I ate sugar. I was kind of floored by that. No one has ever told me that my teeth are THAT clean. I mean, really. So I said, "Uh, well, I eat sugar, just... in moderation." Because I am always ever so eloquent.
I came home, I'm pretty sure I sat around a lot, I vaguely remember driving somewhere but maybe that was just the dentist. I beat Sra Pento at Typing Maniac again because I am just that competitive, and she actually acknowledged her defeat and then I felt horrible about it. So, while I'm not exactly hoping she beats my score, I want her to reclaim her own competitive streak. Type! Type!
I watched SYTYCD with Laura. We were pleased. I don't understand why the general feeling for Caitlin seems to be vehement dislike. I actually like her quite a lot, myself. I thought she danced that weird alien thing really well, and I don't understand people who say she can't hold a character throughout the piece or whatever.
I mean, I'd like to see Melissa, who has had three routines heavily based on classical training - you know, ballet/jazz training - in jazz, pas de deux, contemporary, and samba... which is like Latin JUST this side of ballet. When Melissa impresses me with something like Samba/Cha-Cha/West Coast Swing/Hip-hop, MAYBE I'll reconsider my first impression of her.
I think that, although I didn't particularly like Vitolio (he came off as really entitled, to me), he was kind of sabotaged by the memory of less-than-dynamic dances with Asuka, and the same went for Karla, although I liked her okay. I'd have been fine with any of the boys going home, really... because Kupono just doesn't impress me, ever. And Phillip has had hip-hop for 50% of his dances? What is that? Slam the kid with contemporary so Jeanine can shine in her own element instead of in his!
Anyway, enough of that. Laura and I were punchy last night... I told that stupid story about heading into the boys' bathroom at my own highschool again, about six months after I'd graduated.
You know, the one where my bladder was about ready to explode so I slipped out just as the applause for the last song in the concert began, and slipped into the bathroom without bothering to read the signs. Of course, when it was so much more spacious than I remembered it being - because of the urinals mounted on the walls rather than the space filled with stalls - I completely panicked. I couldn't decide whether to just enter one of the stalls and go and possibly hide there until EVERYONE was gone, or whether to try to make my escape quickly.
I finally decided to just leave, after kind of false-starting in either direction twenty times, and I listened at the door, praying that most people were still in the auditorium, applauding or talking or something. I exited, took a deep breath, and looked up... to see Mr. Avellino, the executive principal, staring at me very distastefully. "WHAT were you doing in there?" he asked.
I brushed a lock of hair dampened with panic-sweat out of my flushed face, grinned weakly at him, and attempted to infuse my reply with all the brightness I could muster: "I was just asking myself the same thing."
He was not amused. "I asked you a question. What were you doing in there?"
Good night, I honestly have never wanted the ground to swallow me as much as I did in that moment, praying that he didn't recognize me as the All-State flutist, or the National Merit Scholar, or the girl he'd handed some awards to at the ceremony the year earlier and been photographed with several times. I looked at him sheepishly and said, "Well, I accidently went into the wrong bathroom."
He was still staring at me with that general air of disgust, and I basically ran for it, excusing myself with a mutter that could have really been anything. I realized later that he had thought that I had been engaging in unsavory activities with a member of the opposite sex in that bathroom. And then I was even more mortified than I had been when I'd actually been standing there facing him down.
So I told that story again... and cried with laughter. It's nice when you can laugh things off, even if it ends up just coming with time.
I think today I'm going to Salsaritas for lunch -- hooray!! I've been craving that goofy taco pizza for probably a month and a half now. It's been a long time since I've been there. Jon has to sell an ad for marching band or something to them, and it's a good excuse to go. Jon's a very convincing salesman. Other than that, I plan to read all day because I have so much lame fiction to catch up on!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Fourth Post
I would like to know why this blogger thing - it is called blogger, right? I'm new to this one - thinks I have posted four posts. That probably looks quite inept to you, doesn't it, my dear reader, because the header for this entry is (paramount in its originality...) "Fourth Post", so you say, "Well, Shannon, that's probably because you have posted four times! See? I refer you to your title!"
I'm sure after I post this, blogger will think I've posted five times. For some reason, this is incredibly irritating to me. Come on, blogger. Simple math.
