radward

I got way distracted with the whole packing and moving thing last week and haven't been updating. There was more sweeping of plastic cups and there were also a buttload of FAMEs that we ran. Let's see, what else...oh we pulled all of the silage samples we needed, mixed them by a specific genetic trait and starch content, and then took some sub-samples of a couple of them that we then froze down. I spent A LOT of time in my office yesterday, doing some research on some of the procedures I'm going to be doing with the silage. Today we took the samples that we had in the regular freezer and put them into the freeze-dryer. I then did a practice run of one of the procedures I am going to be doing on the silage next week. I also prepped some samples to have nitrogen analysis run on them (I also did that last week and ran the samples in it, as well as running the samples on the DSC). This is becoming long and jumbled. More unpacking to do and an update about that later (maybe)!

I got my first pay check last Friday. It was nice to see a check that was nearly twice the size of any check I've had before, especially considering the check was for one week instead of two. However, I forgot about the fact that the more money you make, the more they take away in taxes. Boo. Oh well, it's going to be nice to have a steady income.

It amazes me some days at work for the things I get paid (pretty well, at that) to do. Our lab is having a good bit of downtime right now, so they're really not quite sure what to do with me. My mentor sent me down to help out in H lab. What did I do in there? Well, in the morning I peeled labels off of plastic containers, swept them out with a shop vac, and put new labels on them. The afternoon? I put labels on brown paper bags, massed them, recorded the mass, and then put them into a box in bundles of ten. Today was actually the first day I was looking forward to going home. Perhaps tomorrow they will actually have something for me to do instead of bouncing me around to "learn."

So the DSC took a crap on me yesterday. All of the work I've done earlier this this week is pretty much gone. I mean it's kinda usable, but a 3 day time study really doesn't show much, especially since I had some funky data points in there anyway. Instead, they had me working on more FAMEs, several of them, all at various points in the procedure. It was more of the same today. I was actually concerned that I would be working with lots of silage today. James sent a message to me yesterday to wear jeans and tennis shoes today. Since we're actually allowed to wear them everyday and I just chose not to (because my jeans are all too big), I assumed he wanted me to wear them because I was going to be doing gross stuff. Turns out it was just because it was Friday and everyone wears jeans on Fridays.

In other news, I got a speeding ticket on the way home from work today. I realize it is my fault for doing 10 over (even though I didn't know I was going that fast...I didn't look to see, but I didn't feel like I was going that fast. Previous tickets I KNEW I was speeding), but I'm still all grumbly about it. They were standing (yes, standing) behind a bush with lasers and then waved me and another car into a parking lot. As I seriously didn't realize I was speeding, I was completely baffled as to why both of our cars were being waved off into a parking lot. When he told me I was speeding, it was all I could do to keep from saying "You're kidding, right?" The other officer, after releasing the other car, immediately pulled over a semi. The good news, because I had no idea why I was being pulled over, is that there wasn't enough time for the panic attack that would normally come with being pulled over. The other good news is, if I'm reading the back of the ticket correctly, I can just pay the ticket and not have it go on my record since I have not had another moving violation in the last 6 months, no traffic school required. It sucks that I got a ticket, but it could have been a lot worse. I called my dad to give him the heads up about something coming from the DMV for me and reasons for the insurance to possibly go up. Since I found out I may not have to worry about it going against my license, I kinda wish I hadn't told him, but he wasn't mad. Actually, he laughed at me until he realized I was all but crying.

Ok, time to shower, pack, and hit the road for St. Louis to go see Kat!

Sorry for the disjointed grammar, my brain is no longer completely functional.

Yesterday and today I was running more of the DSC. There are 24 samples each day and there is definitely no way I can get through them every day. I couldn't even get through the 19 James really wants me to get through. Especially when they hand me another sample and tell me to run it in duplicate before I finish the rest of my samples. >.> James understands that there's not enough time to get everything done. The biggest problem is that only one sample can be run at a time and each run takes anywhere from 25-40 minutes to run. I think my one week project is going to turn into a two week project, just so that we can get a better idea of the degradation of the samples without having to run all of them (or trying to run all of them) each day.

While each sample runs, I have a bit of free time. After getting bored waiting around yesterday while sample ran, this morning I asked James if there was anything else I could be working on while I am waiting. Even though each run takes at least 25 minutes, I only have 15 minutes or so before I have to begin prepping the next sample, so there's really not a whole lot of time to actually do something else, just enough to feel like I should be doing something else. He gave me another small side project, prepping fatty acid methyl ester samples for gas chromatography. He figured with my small breaks, it would take me the better part of the day to complete. By late morning I had the entire process completed up to the 4 hour incubation period. So yay for a busy morning, but boo for a really slow afternoon. Ted couldn't believe I got it all prepped that quickly especially my first time and especially when having to break it up into such small fragments while taking care of my other stuff. Huzzah for being productive! And huzzah for a job that I love!

While I was initially sad to be back to the oils lab today after being in the ELISA lab, I got to do a lot of independent work today. James showed me how to run the DSC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_scanning_calorimetry) with a couple of samples, then had me run a few. He was like "You probably should have made that look a bit more difficult. I'm going to set you up with a project that you will be running the rest of the week using this machine. Have fun!" So I have my own project! And it's not silage! Yay! I may end up with silage as my actual intern project yet, but I'm happy to find oil oxidation time on the DSC until then.

I was very pleasantly surprised when 3:20 rolled around and I found myself disappointed that I had 40 minutes until it was time to go. I could not believe it was that late already. But this is definitely a good sign :)

I was in the ELISA lab again today, but the two males were out, so it was just us girls. Had a lot of fun in there with them and by the end of the day we were all getting pretty slap happy. At one point it took 3 of us nearly 10 minutes to figure out how exactly we were going to make the conjugate for the plates. We initially started to make WAAAAAAY too much and only caught it when we were trying to decide whether we were supposed to be adding 1.1ul or 1.1ml. I made a snarky comment, something along the lines of "can't brain, have the dumb." From that point on, Annie and I couldn't look each other straight in the eye without cracking up. I'm really going to miss those girls on Monday when I have to go back to the oils lab. They said they were going to refuse to give me back. If I ever have the free time, I will definitely be dropping in on them. While I'm glad it's here, I can't believe it's the weekend already.

I actually got to be a productive member of the lab team today! After doing a bit of the online coursework, I went over to the lab around 9 to find Mike. We separated out some fermented silage (sounds gross, right?) and took some to the freezer and some to the oven, all of which will be ground up later for carbohydrate content analysis and such. After that, I went over to the ELISA lab to help them out a bit. They seem like a really cool group and I look forward to working with them again. I helped them get some samples started, went to lunch while daughter plates were being made, and then came back and helped them carry out the reactions. Went over to another lab with some of the ELISA people to test out a new (expensive) machine to see if it was something they wanted for their lab. Should it actually be working properly, it would be an awesome piece of equipment for their lab. However, we were having all sorts of issues with it trying to get it to work. Eventually I just went back to my office to respond to some emails and take care of some paperwork. Tomorrow I will finish up my online coursework, tackle a bit more paperwork, and then back to the ELISA lab.

Still nothing exciting to report from my internship. A boring meeting that I could barely keep my eyes open for, some online "class" work. I'm really tired of people talking at me instead of to me. Most of them it's not intentional, they're just used to rattling stuff off and not thinking twice about it. My mentor is getting better about talking to me instead of at me (and not completely over my head). Biggest thing with him is just asking questions and having him repeat stuff. It seems if I do more than just nod when he talks, he can relate better. More grinding of seeds today, thankfully that is done (at least for now). I also got the exciting job of doing dishes. They weren't the regular dishes though (someone does them for us) but instead some pieces to a really complicated machine that they don't trust the regular dishwashers with...don't I feel special. At least I'm in the lab. My 3 fellow classmates still haven't been into their labs yet, just reading and doing paperwork and the online course stuff. My mentor and supervisor are both going to be out of the office tomorrow and Friday. James has me set up to work with another group for the next two days so that I at least have something to do. I think, if I understood James correctly, that one of the things I will be doing tomorrow will be a small scale of what I will be doing next week.

In non-work related matters, I've been working on cleaning the house and getting ready to move. I realize I'm moving all of 3 or 4 blocks away, but everything still has to be packed up and cleaned, whee! It's nice to be able to take care of this and not have to worry about school work. I should start working out after work. I've been working on losing weight (I've lost 32 lbs since the end of January), but it's all been with diet thus far. Ok, time to go do something productive instead of sitting on my ass in front of the computer.

...or the coffee grinder. After finishing the enthralling chemical hygiene plan, I got to actually do something in the lab. I spent the vast majority of the day grinding sunflower seeds in a coffee grinder. Not thrilling, but it was better than more reading. Got to sit down with my supervisor for a few minutes today. He seems really nice, but it doesn't seem like I'll be spending a lot of time with him. I got the impression that he is a very busy man. Hmm...what else did I do today? Got my lab notebook, my own hook for my lab coat (no personal coats though...grab one off the rack, wear it, and when it needs cleaned, put it in the laundry bag and grab a new one), and I think that was about it. Not a very exciting day, but hey, it's only day 2.