Before I get to the next point, I'll have you know that I've been playing "Typing Maniac" on facebook like an addict. Facebook is nice in that it has lame addicting game knock offs that the internet tells you to download for $6.99 a month. Bejeweled has its knockoff, which means I have been delivered from that particular monthly fee. Hooray! I never intended to actually pay it, anyway. I'm very picky about where I stick my debit card number. Anyway probably the reason I'm so intent on playing the stupid game is that Senora Pento keeps one-upping my high score, but it gets so darn hard towards the 200,000 mark. I beat her score by probably something like 500 points, which is not much. But I beat it! I am victorious!
... I wonder how long it'll take her to top me again.
Anyway. Facebook informs me that because I was born between October 19 and October 25, I am (at?) "The Cusp of Drama and Criticism". That doesn't sound very friendly. Anyway, being born in a particular week seems awfully arbitrary. What about my projected birth date? November 6? I was born two weeks early; should that indicate to me that I was very dramatic even in the womb?
I'm sure after I post this, blogger will think I've posted five times. For some reason, this is incredibly irritating to me. Come on, blogger. Simple math.
Before I get to the next point, I'll have you know that I've been playing "Typing Maniac" on facebook like an addict. Facebook is nice in that it has lame addicting game knock offs that the internet tells you to download for $6.99 a month. Bejeweled has its knockoff, which means I have been delivered from that particular monthly fee. Hooray! I never intended to actually pay it, anyway. I'm very picky about where I stick my debit card number. Anyway probably the reason I'm so intent on playing the stupid game is that Senora Pento keeps one-upping my high score, but it gets so darn hard towards the 200,000 mark. I beat her score by probably something like 500 points, which is not much. But I beat it! I am victorious!
... I wonder how long it'll take her to top me again.
Anyway. Facebook informs me that because I was born between October 19 and October 25, I am (at?) "The Cusp of Drama and Criticism". That doesn't sound very friendly. Anyway, being born in a particular week seems awfully arbitrary. What about my projected birth date? November 6? I was born two weeks early; should that indicate to me that I was very dramatic even in the womb?
Mahahaha. Anyway, this is what it says about me. "You have a BIG personality and sometimes can prove to be too much for anyone to handle. You are charismatic, intellectual and have well thought out highly developed plans. You usually have something to say on every subject. You are both intellectual and emotional. You care perceptive and insightful. You tend to be overly critical and feel infallible. You also have a wild and unpredictable side, dramatic and impulsive. You have had many love affairs and broken many hearts, you are sensuous and passionate. Strengths: Sensuous – Charismatic – Artistic Weaknesses: Overcritical – Addictive – Rigid "
Hey, look at that, I'm sensuous and passionate! I suppose this is not the time to mention that I, uh, have never gone on a date? So I've probably left many hearts unscathed.
Sorry about all of the facebook in this post. My virtual life is probably not very interesting to you. So here's my day! I woke up at 7:45am with my alarm, turned over and glared at it, and brought my right hand down on the snooze button rather forcefully, which granted me another 9 minutes. At 7:54, I looked blearily at the clock and decided NOT to repeat the part of yesterday morning when I woke up at 8:16, which was one minute past the time I wanted to leave.
I got up, washed my face and threw on my "lab clothes", which consisted of my American Idol t-shirt with the rhinestone electric guitar, the pair of jeans that actually requires a belt, and sneakers. I discovered later that I had meant to throw that particular pair of jeans in the wash after the last time I wore them because I had dropped strawberries on them. I chalked the pink splotch up to creative license and headed off to school. Facing my fears, I took 81 (actually, taking the back roads would probably be faster right now. Maybe I'll try that next time) and played Journey because I was playing Journey when the accident happened.
Made it to school, parked, walked up umpteen sets of stairs, and headed inside... only to find FX heading in from the other direction! So we met in the middle and took the elevator up together. I informed him that I was expecting a phone call, and he informed me that he needed to make a phone call. I sat outside of his office on the blue couch thing - those are actually exceedingly comfortable - and waited until he was done. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into our meeting, I finally got my call, so I headed back out to the couch and gave my statement to our insurance company.
I headed back in, we talked over the beginning of the scheme again, and then he explained something unrelated to me, where I have to evaporate the methanol solvent from a diterpene and then add deuterated solvent and evaporate again, then make up to about half a milliliter of deuterated solvent. This, to me, even though there's actually not much at all involved, is incredibly frightening because we have only been sent 45 micrograms and I guess we're doing structure elucidation? Sweet. Wow. I'm terrified.
I ran into Dave Kiemle, he called my macrolide "the pacman" (Justine calls it "the kiwi" as in the bird, not the fruit) and we were sort of reintroduced. I took my paperwork down to HR, I filled out some more paperwork, I handed it back and I headed back up to see FX, who told me that I could come back in on Monday ("if you want") at 9:00am. Woohoo! He also showed me my official desk - which is currently occupied by a little ancient mass spectrometer - and then went through all of his refrigerators in the lab for propargyl alcohol. Unsuccessful. Oh well.
So I left, headed to the library, attempted to use SciFinder, got frustrated, and eventually headed home. Where I have been all day since. Except for when I drove to Fairmount for my Bible study with Christina and Maggie, and I bought the carrot juice Bolthouse drink. I don't know what I expected it to taste like. It tastes like carrots. I don't really like it.
And then I picked Jon up from karate and headed down to check out where I'm going for my dentist appointment tomorrow. I'm changing dentists. I have a feeling I'm still not going to love going to the dentist. Ugh. Dentists. Lame.
Well, I'd better go watch SYTYCD with Laura before she not-so-spontaneously combusts.
Sorry about all of the facebook in this post. My virtual life is probably not very interesting to you. So here's my day! I woke up at 7:45am with my alarm, turned over and glared at it, and brought my right hand down on the snooze button rather forcefully, which granted me another 9 minutes. At 7:54, I looked blearily at the clock and decided NOT to repeat the part of yesterday morning when I woke up at 8:16, which was one minute past the time I wanted to leave.
I got up, washed my face and threw on my "lab clothes", which consisted of my American Idol t-shirt with the rhinestone electric guitar, the pair of jeans that actually requires a belt, and sneakers. I discovered later that I had meant to throw that particular pair of jeans in the wash after the last time I wore them because I had dropped strawberries on them. I chalked the pink splotch up to creative license and headed off to school. Facing my fears, I took 81 (actually, taking the back roads would probably be faster right now. Maybe I'll try that next time) and played Journey because I was playing Journey when the accident happened.
Made it to school, parked, walked up umpteen sets of stairs, and headed inside... only to find FX heading in from the other direction! So we met in the middle and took the elevator up together. I informed him that I was expecting a phone call, and he informed me that he needed to make a phone call. I sat outside of his office on the blue couch thing - those are actually exceedingly comfortable - and waited until he was done. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into our meeting, I finally got my call, so I headed back out to the couch and gave my statement to our insurance company.
I headed back in, we talked over the beginning of the scheme again, and then he explained something unrelated to me, where I have to evaporate the methanol solvent from a diterpene and then add deuterated solvent and evaporate again, then make up to about half a milliliter of deuterated solvent. This, to me, even though there's actually not much at all involved, is incredibly frightening because we have only been sent 45 micrograms and I guess we're doing structure elucidation? Sweet. Wow. I'm terrified.
I ran into Dave Kiemle, he called my macrolide "the pacman" (Justine calls it "the kiwi" as in the bird, not the fruit) and we were sort of reintroduced. I took my paperwork down to HR, I filled out some more paperwork, I handed it back and I headed back up to see FX, who told me that I could come back in on Monday ("if you want") at 9:00am. Woohoo! He also showed me my official desk - which is currently occupied by a little ancient mass spectrometer - and then went through all of his refrigerators in the lab for propargyl alcohol. Unsuccessful. Oh well.
So I left, headed to the library, attempted to use SciFinder, got frustrated, and eventually headed home. Where I have been all day since. Except for when I drove to Fairmount for my Bible study with Christina and Maggie, and I bought the carrot juice Bolthouse drink. I don't know what I expected it to taste like. It tastes like carrots. I don't really like it.
And then I picked Jon up from karate and headed down to check out where I'm going for my dentist appointment tomorrow. I'm changing dentists. I have a feeling I'm still not going to love going to the dentist. Ugh. Dentists. Lame.
Well, I'd better go watch SYTYCD with Laura before she not-so-spontaneously combusts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)