I started my internship today. Mostly paperwork and general boring stuff like reading chemical hygiene plans, but I really think I'm going to like it there. My mentor actually graduated from my school a year ago, so he's never had an intern before, so he really doesn't know what he's supposed to do with me as far as showing me around and stuff goes. I briefly met my supervisor in the hallway, just long enough to shake his hand. Hopefully tomorrow I will meet more people and actually get to do something besides read and sign my name. I got to tour the lab briefly, but I'm not sure what I will be doing in there. James (mentor) said I could be doing 1 of 3 projects or possibly just a little bit on all of them.

I have an office, but I share it with like 5 other interns (although 2 of them should be leaving soon). We have 3 laptops in the room, so two to a lappy. The laptops by the way? I log into mine with my finger print. How cool is that? Seriously the highlight of my day. We also kind of get to set our own hours. The lab is open from 6-6 and so long as we put in 8 hours, they don't care. James said the biggest thing is to be consistent about the time I come in. I think I might go in at 7:30 so I can be out of there at 4:30. I had initially planned on 8-5, but James said he and one of the other members of our team do 7-4. Too early, so 7:30 it is for me.

The facility itself is gorgeous. As I was pulling up to the campus (seriously...80 acres), all I could do was say wow. Amazing architecture, lots of cool angles, and lots of glass that just make it that much more impressive (especially when the sun hits it). The place is huge, it's going to take me forever to learn my way around my building, let alone the rest of the place. I'm excited though. I really hope this goes well and I like it well enough (and they like me well enough) to stay at the end of my internship.

visited 20 states (40%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: The Next President

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me, for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year. No guarantees when, it will be a total surprise!
- You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Uh, but if you're my friend, you should kind of know this already.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost, and repost right away.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Ok, I feel better now. A little, anyway. I'll feel much better at the end of the week when finals are over.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd   (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Musician
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Literature Nerd
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Social Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Shocker!! lol

Me: "How much do I owe you for parts for the car?"
Jesse: "A great big hug."
Me: "Seriously, how much?"
Jesse: "I already told you, 80 bajillion dollars."

So he fixed my car...and he won't let me pay for it.  Meeting his parents tonight and his half brothers tomorrow.  Whee!

Because this is seriously the 4th Thanksgiving in a row that I've had car problems.  As I was driving down to Nashville last night, my ABS light came on, my temperature gauge was half spazzing out, and my check gauges light was flickering on and off.  Eventually, I began to hear this terrible whining noise coming from my engine...and I could hear it over my music...and any of you who have ridden in my car know I keep the music pretty loud.  I pulled over to a gas station, checked my oil, added a quart, and added some coolant.  I went into the gas station figuring if I let it sit for 10 minutes or so, it would be fine.  WHen I first started the car back up, the squealing had stopped, so I figured I'd be ok to hit the road.

I got like maybe 100 yards down the road before it started making the noise again and this time it sounded even worse.  I pulled into a hotel parking lot, called Jesse to let him know what was going on, and called AAA..  The lady in the hotel lobby was very nice to me.  She offered my juice from the breakfast nook and brought me tissues (because let's face it...I was crying out of sheer frustration).  The tow truck was there in about half an hour and we made the 45 mile trip fast enough, considering we were a large truck carrying a car.  I had the car towed to Jesse's brother's house so that Jesse and Jeremy would be able to take a look at it and hopefully fix.  Jesse says it's just a belt and a pulley and shouldn't be too expensive to fix, just a general pain in the ass.  Jesse's taking his lunch break to go get parts and is planning on fixing it tonight.

Last  year at Thanksgiving, as I was driving to pick C up from her apt and drive home with her, I started losing power to my car and the car completely died like 2 blocks from her apt.  We took my car to the garage and had to take her car home instead.  The year before that, I had transmission problems and actually had to take a rental car home for Thanksgiving.  And the year before that?  It was snowing and the roads were covered in ice.  I had a semi jackknife in front of me, leaving me with the options of running into it or running off the road.  Running off the road busted one of my struts.  Granted, this was not my cars fault, but it was still something that had to get fixed and happened at Thanksgving break.  Next year, no matter where I am, I'm not driving.  I'm either making everyone come see me or I'm flying home.  Or ya know, making Jesse drive :)

...and no, not finals.  Just that time where I have a complete and utter freak out about my grades, get uber stressed, and cry.  KoLumbus cannot come quick enough.

*screams*

On a completely random note, I'm annoyed that I finally had to turn the heat on.  I got home from class and it was 53 in the house.  Grr and brr.